Observing notes from July 11, 2001 Site: Donald C. Martin Observatory, Huntington, WV Time: 9:30-1:00 a.m. Astronomers: Don Kemper, Tim Lester, Randy Badgett, Jeff Ball, and guest Mrs. Don Kemper Observing aids: Cave 10", Homemade 10" dob, AP 130EDT, Fuji 7x50, and Orion ??x?? binos Conditions: Transparency 7 (Milky Way visible from D.C. Martin- nice night) Seeing: 4 Temperature: 60's with mild dew Moonrise around 12:30 a.m. The objectives for tonight were to view Mars and Comet Linear A2 2001. Mars really never looked good tonight. Detail was just out of reach. With a red filter the Hellas region was visible with some hint of Sirtis Major. It was a very disappointing night for Mars. I left my scope on Mars for extended periods during the entire observing session and the seeing never allowed any serious viewing. I also attempted to split Antares with the Deep Sky filter. I think I saw the companion, but have yet to find a source giving the location of the companion. The airy disk of Antares was a mess, thus indicating the low quality of seeing this night. So we turned our attention to some deep sky objects. We compared the views through 3 deep sky filters: the Orion Ultrablock (OU), the Lumicon Deep Sky filter (DS), and the Lumicon OIII filter (OIII). Our first target was M8. It looked quite nice without a filter for the D.C.M. location. The DS helped accentuate a little more nebulosity extending around the star cluster. The OU really provided a nice view, greatly enhancing the nebulosity while not darkening the starfield too much. The OIII revealed even more nebulosity, but all but the brightest stars were too dim to see. I found the OU filter provided a more pleasing view for my tastes. These results were duplicated on M17. I stumbled upon M80 in Scorpius for the first time with my 130. It was not quite resolved. I then sought out a cluster that I could resolve and went for M4, M22, and M11. All were beautiful tonight against an ink black background. At approximately 12:30 it was time to search for Comet Linear A2 2001 (A2). It is in Pegasus and is just brighter than magnitude 5 right now. At this time it was just barely out of the Huntington Mall sky glow, but was an easy find in the Fuji 7x50. Appearing as a large diffuse glow between two prominent marker stars, we set out to see if we could see any detail in the nucleus. Viewing the comet with 100-200x revealed little detail in the nucleus. A dark sky would benefit this object greatly. The tail is very faint according to CCD imagers and was not detectable visually. I don't know of anyone imaging this object with film yet. The comet is a large diffuse glow so it is unmistakable and an easy-to-find target. Best views: 1. M22 -what a great star cluster in any instrument 2. M8 with Orion Ultrablock. A great view from a light polluted location. You gotta love this filter 3. Comet Linear A2 2001. An easy to find comet is rare. When you get a chance to view one, enjoy it and relish the time with it. These views are not stagnant, so it is beneficial to check it from night to night. Hope to see some of you this weekend from a dark sky site. Jeff Ball