Location: Melbourne
Time: 3:10am - 4:45am
I woke up at 3am and glanced out the window. I could see Saturn and Regulus just past zenith, the moon had set, so I decided to stay up and try to spot some stuff from good old suburbia. If the scope hadn't been set up by the back door, I probably wouldn't have bothered. Glad I did.
I only took out the 24mm (23x), 11mm (49x) and 7mm (77x).
Saturn - very pleasing at 77x - steady image, one band visible, and hints of Cassini at the edges. Seen it many, many times before, but never get tired of just what a jewel it is.
Algieba - double star in Leo. Quite tight at 77x, but obviously a double. The colour of these stars is striking - a deep yellow/gold.
M65 / M66 - I want to do an overnighter from a dark sky sight and log a lot of the Leo / Virgo / Coma B. galaxies. I've never bothered from my backyard before, but now I'm more portable it's on the agenda. I practiced star hopping to the Leo Triplet and managed to see two of the galaxies from my backyard - quite happy with that in a 4". I'm not sure which was which, but one was quite elogated, while the other was more elliptical. I couldn't make out the third galaxy (NGC 3628).
Virgo cluster - well, I tried
Hopped in from Vindemaitrix and got as far as M59/M60, but simply got lost. Not enough detail visible through the light pollution to keep on going. It looks like this would be enormous fun from a dark sky site.
M68 - easy to spot globular cluster in Hydra. Right next to a magnitude 6 star, and immediately obvious at 22x. 49x didn't reveal any additional detail - just a lumpy patch. 77x resolved around 10 stars in the halo. I felt this could have taken more magnification, and will explore further next time.
M104 - galaxy slap on the Corvus/Virgo border. Fun star hop via a triangle of three magnitude 6 stars, then through a close pair (binary?) to the object. Very bright, elongated galaxy that took magnification very well. Certainly could see the flying saucer shape, but couldn't confirm the dust lane - thought I could see it, but it may have been photographs talking.
M83 - galaxy in Hydra. Hopped in via an equilateral triangle of magnitude four stars that were just naked eye (that helped). I tried to spot NGC 5253 on the way (couldn't), but found M83 easily enough. A bright core surrounded by a milky, misty glow. I was quite surprised at how easy it was - appears to be a lot more to see here from a dark sky site.
M4 - welcomed back - rising in the east. Looked good several stars resolved, and the cat eye spine of stars was very evident.
Omega Centaurii - right at the zenith - bit of a struggle to get the scope aimed straight up, but worth the effort. One of the best views I've seen, amazing at 77x. Stars resolved everywhere, curves, streams, dark patches. Lovely.
Centaurus A - just couldn't get the scope pointed at it - the fine focuser device kept hitting the tripod leg. Pity - this would have been good, I suspect.
Jupiter - it's back - rising in the east. NEB and SEB were clear and showed detail, despite the low altitude. A few "moon-like" stars nearby, which looked a little odd.