Log, Mar 14, 2003
11 people. All right, I'll be honest. The night wasn't great on any realistic absolute scale, but in comparison with the last 10 weeks it was in the upper 10% at least until clouds rolled in around 9:45. Of course, comparing it to the last 10 weeks is like saying that breaking a leg isn't bad compared with do it yourself open heart surgery.Actually, the air was quite stable for viewing Saturn, Jupiter and M42. We avoided anything low on the horizon, and this helped a good deal. Banding on Jupiter was clear. We may (may not?) have seen a bit of the Great Red Spot as it came around, but it might have been optimistic. We had planned to wait an hour and try again but by then the clouds rolled in. Saturn was clear. I tried fooling around with various eyepieces. The 25mm and the 19mm both gave excellent views. The 5mm was large but hopelessly blurred. The 8mm was blurred but marginal. I tried the zoom eyepiece. Some of the intermediate focal lengths were the most satisfactory.Better weather allowed old friends to arrive. I loved chatting with everyone. Maybe next week will allow the seasons to catch up. It will be Spring (or so I hope). -Les Coleman
