AGNFA!! What a night! The sky just kept getting better the closer I got to Eagle Bluff. All told, ten of us gathered for a spirited run at the Messier Marathon. Jeff and Garrarda, Starbie, Ellenvega and Mike Rowlands were already there, then me, Jerome & Jillissa Taubel arrived with Julie G, and finally Luka rolled in. Lots of good equiptment, Jeff's new Dob, Mike had his 16" Dob, the girls had their trusty 8" Dobs, Luka brought two pairs of binoculars, (the 22X85's were simply amazing!) And Jerome had his 11" Celestron back on line (until I stepped on the power cord at 11p.m.) Jerome's greatest accomplishment, however, was his wonderful COVERED, WARM, and red light LIT table that we used to battle the dew that lurked in the early evening and grew more menacing with each passing hour. It HAS to be the subject of a future RAC newsletter article.
Barb (Ellenvega) and I were the last to leave at 5:30 a.m. As bad as the dew was, she wasn't going to pull the pin until we set a new RAC record, and we did, ending up the night with 79 or 80 Messiers (I have to do a careful recount) beating the old RAC record by 4 or 5.
The sky was fabulous. If not for the dew, we'd have easily hit the 100 mark. (But that leaves plenty of room for a future Messier Marathon!)