Hi all, hope your weekend was not a total bust. Down here in SoCal we got one out two days. Saturday, star party night was a bust with high clouds everywhere. last night (Sunday) was awesome. Funny, I was practically alone out there! 8(

My question:

Is there a long thin rift to one side of the GRS in the belt in which the GRS resides. Sorry if that sounded amateurish. However if I said, "To the right of the GRS in a SCT using a prism diagonal?", I'd still sound amateurish. Well, I *am* an amateur! 8) I still have a heck of a time with directions when using AltAz.

Rich Neuschaefer writes:
> No problem! If you get a chance, see if if the rift in the SEB
> (southern equatorial belt) on the following side of the GRS
> is made of a string of small white ovals. This year
> there have been some white ovals following the GRS.

Thanks Rich! I was beginning to think:

1. I offended everyone.
2. Everyone was P. O'd that there was a clear night down here (Saturday and Last night [Monday] were 'busts'.
3. No one looks at Jupiter. (I thought you and Bill A. do).

8) 8) 8)

Assuming I am using them correctly (GIGO), Skytools 1.0 and JupSat95 confirm the GRS was on the western limb at 18:00 PST Sunday the 17th (eastern visually but I was using a prism 90* star diagonal). Good to see that my observation was 'accurate'. I think it must have been the string of ovals you mention. They (it) was just at the limit of the scope, and sky conditions (and my observing skills!). They were 'east' of the GRS (again presuming I get my directions correct and were in the northern protion of the SEB. (as opposed to being centered.)

Right after Jupiter I cruised on over to Saturn and observed Titan, Tethys, and Rhea in a nice triangular arrangment and saw glimpses of Dione. Had only I took a look at the configuration before hand I could have tried to see Enceladus and Mimas. I suspect with Dione coming and going I'd have failed to spot those two!

The rest of the night I spent cruising the winter Milky Way. I pulled over into 30 or so scenic overlooks to look at open clusters from Cepheus to Puppis using my 20mm University Optics wide scan (64x) and on occasion my just aquired 8.8mm Meade UWA (145x). I also logged a few planetaries that I am sure Jay could find with binoculars, but gave me a devil of a time (2440 in Puppis). I only logged three galaxies all night, M31, M33, and M108 (just because it was next door to M97). I packed it in about 3am as the "music" Wayne Johnson (aka Mr. Galaxy) was playing up in the OCA observatory was making me sleepy. I believe of the four people I saw there at Anza that night only the two of us were still awake. Wayne plays some "interesting" music.