I spent part of Saturday night in a Cochranville parking lot marveling at the rings of Saturn, the huge star cluster M13 and the donut-shaped Ring Nebula, courtesy of my friend Kevin Witman, who is a serious amateur astronomer and photographer. In a program sponsored by Londonderry Township, Kevin brought out his two giant telescopes -- the bigger one, which he recently bought himself for his birthday, has a phenomenal 16-inch mirror -- and gave his neighbors a glimpse of the heavens. Kevin's enthusiasm for astronomy is positively endearing: every time he would bring into focus another heavenly body he'd exclaim in genuine delight (his wife, harpist Janet Witman, said he's always like this). He brought along a set of portable steps so that little kids could climb up to the telescope eyepiece, and he was patient with them and gave good explanations about why he had to keep adjusting the non-motorized scope (because of the Earth's constant movement).
Thanks, Kevin, Janet and Londonderry Township! I had a great time out there as the sky got darker and more stars -- and even a satellite -- became visible.
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