|
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, great night guys!
If it were a restaurant meal, I would describe myself as having glutted on a ten-course meal. I went home thoroughly satisfied (at that is without even mentioning RB's pizza and beer!). What a great night's observing, with a great bunch of guys to-boot!
The conditions were very good, no dew, no cloud, very steady seeing. My goto performed flawlessly (as always), and I churned through about 50 new objects, as well as visiting some old favourites that shone like diamonds.
It was a pleasure to have Tornado33 and Mark Suchthing visit. May we see you again very soon!
Astropolak (Joe) was good company chatting about equipment. I also enjoyed sneaking a view in some others' scopes, including Geoff's: it is always fun scanning the skies with a dob, and M8 looked mighty fine! It is also always very interesting comparing the views in Mikes 10" dob with my 10" SCT. My slower scope does not afford such wide-angle views, so some of the larger galaxies and OC's are a pleasure to see in Mike's scope. Also, George's scope was quite unusual to use. George always has something new to show!
Like Mike, my highlight was Barnard 186. To my eyes, there is an inky black dark nebula under a beautiful ring of stars, on top of which is beautiful "setting" with a central orange star. Well worth a visit to anyone who has never seen it. I might just put Barnard's list on the agenda for next year's observing targets!
Great conversation flowed....thanks for the company everyone. Keep those cigars for next time Andrew!
|