seeker372011
12-11-2005, 12:48 AM
My Atik is sick..and is off paying a little visit to Portugal to get well again-hopefully
this means no imaging as thats my guide camera as well as planetary imager
so - a night of visual observing-how novel!
Despite the very bright moon, I set up my 8 inch f/5 Newt anyway in my backyard as it was the first clear night in yonks. My daughter was my observing partner.
First object: Venus. Its like a little half moon she said delightedly.
We then turned to the old favourite M42. Its green she said. You're joking I replied..(I can never see any green -at my age guess I just dont have the visual acuity). No she replied, its green all right. And I can clearly see the stars in the Trapezium.
I also thought I could just barely make out the running man nebula -remember the moon was casting shadows !
We cranked the magnification to 90 x ...Its much less green she said,but we enjoyed the view of the Trapezium stars and the fishes mouth at this magnification
Next we had a look at the Sculptor Galaxy. My daughter found it really hard to see.... try looking at it out of the side of your eyes..see those two bright stars- there's this very faint fuzz just above, I tried to help. Look at for a few seconds , let yur eyes collect the light. I see something she said, but maybe I'm only imagining it ..no you're not, I said, that faint fuzz is a galaxy
We then turned to tuc 47....and just for the heck of it I put in a 3 x barlow-something I have never tried before, with a 10 mm Ploessl.
Amazing..it actually worked. It still didn't compare with the view we both remembered from the Skywatch observatory at Coonanbarabran some years ago but that was a much bigger scope and much darker skies-but it was still spectacular despite the light pollution and the full moon.
Ok how about the Tarantula? still with the 3x Barlow and the 10mm ..wow.
she could make out some of the spidery extremities while I could not but still it was a worthwhile object despite the moon
By now Mars had finally risen above the house. I ran in to get my Wratten 23A filter that I had purchased during the 2003 opposition, and we observed the red planet with the filter hand held...no polar cap visible-all we could both make out was some dark surface features, it wasnt too satisfying
and now we had a look at the moon-first at high magnification and then at low mag with just a 25 mm Ploessl..its beautiful she said and I really like the rugged features along the terminator...
she went off to bed then and I stayed on to have a quick look at Neptune and Uranus before calling it a night
It sure is nice to observe visually and not spend the whole night fussing with computers and cameras and auto guiding and polar alignment
note to myself..do it more often!
this means no imaging as thats my guide camera as well as planetary imager
so - a night of visual observing-how novel!
Despite the very bright moon, I set up my 8 inch f/5 Newt anyway in my backyard as it was the first clear night in yonks. My daughter was my observing partner.
First object: Venus. Its like a little half moon she said delightedly.
We then turned to the old favourite M42. Its green she said. You're joking I replied..(I can never see any green -at my age guess I just dont have the visual acuity). No she replied, its green all right. And I can clearly see the stars in the Trapezium.
I also thought I could just barely make out the running man nebula -remember the moon was casting shadows !
We cranked the magnification to 90 x ...Its much less green she said,but we enjoyed the view of the Trapezium stars and the fishes mouth at this magnification
Next we had a look at the Sculptor Galaxy. My daughter found it really hard to see.... try looking at it out of the side of your eyes..see those two bright stars- there's this very faint fuzz just above, I tried to help. Look at for a few seconds , let yur eyes collect the light. I see something she said, but maybe I'm only imagining it ..no you're not, I said, that faint fuzz is a galaxy
We then turned to tuc 47....and just for the heck of it I put in a 3 x barlow-something I have never tried before, with a 10 mm Ploessl.
Amazing..it actually worked. It still didn't compare with the view we both remembered from the Skywatch observatory at Coonanbarabran some years ago but that was a much bigger scope and much darker skies-but it was still spectacular despite the light pollution and the full moon.
Ok how about the Tarantula? still with the 3x Barlow and the 10mm ..wow.
she could make out some of the spidery extremities while I could not but still it was a worthwhile object despite the moon
By now Mars had finally risen above the house. I ran in to get my Wratten 23A filter that I had purchased during the 2003 opposition, and we observed the red planet with the filter hand held...no polar cap visible-all we could both make out was some dark surface features, it wasnt too satisfying
and now we had a look at the moon-first at high magnification and then at low mag with just a 25 mm Ploessl..its beautiful she said and I really like the rugged features along the terminator...
she went off to bed then and I stayed on to have a quick look at Neptune and Uranus before calling it a night
It sure is nice to observe visually and not spend the whole night fussing with computers and cameras and auto guiding and polar alignment
note to myself..do it more often!