BBAA Skywatch at Northwest River Park
Friday night Sandy and I headed to Northwest River Park in southern Chesapeake for the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) Skywatch and it was a really good time. The sky was nice and dark with a few passing clouds. At times the clouds did get in the way but there was still a lot of cool stuff to see.
I think there were probably about 15 scopes out there – from a 6″ reflector to an 18″ Dob and everything in between. Sandy and I really enjoyed looking through Kent’s new Orion 14″ Dob. He took us on a tour of the sky to include M13, the Sombrero Galaxy, M65, M66, M82, and several other deep sky objects. The views of Saturn through the 8″ Dob were also very impressive.
Seeing these objects from a nice dark location is making me reevaluate the mobility of my set up. I may look into some ways to transport and power my gear outside of my backyard. I have a good soft case for my tripod already and a hard case for my AT66, but I think I will look into some cases to transport my 8″ SCT and the CG5 equatorial mount.
The BBAA holds the Northwest River Park Skywatch every month. Skywatch is free and open to the public. Check out the BBAA events page for more of the clubs events. Also check out the BBAA Facebook group. Sandy and I will definitely be making plans to attend a few of their events.
