Jeff, could you or someone at Eagle Bluff take some photos of this gathering and send them to me via email. I had surgery this week and hence bed ridden. It would be for our newsletter.
Darn, I’m in Texas until the 14th so I won’t be able to come. (I might get to see STARSHIP launch #3 however as I am 45 min. from Starbase in Mission TX.)
I did get some images the other night of 12P Pons-Brook below M32 and above Alpheratz. Could see it in a 7 power finder and looked interesting in the 80mm refractor and photographed well.
Also had my first look at the Leo triplet galaxies M66 (also imaged below)
It was a great night! I got 77 x 30s exposures of M81 and M82, with somewhat less time and worse tracking on the Pleiades. My initial stacks + stretches are below, but I would like to eventually try using siril and starnet++ to bring out the galaxies and reflection nebula without fattening the stars.
Nice M81 and M82 and Pleiades Rob! Did you get those while at Eagle Bluff?
I thought our members might be interested in a picture I took today in Boca Chica State Park in Texas. Yup it’s SpaceX’s Starship at it’s launch site, hopefully awaiting launch this week. Unfortunately I’ll be on the road returning to MN and not able to stay for the launch. Nevertheless, the visit today was very exciting; you could literally drive up to within a few hundred feet from the rocket! SpaceX’s Starbase was a beehive of activity with lots of construction vehicles and workers and many visitors.