I brought my Z12 to this one, because I left directly from the outreach to have an extended stay at the HAS dark site! It was paradise. 

Night Sky Network Log:

Event Date: Friday, 4/21/2017
Name of Event/Service: Shadydale Lock-In
Type of Service: Public Outreach
# of Hours: 2

Description of Service Performed: I set up my Z12 in the parking lot of the school alongside 6 scopes brought by others. A combination of the severe light pollution, partial cloud cover, and being set up directly underneath bright streetlights meant that the only viable targets to us were the Orion Nebula and Jupiter, and from my point of view the Orion Nebula was behind the glare of a streetlight, so I only showed the kids Jupiter.

Comments: We were set up for a long time before the kids came outside, and they weren’t outside for as long as hoped, but it was fun nonetheless!

There was one girl who I wish I could have given more time at the telescope. I reluctantly had to tell her after a minute or two to let some other kids take a look, as there were a lot of children, but she was clearly enraptured. She came by my telescope twice, both when it was highly busy, and I was hoping she would come by again after it had thinned out a bit so I could let her observe to her heart’s content, but sadly she did not.

I don’t blame her for being so entranced! The views of Jupiter were frankly incredible, and a transit of Ganymede followed by a transit of Ganymede’s shadow wowed us all. This was one of the first times I’d observed Jupiter with my Z12 and certainly the best; and the clarity given by my 13mm Ethos with a 2x barlow was astounding.