The early evening sky trembled with paradoxical stillness. Though the air was chilly it remained unusually dry. Several streams of high thin clouds threatened to limit visibility. No, this would not be the best of occasions at the SCAC Bonny Doon observing site. But it would no doubt be an occasion...

I pulled through the open and welcoming gate into the Bonny Doon airport just after sunset. Several scopes were already set up. There would be few remaining occasions to tour the celestial wonders of the central Milky Way. Sol had crossed the line to traverse 'the Southern Way" of the ecliptic. The Sagitarian teepot now tipped alarmingly. More "astronomical cups" could be expected to arrive in order to receive the Galactic Core's "milk tea".

SCAC and AstroTalk bud's Dan and El Marko had preceded my arrival. El Marko even managed to complete the 12.5 inchers "daylight" collimation procedure. Dan was in the midst of setting up 102mm APO Taki. This would be a second opportunity to have both hemisphere's of my brain flooded with starlight. I also looked forward to barrowing Dan's 16mm Nagler Type II eyepiece for use with 150mm Argo.

Other observers were also on line. Dean had his LX-50 mounted 200mm SCT. Bill, his father's "homebrew" six inch F8 newt on eq mount. Later, we were joined by club officers Dwight and Chris with their own 8 inch SCTs. Leon and his fine 10 inch Coulter dob followed. Andrew brought along a pair of binoculars - but spent a good deal of time sharing views through Argo, Taki, and many of the other scopes in attendence.

There was also an unfamilar pair of observers in attendence - along with their 8 inch SCT. After setting up Argo, I spent some time chatting with them. Originally from Canada, they now lived in San Bruno, CA - located about an hour and a half north. Since arriving in California, the couple had been on a quest for "clear and steady skies". They had come to the right place - but, in my estimation, probably the wrong night. As I later learned however, their Bonny Doon adventure turned out to be very satisfying. They felt the 5.5 skies overhead were excellent. Mr. Einstein, I salute you...

We knew the sky was still. After a few years of observing one can simply feel that kind of stillness in your being. For visual confirmation we checked those wispy streams of cirrus overhead. No sense of motion - not even osmotic dispersal. They had settled in and showed absolutely no haste about moving on.

But it wasn't these clouds that hampered our observing. For around midnight a backflow of denser cloud formations moved out of the north in the direction of San Jose. The combination was deadly. The bright lights of the city hurled against the clouds obliterated the view to the north-east. Around midnight, we lost the star-rich regions of Cassiopeia and Perseus and were left with the less inviting expanses of eastern Aquarius and Pisces. As such all eyes turned to the east in hopes of an early ascent of the Ringed Wonder...

By skydark Argo and I had "rounded up the usual inspects". Through the 16mm, and at 115x, the Double Double easily resolved. Meanwhile, the King of Rings gave an unexpectedly contrasty view of annularity. The 13.1 star east of the Ring's frontier could be held with the slightest aversion, while the 12.8 remained unwaivering in its presence. M13 displayed that wonderful "scarab" beetle appearance. It's long tusks curving elegantly outward from the middle of its vast swirl of living lights.

A view of the Ring through El Marko's 12.5 later that evening showed me something seen before but I had failed to articulate fully. No big revelation here. It's something we all know. There is a distinct difference between the interior of the Ring in a larger scope than that seen through a smaller one. In the 12.5, the central region is illumined by nebulosity unsuspected through the six incher. It is this luminosity which manages to screen out the 15th magnitude central star. A star that would otherwise prove susceptible at 12 inches - but can even be missed at 30 inches under marginal seeing.

Having viewed the Ring, I dropped Argo south to a swiftly tilting Sagitarius. No need to detail things here. I took my "fare the well" views of the Lagoon, Trifid, Swan, and Eagle nebulae. Dropped in on the M22 globular. Swept the field of the Small Sagitarian star cloud and basked in the faint radiance of its embedded 10th magnitude open cluster. Flew with the Wild Duck's in Scutum. Took my pleasure in the dozen or so sweetly resolved members of the M71 globular. Caught a few sparkles of scintillation in the Dumbbell planetary. Toasted with Earl Grey, the wonder of Albireo. And with Ultrablock in place, traced faint structure in the Cygnus Loop. Then onto Cassiopeia for that congestion of faint stars making up NGC7789.

Meanwhile, we all took in those soul-satisfying binocular views offered up by Taki. No, the hit wasn't as strong as last month's initiation into bino-viewing. But the sky was less supportive of 30x and of course we were seeing many of the same studies.

About 10pm, our happy party was joined by El Marko's observing buddy Paul. Immediately that dauntless duo set out to track down asteroid Ceres - very near opposition on this occasion. Now personally, I would think that tracking down an 8th magnitude planetoid would prove a difficult task. Surprisingly, within a few minutes, El Marko and Paul nailed down the starfield involved. We made a quick sketch of the region centering on a couple of twelth magnitude stars and turned the big dob elsewhere. Followup an hour laterverified Ceres progress against the night sky. Given the asteroid's proximity to Earth and its orbital velocity, the amount of motion was considerable.

The height of the evening - as one might suspect - fell to the Ringed Wonder. By 1:00am the planet had cleared the trees. Dan and I started off using lower powers as a shield against low sky position. Within a half an hour, the planet's image began to stabilize enough to support 200 plus X. And it was here that I received a lesson in "aperture rules". Mot only had El Marko super-collimated the 12.5 inch Dob earlier in the evening, but during the week he had installed a two-speed muffin fan battery pack combo to aspirate the primary mirror surface. And now his efforts were to be rewarded. For you see, the Big Dob bested both Argo and Taki in showing detail on both the planet and its ring system. One example? The dusky ring. No guess work. Right there. "In your eye." - Bravo, El Marko!

By fitting a barlow lens, Dan ran the magnification up through the binoviewer to about 250x. And this too was a revelation. For you see, and in El Marko's words, "Saturn floated in space" under binocular inspection. Wow! Dan, may you have many happy returns.

And now Dear Reader, for a bit of news. Your humble reporter of things observational must now take his leave. This will be my final report for astro.geekjoy. It is my hope that those of you have followed these reports have gleaned something of what little in the way of inspiration and insight that I have had to offer through these reports.

And as for me, I've finished what I set out to. For over the last few years, I have taken up from something begun in my youth. I have learned to find my way around the Night Sky and along the way described a small sampling of its many wonders. In addition, I have also come to a better appreciation of what can be seen through commonly available equipment.

Meanwhile, I have also gained one other unexpected boon in these wanderings and wonderings. For among those who read these pages are those who I am priviledged to call my friends.

So the time has come to "pass the torch". It is my hope that those of you seeking inspiration and insight into Our High Art and Science will find it here (through "Qua's Quests") and elsewhere on the internet and through the various publications dedicated to its perpetuation.

Meanwhile, I now simply take my place among the lofty ranks of the "stargeezers". Folks who commune with Nuit simply out of quiet joy and mystic contemplation. And should I feel called to make an occasional sketch - in picture or word - of whatever comes my way in this venture, there remains Astro.Geekjoy's own astro community (AstroTalk) as a vehicle of expression.

Carpe Noctem,

jeff, Argo, Vicki & the Pup

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