Went out for about 2 hours tonight to take advantage of the mostly clear skies. For the
4th time in a row, its been
clear all day, and only during sunset you have these bloody annoying clouds move through, interrupting your eyepiece time bloody constantly. Bloody hell
Did a quick tweak of da collimation and got started. Tonight, the seeing wasnt any good, certainly was lagging behind the other night. No surprises there, as 1. we have a jetstream and 2. there's a thumping inversion layer just above ground level. So I was limited to about 250x. Not only that, the mosquitos were out in plague-like proportions, but it was a bit warm and humid thus wearing long pants wouldve been somewhat uncomfortable. So I suffered and now am covered in like 50 bites.
Time: 10pm-11:30pm
Telescope: 10" Dob
Temp: 20ºC
Seeing: 5/10
Tarantula Nebula
Was using 250x with a filter. A very nice view, with the core surrounded by an intricate network of faint nebulosity enveloping the entire FOV. Excellent
Next I used 96x with the filter and got something more akin to a photograph. The complex structure of the entire nebula showed up perfectly, with the bright core in the center. Also did a quick sweep of the area, and its just brilliant seeing all those fuzzies scattered everywhere. Would be a most awesome experience sweeping this area with a low power eyepiece at a dark sky site!
NGC 362
Although seeing conditions didnt support high power tonight, I cranked it up to 500x and was delighted with what I saw. Some nice resolution in its outer 3rd, with granulation around the bright core. Quite a pretty sight, and would be even more so in good seeing and high power. Seeing tonight was bad enough that 47 Tuc was waving like a flag in a breeze at 250x.
NGC 2024 - Flame Nebula
With the moon finally gone, I gave this challenging object a crack. While my 4.5" reflector shows it easily from a perfect dark sky, it is easily washed out in light pollution. Using 96x in my 10", I could just make it out. It had a triangular shape, with the central part seemingly 'hollow' (which corresponds to the dark lanes). I had to place Zeta Orionis just outside of the FOV to see the nebula. Very faint and I had to study the area for a few mins to conform the sighting.
NGC 2023 / IC 435
Small reflection nebulae each surrounding stars near the Horsehead. Both were visible at 96x as a haze surrounding the star, creating an effect similar to observing thru fogged optics. NGC 2023 was by far the more obvious of the two.
Packed it up around 11.30 because I was getting sick of these damn clouds, plus Im suffering sleep deprivation and I have to get up in the morning to drive down to bintel and pick up my Televue barlows