Armed with maps, bearings, a compass, and a bevy of telecsopes and binoculars, we arrived at about 5:45 PM at the community center in georgetown. Thanks to Don’s use of the internet, and our previous research, we had a good idea where to set up and where to look, as well as how high the moon would be and when the event was due to happen. We had WWV radios which broadcast a ticking sound with extra info every minute, sufficient to synchronize commentary with time, and also a GPS for accurate locations of our positions.

I shot a zillion pictures of people scouting the best vantage point to use.
10 mega-pixels each. Perhaps there will be a short multimedia presentation next meeting to highlight the expedition… Occultation expedition O2007-alpha.

The sky showed signs of clearing. We decided to stay here rather than going west for a possibly clearer horizon, although the hay field across the street was also considered. A delegation was dispatched to ensure that a better vantage point was not available nearby. We thought up a cover story rehearsed in case the clouds rolled in, to explain why we set up our scopes. It’s too good a story to relate here… we may need it another time.

We scouted out some nearby hills and checked our bearings as to the best place to set up, and eventually decided to use a grassy berm on the northwest end of the parking lot. I set up my 3-inch finder-scope from the GWS, (sufficient for 7th magnitude stars, easy) and had at the ready 15×70 binoculars.

Alas the moon could not be seen due to too much sky-glow from the milky way, and perhaps a few clouds, so Jackie demonstrated the effect of an occultation using some down-to-earth props, including a round stool and a flashlight.

We had some chats with passersby who were out walking dogs or playing in the park.

Subsequently the sky cleared, enough to spot the summer triangle,
large and near the zenith, and Cassiopia. Ed’s 12 inch Big White Scope was there,
and we had a chance to check out the stars in his 8-24 zoom eyepiece. I was impressed with how sharp the stars were near the edge of the field. I will ask him to try it on my scope next time we go to Binbrook. People packed up early though, partly due to the lights in the parking lot, which i must say were full cutoff and therefore sky friendly. The lights in the sports fields were not switched on.

We reconvened at Kelsey’s in Milton and had our dinner, and safe trip home.
The round trip turned out to be shorter than a trip to Binbrook, for my starting point in Burlington.

I am looking forward to Occultation expedition O2007-beta, whenever that happens.