M34 & Meeting up with old freinds

Tonight was close to ideal conditions. The only drawback was the wind. We headed up the canyon and revisited old freinds. The Andromeda Galexy, the Great Cluster of Hucules, and other favorites were enjoyed once again. M34, the open cluster is one of the newest objects we saw tonight.

Mars, and M42 - the Orion Nebula

Early this morning before the Sun came up, Mike went outside to observe. It was a clear calm morning and twilight had not yet begun. He started out observing Mars. It was big and bright up high in the sky. Through the telescope, features of the surface could not be seen. Mike also saw the Orion Nebula (M42). It is one of the brightest objects that he has observed. He started by finding the eastern most star of the belt. From there he aimed the telescope south and the nebula was easy to find.