Most of the Messier Catalog objects that I have left to observe are low in the West now - that big cluster of galaxies in Virgo. So tonight was spent looking at NGC/IC objects and Jupiter. There was a bit of wispy cloud cover just as the stars were coming out, but it soon dissipated and the skies were quite good for viewing. The stars were crisp and sharp. A look at globular cluster M13 revealed a pile of brilliant diamonds.

I spent a bit of time browsing the star fields of the milky way, just enjoying the clarity. Then someone announced that the ISS would be passing over at about 10:30pm. And right on schedule it came in from the West, passing a bit to the South - bright when it first appeared and fading at about the zenith of it's pass. I tracked it with the Binoculars, but they only made it a slightly larger bright dot.

I decided to take a look at a few objects around Cygnus. First I tracked down NGC6871, a very small open cluster of stars. Then I moved out a little to look at NGC6882 and 6885, both open clusters very near one another and easy to see together in the 20mm eyepiece. I would not have found them had I not looked up images beforehand. Next I decided to make first use of the OIII filter and see if I could find the North America Nebula. I searched and searched, certain that I was in the right spot but not able to find anything. Then Alex came by, looked into the eypiece and told me I was right on it. With a bit of inverted vision and moving the telescope back and forth a bit I was able to make out a ghost of shadow, but nothing like the shape of North America. But at least I can now say I've observed it. After that I moved over past Ursa Major and tried to find NGC4530, which the SEDS NGC/IC database indicates does not exist. I suppose that might be true because I didn't find anything. Nearby is NGC5272 (aka M13) a pretty globular cluster.

Jupiter was up pretty good by this time and was showing well, with 3 moons. Ron showed us a moon transit with his scope and with various filters was able to bring out the great Red spot, which is not so red any more. Other than that there were satellites and several meteors, a couple of them pretty bright.

Centauri Dreams: Imagining & Planning Interstellar Exploration by Paul Gilster I've followed Paul's blog, Centauri Dreams, for some time - so it was inevitable that I would eventually read the book. This is an excellent introduction, for the nominally technical reader such as myself, to historic and present efforts to design interstellar missions. It's a serious book and has plenty of good detail, but the reader doesn't need to be a Rocket Scientist to understand appreciate the concepts. An inspiring read, Centauri Dreams encourages the reader to think long, as some of the mission plans could take thousand of years. It has been 5 years since the book went into print and there have been both delays and advances in interstellar mission projects, but it provides plenty of starting points for additional research.

:-)