In the April S&T (p49) I saw that Vesta and Ceres were both near opposition tonight. The last few nights have been spectacularly clear although the sky has been a bit turbulent, so I've been wanting to haul out the 8" and see what I could see. Tonight was another clear night but storms are predicted for the near future so I thought this had better be it before the moon comes back around for another visit. Vesta was an old friend as I had spotted it by accident several years ago. I've also seen Ceres on at least one other occasion, but tonight they were in the same FOV of my 9x50 finder so that was a big plus. When I consulted my SkySafari Pro iPad app I noticed that (2) Pallas was also in the vicinity so I decided to try for all three in one night. I wasn't disappointed. Pallas was already high so I went after it first. It was conveniently placed just West of Regulus in Leo and easy to find. At mag 8.2 it was easily visible in my 9x50s. Nearby Omicron Leonis was even visible unaided which made it even easier to find. Next I went after my old friend Vesta and her neighbor Ceres. Both were near bright Mars and easily visible Zeta Virginis in Virgo. Both were nice and bright and easy to see even in my 9x50 finder. I polished off the night with a glimpse at good old familiar Jupiter (all four moons were easy to spot), and super bright Mars. I saw two storm bands on Jupiter but have never been able to see any kind of marking on Mars. Tonight was no exception.
It was a wonderful night to be out though, just warm enough to be comfortable with a cap and sweatshirt, a bit breezy but not bad, and very very dark.
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