[Chaos-l] Last night report

[Mark Montazer]

It was definitely a great night for viewing. It was also a great night to
practice imaging techniques. I spent a good deal of the time galaxy hunting
and got a great view of M104 and the Leo Triplet, and managed to acquire
couple of decent images (see attached.) The chromatic aberration is a bit
much on the f/5 refractor, but it didn't hurt the galaxies. The dust lanes
on M66 stand out much better than I anticipated.

I won't make it up tonight, Allen, but plan to join you all again real soon!

Take care,
Mark




On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Allen Davis
<starstorm151 at embarqmail.com>wrote:

> Last night at Medoc.  We had Mark Montazer, John Miller, Jason Strother,
> Michael and Sandy Camp, Tony Garcia, and for the first time observing with
> us,  Peter Zhao.  And me.****
>
> ** **
>
> The transparency wasn’t terrific for some of the time…….and the skies
> seemed a tad brighter than usual.  But I wasn’t complaining as it was clear
> and it was Friday night!  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Set up my 20, the others pretty much were setting up when I arrived.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> My hope was the seeing…I really did want to get a look at the planets and
> see them in their glory.  Especially Saturn.****
>
> ** **
>
> Highlights.****
>
> ** **
>
> The ghost of Jupiter and Hubble’s Variable Nebula through Michaels scope.
> Hubble was also the first object I observed through mine.  Nice unusual
> object with its fan, or comet shape.  Thought of this before it got so low
> in the west to disappear.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> M3 through my scope.  Very nice once it reached about 30 or so degrees in
> the east.  Glob season is back.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Saturn through Peter’s scope.  Very nice sharp image.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Venus through Tony’s scope.  Nice crescent…amazing it is so bright with
> less than 50% visible!****
>
> ** **
>
> Mars through a number of them.  I was really impressed with mars in my big
> scope.  At 404xit was steady and we could see much surface detail.  Tony
> and John can remember the names of details….i am too lazy right now to
> remember.  But it was the best I had seen Mars literally in several years.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Saturn through mine at 316x  very sharp…..and several moons visibile of
> course…what impressed me was the banding on the planet itself.  More
> noticeable than in some time and with a definite orange/yellow hue.****
>
> ** **
>
> I also greatly enjoyed at John’s suggestion Abel 21 or the Medusa nebula.
> Great at low power with the 21 Ethos and OIII filter.****
>
> ** **
>
> Jason and sandy made our fire.it was still cold enough to need that….and
> we had rice milk drink that Tony brought and some snacks.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> I took down at 230ish and we all were packing up around then.****
>
> ** **
>
> Last object………M5 teasing us into glob season.  NICE.****
>
> ** **
>
> Home around 400am.****
>
> ** **
>
> I decided to try my theory that maybe I would relax more if I didn’t leave
> at midnight….been in the habit of that for a while……..feeling like I needed
> to get home. I think some of that is a false feeling.  We all have our
> worries and priorities, but I wanted to see how things went with me by just
> relaxing and not rushing to take down.****
>
> ** **
>
> So far so good. It worked and I felt like I enjoyed everyones company and
> the sky better.  Thanks to all of you who came.****
>
> ** **
>
> Peter said he wants to come back next weekend.  Thanks to him for coming
> to observe with us the first time.  I am game.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> allen****
>
> ** **
>
> E. Allen Davis****
>
> starstorm151 at embarqmail.com****
>
> ** **
>
> "M'Illumino              "I am enlightened****
>
> D'Immenso"              by the immensity."****
>
> ** **
>
>    -Ungaretti               -Ungaretti****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Chaos-l mailing list
> Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/chaos-l/attachments/20120414/6f1e3f66/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Leo Triplet.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1801234 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/chaos-l/attachments/20120414/6f1e3f66/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Sombrero Galaxy.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1191131 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/chaos-l/attachments/20120414/6f1e3f66/attachment-0003.jpg>