Monday, October 15, 2007

October 14, 2007 Observing Report

Whohoo!! It has been nearly a month since my last session. This one was short, about 50min, but sweet. I have been really tired lately, lots going on at the home. The skies were super clear, Andromeda could be seen with the naked eye, as well as several open clusters.

Here is the list from last night with comments.
11:00PM - 11:50PM
M45 (Pleiades): This looked superb. Lots of stars were apparent, with some faint nebulosity.
Alderbaran in Taurus: Was fun to look at. The star was superb, but was eclipsed by the amount of stars in the area. When I get a long session, I would like too spend some more time here.
NGC869/884 (Double Cluster): Excellent at 30x. More stars than any other time viewed.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy): This was my best view ever. Got alot of detail even at 60x. Need to spend more time here as well.
M34 (Open Cluster): This I ran into again. Was a great site and had to look at the Pocket Sky Atlas to confirm.
M27 (Dumbbell Nebula): Looked nice. Got rare detail at 60x. Would like to get a UHC or OIII filter to try on this.
Mars: The red planet was in a tough spot. At 11:45PM, it was just rising over the neighbors garage. Another month and it will look great around midnight.

After a month of clouds, the moon and sick children, I was happy with the quick session that I got. I am still not happy with the mount, but c'est la vie. When funds permit, I will be upgrading.

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