I almost fell over when I got out of my car Friday night! What a sky!! Mark & Pat came by and said, "Party at our cabin." Forget the party!! Let's observe!! So, as Rich said, we did. We mostly tested the dark sky with familiar objects.
Saturday night was wonderful to be under such a dark, clear sky. While Mark wasn't looking, I went to his 18" Obsession. From Rigel, I went down to Ic402 and NGC 1779. I figured out the star patterns from HB. It wasn't that hard, but I let out a whoop because my batting average has been quite low. Very faint guys and I was proud to recognize star patterns to reach them.
Crossing the border into Eridanus, I started with went to NGC 1618, 1622, and 1625. Very nice galaxies with 1625 edge on (?). Now, between 1622 and 1618 to the north (probably 4:34, -2:9) there are a pair of galaxies that are shown in HB but not identified. I saw one of them; the other probably off the charts in magnitude. I ask Bob to check The Sky on his computer, but it didn't say what they were. Does anyone know their numbers?
Going SE from those galaxies, there were stars in the form of an arrow that pointed to galaxies NGC 1609, 1611, 1612, and 1613. Small and faint!! Fun to find! Further down, I had a difficult time tracking down the clusters of galaxies there (Mark was back using his scope so I went to my 10"), but I did see Ic373, NGC 1600 and its companions 1601, 1603, and 1604. Most of these here are mag 14. In that group, NGC 1607 should have been an easy find, but it alluded me as did NGC 1599. Next time...
I want to say that I had the faith the size of a mustard seed that Saturday night was going to be great. I "knew" there would be a window between storms. But to have Friday night be so clear and Saturday night better than I imagined, was a real gift! We found Harris Creek boat launch parking lot to be a superb spot. It looks just like Dinosaur Point's parking lot. This could well be the preferred observing grounds over the baseball field in the overload camping area. It has flushable toilets (with seat liners!) and good horizons. (The former being of greater importance! ;-) With the eagle tour, hiking on the ridge for more flora and fauna, backgammon, and a late lunch in San Juan Bautista, I enjoyed one heck of a weekend with my son, his girlfriend, and the rest of this fantastic TAC crew. Thanks to all for a great time!