Adam Schiffman and I carpooled on our way to meeting Bruce Jensen at San Antonio Valley on Friday night. We left my home in Alameda at 6:25p and hit bumper-to-bumper traffic on 580 in Pleasanton. Oh well. Having a travelling companion made the trip much easier, especially when we hit the windy, never-ending Mines Rd.

We arrived at the observing area at 8:10p, and Bruce was already there and setting up, along with a friend. Adam quickly set up his 80mm Shorttube, and I set up both my 13" Dob and my C8.

The air seemed a perfect 70 degrees, and there was a slight breeze. I immediately tried Jupiter in my C8, but it was still lowt. I was able to easily split the double-double at only 111x, so the seeing looked promising. It was still not completely dark, but the milky way was already bright and beautiful, stretching up from the Archer.

When the night had fully darkened, we tried the NA nebula and found it easily visible as long as you used a filter. I could just detect it in my 13" without a filter, but it was completely visible and clear with an O-III filter. Adam and Bruce found it easily in their 80mm Shorttubes with filters, as well as the Pelican Neb.

We wanted to track down the Cocoon nebula in Lacerta, but none of us could detect it in our scopes. I'm convinced that I was looking at the right spot, but I could not see the nebula, even with a filter. I think that I was detecting some small amount of nebulosity, but it was far from a "catch". We did however easily find M39, as well as a dim cluster in the area of the Cocoon (Sky Atlas 2000.0 doesn't identify it). The dark lanes in that area were dramatic.

At that point in our evening, a group of families stopped by from the nearby houses to have a gander. There were five or six kids, ages 4 - 9 or so, and I was a little concerned, but they were well-behaved (except for a sneeze onto Adam and his shorttube ) and produced an excellent array of wows, goshes and gasps. All-in-all, I believe they and their parents had a great time. We showed them the planets, the Lagoon and Trifid nebs, the Dumbbell and Ring nebs, M13 and the Double Cluster.

They stayed for about 45 minutes, and then we got down to business. I found the "Snowball" nebula, a planetary whose NGC listing escapes me at the moment. It is a lovely blue, though small and featureless in my 13". Next I tried the "Blinking Nebula", NGC 6826. This is a remarkable object, as it appears stellar when viewed directly, but nebular when using averted vision.

Bruce was interested in locating Stephen's Quintet, and I was working my way in that direction, so we next found the galaxy NGC 7331. It was moderately bright, and a dark dust lane could just be detected with averted vision. Next we attempted NGC 7332, and I first detected NGC 7339 right next to it before actually seeing NGC 7332. A lovely pair, although NGC 7339 was just a faint wisp in my 13".

We then attempted Stephen's quintet, and I managed to find it, or at least two members, in my 13". We were all quite excited by this find and enjoyed the view. We may have detected a third member, but only two were definite "catches". (Frustrated remarks were heard to the effect that Jay can see all five members in his 6" scope! )

At that point, we all felt we had had a most successful evening, but the two gas giants were now high and resplendent, so we aimed our scopes at them and gasped in awe -- the seeing was great! I used the C8 and found the best views at around 200x. Cassini's division was clear all the way around the ring, even in front of the planet where the angle was slight. And Jupiter sported much detail. A great way to complete and end our night's observing.