As I drove up the winding road to the middle of nowhere, I idly mused upon the deep mystery of my 401K as I contemplated the approaching back of the front... would seeing and transparancy improve soon?. When I arrived at the parking lot, it was filled with friends eager for a night's observing. I counted at least 51 telescopes set up.
I started my night's observing with one of my favorite objects, M 64. It gave the appearance of dandruff on black satin pajamas. Then, I studied NGC 6633. It seemed just like a faint puff of nothingness, with a suspected, but not confirmed, central star. With that checked off my list, I identified B 22. It looked exactly like two scoops of spumoni ice cream. Next, attacking my personal nemesis, I sketched M 105. It sparkled like one of Martha Stewart's doilies. With that checked off my list, I went for M 103 in Ursa Minor. It was not quite as bright as nothing I'd ever seen before. After I'd spent a few minutes looking at that, I checked off IC 2366. It looked like a spitting cobra.
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 ebola.