Log, Dec 29, 2000
6 people. I arrived a few minutes late to find Neal Overstrom, his wife and two of his friends from Maine with an 8 inch scope in operation. I began to open up to the inevitable dome chatter as it skiped out of its track. Shortly we were ready to start but already the Moon and Venus [which were in a very lovely conjunction] were being clouded over.Jupiter was quite clear when we first looked at it. All the Galilian Moons were conspicuous and I counted 8 bands. Everyone oh-ed and ah-ed and was fascinated by the automation. We switched to Saturn with less success. While the Cassini Division was easily seen, the over all image was becoming blurry. I counted five certain moons and I glimpsed Hyperion. Others counted fewer moons and by the time I got back to the eyepiece only four moons were visible.The Trapezium in M42 was disappointing. The clouds of M42 were increasingly difficult to see as the clouds thickened. By 8 PM we gave up as only the brightest overhead stars and planets could be seen and they were fuzzy.Well, this marks the end of our 2000 logbook. Hopefully next year will have more Friday nights with good viewing. We wish everyone a fine New Year and lost of starry nights.-Les Coleman
