Observing report -- April 18th, 2014

Another night on the front porch; I'd have loved the chance to go further afield, but the weather's not cooperating.

Mars was up and easily visible. I was able to pick out some features ("dark spots", I calls 'em), especially with the 12mm (166X), but even after figuring out the central meridian (45 degrees) I'm still not sure what I was looking at. Pretty, though. I showed it to a couple of my neighbours, which they enjoyed, and we also watched the ISS flyover. No sign of the Dragon that launched today.

After that, it was mainly a fruitless search for M40 and M87. The usual: not having a good idea what I'm looking for, or what to expect, a ridiculous target (Virgo galaxy from a light-polluted front porch while staring at porch lights?). Oh well, Mars was nice.