20070508 - Left my game home

Session name: 20070508.2000

I read albireo's blog with a degree of envy of how he effortlessly hopped & skipped across the sky. He describes the galaxies he observed along the way. Oh! and he popped in a filter to observe some nebulae. Not once but twice. M57 & M97.

Me. I struggled this session. Sometimes it's like that, busted. Need a re-boot. Didier stopped by with his dog. She sat in the ball field on the other side of the fence while we looked to the stars of Corvus and Virgo. Maybe it was this time that albireo was teasing the galactic nuclei from his skies but with the 4" Tak refractor that's a bit of a pull from here. Consulting Karkoschka's Atlas I decided for both of us that NGC 4361 was the target. That was the beginning of the frustration which mounted progressively in a short period of time. To say the least, I found the field but neither could detect the object. Another struggle with M57 as the Lyre cleared the trees this cluster nebula was way too low. Most objects I planned to observe didn't yield easily. The dog tired of waiting and casually approached Didier giving him the glance. Didier turned around and mentioned they had to leave.

People passed by and I showed them Saturn. How could I miss? The regulars passed, stopped and said hello.

It wasn't difficult to decide to pack at midnight. Stan the photographer & his dog Gigi stuck around after the packing completed. A bright meteor fell from the sky, lasting about 20° with a sputtering tail. It was really bright causing a real drawn out Wowwww. Sluggish as it was I thought Stan would see it when he turned around, but it was that kind of night. While talking about photography the sprinklers came on exactly at midnight. Charlie had been watching for these in past sessions but we lucked out. Tonight, not. We got wet from the spray but continued to speak. As we walked out of the park, I pulled my Palm out to show him the photos I have saved from Andrew, Astromick, and Vern.

Knowing these things pass, I'll have soon forgotten the struggle, only remembering that fireball that rained down the sky while showing off the bloggers' photos.