Moon and Venus from the Pawnee Grasslands
Last Saturday evening I met up with friends at a place we affectionately refer to as “Cactus Flats North” in the Pawnee National Grasslands about 40 miles west of Fort Collins, CO. Usually, the area appears bleak and dry. Not this time, the prairie was gorgeous. It was delightfully green with a sprinkling of colorful flowers.
(Cactus and flowers picture by Gary Garzone).
Early in the evening, the Moon and Venus were a pretty view, much more so than the below image shows as the glow from the western sky doesn’t show here.
Unfortunately, clouds moved in and the transparency was poor for the most part. There some were holes in the clouds here and there that allowed occasional views. Turbulence was quite good so I took some Saturn shots which I’ll post later. Around 1:30 am or so Sunday morning the sky cleared so we had a good night visiting galaxies in Ursa Major. The Whirlpool Messier 51, Bodes galaxy M80 and edge-on M81 were particularly spectacular through Gary’s 30″ dob. We also had to look at some of the summer stuff the Dumbbell M27, the Trifid, and the Eagle. Around 3:30 am I tried for a couple comets. I haven’t processed them yet. I fairly sure I got 96P Maccholz as I could see it on the monitor. I’m not sure about C/2007 VZ13, I verified the star field but couldn’t identify the comet. Stacking and processing may bring it out but I have doubts.