by Matthew Buynoski
It was crowded on Halley Hill last night. We had three tripod-mounted binoculars (11X80, 2 20X80's), one large dob (looked 16" or 18", but didn't get the size),one refractor, and six SCT's (1-14", 3-8", 2-5"). It's possible this count missed a scope or two, as some people arrived after sunset and may have set up where I couldn't see them. Besides the scopes and their owners in a fairly small area, a large number of campers (all the campgrounds were full to the brim) trekked up the hill.
Conditions were mixed. The seeing was not very good, with an evident breeze on and off during the evening (Mars was bouncing around all over). Transparency, on the other hand, was good. It must have been low humidity, since the light dome from the city to the west was considerably less evident than it usually is, and there was no fog in the valley. That fits with the lack of dew; it didn't show up, and then not heavily, until after 11PM.
The observing itself was reasonably standard. A large number of the M-crowd "usual suspects" were rounded up for close inspection by the assembled multitude. The crowd was eager, many stayed unusually late, and lined up (5 to 8, typ.) for everything presented. Lots of questions on equipment, too.
Equipment was sort of a highlight in itself. Of the 6 SCT's, only the 14" was "fully manual". One 8" had digital setting circles, but the other 4 were automated, and three of those were seeing first light: LX90, Nextar 8, and Nextar 5. New owners were busy familiarizing themselves with the electronics, working their way through alignment procedures, and then being tickled pink by object after object rolling into view...once they knew what to aim at. Some early lessons on how to use a star atlas and suggestions from several of the more experienced amateurs got them started up the learning curve.
Overall, a giant success. The evening went by almost in a flash, or so it seemed.