Seeing Conditions:
Started clear with lovely sunset however after dark there was substantial background haze.
The new spot lights in the Castle grounds didnt help either. As the sky darkened a wonderfull large white owl swooped across too.
Jupiter: We were lucky enough to find a predicted transit of the red spot on Jupiter timed for 7:30 PM local time, however there was much debate on whether we could actually see the spot through the 10 inch Dob and haze!
The 4 satellites were clearly seen but as the evening progressed Io disappered behind the planet itself
M31 : Andromeda Galaxy seen easily tonight but a spirited attempt to find M33 failed - too much haze. The same fate for the Ring Nebula in Lyra.
We settled for more obvious objects - The Pleiades and Alderbaran rising in the east.
We saw two unaccounted for satellites but a predicted Meteor 1-4 rocket at Mag 3.7 almost overhead wasnt visible at all Two random meteors were spotted both in the South
Albereo went down well too- a red and blue double star marking the head of Cygnus the Swan.
At one point the laser beams describing the constellations members resembled a scene from Star Wars
Next month promises our old friend Orion
We are starting a new "drive" to recruit memebers- three people officially joined tonight
Plans are to introduce special evenings and newsletters for members - which will not be free after the new year. If anyone is interested in astrophotography let me know at cpcooke@aol.com
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