What with the recent rains, I had not been out observing in almost 2 months. So when there was a highly probable no-cloud forecast for the 19th, though "they" warned it would be cold, it was off to Grant Ranch for the HVAG starparty. Others must have taken the cold forecast with a more California-esque view of things, because by sundown there were only two of us, and only 6 scopes were set up at the height of the proceedings. There was a little high cloudiness well to the south as the sun set, but otherwise the sky was clear as a bell. It was a little cool as the sun set.
My plan for the evening was to attend to those portions of the Milky Way I had not yet gotten to, Sirius and south of there, plus a short section around the Perseus-Auriga border. Since Orion wasn't coming up until a bit later, I thought I'd start with the gas giants, some old favorites, and the Perseus-Auriga stuff and get to the main event later.
Started with Jupiter not long after sunset. Seeing wasn't too bad, allowing use of 230X (9mm ep). Many bands were readily visible, and the Great Pale Spot hollow was present, though the spot was shy. Three moons to one side, one to the other, all well away from the planet. Saturn was showing one band, Cassini division most of the time most of the way around, a nick in the rings where the planet cast its shadow. There was also a darkish line above the ring where it crossed in front of the disc, which possibly was the ring shadow on Saturn, but it was awful thin and I'm not sure if it was real or some sort of optical illusion.
By now it was, well, crisp out. Ron, the guru-leader-guiding light of HVAG, came over from the ranger station and, in the course of the coversation, told us it was a balmy 26 degrees (F). This only an hour or so after sundown. Denials. Astonishment. In California??? I put the earflaps of my hat down.
Old favorites time! Dug out the diffraction grating and looked at Capella. The H-beta line was fairly evident, with the H-gamma also occasionally easily visible. In moments of steady seeing, there were fairly certain hints of two lines in the yellow-orange (sodium?). I could not see the H, K lines of Ca however, which should have been well into the violet. Double cluster next, pleasantly spending time just absorbing photons, and later demonstrating eyepieces, as one of the other astronomers present wanted to see what things looked like through Pentax XLs. M31 after that, using averted vision to see the farther out parts from the nucleus.
Thence to the Milky Way. I started at Capella and star-hopped over to 1664, a small cluster nearly on the galactic equator. Nice, but not a show stopper. Next was 1582, a fairly large and dispersed cluster a couple of degrees away. This one was not terrifically different from the Milky Way background, but you could see a thicker grouping of stars in the star charted location. Via 53 and 51 Persei, it was off to 1513, a small cluster, pretty obvious but faint. Back to the galactic equator, and 1545, another fairly obvious but not too bright grouping. Right next door is 1528, and this one is worth the time to look up. It is bright and large, altogether a pleasant view.
I was using the new edition of Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000, and it now plots some dark nebulae. Since Mr. Tirion put them in, I felt constrained to try one, and chose B12. There weren't any stars where it was supposed to be (near 1 Camelopardalis), so I suppose I saw it, or rather, didn't see it (Just how do you report seeing something that you can't see?). However, there was nothing like a very sudden or distinct boundary to it, either. Not too exciting.
If dark nebulae are a washout, how about bright ones? Tried 1491 next. I found a fuzzy spot around a faint star. I was suspicious that the fuzziness might be due a little moisture on the corrector, so I went to look at the front of my SCT. No moisture on the glass (dew zapper going) but oh, my, there was sparkly frost all over the outside of the dew cap. Having checked that it wasn't due to condensation, I went back to looking at that fuzzy spot. I checked a couple of stars nearby of roughly the same or brighter magnitude--no fuzzies around them. Only the one faint star had a "halo", so I suppose that was 1491. Not a show- stopper folks, but if you like faint fuzzies, this fits the category.
Moving right along...
Next stop was cluster 1441, which is "easy" to find because it sits right on top of a plotted star. However, when I got there, it was nowhere to be seen. Absolutely nothing, not a hint, not a trace. So I looked for Sh2-205, a nebula right in the same area. Nothing of it, either. Well, phoo. Time for a break.
Others were going down the Milky Way in the opposite direction, through Auriga. So I went off and stole a lot of looks at the bright clusters there, plus a look at M1. M1 was easy to see (though not much detail) in either the 8" or 4.5" scope pointed at it. M35's companion cluster, 2158, however, was not found (and we were in the right place because this scope had digital setting circles on it). So...proof that 2158 can be harder to "get" than M1. I'd suspected that, but it ran counter to all that stuff I'd read about M1 being so hard to see. Interesting. There was a pair of Czech 6x30 binocs someone had picked up for a trifling price. Looked at Pleiades and was rewarded with a plesantly sharp view in the center of the field (a little softer at the edges). He got quite a deal. These were some sort of military surplus and had a scaled reticle, so you could actually see angular displacements in them. It was not so obvious as to be an esthetic distraction, either.
Now comes Orion! It was up and beginning to get tempting. But, in the space of a very few minutes, Orion went from being bright and sparkly to being fuzzy and washed out. Clouds, high, fairly thin, moving in from the N and NE, had begun overrunning the eastern horizon and, when we looked, the north and some were even behind us to the NW. The San Jose light dome just about exploded into unwanted brilliance as it began to reflect off the clouds. We faced the grim sight of the entire sky being eaten up; even as we watched, the clouds advanced relentlessly. At first we kept kidding each other that it's just blow by... Wrong. It got thicker. Those that hadn't looked at Jupiter and Saturn yet got in a look or two before the sky closed up completely, and then everyone packed up. It was 8PM. The grass was crunchy underfoot as we carried our stuff (most of it coated with frost) back to the cars.
Equipment report: Columbia boots. This was the first time I'd used my new boots for a session. After finally deciding that my giant over-shoe mukluks were just too clumsy (and not all that warm, either), I went to REI and got a pair of ankle-high Columbia hiking boots rated to -25F. These come with thinsulate linings, and are rubberized partway up (leather above that). They have the somewhat ridiculous name of "Bugabootoo", but there is nothing silly about how they keep your feet warm. On this night, when those wearing other hiking boots were reporting very cold feet, I did not even feel coolness--let alone cold--on my toes. (Total footwear in use: cotton inner sock, wool outer sock, boots). The great advantage these boots have, over say Sorels (which rate to -50F) is that they are much lighter and less clumsy to wear. They are actually quite comfortable. Recommended.