This all started innocently enough, by my misremembering the email I had quickly read about the HVAG star party at Grant Ranch on the 4th. Go to "Telescope Row" is what I did, although all the others were at another part of the park entirely (Halley Hill). By the time I was all set up, wondering where everyone was, one other member of HVAG did come by to tell me I was in the wrong place. But, tearing down and setting up again had little appeal, so I stayed where I was. Promised to be a solitary (except for the little herd of wild pigs that inhabit the park) session.

Last January, I'd had a session where newbie me (2 rainly months with scope) tried to find a cluster or two in Cassiopeia. Didn't do terribly well, finding perhaps 20% of those I went looking for. Since Cassiopeia was pretty well placed again in the sky, I thought I'd do a repeat. In the meantime, while waiting for twilight to turn into night, I did some lunar and Jovian observing, plus a view of Venus the bouncing almost-ball (the seeing was very weak to the west, which is over the city of San Jose. I was able to see the phase of the planet for brief moments.).

Darkness, and nobody here but me and the pigs gently snurkling/grunting to each other. So I set into Cassiopeia and started observing clusters. 7789 was splashed all over with stars, and found easily. Then on to 7788, 7790 and H21, all of which are near each other on a line between 11-Cass. and 6-Cass. These were subtle at best, and hard to pick out of the Milky Way background. Next it was down to 12-Cass and 103, which was fairly evident. I was just moving over to hunt up 133 and 146, when voices came out of the night.

A group of campers was coming over, three of them. They were in the park for horseback riding, having come down from Martinez. They'd been here many times before and had run across HVAG in the past, and even timed their trips to coincide with the star parties. So here they were, wondering what had happened to HVAG. Rather than send them away disappointed, it was time for the 1-man star party, hosted by not-so-experienced me.

We looked at Saturn first, eliciting considerable favorable comment in spite of the rather weak seeing. Jupiter was up next, the moons saving the day as all the detail on the planet was more or less messed up by the atmosphere (Jupiter having two equatorial bands most of the time, but 4 occasionally :-). One of them had never seen Jupiter's moons before, all all three were quite excited at the view. Now the mild panic sets in...what to show next??? Where are all those more experienced observers. Ulp.

Well, turns out one of them has named her horse Aquila, so she wanted to know where that constellation was. Found that quickly, pointing out the summer triangle, and in the process showed how to work a planisphere. This led to a short, find-the-constellation-in-the-sky lesson and how to find Polaris either from the Dipper or from Cassiopeia. We got off onto Greek mythology (Andromeda-Perseus-Cassiopeia-Cephus-Pegasus) as seen by various authorities ranging from Bulfinch to "Clash of the Titans". Going along with the theme, I put Perseus' Double Cluster and Andromeda's Great Galaxy on view during the discussion. Two more big hits. Not only the visual impact, but the few facts I could remember about them seemed to be appreciated, too. We stopped for a bit because the coyotes put on quite a chorus. There must have been half a dozen of them singing all at once. Finished up with M13 for a different type of object, and then they had to go. The horses were nervous, either because of the coyotes or because the pigs had invaded the camp area to munch on the horses' hay (as had happened in the past).

So, there I was, alone in the dark again. Good grief, what a change in a year. I didn't even know M13 or Double Cluster existed a year ago, let alone where in the sky to find either. Nor could I have found Jupiter, Saturn, and M31, for that matter. Not only that, I could star hop all over the place with some confidence now; certainly couldn't then.

Went back to Cassiopeia clusters. Tirion shows a small cluster (no number) right next to 24-Cass, but I could not find it against the Milky Way. Went after 381 and 358 next; both are near 27-Cass and were found without much difficulty. They're worth a look, small but sparkly. Down to 37-Cass and thence to nearby M103, Tr1, 654, 653, and 669. Former two were very evident, and nice to see again. The latter three are very subtle and hard to pick out of the dense star backgrounds. I think I got one of the three.

Now about this time, I noticed a bit of fuzziness. Turns out my battery for the dew zapper was running low, and not much time remained because there was definitely going to be a heavy fall of dew (it was all over the roll-a-table, and the star chart was limp). Since I'd already revisited all the clusters I'd been able to find in January (plus others), I resolved to find a couple of new things. Ah, not far away was M76, supposedly a hard object to see. But it was actually fairly easy. There wasn't a giant amount of detail (well, OK, none at all), but the grey patch was right where it should be near phi-Perseus. Scootled down the Perseus-Andromeda border to M34, another new object to me. Sparkly cluster, if a bit soft-edged as my battery lost the battle with the advancing dew. Tried for galaxy 891, but it was out for the evening. Well, actually it was probably hiding behind the wall of greyness that now occupied my corrector plate; the battery had given up the last few electrons. Time to quit.

Great night.