After trying to get in an evening of observing for this long weekend (unsuccesfuly due to high humidity causing misty cloud) I finally cracked it last night.
Observing period from 10:15pm until 2:00am.
Transparency very clear, seeing 7/10
Location: Home, Bullsbrook WA
All set up and fingures crossed, first observation at 10:20pm WDST. Unless stated otherwise the lens used is the 13mm nagler (76X).
NGC 2808 globular: very compact and just a hint of resolving. Nice view though. With the 10mm (100X) only slightly improved.
Next M68 globular. While a little smaller than ngc 2808 it resolved better, I think the air was getting better. !0mm best.
M104 The Sombrero galaxy, very nice. Fairly bright and the dust lane was just a little hint but was there.
M83 The Southern Pinwheel. A very faint galaxy I presume because of its large surface area. But there were still glimpses of its arm structure and a small bright spot at the core.
Centaurus A, NGC 5128. This is a strange shape for a galaxy. The dust lane was large and very easily seen.
NGC 5139, Omega Centuari. What can be said, MAGNIFICENT!! Resolved right to the core. With the 2.5 P/mate well, its full of stars!!
NGC 4945. This very faint edge on galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 13.00 according to starrynight pro 6. This puts it near the limit of my scope Still found it easily though and could even pull a little detail from it.
Finally, what night could pass without a look at Saturn. This proved to me that the seeing had been great. Very crisp image even with the 10mm and 2.5 p/mate (250X). The ring shadow could be seen on the planet and a hint of the Cassini division. Four moons were present, Tethys,Dione, Rhea and Titan.
After this effort and a cup of tea Margaret came back outside with me to look at some of her favorites and guess what, the seeing had deteriorated by about 30%. Just goes to show.
Finally got to bed at about 2.30am WDST after a terrific fun night.
