[michaellxv (Michael)]

Last night was the first club night for the year. Skippysky forecast was coudy at the 10:30pm image and clear by 1am image. I was going anyway.

As I left home the sky was already beginning to clear so I had hopes of a good night. As I approached Willunga there was a thick cloud bank pearched on top of the ridge. I was driving through cloud over the top of Willunga hill, things didn't look so good any more. I arrived at the site with a thick covering of cloud.

Not to be detered we waited and by about 11pm the sky was clear enough to get a look. I went straight for the 'elusive' NGC1808 & 1792.

10" Lightbridge, 26mm & 15mm EP

NGC1808 & 1792
I hopped around through now familiar star paterns to where it should be and there they were both in the FOV of the 26mm. I put in the 15mm for a closer look.

NGC1808 positioned inside a trpaezium shape of four stars. It appeared brighter in the center and overall had an elongated oval shape.

NGC1792 had a more even brightness over the whole galaxy and was slightly broader on its short axis.

I couldn't see anything in the way of finer structure but I was just happy to find them.

M42
First look through the 10" from a dark site and I was not disappointed. I could see just as much more again as the 10" revealed from home. The big bright wings I could see from home now came around to complete the loop. Inside this area was clear but fainter nebulosity. Fine structure could be seen throughout.

With the 15mm I caught brief glimpses of the E & F stars in the trapezium.

SMC
I took Patrick's SMC charts for a spin over the SMC. They proved very useful to identify areas of interest. I didn't get past chart 1 there is so much to look at. I didn't take detailed notes but will certainely be back.

About 12:30-1am the clouds came back, we waited for a while but there was no sign of it clearing soon so we packed up. On the way home it was clear sky once I was back over Willunga Hill but the wind was terrible. i was too tired to set up again at home.