OR: Mindego Gateway, Thursday June 11, 2026

[David Kirjassoff]

Lovely evening with Frank, Raghava, and met a gentleman named Lewis who was also there doing astrophotography. He may be joining TAC soon!  Frank had his AP 130, Raghava had his AP Stowaway, and I was slumming it with my William Optics Fluorostar 110.  It was a warm and clear night, didn’t even need a jacket until late. I had the Seestar s30 Pro cranking away to the side to provide some photographic moments of the evening. Widefield was nice on Markarian’s Chain and the Milky Way mode did a nice fully automated tack and process on the Milky Way core.

We observed Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury just after sunset.   Belts with structure were clearly visible on Jupiter. Next was M13 as a highlight, at 110x dark lanes and individual stars were visible.  Then M92, M4, M5.  Later, as Sagittarius rose we all turned our scopes to the Wild Duck Cluster and began sharing views through each others’ eyepieces. Raghava’s Leica zoom was a treat, as were Frank’s Clave, Pentax, and Brandon eyepieces. My newly acquired TV Delite 7mm held up nicely.  We filtered up and observed the Lagoon, Trifid, and Eagle nebulae and as the sky darkened around midnight good views of the Milky Way.

We packed up around 12:30 for the short trip home. I have to say Mindego Gateway is my favorite local spot, good horizons to the south and west, and the ridge shields the site from the glow of the bay somewhat. 

David