July 25, 2009: D.A.R.C. Observatory

Dennis Beckley

Just up and unpacked from another outstanding night down at DARC. Great group of people (Julien Lecomte, Ari, Shane, Renato, Caroline, and the wild and crazy newbie engineering students from Stanford. Temps in the low 70's, light cool breeze, clear and transparent skies (L.M 6.8) The skies were really steady and I was using up to 800x frequently throughout the night

Used the night to re-introduce myself to my 18 inch dob and platform prior to leaving for the Oregon Star party in late Augut.

Really a memorable night seeing the black spot on Jupiter, two comets (W3 and 22P), the central star in the Ring and Neptune's moon Triton (a first for me). I think a real breakthrough in personal observing is getting used to using high power on dim objects. The platform really helps here. Spent a lot of the night showing the Stanford newbies a summer sky tour of the more interesting objects.

A big thanks to co-owner Lee Hoglan for letting us use his private site and for providing me with counter-weights and a spare TelRad when I managed to leave home without them! The external power for my laptop was also a nice touch.

Dennis Beckley