Joe, It turned out to be very good until about 11pm when the high thin clouds started spoiling the view. 5 of us showed up (4 scopes), and for me personally it was another successful night with the Herschel-400; I logged 16 more objects: NGC 6939, 6946, 6755, 6756, 6910, 615, 720, 779, 613, 908, 1022, 1052, 1027, 1023, 1245 and 1513 (in that order) -- 9 galaxies and 7 open clusters. My favorites were NGC 1023, a pretty spiral galaxy in Perseus lying in a very rich star field, NGC 1245, a lovely group of approx 3 dozen faint stars in Perseus also lying in a fairly rich stellar background. NGC 6939 in Cepheus and 6910 in Cygnus are also open clusters well worth visiting (this journey though the H-400 has helped me appreciate OC's much more). It was a bit too soupy close to the horizons to fully appreciate those sometimes faint galaxies in Cetus and Sculptor. As to the temperature, it was definitely cold, but not oppressively so; it hovered right about freezing, but I managed fine without gloves most of the time in spite of that (my insulated Carhart overalls and thermos of hot cocoa helped). So you missed some good company and some good seeing! But I'm sure that we are not through for the winter. I plan to get out whenever I can this winter and spring and brave the cold -- I still have two-thirds of my list to go, and most of those are winter/spring objects. I realized last night that even with a little snow, the gravel pit is paved, and could easily be shoveled for space to set up... worth a try anyway. -Rich --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
Hi all, please let us know how the expedition or expiditions went over the weekend. Was the cold frightful? Was it windy? I am curious because I chickened out at the last minute. Best wishes, Joe
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