Jupiter and M42 (3/8/2014)

Jupiter and M42 (3/8/2014)

‘posed to go out to Geneva Saturday night to get a clear star view. That didn’t go so well (heavy clouds). Next night, the computer told me that Io would be shadowing across Jupiter. Took the scope out at 10pm or so but couldn’t quite make it out (at 60x). Where is that backordered extender?

While JB and I were running our usual drill around Orion, we did look in on M42 and that area, and caught a neat cluster of stars with a visible nebula around that. At first I thought it was some sort of smudge on my glasses but as I panned the scope, the “smudge” moved with it. Just stood stunned in the eye-piece – a nebula. Amazing. And I could see it, even with all that city light crap cast off of every street and franchise.

Little look ahead – 3/11/2015. Got up at 6am to catch Saturn trailing the moon to the south. Had a spot all picked out. Woke up, went outside, looked up at a solid bank of clouds.

Fercryingoutloud…

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