goober
12-12-2007, 08:17 AM
Got home from work at 11pm (seriously). Mars was up and glowing, skies looked steady. I thought tomorrow is a write off anyway, get the scope out!
Observed for an hour from midnight until 1am.
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 5/10
Grabbed the 3.5, 5 and 7mm Naglers, along with the 2.5x Powermate, for a little Mars.... that turned into a lot of double stars in Orion.
Mars: my best view of the season so far, but it wasn't much. At least this time I could see a steady pink disk, rather than the bubbly, boiling mass I had been seeing. Best view seemed to be at 154x - 192x. A band of dark material could be made out right across the "bottom" of the planet. I could see the hint of a polar cap on the opposite hemisphere. However, my Martian "marsography" is so poor, I can't tell you if I did see the cap or not. I had much better views in 2003 when Mars was much bigger, higher in the sky, and I had a terrific 8" reflector.
Rigel: easy again - no challenge. Scintillating primary and faint magnitude 7 secondary, around 10" away.
Eta Orionis - a challenge thrown out by SkySearcher. Wow, this is a nice pair. A dumbbell shape at 154x - two stars of approximately equal magnitude. Definite double at 192x and cleanly split at 270x. Tight pair - must be under 2", which pleases me with my little 4". Stars appears to be a white colour - but not pure... hint of lilac? Amazing how you start groping for weird colours once you start looking at these things!
Theta Orionis - the Trapezium - 6 stars! Although F was incredibly difficult. I never know exactly E/F are are so I sketched my view and compared later. Definitely bagged the six. Tick off that box....
Sigma Orionis - 4 stars visible at all powers. The magnitude 9 star is steadily there, but very faint in my scope.
Alnitak - looks a lot like Eta Orionis. Hint of a split at 154x, cleanly split at 270x.
Observed for an hour from midnight until 1am.
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 5/10
Grabbed the 3.5, 5 and 7mm Naglers, along with the 2.5x Powermate, for a little Mars.... that turned into a lot of double stars in Orion.
Mars: my best view of the season so far, but it wasn't much. At least this time I could see a steady pink disk, rather than the bubbly, boiling mass I had been seeing. Best view seemed to be at 154x - 192x. A band of dark material could be made out right across the "bottom" of the planet. I could see the hint of a polar cap on the opposite hemisphere. However, my Martian "marsography" is so poor, I can't tell you if I did see the cap or not. I had much better views in 2003 when Mars was much bigger, higher in the sky, and I had a terrific 8" reflector.
Rigel: easy again - no challenge. Scintillating primary and faint magnitude 7 secondary, around 10" away.
Eta Orionis - a challenge thrown out by SkySearcher. Wow, this is a nice pair. A dumbbell shape at 154x - two stars of approximately equal magnitude. Definite double at 192x and cleanly split at 270x. Tight pair - must be under 2", which pleases me with my little 4". Stars appears to be a white colour - but not pure... hint of lilac? Amazing how you start groping for weird colours once you start looking at these things!
Theta Orionis - the Trapezium - 6 stars! Although F was incredibly difficult. I never know exactly E/F are are so I sketched my view and compared later. Definitely bagged the six. Tick off that box....
Sigma Orionis - 4 stars visible at all powers. The magnitude 9 star is steadily there, but very faint in my scope.
Alnitak - looks a lot like Eta Orionis. Hint of a split at 154x, cleanly split at 270x.