by James Turley
Conditions were very nice last night Tue, 6/12/01 at MB Ridge. Phil T, Archer, and myself were the only scopes. Temperatures stayed in the high 50's, RH was in the 60's. The sky seemed about LM 5.5. Later, we could see the Great Rift of the Milky Way dancing through Sag.
Ranger Brandon stopped by. He owns a Meade LX200 8". Very atro savvy. Told him to get on the night shift so he could get paid while hanging with us. He like that idea, a lot. I'll mention it to his boss.
Archer spent some time shaking down his new Tak Sky90 and PZ2 mount in prep for the Eclipse in Mad. What an instrument! Compact, beautiful, and expensive. Like most things Japanese. Almost clean split An tares.
Mars steadier then usual, but still a blob. Hellas mostly, and a few dark Mares. Archer taught me not to confuse Hellas with the South Pole. Be sure to check out the Mars Previewer at http://www.skypub.com/resources/software/basic/basic.html#mars. It's really a "must have" for Mars observations. Reverse or Invert. Draw pole orientations. Click on features. ID Central Meridian. Very nice.
Phil cruised the Milky Way in some great Nikon binos, while film imaging the Ring, Lagoon. We are both resisting a MX7C. Don't know how long that can last.
James was on First Light shake down voyage with his new baby shiny Brass ED OTA and futzing around with his laptop in the field. A lot of Globs.
Wind 5 knots at Sunset, tapering down to calm by 10pm.
The object of the evening was the "Little Jewel Box" in Scorpio, NGC 6231. A fine target for the Sky90. Colorful twinkling jewels. Twinkling, I guess, cause this OC is so low.
We all left around 2am, just as a beautiful Golden Half La Luna rose, and the coyotes started to h owl in earnest, closely. On the way home, gazing up at the clear sky, almost hit a 12 point Buck in velvet. Biggest I've ever seen up there, ever. Be careful. Phil saw a Grey Fox earlier.
A fine quiet evening at MB Ridge.