[AZ-Observing] Estrella Park Star Party

Last night was a lovely night. There were about 40 people who hiked 
up to the observing site. I could have used more scopes. All I had 
was my 13.1" DOB. The Moon was lovely. With the Earth shine you could 
easily see Moon City lit up near the dark edge away from the 
terminator. M42 was magnificent as well as Saturn. I used my 
binoculars  (8 X 50) to show the Pleiades and Orion nebula. People 
are always amazed at what can be seen with binoculars. The finale was 
the star test in the Big Dipper, Mizar. Most seemed to really have a 
great time.

On a side note, those interested in variable stars, zeta Aurigae is 
nearing the end of its eclipse. It is currently at a minimum and 
should be egressing the second week of April. It has noticeably 
dimmed in comparison with eta and epsilon Aurigae. For more 
information the latest Epsilon Aurigae Campaign Newsletter #11 is now 
available at http://www.hposoft.com/Campaign09.html

Jeff
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Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
(623)849-5889
(623) 247-1190 (Fax)
www.hposoft.com
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