Thanks to Mike and Chuck for the 70" opportunity. I wish I could have stayed long enough for the clouds to clear some and see the Ring. I now live in Midway and it is about an hour and 20 minute drive from Steve Dodds' place. Before I left the area, Tony Sarra was kind enough to show me his observatory. A very impressive and well-designed set up. However, I had much better sky this morning. I woke up shortly after 4 am and went outside to check out the comets with my 7" refractor. I was surprised that I could see Comet Lovejoy 2013 naked eye to the left of the Beehive, much brighter than the original 9.9 predicted magnitude. Comet ISON was also easy but probably about 8th magnitude. I could see it in the finder. Turning to Sirius which was near the meridian I clearly saw the Pup. It is just about the same distance from the primary as Rigel's companion - about 10 arc seconds. The Pup will continue to get farther from Sirius until 2025 when it starts closing again. Clear Skies, Don -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 8:29 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] 70-inch viewing sessions this weekend Dion, it was all Mike and Steve's generosity, I was just spreading the word. Glad you had a good time! My wife had to get up very early this morning so we took off when the cloud cover took over, couldn't wait it out. Mike will be doing this semi-regulary through the winter, as he continues to refine the telescope. On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 10:45 PM, Dion Davidson <diondavidson@yahoo.com>wrote:

Chuck Just wanted to say thanks for arranging that visit to the 70" telescope. Truly breathtaking in person. Between groups I got to spend about 30 minutes with Mike hearing about the telescope, its past and future. The individual craters on the moon were amazing, and the ring nebula was huge! I'm glad I stuck around until the sky cleared a bit. Here are a few photos I took tonight: http://goo.gl/6etXDD

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