Tag: messier

  • 5/30 Astronomy Report

    The weather looked promising last night, and the ClearSkyChart was reporting good news.  At around noon, I shot a quick e-mail over to a few of the people I’ve viewed with before, and was happy to get a quick response from Barry (who lives near Rattlesnake) that the skies were in fact clear.  I cleared…

  • The weather is warming and the clouds are vanishing

    Seattle in the summertime, oh how I love it.  Today, the temperature breached the 80°F mark, and there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky.  A sign of things to come. As has become common practice for me now, anytime there hasn’t been clouds, I’ve been out at night with the telescope and last night…

  • Cold weather and more viewing

    I looked at the Clear Sky Chart for my local viewing area a few days back, and I noticed a wonderful combination of things: Friday night was scheduled to be clear and the moon wasn’t going to rise until 2am.  Friday night being a weekend meant I didn’t have to get up early the next…

  • Telescoping in the Cold

    Last night we had some clear skies, and the Seattle Astronomical Society called an impromptu star party at Rattlesnake Lake.  Rattlesnake is much closer to the Cascade Mountain range, and farther away from the bright city lights of Seattle.  Since it’s closer to the mountains, it’s also a lot colder than the low-lands: it was…