Pictures from the CLEA Gettysburg workshop 2006

(You can click on many of the images for larger versions)

On Saturday evening, June 10, we went out to the Gettysburg Observatory for a little recreational astronomy. I brought my digital camera out to see if the good ol' afocal method would work...

The skies were nice and clear ...

Dick and George set up a number of optical instruments for us to use. There was a nice pair of big binoculars, which provided a beautiful view of the nearly full moon.

One of the telescopes was pointed at Saturn. Even though it was low in the sky and setting fast, we were able to see the rings clearly.

Another telescope (the 5-inch?) was centered on Jupiter. I was able to figure out an exposure time which showed both the Galilean satellites (if pushed to one extreme of contrast), and the belts of the cloudtops (if pushed to the other).