General Session - September 1-2, 2018

Jupiter (in Libra)
Time: 9:00 PM
Equipment: Telescope

Jupiter was quite bright although not as bright as Venus or Mars. Could easily see Callisto but Io took much looking to find it. There was a bulge on Jupiter's surface that could have been Ganymede or perhaps just a very bright spot that made it look like a bulge or moon.

Saturn (In Sagittarius)
Time: 9:26 PM
Equipment: Telescope 

Saturn was high in the sky above the Teapot's spout and M8. Very Bright. Was able to determine one moon - Titan. Initially I thought it was Phoebe but it wasn't far enough away from the planet to be so. Could not make out any moons closer.

Satellite
Time: 9:45 PM
Equipment: Telescope + Binoculars 
A satellite flew through my telescope FOV from east to west through the lid of the Teapot. I used my binoculars to follow it as it disappeared in the Milky Way.

α Perseus Cluster
Time: 11:00 PM
Equipment: Binoculars 
S&T Chart reference: 2, 13
While waiting for Capella to rise above SCO's horizon to better see Comet P21, I noticed Perseus was up so used my binoculars to view this gloriously open and bright cluster.

M8 (Lagoon Nebula)
Time: 10:28 PM - 10:40 PM
Equipment: Telescope
S&T Chart Reference: 67, 69, I

Seeing M8 with a telescope is very different than through binoculars. What I had seen on September 3, 2016 was 5 or 6 bright stars in a dense clump that formed a line of stars and the less dense clumps filled the mottled brightness above it. The telescope view seemed to have 5 or 6 vertical rows of stars that remind me of the α Perseus Cluster.

Also refer to Messier Catalogue - M008 (Lagoon Nebula) - September 1, 2018