We had 22 cars come out to BSC for the star party and only 3 of the 6 back-in spots were taken. I opened the gate at 4:30 pm and it was a warm 69 degrees but temps did get cold and we needed gloves and ski coats…until 10 pm when warm Santa Ana winds brought the temp back to 68 degrees.

We did get to see both passes of the ISS go over at 5:30 and again at 7 pm. The 1st quarter moon was a treat to view as we normally have no moon at the BSC star party. It did wash out the M31 Andromeda Galaxy somewhat along with Jupiter but not enough to spoil the views. Uranus was visible but I didn’t look at Neptune which was near the moon.

I was able to view Open Cluster M29 in Cygnus and faint Globular Cluster M56 but could not find brighter M39. We did view the M57 Ring Nebula and the Double Double just off Vega along with double star Albireo. I say some great views of the Double Cluster.

Later we viewed the M45 Pleiades, the Hyades and even the M1 Crab Nebula. Then Orion came up and we enjoyed the view of the M42 Orion Nebula.

I closed the gate at 11 pm after the last member left and felt so lucky to have shared a nice star party evening with all who came out.