Crescent Moon taken September 10, 2021
Scope: Celestron NexStar 4SE (Maksutov-Cassegrain) at prime focus (f/13 - 1325mm)
Camera: Canon T3i
Exposure: ISO 200 - 1/6 sec
On September 9, 2021 my wife and I visited the public viewing night at the Patterson Observatory located on University of Arizona Sierra Vista Campus. The Huachuca Astronomy Club (HAC) volunteers operates the observatory and hosts Public Viewing Nights. The Patterson Observatory is listed as a NASA Space Place and has a 16 foot dome, housing a Ritchey-Chretien telescope of 20” aperture.
We were able to view both Jupiter and Saturn through this scope but the "seeing" was less than desirable. In astronomy, seeing refers to the degradation of the image of an astronomical object due to turbulent airflows in the atmosphere of Earth that may become visible as blurring, twinkling or variable distortion. (source: Wikipedia). There are brief moments when more detail is visible.
There were smaller scopes that were pointed at the Moon and Venus as well.
I plan to become a member of the club shortly and participate in their activities.
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