by Stefan Frank
I am a regular reader even though I had no choice to join you yet (will change soon since I will have overnight babysittes for four weeks now ...), but I thought you might be interested in my little OI from yesterday.
Since I had no chance to see the comet yet, I decided yesterday that I have to see it no matter what. The street where I live is aligned exactly in E-W direction, so from the backyard, the lower western sky is always blocked by houses and trees. Thus, when I arrived home at 7:15 pm, I set up my 8" dob right on the side of the street facing the headlights of all neighbours coming home from work smack under a bright streetlight. It was quite funny to see all the cars slowing down dramatically since they were not sure whether my dobby is a grenade launcher or a speeding trap ...
Anyway, even with light pullotion like hell, a non-pyrex Dob completely out of thermal equilibirum, and cars nearly shining into the eyepiece, the views were spectacular. Nicely defined center, a beatifull huge tail and some bluish tone.
I post this, beacuse this session was successfull in a second respect as well. Nearly all immediate neighbours dropped by and had a look as well and this was the chance to mention the effect of their outside lights. A comet like this is one of the very few objects which is very impressive even for a non trained eye from a light polluted region. Realisticly, you can impress people only with the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and maybe the Orion nebula with their non-adapted eyes and the light dome you face in Saratoga.
Thus, I just want to remind you use your chance to get some neighbours hooked. I was rewarded by my neighbours with a zero-outside-light condition later this evening and thus the most beatiful views of Jupiter I ever achieved ...
Have fun everybody