I just returned from the Calstar star party and had a chance to look at the parachute. Saturday night Steve Gottlieb found it in his 24" and I found it in Rick Linden's 32". Rick was extremely generous in sharing his wonderful telescope with all of us.
In the 32" we could clearly see the elongated glow of the parachute using a 4.7 Ethos. After replacing the Ethos with a 6 mm ZAO II ( putting us at about 500x) two equally bright starlike points ( A and B) could be seen and held comfortably and continuously with direct vision. A magnificent object to behold, and one of the great highlights of all my observing! Earlier in the evening we watched a nighttime launch of an Atlas 5 rocket from a nearby base- amazing to see. Quite the eventful starparty.
I am guessing Jimi has looked at this object with the mighty Barbarella. C and D also seen?
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