Daylight Astronomy: A dog owner's observations

Over the course of years that I have been observing at the Great Lawn I have met a lot of people, perhaps in the thousands, sharing the eyepiece to bring the heavens a little closer to them. I look forward to seeing the familiar people and dog owners each session. It is a important part of the observing experience and emphasizes that the community of New York.

This past Saturday I had gone out early at the Top of the Lawn to observe Moon and Venus during daylight hours. Later at civil twilight Saturn sprung up nearby Venus and Jupiter glowed brightly in the east above the trees. The crowds seemed to enjoy the challenge of spotting Venus naked eye during the day. Most continued challenging themselves when Saturn breeched that threshold of contrast and was visible in civil twilight. By this time, I trained the scope on each planet and offered a look to everyone who wished to observe.

Stan, dog owner of Gee, passed through and documented the event by taking some photographs of this Saturday session. Visit his website to read about his observing report of the session "Only in New York".

Stan mentions the term "chimping" which I learned from a davep post.