It was a great night.
Thanks Nick for hanging out with the "late to show up guy". It was a lot of
fun. Your star trails came out very cool, impressive. Lots of moisture in the
air at times, then it condensed ( mostly on the scopes) and it was crystal
clear.
I did get some pictures of Comet 252p Linear in Ophiuchus using a 135mm f 2.8
camera lense. No tail was visible visually or in the picture. (Attached)
Hopefully this is the start of an excellent observing season!
Mike
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
-------- Original message --------
From: Nick Monkman <nmonkman@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 4/3/2016 10:57 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: SAS <sas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [SAS] great night at Fishtrap!
Thanks to all who showed up. Great fun showing new folks the ropes as well as
seeing some familiar faces.
The weather looked a bit doubtful as the sun set with clouds forming in the
southwest. By 8:30 or so most of the clouds dissipated. Seeing and transparency
fluctuated throughout the night but for the most part was above average to very
good.
Some highlights:1. Showing new people the showpieces (Jupiter, M42, NGC457,
M13, etc)2. Finally finding M102, the "missing" Messier (thanks to some help
from Mike R)3. M108 (edge-on galaxy) and M97 (planetary nebula) in the same
field4. Mike R showing up at 10:45, just as I was leaving5. Hanging out til 2AM
w/ Mike R and his awesome scopes :)6. Tracking the ISS flyover both visually
and with Star Walk (phone app)
I continue to be impressed with the versatility of my 8" Dobsonian - loads into
a sedan easily and has enough light grasp to pull in some pretty far out stuff.
Also managed to do some star trail photography as well...my first effort is
attached.
Nick
fishtrap_startrails_sm.jpg
Attachment:
Comet 252P Linear 2016 IMG_3808_resized.jpg
Description: JPEG image
