Texas Star Party, Tuesday

I woke up around three this morning and poked my head out the door. "Rats. It's still cloudy." No, it was the Milky Way. I drug myself down the scope, and I'm glad I did. I spent the morning in Sagittarius--the Teapot--which is tough to see well from home where it's usually in the light pollution from Austin. I think the thing I saw that impressed me the most was NGC 6520. It's an ordinary open cluster, pretty enough, but right alongside it is Barnard 66, a dark nebula. It looked like an ink stain against the glow of the Milky Way. Very cool.

It's raining again this afternoon, so I don't know what to expect. I'm looking at the field right now, and it's a collection of covered scopes, tarps and tents. Haven't run into any mud--it's pretty rocky--so at least there's that.