Sub arcsecond seeing at MB tonight

by Rob Hawley

This was the first time I visited MB. I had avoided it in the past because I feared it would be too light polluted. Last night I wanted to look at 2P Encke so it was the perfect spot. I brought my 120 ST and rapidly found the comet. Bob's description was fair. I saw it in my 10" last Saturday at Coe, but I had waited to long then and it was in the San Jose crud. Last night it was obvious, but not impressive. I will have to keep my eye out for the other comet he mentioned.

Since I had a wide field scope I checked out some other large objects. The Veil showed up well using an O III filter. M31 and company looked great. The real surprise was M33. It was easy to see in the 120 down at CalStar. This was the first time I have seen it in a site near a city.

I also shared some time on Sean's and Kevin's scopes. We took a look at M42 and the Blue snowball.

In all it was a pleasant night with good company. The physical setup is better than Coyote since a low hill blocks lights from traffic on page mill. It is also no farther for me than Coyote. I am definitely going to try MB again.