Martha's Vineyard with binocs

by Jamie Dillon

Yo, TACos, Jo and Liam and I are in the middle of an East Coast jaunt, catching up with friends and friendly family. Cloudy skies have cleared the last couple of nights here; been out playing with the old trusty 7x50's. Caught Mercury, Venus and Saturn in a tight triangle last night, all in a single 5 degree field of the binocs. Mercury and Venus were still there tonight, but Saturn was in the haze off the ocean.

The Whirlpool was there tonight, along with the big globulars, M4, M3, M5 and the two bright big ones in Ophiuchus, M10 and M12. Yes I know there are other Messier globulars in Ophiuchus, but I didn't bring any charts. What I get for leaving even Karkoshka behind. Still easy to run down past the Wild Duck to the Eagle and the Swan. Teapot still behind the trees, till I get back out there.

I think I caught up with the big Messier galaxy between Cor Caroli and Chara, again better get with a chart. Let this be a lesson, first time in years I've travelled without a starchart, never do it again. Once again playing with the idea of following Jardine's example and going after the AL Binoc Messier pin.

Fireflies were out all over the place. Both Jo and I did a chunk of our growing up here back East, and along with friends and seafood, I do miss the lightning bugs. Here they've been all thru the woods this week. One got into the house last night and was flashing in the hall. Appears to have snuck back out.

Clear skies to the Animal in Oz!

Posted on sf-bay-tac Jun 25, 2005 20:36:03 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Sep 25, 2005 07:56:33 PT