by Peter Natscher
It was a great evening we all had last night at the Peak influenced by a lot of Moon Shine!!! I love this balmy summer weather we have up above the marine layer at this time of year. The moon and dusted-up Mars showed nicely in all of our scopes. Two 80A red filters at 420X in my binoviewer did cut through the martian dust a bit to reveal some surface detail. Even though we had a first quarter moon, I was easily able to directly see the few mag 14 stars that surround M57 with my 10" Mak-Cass scope. This scope has such good coatings and tube design, it eliminates much of the moon's bright glare in its field of view. I wish my eyes were that good.
Elena and Craig's towering 8" f/13 D&G achromat produced very sharp viewing. I was astonished about how quickly they had set up the 'transportable' giant. Now, that's what a telescope should look like.
I'm looking forward to meeting up with you and Jim, and everyone else, at the Peak soon again.