Video about the upcoming set of 4 Lunar Eclipses

http://www.space.com/25250-a-tetrad-of-lunar-eclipses-starts-in-april-video.html

The next eclipse begins April 15th.

Jupiter, Mars, Moon

Got a good look at Jupiter, Mars and the Moon before bedtime with the 10" Dob. Nice detail seen on 1st quarter moon in regards to little craters with what seems to be some "ripples" near by. Mars looked like a nice round, red ball. Not much detail could be seen. Bands clear on Jupiter, but only noticed three of the moons. High level clouds passing over and lots of light pollution in the city. Tried to find M108 and M97 and gave up.

Cathedral of Stars (in stunning 4k)

Great views of the southern sky.

Got a look at the stars tonight, started about 8:30.  Sort of ran my own Messier Marathon.  I was able to pick off M-35, 42, 43, and 40 before the clouds became impossible.  Wasted some time on M1, but was never able to see it.  Great views of Jupiter and Mars.  I was using my 4.5 inch reflector.  I have the scope in almost perfect collimation.  I'm using the so-called Barlowed collimation method and would be glad to explain it if you aren't familiar with the technique.  I also recently purchased 18 and 5 mm Celestron X-Cel LX eyepieces which I have found to be a really good match with the 4.5 reflector.  In these eyepieces stars are shap points across pretty much the entire field of view.  There is only very, very slight coma near the edge of the field of view.