Venus and Galaxy NGC2841

Another clear night in midmo with rain predicted later in the week so I decided to go for one more night before bad weather sets in even though my back was acting up a bit after our trip to Columbia today. For some reason or other the ISS didn't appear as predicted at 20:55 and to make matters worse, I knocked a foot off my 8" dob! A bit of repair work and it is as good as new. While waiting for it to get darker I took advantage of Venus' altitude and turned my scope toward the west. I was rewarded with a nice view through a green filter of a half-moon Venus. To help me decide what to look at tonight, I turned to Sue French's column in the April 2008 issue of S&T and went after NGC 2841 in the Big Bear. This is a spiral galaxy that is tilted so that it looks rather oval in my 8" at about 100x. A Hubble survey of its Cepheid variables determined that it is about 46 million light years distant. 2841 is near Theta UMa or the front knee of the bear. It's fairly easy to pick out, particularly with my Pocket Sky Chart, but was a bit high for comfort tonight. This might be one to try for in the valley next spring with the 5" Celestron.