Lowell: What planet were you on? I was at Natural Bridges Friday and Saturday along with several other club members and both nights were terrible. Friday was cold, very windy and mostly cloudy, although it mostly cleared by 10:30pm, most SLAS members left for their hotels long before it cleared chased by high winds and cold. I had committed myself to night photography and put the telescopes away after a couple of hours of waiting for clearing. Either way the cold and wind were oppressive. Saturday cleared early but the clouds and cold wind returned with a vengence as soon as the sun went down, althought there were a few sucker-holes the wind had the clouds moving so quickly that by the time you moved your scope to a hole the clouds had gotten there before you. The Saturday temps dropped below freezing in early morning, throw in 20 to 40 MPH winds and it was miserable. I set up my scope on Saturday but gave up in frustration after a short time due to the fast clouds, cold and high winds. The other club members were put off by the winds and cold learning their lessons from Friday and stayed in Blanding or returned early in the evening. Even the ranger astronomy program was help indoors on Saturday for the first time ever. I like the area and the skies are very nice but this is two years in a row with lousy weather. April is probably too early for Naturasl Bridges or at best iffy. We may want to look at other locations in the area. Where did you actually observe from? Robert Taylor -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Lowell Lyon Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 10:12 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Natural Bridges To answer Erik: We went to Hovenweep National Monument on Friday to explore the Indian ruins. They are pretty amazing. We were close to the Four Corners, yet didn't sleuth out the "real" spot. Oh well. To answer Ann: Yes, I did see Omega Centauri in my 6" Meade refractor. I appears to be about three times the width of M13. Very impressive!! If any of you can head south in the next couple of weeks to see it, I would certainly give it a try. Lowell _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com