Tuesday April 8 promised one of the most beautiful sights that the night sky can provide; the pairing of a young crescent moon with the Pleiades. This early evening event would start with the pair side by side, and as they slowly sunk into the west, the moon would drift across the open cluster, occulting several of the Seven Sisters before they set. Unfortunately, as the evening fell it became apparent that many people were going to be deterred by the increasing cloud, and the big event would be unobserved due to far too few people and far too much cloud.
I headed out to the alternate site with my friend Ted, and was soon joined there by my fellow adventurers, Jackie and Ann. No cloud nor fog was going to keep these intrepid observers from attempting to see the occultations, and a combinations of perseverance and the magic of Binbrook came together to provide a wonderful evening.
We were armed with several pairs of binoculars, both handheld and tripod mounted, and an 80mm apo scope. A widefield eyepiece encompassed the entire cluster and moon, giving a pleasing view, even if it was somewhat diluted by the cloud. Over the course of the evening the pairing appeared and disappeared between bands of clouds, and at one point, certain that the western sky was lost for the night, we turned our attention to Saturn. Soon, though, the magical qualities of our observing site asserted themselves, and the moon reappeared! We were joined by our always welcome visitor, Martin from the conservation area, and he provided a much appreciated addition to the conversation, and we provided him with some equally appreciated views through the scope. Our only other visitors of the night were a pair of amorous raccoons, who let us know in a most vocal way that they were taking advantage of the night for their own lovelorn purposes.
As the pair lowered themselves toward the horizon (the moon and the Pleiades, not the pair of raccoons, although they may have done the same; I couldn’t say), the increased fog and mist gave a soft yellow cast to the moon, which took on the rich yet delicate feeling of watercolour. Along with the subtle ashen light on the dark side of the moon, the effect of three dimensionality was quite striking. Only after the pairing finally succumbed to the fog of the lower elevations, and the rest of the sky yielded to the ever increasing cloud, did we finally pack up and give ourselves over to the warmth and comfort of coffee, hot chocolate, conversation and laughter at the local coffee shop.
Many will have fine pictures from under clear skies, and some will say that the night might not have provided what would be considered ideal observing conditions, but it all seemed to work out just right after all. Somehow, observing with the HAA always does.
