MB conditions on Tuesday

by Jim Feldhouse


MB conditions were good yesterday. 55-60, mostly calm to slight wind.

naked eye Mars was definitly less red than even 5 days ago. I didn't look at Mars much, just poked around with GOTO.

I was able to "split" Antares with an OIII filter. "split" meaning there was a distinctive green bump on the red blop of Antares. atmosphere was really boiling Antares good at the time.

I sat with the NightSky on my lap, typing in NGCs that struck my fancy. I don't know if I can ever go back to a non-tracking telescope. I "think" I could give up GOTO, but non-tracking... *sigh*.

1 of the best objects I observed was the "Ink Spot" nice little open cluster right next to inky dark nebula. My I3 eyepiece brought out the contrast nicely.

There was a news crew in the other parking lot doing a live broadcast (at 11pm) concerning the missing girl, that had been riding her bike somewhere in the santa cruz mountains. strangely enough, the news crew was there for several hours until they did their shot.