by Michelle Stone
Friday night was the best with excellent seeing generally, softening somewhat early in the morning. Skies were clear and dark. It was a great night for the exceptionally dim fuzzies. We also watched the moon tranists on Jupiter which was a nice diversion from the "hunt".
On Saturday we experienced the "Plettstone Effect" where the clouds split at the lake and go north and south of us. We watched the clouds "stop" at the southern, northern, and western horizons leaving us clear sky overhead for most of the night. We had several guests on Saturday night and it was the best event we've had so far this year. I believe that everyone had great success in pursuing their targets. I spent a great deal of time working on my dimmest Herschel targets that I have previously not been able to see. Up until this year I've been using an 18" scope. Last year, I moved down to a 15" of my own construction and recently put a ServoCat system on it. The drive system gives me great tracking and the ability to spend more time in any specific area of the sky. I find it a tremendous observing aid. I got every one I went after and I was absolutely thrilled. I also spent a great deal of time looking at Abel clusters. There were too many galaxies in my chosen objects to document.... but it was a great tour. I suppose that I'm going to have to print some sky survey photographs and go after the brightest members.
Sunday night was very good until shortly after midnight when clouds eventually did overtake us. But we got 4 and a half hours of excellent observing time in prior to that. Even after the clouds did come in, Rashad mounted up his binoviewer an set his scope on Jupiter. I have to say that it was one of the finest images I've seen of Jupiter.
The weather was very kind to us, temperatures were very comfortable, and the company was top notch. Thanks to everyone who attended!
Posted on sf-bay-tac Mon Mar 22 17:15:47 2004 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.0 Thu Jul 8 21:21:44 2004 PT