by Mark Wagner
On Mon, 6 Nov 2000, Jamie Dillon wrote:
Not long after this, epic fog came over the hill in waves. By 11 we were in dense ground fog. There had been a sizable crowd there, at least 12 scopes, faces new and old. It hit me as I crawled down the hill after 1 AM that this was good fun, like it always is, no matter what the conditions. Plus I got my one new object for the night and now own the NGC's in Cassiopeia within SkyAtlas, except for a couple of diffuse nebulae that I at this point know nothing about. World without end.
It was fun, even with the fog and chill. I did a count and we had at least 18 telescopes set up in the lot. A very good turnout.
When the final wave of fog overcame the lot, and only a few of us remained (and ended up sleeping there in our vehicles), I looked up to see Jupiter's last rays dim out under the fog. We were done for the night. I looked up again at the sky, although not black, it was quite dark. I couldn't help but think of a universe with no stars. Heat death. Even the lack of stars gives us something to think about.
I can't wait for 3rd Q!
Here's my list from last Saturday:
The moon and planets were spectacular at times. Ken had so many barlows on his 18" Dob it was unbelievable. We were observing Jupiter and Saturn at over 700X. Saturn was showing detail in my scope at over 1100x. But obviously, the best views were at closer to 400x.
I short but pleasant night...