Hi Everyone
,
I collimated the dob fairly well this time.I first looked at the Tau canis majoris cluster which was spectacular and am thinking of sketching thsi sometime soon.I then located the grand double 145 CMA about 2* off to the side of the cluster.This is a spectacular double best viewed out at low power to accentuate the colour contrast at 58X it was well seperated and the brighter star was an Orange-red and the second star as a light blue reminicent of albireo.Enjoyable view.
I then went off to the eta carinae complex and swam in there with the 32mm wide field pllososl which has a huge field of view,truly amazing view of thsi nebula.
I saw the large maggalenic cloud and after reading Paddy's comments on what i would be able to see in the lmc I went straight to the Tarantula nebula whcih was jaw dropping beautiful sight.So detailed and the contrast between the tendrils and the dark lanes was spectacular.I then swam in the LMC and enjoyed every lttle knot of nebulosity.
I noticed Crux creeping higher into my view and centred the scope on Ngc 4755(jewel box) which was great in the dob with the colours shown up very nice,this has to be one of the most colourful open clusters I have obsererved yet.
I tried to locate Ngc 3132(eight burst) but failed in locating it,this must be a hard target to find maybe a OIII filter will help me a lot.After giving up trying to locate the eight burst,i went after the Eskimo in Gemini which was suprisingly easy to find But being low down in altitude the transperancy was not so good,but I still observed a bright star with a circle of haze around it with a bigger around it.I think the correct term is annular(?).It was quite a sight ,An enjoyable pne to view.250x brought it up nicely.
I was Hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of Saturn but it was too early in the evening and i packed it up as i had school the next day.
Thanks for reading
Cheers Orestis
Ps-unless otherwise stated all observations from now on will be with my new 12'' Dob
