Five planets on the Peak

by Jamie Dillon

Saturday night on Fremont's Peak was fun for the company and occasional thrills. When Bartolini rolled just after dark, the sky proceeded to clear, and when Rashed bailed around 11 or so, the south and east opened up.

Especially Capricornus. Yup, podners, this rookie saw outer planets for the very first time. Nilesh and I whiled away a good hour tracking Uranus and Neptune. Czerwinski put up with more than one set of questions. Uranus turned up at two eyepiece fields (at 50x) east of theta Cap. Neptune wasn't near as easy, but with Bob's help showed up in the same field as sigma Cap, a wide double. Neptune was just southwest of the star.

Rookies note: Sky and Telescope went on about how easy they are to spot. The color shows up at low mag, but to see a disk, esp with Neptune, I had to crank up to 170x. This was all with Felix the 11" Dobs.

Didn't learn the guy's name, but the 25" sure showed as a beautiful instrument. The Veil was breathtaking, bright and full of structure. Aperture won.

Clouds did come and go, so it wasn't in fact a night for great science. With Mars starting off the festivities, though, Saturn and Jupiter made it in before things got socked in completely.

Once Saturn was over the trees, no one who was left looked at anything else. No one got over the shadow of the planet on the rings. The Encke division was visible for parts of a second at a time, but the overall pose was captivating. Jupiter showed all kinds of color, with the Great White Spot all showy (my first time seeing it). The Galileans were in an interesting staggered pattern, all off to one side.

Liam was the only kid up there that night, but the dudes were real good to him. Le Fevre and Liam talked Legos, Rashad kept showing him stuff, and Czerwinski let Liam work his not inconsiderable machine, showing teaching style and kind patience.

Big fun.

Looking forward to Saturday next, newish moon and all.