Hello everyone. I got out for four hours tonight. I checked out my new 13mm Televu Ethos. WONDERFUL! You should have seen M3, M13, M42/M43, M41, M35, M82 and Saturn through that eyepiece. I had a lot of fun checking out my old favorites of the Obvious Stuff.
I got observations of Mars and Vesta, and nailed NGC 2811 for the Herschel 400. I tried for an hour to pick out NGC 2974 in Sextans, but I just could not see it. Conditions weren't the absolute best tonight to be sure. I HAVE to nail that galaxy down, because it is one that could "slide past the meridian" if I don't get it during this dark sky period.
An old buddy of mine drove by on his four wheeler tonight and I showed him a bunch of stuff. Bill picked out a satelitte and we even briefly saw a few streaks of Northern Lights tonight. That was the first I've seen of that since Nov. 2006, I think. I'll have to check my journals. Betty and the kids are sleeping and I didn't want to wake them by bringing my stuff in.
It was a great night!