Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsMars was awesome. I finally left Tuckahoe around 3:15am when the air got too turbulent to give anymore decent views. We fought dew all night long. It might as well have rained. Bring a flak jacket for the mosquitoes and some triple-A to keep them off of you. Two passes of the ISS and two extremely bright Iridium Flares added to the evening's show. We had a nice group of campers come by for some viewing and I think we wowed them. They timed it perfectly because they had about an hour to view deep sky beauties as well as Mars and the moon when they rose. It sounded like they were from Massachusettes judging by their accents and I'm sure they will have some stories to tell when they get back. Some of the objects I showed them included the Ring Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy and its satellite M32, NGC457 the Owl Cluster, M11 the Wild Duck Cluster, M13, Mars and the moon. It was a great night despite the constant battle with mosquitoes and dew. I was really complaining about the evening until the group of campers showed up and heard the gasps and wows coming from them. I think I take some of the aspects of this hobby for granted sometimes. It's good to be reminded of how special the objects I am looking at really are. Douglas A. Norton |