Being that I only have next Friday night for
astronomy, I figured that having two short MB nights consecutively would
be a reasonable way to make up for my pending loss. Like Marek said, it
was getting gusty as the night went on. My leaving at 11:30 surely
caused the wind to subside. For that you're welcome. My Kydex baffle
was slapping one of my truss poles and ringing like a bell. However,
early on Saturn was putting on a nice show and the globs were stunning
despite the lack of darkness. The inter-galactic wanderer ngc 2419 would
just barley resolve @ 270x. I actually got to sit and sketch some
objects and am developing a couple techniques for doing so. I found a
couple neat planetaries, ngc 4361 in Corvus and 2371 in Gem. At 270x,
2371's bi-nucleus showed clearly and appears to have some lobes
possibly created by pole jets? Galaxies were lacking just as you would
expect at MB but they were still fun to check out. The antenna 4039
@No-Spam was interesting with its heart shape and I'll put that on the dark
site list. I logged about 15 new objects and had a good time doing so.
At one point Pete was helping me to understand SLR astrophotography but
a very nice ranger showed up and we got off track. I'll need to bug him
again next time I see him (get ready Pete).
Now, on to business.. I have a darn near mint 41 Pan
that I will put on Astro-mart soon but I thought I would offer it to a
taco first. It is an excellent eyepiece and has the same corrective
abilities found in the Nagler type 6's. With my old/sold C8 - C11 it's a
sharp to the edges, contrasty and engaging ep but for my medium size
dobs, the exit pupil better suited for a nocturnal animal. Contact me
off list if your interested.
Another great night of learning at MB with Marek and Pete. Thanks
guys!