Chris Predom’s report on CSP 2021, continued:

Arrived at the scout camp on Saturday about 3 PM. Folks were spread out. I saw Jim and Laurie, had a nice conversation, then after a quick setup I was observing the Moon. Spent time studying the detail I could see in the bright sky and as puffy clouds rolled by and a slight constant breeze shook the scope a few times. Ray, Pat and Jeff joined me for some quick views and a little conversation. Later I was able to view Venus. I didn’t want to try earlier as I was using my Coulter 8inch f4.5 Dob, and had to scan area to find it. So I waited until Sun was just above trees to give me an angle that I could judge easily while scanning. Scanning into the Sun would not be a very pleasant thing. Remember to be safe while looking for objects anywhere near the Sun’s location.

Venus was in a quarter phase as I observed it. Greg and Jeff joined me for a quick view, then maybe an half hour after finding it telescopically I was able to see it naked eye. Then I tried looking for Mercury naked eye, but could not see it. Maybe it was in tree line by then or still just too bright at sunset to see it. As the sky darkened Jupiter was available, then Saturn. Jupiter was very bright and in the Dob it was almost blinding. But the detail seen was very nice, multiple bands, four moons with one (turned out to be Io) going behind Jupiter later to reappear hours later on the other side. Time spent observing Saturn and its rings and moons led to a sky dark enough to observe deep sky objects. M13, M8, M22, Trifid, just to start. I decided to forego charts and just scan the Milky Way, starting from the teapot up to the zenith. I saw a lot of interesting objects, not sure of names of objects I observed (since no charts were used) but the time spent scanning was very enjoyable. Did the same scan in the Cassiopeia and Perseus area. Later M31, M32, and M110 in same field of view. NGC 404.

While stretching my legs, ran into Greg and Ray. In Greg’s scope observed the Dumbbell Nebula, M56 and
Jupiter. I thought Jupiter was bright in my scope! Greg’s 17 inch f4.5 really enhanced the bands and easily showed the moons as globes. We discussed the red spot time of transit, which we later saw on the planet, but it was not as noticeable as expected.

Back at my scope I showed new member Gary the Ring Nebula and Albireo. On Albireo I had him slightly defocus the stars to make the colors pop. As he went back to his scope to find these objects, I went from the Pleiades to M37, M36, M38, M1 to finally M42 and the associated sword area, finishing my night on M35 in Gemini. Called it a night at 3AM.

Entire night was clear and not that cold. A slight breeze came up around midnight that made my Dob whistle as the wind blew across it. There was some dew, but wind dried that up. All in all a very nice night. I was happy that my 30+ year old Dob is still performing and that we had a good night like this, and while I did not walk around entire field to see everyone, it was nice to see folks like Donna, Mike, Ray, Jeff, Pat, Jim, Laurie, Greg and Gary. May the year get better!

Clear Skies! Observe!
Chris