Hello everybody.
What an absolute sensational night many had on Friday night in the Sugarloaf Car Park.
There were about 5 telescopes or was it 4?
Over 10 ten people joined us.
1. We first looked at the Moon as the sky darkened. I used 112X on it and Mare Crisium was very nice fully illuminated. The 177 km crater Petavius was glorious with its huge central peak and the infamous Rima Petavius was also seen.
2. I was somewhat disappointed with Jupiter. We should have been able to see its Great Red Spot at 167X; but it was denied us on this occasion. However in my 70 mm apo there was the lovely sight of Zubenelgenubi a wide true double star (Alpha Librae) to its east. Callisto, Io, Europa and Ganymede were all observed easily. Ganymede was definitely the brightest of them.
3. All 4 components of Epsilon Lyrae were easily split at 140X.
4. Castor's 3 stars were observed at 112X. The C star is red.
5. The clouds surrounding Virgo dissipated eventually and we had a thrilling time seeing all 6 components of Stf 1664 commonly called "Jaws". It is a most beautiful asterism. Their magnitudes from left to right are: 8.9, 8.5, 7.7, 9.1, 11.5 and 12.5. All 6 stars were observed at 112X.
6. Stf 1659 is commonly called the "Stargate". And again we saw 6 stars. The magnitudes are 6.6, 6.7, 8.3, 7.9, 9.8 and 10.8. This asterism does indeed look like a Stargate. All 6 stars were observed at 112X.
7. Lastly I have my very first observation of M104 the Sombrero Galaxy. It was very easy to see near the 2 asterisms.
We could see it at a mere 40X. But we had a most wonderful time going up the magnifications from 112X, 140X, 167X, 225X, 280X and finally 320X in a 3.5 mm Nagler. We could see slight evidence of the dark lane from 225X upwards.
Let us do it all again next month!!
Thank you for reading.
Clear skies from Aubrey.
  