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Heck yeah, I'd be in favor of Sept. 28th at Root River. There are already fire pits and a port-a-potty there.
Hopefully the Park Rangers would stop by to get a better "look" at what we like to do.
I called Eagle Bluff and they have absolutely nothing going on this weekend. I have the bathroom code as well.
Either EB or Root River Park are OK by me Fri. night. It will just be nice to hang out with all of you again.
I got out for 2 hours Thurs. morning (a week ago) and nabbed Kemble's Cascade, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Alpha Persei Association, Aldebaran and the Hyades, then finished with the Moon. 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. I hadn't been out at that time of night in a looooooogn time. 2 packs of coyotes, 1 hoot owl.
Oh, I also looked at Vega. Beautiful star with attendants. However, between Vega and Epsilon Lyra there was a patch of nebulosity that would not move. About the same location of XY Lyrae. (XY is the designation, I think. A variable star anyway. Is there a comet in that area? I'm a little rusty getting back into observing.
I got out Monday night for two and a half hours. I actually got in some really dark sky observing because of the waning Moon and was the sky ever spectacular. I finally nabbed Antares and M4 (an easy fit for my FOV) and M6 and M7 in Scorpius. I can see why M6 is called "the Butterfly Cluster". Both open star clusters were very enjoyable. I 'climbed the ladder' of the Milky Way, M22, M8, M20, M24 the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (a real binocular treat) and M17 the Swan Nebula.
As wonderful as all of that was, what really tripped my trigger was all of the dark nebula I came across. They were very pronounced in my 25X100's.
I finished with a look at M31, the Andromeda Galaxy and its' companion, M32. What a Glorious Night For Astronomy!
P.S. The Moon came up just as I finished packing up to go home. Another time!
Wonderful news, John! I think we have a spot for a 2019 Sorta-Annual Star BQ, weather providing.
The CSC is showing a chance for observable skies tonight. If so, I will go out locally and try get my first Moonrise through my Celestron 25X100 binoculars.
Root River State Park WAS wonderful. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people showed up.
I really like my Celestron 25X100 binoculars and the Orion Monster Paralellogram Mount. I got out last Tuesday for an hour and 2 and a half hours on Thursday night. I'm still learning how to get the best operational use out of them, but am making good progress on that.
You should see The Coathanger, Collander 399 through them! That asterism fills the whole field of view. I also got a terrific look at Alcor and Mizar. Very impressive. I can even split Mizar A and B. I did not expect that.
See you Tuesday at the meeting.
Eagle Bluff is available for both Friday and Saturday. They have some young people there taking firearms safety, but the parking lot lights will be off. No bathroom code yet, but staff will be on hand.
I can't make it tonight, we have military graveside rites for a 21 yr. old that lost his life on the USS Oklahoma in Rushford tomorrow. The sailor died in the Pearl Harbor attack and I need to be well rested. This will be one for the ages because there will be color guards from Lake City all the way to Wisconsin and Iowa.
I can make it tomorrow night, but I hope the RAC has a good turnout tonight. Have a Glorious Night for Astronomy!
[See other note 6-9-18
mark your calendars…Sat night June 16 will be clear as a bell.
i went against my better judgement and took a Sunday 17th am
shift for a co-worker 🙁
[/quote][quote author=sregener link=topic=233.msg1550#msg1550 date=1207133619]
I'd found NGC 2371/2 a few months back on a pretty good night. With a filter, they were moderately bright even in the city. The dimmer half took averted vision to be sure of.The trick with planetaries is to crank up the power because otherwise, they do look like stars unless there's a tell-tale color difference. I could check my logs, but I probably used 200X as well.
[/quote]I know it is a bit early, but I want to talk to the staff and set up to do some solar observing.
Is anybody giving young Nick Wietzel a ride down? His Mom Cindy is coming later, but Nick is very interested in astronomy and wants to learn as much as he can.
The weather is looking GOOD!!
Hello everyone! Eagle Bluff is ours for Sat. night (Friday does not look good). I have the bathroom code, I talked to Doc E.B.'s infrastructure guy and we have power to the East pole of the parking lot. Vidal will be in the house.
I have sleeping bagged it in the back of my van several times, we can go into the building to warm up, but no dorm rooms available. They have a high school group and a church group there this weekend.
The parking lot lights will be off. I should be there between 5 and 6 p.m.
Right now weather is the only issue.
Eagle Bluff is available for Sat. night, possibly Fri. night. I talked to Kelly and while there are 2 groups there, we can have the parking lot with the lights off and she gave me the bathroom code.
If the weather co-operates, it should be a great night!
Hello astronomy fans! Tonight will not work for Eagle Bluff, but Sat. night would be a good one for us. Dawn is emailing me the restroom code, but it is the same one as always if anyone remembers or has written it down.
I have to work from 5 to 11 a.m. tomorrow (again), but would surely make EB if others are interested.
Note to Mrs. Gorp, if you can show up I can put the cash in your hand for the calendars.
Have a great night at Keller and hope to see some of you at Eagle Bluff!
