Hello astronomy fans! I made it out to my favorite spot after an eight night hiatus. I got my last observation of Saturn in until it passes superior conjuntion. It is simply too low and murky to get anything but a look at the rings and Titan. The rings appear to be getting quite flat.
Jupiter, on the other hand was very special. Three Galileans, all west of the planet looked great and it appeared that the inner one was closing. No shadow transit or GRS, but as the night wore on, the starfield in Sagittarius that Jupiter sits in became very apparent. Absolutely beautiful! 8)
I nailed three globulars in Ophiuchus for my Herschel hunt before the Moon came up. The best one was NGC 6293. That one has some resolution of the stars and sits in a pretty starfield.
When the Moon came up, I viewed it in binoculars and noted its position relative to where I was at. I have to do that again in a month during the same phase and see how much it changes position on the horizom for the Lunar II program. Should be fun! 🙂