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I went to Foothills Park Saturday night for some weekend observing around the new moon. This is the first time I have observed from the Vista Hill site in the park. When I arrived around 8:15 pm, there were about a half dozen other scopes being set up, including an ETX, Questar, Televue 101, C8, Orion 6 inch Dob, and an Orion 10 inch Dob. A Pronto, another ETX, and a 6 inch Mak-Newt also got set up before the night was through, and I brought a 7 inch Starmaster Dob. Several of us expected to see William Phelps there with his big AP, but he didn't make it. Parking and setup space is fairly cramped on Vista Hill, and many observers scattered to the small circular bush-lined viewing circles located around the top of the hill. I was able to find a nice pod with a clear view to the South and Southwest, by far the darkest direction from this site. It was fairly breezy when I got there shortly after 8 pm, but the trees and bushes positioned near this particular circular cove helped block much of the wind.
Nestled in the lee of the cove, I began a search for Comet Lee. The comet has been moving rapidly north since its discovery in Australia a few weeks ago. It is now visible at our latitude for a couple hours after sunset (see http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html for more information and finder charts). It was a big, easy puffball on Saturday night, with no tail, but bright enough to be seen in anything from binoculars on up (mag 7.5 or so). I sketched it around 9:30 pm. An hour or so later I thought it had moved just slightly relative to field stars. I wanted to check it later still, but the same bushes and trees that helped blocked the wind, now blocked the view as the comet sank to the horizon.
Conditions actually improved markedly as the night went on, with warmer temperatures and very little wind after 11 oclock. By this time, however, almost everyone had gone. I stayed till about 1 am trying to work on the Hershel 400 list. From a near town site like Foothills, many of the dimmer galaxies on the list were unimpressive or impossible.. When Leo and Leo minor began to sink into the San Francisco light dome I finished up with some nice views of Mars, double stars, and old Messier favorites. The view of the night for me, though, was this new comet. Check it out in May or June if you haven't looked at it yet. It is predicted to reach mag 6.7 or so on its way to perihelion in mid July.