It looked like 10 or 15 folks showed up. Last year we set up in the picnic
area. This year we used the grass nearer to the restroom. The SCT was king
last night. The only dobs were 10" solid tube models. No 20" Dobs or huge
refractors.
We got more visitors than last year. The picnic area was filled with horse
trailers and campers. There was supposed to be a Boy Scout troop, but they
never showed. Most of the visitors left before the show really began.
In case you were visiting the rovers (and missed the TAC postings) last
night a lot happened on Jupiter. A little after midnight 3 different
shadows were visible. Add to that a (supposed) red spot transit, an
occultation, and a visible moon transit. I would like to say we clearly saw
all of these events, but that would be fibbing.
It started out cool and mostly clear last night. My midnight it was cold
(34 F) and dewy. The transparency was generally good, but with the moon and
Jupiter little time was spent on deep sky stuff. The seeing varied greatly.
Most of the evening I could not use my 10" over 100x. Occasionally it would
stabilize enough to go to 180x. Others reported the same. The seeing got
much worse after 11PM. By midnight it was very difficult to see detail on
Jupiter.
There is another star party at Pacheco on May 1. The rangers have been
handing out flyers in the local schools so it is likely this one will be
better attended.
Rob Hawley
Received on Sun Mar 28 12:00:53 2004