Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsSet up my 8" SCT last night for a break in the clouds. Turned out to hold for most of the evening. It has been more than 3 weeks since I set up last. What a differnce that time makes. Nothing is where I left it. LOL... M8 and 20 very distinct. Even though there was some Moon Glow left I was able to see quite a bit of detail and resolve some of the components of these objects. M13,5,12 also able to see much detail. I picked up a 16mm Nagler a while ago. I really like it. I spent an hour trying to draw detail to paper of M13. I am a terrible artist but was surprised with the result when I later compared the drawing to photos. I was going to set up the camera (a converted webcam)but I did not want to take a chance of clouding up while I was fooling around. I was also able to resolve Epsilon Lyre I and 2 with a 6mm plossl (Thanks too Doug, a regular target and test of viewing conditions) I am sorry I did not try to photograph Mars last night. It is perhaps the best and sharpest view I have had to date. I could with averted vision make out the South Polar Cap, Mare Cimmerium,Electris. I used the lense from my Barlow and screwed that to the front of the diagonal. Then I used my 16mm Nagler with a couple of different filters. I am not sure how I feel about the colored filters that I have. Blue seemed to bring out some of the detail that I observed last night. I also used a moon filter which gave me really good results. Mike |