Thanks for the nice report, Jim. -- Joe --- On Mon, 7/13/09, jim Gibson <jimgibson0@gmail.com> wrote: From: jim Gibson <jimgibson0@gmail.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Moon, Neptune, Uranus To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 4:24 AM Chuck, I happened to wake up a little early and remembered your heads-up about the 13th.  I got out on my back porch with my little Meade at 3am. I noticed some cloud cover obscuring the moon but could tell it would clear soon.  So I checked out Jupiter.  I am glad I did because IO and Europa were 18” apart. Using my standard 25mm Orion Plossl that I use with the 4” Meade I could make out the dark bands.  So while the sky was clearing in the area of the moon I took time to plop in one of my favorite eyepieces, the 13mm Nagler (Type 6).  What a treat!  The moons of Jupiter were sharp and the dark bands were quite evident. Ganaymede and Callisto were on opposite sides with IO and Europa on the Callisto side.  I could see Mu Cap which led me to Neptune. When the moon came out from behind the clouds, I checked it out with the Nagler and it filled the eyepiece and gave me a black-eye (seeing wise) so I went back to the 25mm.  I noticed in my software that Uranus was near the moon – about 4d 38’ 38” away. I could see something out there, but I am not sure I can say it was Uranus.  It was the only star-like object near the moon that wasn’t washed out. The terminator was passing through Serenitatis with the peaks of the creator Bassel well lighted inside the terminator – cool.  Also the creator Arzachel further south was just on the terminator with the peaks nicely lit and the creator floor dark with the central peak  lit up like a Christmas tree standing out in contrast. I don’t really have a good place to do photo work from this new house so I am in somewhat of a quandary as what to do.  If I use the back porch I can’t see the North Star.  I guess I could just use the drift method without polar aligning. It is 4:30 am. Don’t know if I should go back to bed or just play.  Ok. I will play some more. Cheers Jim _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com