Montebello felt like true spring or summer last night. Warm, no dew, wind not too bad, transparency only fair, but seeing that was pretty good, particularly later in the night when Mars was high. We had four people show up, with scopes including two ten inch reflectors, one 7 inch, a C8, and a Televue Ranger. Lots of eyepiece trading, filter testing, and comparison views as the night went on.
Following up on Bill Arnett's postings earlier in the day, we were able to pick out Omega Centauri and the Centauri A active radio galaxy above the horizon around midnight. Omega was a large cloud with some resolution. Even through all the muck at the horizon, I could make out the wide dark band in the Centauri A galaxy with the 7 inch Starmaster.
Higher up, I had some of the best views I have ever had of Mars. Lots of surface detail, dark and bright areas, and the northern polar cap showing clearly at powers running between 200 and 400x. It was fun watching the changes in Mars as the night went on, with Syrtis Major and Hellas rotating towards the limb, then out of view, and new features appearing with even steadier views later on.
By 3 am the summer triangle, Sagittarius and the milky way were up. I had been working on the Hershel 400 list during the night, but finished by revisiting some old favorites in the summer constellations. A bright meteor burned up right next to M8 in my finder around 3 am, providing a dramatic finale to a great night.
Conditions were still warm, calm, steady and beautiful when the last two of us reluctantly left just after 3 am. Let's hope nights like this are a new trend in the local observing conditions.