Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsWell, last night some of us went out to Gallagher Road in Fair Hill, Maryland and had a productive session. Scott Dalton brought his son Conner and I brought an AstroScan and we set it up with a Rigel Quickfinder for him. He was very productive with it and really took to finding things in the sky. He pointed out several satellites that he spied as he looked around. Scott and his Brother Rich brought an eight inch Schmidt Cassegrain and wlent to several objects, including M57, M13 and M11. M11, the Wild Duck cluster near the Teapot was neat to see again. It had been a year since I last saw it. I explained to Conner that this looks like a flock of geese flying together when seen under better conditions. I spent time with my 10" Dob looking around the big dipper for some galaxies but did not have too much luck finding any. I know I must have seen one but the sky conditions were just not good enough to get good definition to them. I am getting better at finding certain stars in the area and hope to narrow my search the next time out. We were pleasently surprised to see Mars rise in the easter horizon. We spent time on this and were rewarded with some of the best views I have seen of this planet. We looked through all three scopes at it and Conner was able to zero in on it with the AstroScan. Can't wait until it gets closer as it is getting bigger with each passing week. Kevin Mulrooney showed up and helped us find things with his binoculars. It was great to see the entire Teapot along with Scorpius in the southern sky. The Moon reared its light polluting head and we put in filters and took a look. Rich set up his laptop and a webcam was used to show us some stacking processes. It was interesting to see how the sky changed from moment to moment as we looked at the Moon low on the horizon. We were visited by one of the park rangers who asked that we call a day in advance so that they know we are going to be out there. I will get the number and forward it to all so that we can help them out. The honor box had been broken into a short time ago and they are trying to keep an eye on things. Well, we packed up at 12:30 after spending some much needed viewing. Hope this weather starts getting better during the next few weekends. James |