Our first full night of observing included comet Hale-Bopp, followed by the Orion Nebula, a power snooze, and then the wonders of Centaurus greeted us- our first time ever in this constellation !! We checked out Omega Centauri through the Japanese binos outside, as it was still too low on the horizon to clear the walls of the observing room, and found it to be huge and gorgeous- it certainly exceeded our expectations, even this low in the sky (so much for M13...) We were able to observe the Centaurus "A" Galaxy through the 12" LX200, as it was better placed in the sky, and the central dark band was clearly visible- based on what we had read about this object, we certainly were glad we weren't living in that galaxy! Next was M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, and then my co-pilot crashed and went to bed, so I was banished to the hillside binos once more, where I returned to Omega Centauri, which by now was higher up and the view through the binos was outstanding! I then continued to scan the sky, and went crazy for the Scorpius Jewel Box, which contains several overlapping star clusters, and is an object we cannot see from Canada (I later took some starfield shots of this area of the sky before we left, and as I think back on the trip, this remains up there as one of my favorite "first-time" objects). I swear the cluster(s) were sparkling back at me, in all kinds of different colours ranging from yellows to blues to whites- truly a Jewel Box!! By the time I packed it in, around 2:00 a.m. (still jet-lagged), the southern horizon, from east to west was "covered" by the Milky Way- another awesome memory for both of us (luckily, the town lights/glow were to the north/northwest).

As for the accommodations, the Inn consists of three tastefully-decorated rooms- two off the kitchen, and a third between the 14' domed observatory that houses the 20" Maksutov and the sliding-roof observing room. We were very satisfied with our room, however, the "breakfast" part of the "Bed and Breakfast" billing varied throughout our stay, anywhere from a full breakfast if Dr. Vega was present, to frozen bagels and muffins if he was not.

The next night we had the opportunity to observe through the 20" Maksutov f/10 telescope with a couple of the astronomy guides from Tucson, and seizing the moment, we focused our sights on some of the more obscure objects in the sky: NGC 4449 (the Box Galaxy, and yes it was rectangular in shape); NGC 4490/4485 (a pair of galaxies, one being the Cocoon Galaxy); NGC 4631 (an edge-on spiral); NGC 4656 (the Fish Hook Galaxy); the Centaurus "A" Galaxy; M104 Sombrero Galaxy; M51 Whirlpool Galaxy; M81/82. All in all a good session for everyone, and even the guides were impressed with our selections!

The next night we had reserved the 20" Maksutov for astrophotography with Dean Ketelsen, an astronomer from Tucson (check out Sky and Telescope May '97 issue, page 29- that's his comet photo), and he's also a celeb in Peter Ceravolo's "Comet Odyssey" documentary- Dean's the bearded fellow with the van in Arizona, with the Hawaiian shirt! We spent the evening with Dean attempting prime-focus photography through the 20", which apparently had never been tried before (now we know why...) Dean and Robert spent the night guiding on the Sombrero Galaxy, Orion, the Owl Nebula, the Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 4565 (an edge-on galaxy), and M13, and despite their efforts with 20-minute exposures on Ektachrome P1600 film, the results were disappointing- Dean's rule of thumb for exposure time was the focal ratio squared, which translated to 100 minutes in the case of this scope....but what a learning experience the guiding part was for Robert- argh........! (Footnote: while we were using the 20" telescope that night, Dr. Vega finally got the LX200 up and running for us.) In the meantime, Dean had invited us to tour his place of work the following day in Tucson: the University of Arizona's Mirror Lab, where assorted mirrors for the Magellan project, along with other mirrors for land-based telescopes were being built- an exciting and interesting opportunity for us. Other daytime trips included a visit to Kitt Peak National Observatory (56 miles SW of Tucson; you should note that they have nightly observing sessions for the public, but they are booked months in advance, in case any other club members are heading down that way...wish we had known this!!)

We decided to spend only one more night at Skywatcher's, and used the LX200 for observing most of the objects in the regions of Scorpius, Scutum, and Sagittarius, which get marvellously high in Arizona compared to here. I then spent the last few hours doing piggyback photography of these areas, until a rising sun shut me down for the night- or should I say morning- and I was fortunate enough to be able to check out Jupiter for the first time in several months, too. After a few hours sleep, we packed up and drove 6 hours north to the Grand Canyon, which was a last-minute change from our original plan of the full 10 days to be spent at the Inn, but the Canyon ended up being the highlight of the trip, along with a sidetrip to the Barringer Meteor Crater 40 miles outside of Flagstaff on the way back to the airport.

All in all, it was a great trip for us, and we'll always remember those first glimpses of Omega Centauri, the Scorpius Jewel Box, and the Centaurus "A" Galaxy. However, we would not recommend Skywatcher's Inn- their skies, albeit clear and from a great latitude, are subject to substantial light pollution from nearby Benson and are no darker than where we observe from here at home, which very much defeats the purpose of traveling all the way to Arizona for darker skies. We understand that if we had travelled another hour to the Chiricahua Mountains, we would have been thrilled with the skies there, which in fact is where "Comet Odyssey" was shot from. However, we did not come fully prepared with all of our astronomy equipment to observe away from the Inn, as our expectation was that the Inn's equipment that had been reserved six months ago would be in working order upon our arrival. A key learning for us is "have scope will travel": always take your own equipment. We were able to check out the comet one night with the Pronto by the Grand Canyon, where the skies were incredibly dark, but then again at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, you're at the mercy of mountain weather, so your observing days can be numbered up there, as clouds frequently come and go on short notice.... Maybe on our next trip to Arizona we'll have better luck.