by James Turley
At 6PM Sat, packed up with scopes and ready to rumble, looking up at the darkening sky and 90% cloud cover in Saratoga, I canceled my plans to observe near Dino with Phil T and friends. After drinking too much sake at a local Japanese pub in Saratoga, on the way home, I noticed the a bright clear blue patch over Montebello, and remembered the PAS post about a Star Party there on Vista Hill. What the heck...so I headed N. on 280 into the setting sun, with no expectations other than a beautiful sunset over the valley.
Was I wrong! As the evening got progressively cooler, the seeing got better and better. I arrived to see William Phelps had set up his 7" AP Starfire, almost the only scope, but with a line of youngsters and parents peering for a bino view of the 7% New Moon. Petavius at 320x. Waiting for Mars, and the clouds to clear.
I set up my Brass Monkey (a Ranger) next to William, and chased glory holes over a surprisingly dark Valley.
By 9PM, the sky had opened up to the south, Mars punching through the thin clouds. Even the Monkey showed a great Mars at 90x, providing an interesting contrast to the his neighbor, the magnificent 7" Refractor, standing 8 feet tall nearby. Some kids, a young girl on her 19th birthday, and many others were treated to a First Mars. Andrew Pierce showed up later, and set up is C9.25. An ETX90, and a ST120 (surprising good, but at power, showed Mars with a thick violet halo, as would be expected by a too fast achro).
Mars got better and better. By 11pm, near transit, almost as high as Antares, we were able to see Chaos, and clearly defined N/S Polar regions. With the CM at this position, there was little detail to observe. But...such a joy to just step over the that wonderful 7" instrument, at will, and peer through the Zeiss Binoviewer (barlowed pair 10mm Radians) at 540x, without waiting.
Toward 1am, only Andrew, William, and myself were left. Mars was getting better. As I was about to leave, I heard a loud "Wow"!...William had located Deimos, position verified from StarryNight's animation. No occulting bar, but with Mars just out of field, moving RA up and down, a bright speck, at the correct position, moved. Andrew confirms. Wow! oh Wow!
This is what astronomy is all about. You arrive somewhere, looking up at clouds, ready to leave. instead, you relax a little, let the setting sun make those clouds beautiful, take a deep breath, and see what happens.
In this case, the evening ended in wonderful excitement, getting better and better, and my best Mars ever.