The few late afternoon clouds drifted away as the sun set, and thus clear skies greeted visitors to one of the regular Saturday summer Cronyn Observatory Public Nights on June 6.

It turned out to be a wonderful evening of sky watching.

Three telescopes were situated on the observing deck, operated by members of the local London Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). Another RASC telescope was set up on the lawn behind Alumni Hall.  The historic 25.4cm Cronyn refractor was operated by a Physics and Astronomy graduate student Nina Ivkovich.

Early in the evening, the telescopes were trained on the setting Venus and Jupiter.  As darkness settled in, Saturn also rose high enough in the east for it to become the primary target.

In the lecture theatre, Physics and Astronomy graduate student Neven Vulic gave a talk titled “The X-ray Universe, No Lead Required“.

Late in the evening, the public were treated to a very bright Iridium flare in the west, and also got a chance to view globular cluster M13, the Ring Nebula M57, the Dumbbell Nebula M27, and double star Albireo.

Approximately 110 people attended.

[images from the evening on Flickr]

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