Hi Patrick It would be good if you all could make a trip out. We've talked about SLAS'ers coming out and showing you all a good time and getting you under some dark Hawaiian sky. This past Saturday was my 1st viewing of the Gegenschein, it surprised me as we were having issues w/ the AF AMOS station next too us and their bright red night lighting, it tends to wipe out the north view and ruin any dark adaptation. Needless to say, seeing the Gegenschein was a real surprise, then I imaged it and that took a bunch of digital darkroom CS2 processing. But yes, it is dark here, the observatory is getting close to operational, we're pulling out the 12" LX200 and putting in a Meade LXD750 that will allow different scopes to be mounted and controlled remotely. But yes, come visit, bring fins and snorkels too!! Aloha Rob