by Matthew Marcus
The clouds receded, leaving mostly clear sky, so we weren't skunked. However, the fog rolled in at midnight, driving everybody home.
We had a good group; Robert, Dave Staples, a couple of other regulars whose names I can't pull out, and a largish contingent from the Berkeley Astronomers (Yi-Zen's bunch, the UC-Berkeley group). We showed them some of the Standard Eye Candy objects including Saturn and Jupiter, which we just managed to get before the fog rolled in.
For me, the highlight of the evening was working with Robert to find Stefan's Quintet and the Pegasus I cluster in his 17.5" Dob. I'm spoiled by using setting circles (manual, not digital or GOTO) all the time, so I had to learn where these things actually are. However, we did find them and I got to see all 5 of the quintet instead of the lumpy darkness I see in my C8. In Peg. I, we had fun galaxy-hopping the way you do in downtown Virgo. I got to see (but didn't log) my first UGC galaxy. We used the photo in the November S&T for navigation.
I only logged 2 objects (galaxies from the edge-on list in S&T), but it was a good night under the stars just the same. Thanks, Yi-Zen and friends for coming out, and I hope to see you in the dark again.
mam