4/17-18 Peak Wx

by Mark Taylor


It was a warm, comfortable Saturday at The Peak. There were high clouds all morning, but they started disappearing to the south in the afternoon. By sunset they were all but gone.

The seeing came and went, and the clarity was slightly diminished by moisture... but it really wasn't too bad a night (especially considering the last 4 months or so!)

I was using 250x or more for much of my Mars viewing, which was at times too much for the conditions. I also got nice views of some Messier objects and enjoyed seeing Scorpius rising again.

It was great being out under the stars with friends once again, and also nice to be wearing shorts all night again!

A mild breeze persisted all night, creating a wind-chill of probably 5 or 10 degrees. The actual temps only dropped to just under 60 degrees in the wee hours, but were back to about 63 by 7:30 when I woke up. Interestingly it was only about 53 at the bottom of the hill at 9:00. Inversion layers starting already?

Looking forward to more!