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[jglover]

so tonight, I get home from work, everything looks pretty good. There's a thin hazy look to the sky as I drive home, but I poke my head outside after dinber and see Orion, Sirius, Saturn......haven;t had the Mak out for a while so I set it up on the deck, giving it time to cool as my son and I do his homework. Son off to bed about 8:30, grab a quick snack and head out to the deck........

CLOUDS EVERYWHERE!!

FOG.......

Oh well!

[jglover]

I take back the ARRGHH. Went out to bring in the scope and it had cleared to the south. Had a really nice view of Saturn at 163x through the ETX105. Very nice split on the Cassini Division, a couple of cloud bands visible on the planet itself, a very pretty site. I still have not yet brought in the scope as I'm going back for another peek here shortly....just had to come in and warm up.

BTW, don;t try ridiculous powers like 367X with the barlow! ;D

Also did some double star observing. Had soem really nice views in Orion, Mintaka is always a nice sight and I had a nice, clean split of Alnitak (zeta Ori). A 2.6 arc second pair, man the optics in the ETX are really nice! It was just barely split, but I could definitely see black between the primary and secondary.

So, feeling lucky, I figured I'd give Sirius a go.......no go though, it is a bit too low and the primary just overwhelms any chance of seeing the pup.

Back outside to bring in the scope, one more look at Saturn and I'll give Rigel a try to see if it can be split tonite. It's a little low too, but we'll see......

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

John,

It's great that you brave the elements and use your scope when you can. I haven't done serious observing in quite a spell.

I will be nice when we can all assemble for a star party in the early spring. I would recommend as a common ground, the east side of the Planetarium for a mini get together...say...the first week of March?

[jglover]

Chicago said:

It's great that you brave the elements and use your scope when you can. I haven't done serious observing in quite a spell.

Well, I wasn't that brave. I had the scope set up just outside the back door on the deck.....a warm but dark haven was only two steps away for when the feet got really cold! But it was nice to have the chance to get out.

No luck with Rigel but a clean split of Castor to top off the evening!

will be nice when we can all assemble for a star party in the early spring. I would recommend as a common ground, the east side of the Planetarium for a mini get together...say...the first week of March?

That might work. I'm supposed to be in Cincinatti for Incident Management Team Training somewhere about that time, the week of March 7th I think, but I'll check out the exact dates tomorrow to see. There's a chance I may not go but the Regional Safety Specialist may go in my place, with me attending the training later in the year.