The Moon set at 10:30pm, allowing an all-night excellent dark sky for viewing. It was quite a crowd for a near first quarter Moon Study/Star Party on a weekday, but the popularity was justified because of a clear sky break from the Monsoon and there was no rush in arriving and setting up. As for me, with only one Herschel 400 object to hunt down and beat into submission until Spring, it was time for some long overdue planetary study. Seven planets were available: Earth: I studied the Earth closely on arrival to make sure I didn't park on top of any anthills. Mars: A hot mirror didn't help a 15" diameter disk in turbulent seeing. Uranus: Right above the tail of the "chicken body" of Capricornus, it was 6th magnitude, 3" diameter and a green or blue (or blue-green) disk depending on the observer. The jury is still out. If you want to see an object in the sky as green as a stoplight, check the Saturn planetary nebula N7009 in Aquarius. (OK, it's a DSO, but it's a 'planetary' and is named for one!) Neptune: At mag 8 and 1 to 2" diameter, a pale blue dot. (Sorry Carl.) Saturn: The seeing settled down in the early morning and the Cassini division in the highly tilted rings could be seen all the way around. There was a small equilateral triangle of moons just above the disk almost touching. I would need Guide to identify them or if any were stars. The time was 4:00am on the 25th. Jupiter: Surprisingly, another striking equilateral triangle of moons, but a lot larger and brighter and pointing down at the distinct S equatorial belt, with Io almost touching. A black circle on the planet's north hemisphere was the shadow of mighty Ganymede. I identified these with the Softkey 'Orbits 3.0' program as Callisto, Ganymede, and Io in the triangle, and Europa far to the other side. 4:45am on the 25th. Venus: At the horizon just before morning twilight, and looking like a bright train light in the distance, it formed a perfectly straight line with Jupiter and Saturn, extending up into the zodiacal light, a striking and beautiful sight. The Pleiades was there too. It always seems to signal to look for the zodiacal light spraying down from it, if near the horizon Spring or Fall. We had breakfast at a great place, Rock Springs Cafe near Black Canyon City, It is two large rooms with a great oaken table prob. 6 or 7 feet wide in the second room that would easily seat 20 people. We should either start a tradition to meet there for breakfast or have some special club meeting event there. Jack Jones President - SAC Spicastar@xxxxxxx --- This message is from the AZ-Observing mailing list. If you wish to be removed from this list, send E-mail to: AZ-Observing-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, with the subject: unsubscribe. The list's archive is at: //www.freelists.org/archives/az-observing This is a discussion list. Please send personal inquiries directly to the message author. In other words, do not use "reply" for personal messages. Thanks.