At Astronomy Night on March 30th, we observed many constellations in addition to satellites and M objects. The easiest constellation to identify was Orion which was clearly visible even early in the evening. We also looked at Ursa Major, Gemini, Taurus, Canis Major and Minor, and Leo among others.
During the night, we saw the International Space Station pass overhead. I was able to locate it through binoculars and watch its movement as well as with the naked eye. It appeared as a bright point moving across the sky.
I helped to operate one of the large telescopes and pointed it at M 36, M 37, and M 38 in the constellation Auriga. All three of these appear to be open clusters. We also attempted to view the Pleiades through the telescope but were not able to in its entirety because of the magnification of the telescope.
We located the planet Jupiter and were able to see surface features through each telescope.
Luckily, it was a pretty clear night in terms of clouds but there was a lot of light pollution from Sarasota and some constellations were hard to see because of the lack of darkness in that area of the sky.
These observations total 4 hours.
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