As others have noted, it was definitely a full house at The Peak last night. I arrived at the SW lot a bit after 6:00pm, leaving the cold marine layer and its westerly wind well below me, to find a row-and-a-half of observers already set up. In selected areas of the sky some very high thin stuff could still be seen passing overhead, but that "darker blue" I associate with a bit of altitude was definitely there as well. Not long after I arrived, the SW lot was completely packed. I never bothered to take a count of the observers, but I can tell you the SW lot was packed with many of The Peak's old-time regulars, along with a host of others relatively new to the area. Between Coulter Row, the lower parking area, and the SW lot, you name the 'scope or observing aid and it was definitely in use: binos and 60mm refractors, a variety of SCTs and classic Newts, beautiful AP refractors, etc. Quite a turn out.
A number of folk had come to The Peak specifically for a look through the 30" Challenger telescope which, as described by Morris Jones, was in a "galaxy-fest early and Mars-fest late" mode of operation. For those individuals who were able to view galaxies and other deep-sky items through the Challenger, the resulting reports were wonderful. A great job by Mojo et al. I didn't hear any of the Mars reports.
My observing plan for the evening was to continue with my observing in Virgo, using The Night Sky Observer's Guide in tandem with TheSky software on mylaptop. I find this combination to be a real winner, as TheSky often points me to items in the field of view not listed in the NSOG. My specific goal was to track down items with my 14.5" 'scope that I haven't been able to find with my 12.5".
For most of us, the evening started off with views of Mercury and Jupiter. Many of The Peak's visitors had never seen Mercury before, so it was quite a treat to point it out as an easily identifiable nekked-eye object, about 4.5-deg. east of brighter Jupiter. As it danced in color through our 'scopes, Mercury's 40% phase was easy to detect. Should be fun watching Mercury for the next week or so. Jupiter, about 4.5-deg further to the west, was really boiling away. I know this was probably my last chance to check out ol' Jove in it's Evening Star role; catch ya again in the late-June morn'!
While waiting for the end of astronomical twilight to approach, a number of us were showing some of The Peak's visitors a few of the sky's showpiece items. Double and multiple stars were generally high on the list, along with brighter globulars, galaxies and a few planetaries. Many oooh's and ahhhhh's from the visitors - along with a few other choice comments. <grin> I also tried to locate Comet 24P/Schaumasse, with TheSky showing it's position in Gemini, near Castor and Pollux, but no luck. Maybe someone else was successful.
When I finally started in on my Virgo observing program, it was clear that the evening's seeing wasn't going to be the best in the world. On a scale of one to ten, I'd rate the sky a seven to start, with definite drop from there about Midnight'ish. Pretty soft. A number of experienced observers were grumbling about stars constantly changing into snowballs in various areas of the sky. Despite the so-so seeing, I had a great time, but was stuck for well over an hour trying to identify NGC 4266. This elusive galaxy is in the same field as a number of others, most of which I could identify relatively easily. The problem is a 9th-mag star sits right next to 4266, and no amount of averted vision could convince me that I could truly spot the haze of 4266. Phil Chambers shared my frustration, talking about my needing an occulting bar. <grin> I was observing with a 17mm T4 Nagler/Paracorr combination, and also tried using a 12mm T4 Nagler. I finally gave up, moving on to NGC 4277, located in the same field. Took me a few minutes to confirm I could definitely see 4277, nestled between 4273 and 4281. (That's the one I spotted, Phil, not 4266). For 4266, do I just need more aperture? Better seeing? Darker skies? Can I expect to nail this thing in my 14.5"? I'm definitely going to try this one again next weekend, the weather-gods permitting.
I only looked at Mars a couple of times. From my vantage point she was boiling away while skirting The Peak. Others were reporting details during steady moments of seeing, and the nicest view I had of the planet all evening was through Jeff Crilly's new 15" Obsession, probably around 2:00am. Wonder if the views from the Observatory area were better than from the SW lot.
Even with the poor seeing, it was a great night. Mild temperatures were just what the doctor ordered. It's still amazing just how bright the skies were to the SW and NW, even with the fog in. The Peak's skies have certainly brightened up over the past couple of decades.