Stumbled onto this last night. I was up on Mt. Tam (site of this spring's IWEIRL) at sunset, found the Rock Spring parking lot full, with a bunch of scopes set up. More reflectors than I've seen in one place, up to about 2' diameter plus assorted refractors, binoculars, and astronuts. These were set up initially viewing the crescent Moon & Venus, prior to sunset, later, various nebulae (Lagoon), globular clusters (rats, I've forgotten), a binary pair, and my first direct views of other galaxies (M80 & M81). Damned faint things, I was somewhat surprised.

The event was Philip Plait, creator of the [link|http://www.badastronomy.com/|BadAstronomy] website, and author of the book [link|http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?show=:books:0471409766|Bad Astronomy]. He spoke for an hour or so at Mt. Theater (in all my years in Marin, this is the first event I've actually seen there). Quite cool getting a lecture on astronomy (good, bad, and otherwise) while watching Mt. Diablo disappear into the horizon, and the odd light poking through the bay fog.

Interesting collection of folks. Far more women than I would have expected at an astronomer's gathering. And some interesting Googling opportunities afterwards. There are a number of amateur astronomy groups around the area, with some cool goings on. Recommended.