Mingo Observatory Committee Progress:

Super Saturday Follows Foggy Friday At Mingo (Adapted from AAAP Listserver Postings)

John Diller:  “My first visit.  What a spectaclar view of the southern horizon, Scorpius and Sagittarius 'n' 'at!  My best views of Mars ever!  It was the night I've been waiting all year for.  One head count gave about 85 people, but I'm not sure.  I showed galaxies M 94, 63 and 51 and various globs and the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae to the visitors.  Mingo is a wonderful site!  It was the best I've seen since Starcruise '02 and not because of or recent crappy weather.  Around midnight I gave my doggies a break and just sat back and gawked at the clouds of stars and dust arching over us.  It showed that 3-D effect of the nearer, visible stars stretching into the distance to become clouds, like a freeze-frame of snowflakes passing by your car windows as you plunge into a blizzard....”



Information set up at the welcome pavilion for the July 19th Star Party. 

Vern Cox – “It was fantastic.  While there are two point light sources and a dimly lit Equitable Gas facility far off on the Southern horizon, it is still a fantastic Southern Horizon.  Sagitarius, Scorpious and the other southern constellations were very high off the horizon with M8 easily visible to the naked eye.”

Yes, the fog was really that bad on Friday July 18, by nightfall fog had engulfed the observing hill. 

For more images from the star parties, go to the Mingo Star Parties Link.

Larry's video astronomy set up at the July 19th Star Party. 
Larry McHenry:  “Yes, last night was a very good night.  Haven't seen the Milky-Way locally like that for a long time (you would have to go to the StarCruise site, or Oil City to find better skies).  We had about 85 - 90 total attendees, with about 20 - 25 being members….a pretty good turnout for our new starparty location.  The public really liked our setting up the astro display boards and computer AV in the pavilion.  They also liked all the free handouts, including a bunch of  neat SOHO solar stuff.  I would like to thank all the members who helped out, especially Shawn van Mastrigt, Dan McKeel, who helped me work the pavilion.”

Shawn van Mastrigt:  “Last night made the intolerable fog from Friday a distant memory.  The skies were awesome, despite having my telescope set up at the pavilion, we had some great views of various star clusters and nebulas.  I could even see the lagoon nebula naked eye, despite not being dark adapted from the lights at the pavilion.” 

Committee members Dan McKeel, Shawn van Mastrigt, and Ed Moss (Project Coordinator) await the evening skies.