private star party (Blue Mountains)

Private star party for Rhonda.

Instruments: GSO 16-inch RC, Tele Vue 101 refractor
Mount: Paramount ME
Method: Go To

Messier 13 (M13), the Great Hercules Cluster aka the Keystone Cluster. The big globular. Looked pretty good.

Compact M92 (Messier 92). Also in Her. Very nice.

The Blue Racquetball in Ophiuchus. Small. Very small. Almond shaped.

Cat's Eye Nebula in the Dragon. Also known as NGC 6543. Greenish. Oval shape. Bigger.

The Dumbbell in Vulpecula. The Apple Core. Or M27 (Messier 27). Huge!

Steve wondered at the naked eye wide double star in the south-east. Took me a bit but I realised it was alpha 1 and 2 in Capricornus. "Algedi." Indeed. [ed: Algedi to Alshat.]

I noted little Sagitta later in the evening.

I could see the Coathanger (Collinder 399) naked eye. Pointed it out with the GLP.

Stared at the dense region north of Deneb where the North American and Pelican nebulae would be.

We looked at Jupiter and Saturn again.

Amazing transparency. Rhonda did not recall ever seeing the Milky Way so clearly.