by James Turley
We had imagers, framers, printers up at MB last night. Only thing missing was customers :-)
We sure had Celestron's SCTs, though. Nothing else. 4 C8's, C9.25, C14. Even Phil C dropped in with Betsy, instead of his C11 and C5. A truly Dobless evening. A TAC first, I believe.
James was the only observer. Others were observing their laptops and Polar Aligning. Sterngold got polar aligned with a new CCD technique about the time La Luna rose at midnight :-)
Inspired by Albert's MM at MB last Saturday, I decided to try the objects in the order he reported. Except....I used a Goto on my C8. And the score....was:
| Albert | 60 Messiers, star hopping + 1 REAL Comet |
|---|---|
| James | 48 Messiers, GoTo + 1 REAL Comet |
I gave up trying to shoot M's in Ursa Maj. The Northern light dome was just too muckie. I suspect too, that Albert does not enjoy boxed wine as much as I do.
A great evening of chatter, flying goto's, Polar Aligning, TAC jokes, exposure data, battery madness, one green laser comment, and boxed wine...and HST stories. That is, Hunter S. Thompson, not Hubble :-)
And..oh yes...a poor young couple that got locked out of their car and had to wait 3 hours for AAA to find them. Luckily there was a pack of mad astronomers ready with heaters, blankets, and a view of a comet they'll never forget.