Swamp observing

by Matthew Buynoski


Because of the dreaded "committments" I couldn't get anywhere to observe last night except the back yard. Now, it turns out we've had the tree-trimmers in, so I'm no longer restricted to the tiny strip of sky between the house and the fence, but have a view to the NW to SW as well (where a large sycamore branch used to be).

So. Out I go, with two little mounts to play with (see previous note) and spend most of my time fussing with them and seeing how they work. But, in the one hour and a half before the dew got me (did I forget to mention the standing water all over the back yard???), it sure was nice to see some stars, a couple of clusters, and Saturn again.

Took a while to clean the tripod feet off with the hose before I could bring them back in. They'd both sunk about an inch (these were lightly loaded tripods folks...a Ranger and binocs) into the goo...

As I write this (Sunday at noon) it's raining again....


Posted on sf-bay-tac Jan 18, 1998 12:17:34 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Feb 15, 2005 19:48:14 PT