Even if conditions weren't the best in the world last night, it sounds like those of you who did make it out to a relatively dark-sky site had a lot of fun. I have my wonderful 11 year-old daughter with me every other weekend, so I can't always head for a dark(er) sky site whenever I'd like.

So although my 12" LX200 coffee grinder still awaits first light, with the encouragement of my daughter, I took my battle-scarred 10" SCT out to the street about 6:30pm last night to do a little looking around. As the closest house to the Branham Lane light-rail station here in San Jose, well, on *really* good nights I can see 3rd mag. stars. Yes, I violated the location-location-location rule: I'm at the end of a court, two soundwalls (Hwy. 87 & Branham Ln.) mark the back corner of my backyard, and the Capitol Expressway/Auto Mall is half a mile away as well (love them searchlights!), so you can imagine the sky conditions.

Anyway, with all the neighborhood kids coming around (despite the light pollution I'm in an absolutely *wonderful* neighborhood), and finally their parents, we had a great time just looking at the likes of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Orion nebula. About 20 people in total looking through the scope; my own personal star-party. Seeing the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn were first-time experiences for most of the folks. A couple of the adults really got into it, and so I took 'em on a brief tour of a few of the brighter M/NGC items that weren't blocked by two-story homes, trees, and/or lights at the end of my court. We spent about two hours looking around and, despite the limited sky view, it was a *very* rewarding experience.