As I drove up the winding road to Mount Tamalpais, I idly mused upon the inner workings of tight underwear as I contemplated the El Nino weather patterns. When I arrived at the parking lot, it was filled with friends eager for a night's observing. I counted at least 17 telescopes set up.
I started my night's observing with one of my favorite objects, M 43 in Ophiuchus. It appeared at low power like the face of God. After I'd spent a few minutes looking at that, I identified M 25. It glowed, rather like the face of God. Then, I showed some guests B 412. It looked a bit like ripples of water. Then, for a real challenge, I went for NGC 5083 in Sagittarius. It seemed most like the face of God. Then, for a real challenge, I slewed to B 434. It was better than a spider.
Finally, it was time to pack up and leave. As I drove home, I contemplated the events of the night, and realized that any night out under the sky with good friends is better than stacking 400 Mars images by hand.