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Hey James,
Good to read your second night's report, even though it sounds as though things did not go exactly according to plan. However, sounds like your views of Jupiter were worth the effort alone!
I am interested by your comments about the many objects that looked very much the same after a while. I have had the same experience on some occasions where I have built up a formidable list of targets to work through, only to find myself overwhelmed and underwhelmed all at once.
I liken observing to eating out (astronomy vis-a-vis gastronomy) - forgive me if I have drawn this analogy with you before... You can do the buffet thing, eat yourself stupid (looking at heaps of objects indiscriminantly), and come away feeling unpleasantly stuffed (not sure what the astronomical equivalent of bloated and windy is...). Or, at the other end of the scale, you can enjoy fine dining, savouring every mouthful, eating moderately, focusing on the experience and quality rather than quantity (ie select perhaps 10-20 objects, do some reading about them before the night so you have some underlying understanding of what you are looking at etc, and spend your time teasing out all of the detail).
I have come to the view that fine dining is more my thing, rather than buffet "chew and spew". My definition of a good night out is enjoying perhaps a dozen objects, seeing what the view with difference EP's produce. I like a mix of familiar friends (eg Messiers and other well known stuff), and perhaps a few new items, which may be quite dull, but sometimes can surprise.
Last night, inspired by your marathon, I decided to have a second session in a row myself from Point Clare (how could I not with the lovely clear skies we have at the moment??!!). I had 90 mins at the EP from 9.30 to 11pm, with a dozen or so targets. The seeing was pretty steady, so I alternated between the 13E with Paracorr (220x) and the 7T6 (360x), as well as using the 20T5 for M42.
I started with some favourites: Tarantula, 47 Tuc, M42, and teased out the Pup with the assistance of an OIII filter to dint the glare of Sirius, then headed off into the less well trodden path of Columba the Dove. Enjoyed that delicate globular NGC 1851, then checked out some bright galaxies in Columba, NGC 1792, 1808 and 2090. All three galaxies were bright and impressive from suburbia, but the standout was NGC 1792, which is a side on barred spiral with a very bright core and clearly marked out galactic plane.
I also took the opportunity to visit one of my favourite globs in the heavens, NGC 2808 in Carina, it reminds me of a mini 47 Tuc, so thick with stars, so cotton-bally notwithstanding its distance.
By the end of my session Fornax was at zenith, so I decided to visit Zorro (NGC 1365), unfortunately the skyglow of suburbia pretty much washed out the spiral arms, but the bar was bright and charming, a mere 60 million lya!
Les - sounds like some stunning conditions....wish I was there! It is indeed amazing what details can be teased out of PN under dark skies with stable air and high power.
Clear skies to all!
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