Elm Grove is a Bortle 4 location where my sister-in-law lives. It’s about 160 miles north of where I live. I had hoped to get some imaging done however, Shreveport/Bossier City only being about 10 miles to the north blanked out the northern hemispheres sky almost from zenith and my tracking was also slightly off the first night.  The moon was waxing gibbous and Jupiter was the first light in the sky and I was asked what star that was, LOL.  Altair popped next then Vega and Deneb followed quickly on the 10^th.  It was a family gathering and everyone enjoyed looking at the Moon and Jupiter.  I actually got my 10-year-old great nephew excited about astronomy.  He loaded Stellarium on his phone and I was informed he was using it the next day.  I hope his interest continues.  We also got my three-year-old great niece excited, though all she wanted to look through was the finder. I also got the story of my nieces and their telescopes when they were kids, star trackers using their phones.  They sounded like Celestron Star Gazers and when I had mentioned that, she confirmed that was the brand.

We gathered again on the 11th and we managed to coax my mother-in-law out as well along with another sister-in-law. It was a good night with the Moon for us and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it before it quickly set. I spotted the Theophilus crater, easily identifiable by the bright point in the middle with the rest of it still in shadow close to the Apollo 11 landing site.  Of course, I didn’t know that was its name until I looked it up.   I had solved my tracking issue, an improper alignment obviously.  However, the sky had been hazy all day and still was that night.  We had better visual observing of the Moon as it was up longer but the only stars really visible were the summer triangle stars and Jupiter, everything else was so dim due to the haze.  We did manage to spot Saturn later that evening before I broke the scope down, though it was very dim.

Next session, I will be working on fine tuning my alignment and hopefully get some imaging done and I’ll be back in my back yard.  I ordered a 12.5mm illuminated reticle but it hadn’t arrived in time for the trip.  I will also be using an Optolong L-Pro APS-C clip filter for the Canon that also arrived while I was gone.  The weekend of the 24^th, 25^th and 26^th promises to be clear with 0% chance of rain.  However, we all know just how fickle the weather can be.

Clear Skies!