Comments and anecdotes about the event:
Reported by Jim Hendrickson: Saturday, June 20, 2026 Weather: Clear, calm, 65° Participants: Michael Corvese, Matt White, Jim Meltzer, John Kocur, Jim Hendrickson Attendees: 5 Observed: 6-day crescent Moon, M13, Alberio, M81 & M82 Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCXuR2 Reports by Jim Hendrickson Our second consecutive observatory open night took place on June 20 under clear and transparent skies, with several sparkling fireflies and the scent of honeysuckle in the front observing field providing an additional pleasant experience on the shortest night of the year. It was a rather quiet night, with only about five visitors. John Kocur had the 8-inch Apertura Dobsonian set up in the front yard and was using an attached phone bracket to guide it in push-to mode. He looked at M57, M27, Polaris, Vega, Arcturus, Sadr, The Inchworm Cluster (NGC 6910), and the open cluster M29, which he refers to as “Baby Pegasus.” One of our guests, Rich, a return visitor from last week, came with his two young kids and brought his vintage (pre-LX200) 10-inch f/6.3 Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain. John helped him set it up in the yard, and I assisted with polar alignment. Unfortunately he didn’t have a power supply, but John was able to help him get the Moon in it. Michael Corvese was at the Clark telescope, showing the Double Double, and pointing out constellations on the balcony with a laser pointer. Matt White was at the 12-inch Meade showing M13 and M27, while simultaneously capturing M13, M5, M27, and M57 with the Seestar. Laura Landen set up a Seestar S30 Pro to capture a nice view of the galaxy pair M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. At the end of the night, we looked at Messier 4 in the Clark telescope. We finished and closed at 11:20pm. Reported by Michael Corvese: Just to add: we observed the waxing crescent Moon for about an hour and a half, then moved over to Albireo after the Moon set behind the trees.