Hi fellow observers! I had a wonderful night exploring the large constellation of Eridanus with my 10 inch dobsonian. This constellation holds many delights and a few rare sights! Moon at waxing gibbous but sky very transparent.
Before my foray into Eridanus began I had a few targets that I wanted to observe first. I started with finding the "Little Ladle" asterism in Pisces, brought to my attention on another forum. This charming asterism is found approx 2° from Iota Piscium, close to the Pegasus border. It gleamed in the moonlight and does look like a round spoon ( ladle). Next target was Saturn. Spectacular as usual, with one of its moons, Dione, positioned directly below Saturn and very close to it. A lovely sight! Mighty Jupiter was next, its moons strung out to one side of the planet. I saw very fine details in its cloud bands, one of my best ever views of the gas giant. After Jupiter I payed a visit to Mira (Omicron Ceti) the famous variable star in Cetus. I estimated it's current magnitude to be around 8th magnitude.
After enjoying those targets it was on to the main event of the evening, Eridanus:
Acamar ( Theta Eridani): Lovely double with identical white components spaced at 8"
NGC 1535: "Cleopatra's Eye". Wonderful planetary nebula. Blue/green coloration. I noticed it's 12th magnitude central star for the first time. Some internal structure visible at 343x.
Kied ( Omicron Eridani): This is an amazing multiple star, it's two companions being a white dwarf and a red dwarf! Very rare indeed.
39 Eridani: Another amazing multiple star, at 70x it's first companion was visible, then to my amazement the third companion became visible once I upped the magnification to 240x. This was my first time observing this object. I just love surprises!
NGC 1332: Elliptical galaxy. This was visible as a fuzzy smudge despite the moonlight. Another first discovery for me.
NGC 1537: Another elliptical galaxy. Eridanus abounds with galaxies!
I finished the night by observing the waxing gibbous moon. I got fantastic views of the Straight Wall, Apennines Mts and crater Clavius among others. I viewed crater Plato using my 2.3mm Cielo eyepiece ( my lowest focal length eyepiece) giving me 522x. The seeing was good as I got a rock steady and clear image, enabling me to see the Plato craterlets for the first time.A nice ending to an enjoyable session. Wishing you all clear skies
Joe