beren
10-01-2006, 04:57 PM
Date/time
Jan 10th
Set-up by 19.30
Observing session started 20.30/finished 02.10
Observing Site
Home
Conditions
Strong wind poor seeing until a respite of 1hr around 23.30
00.30 large passage of cloud streamed in from the SW but dissipated by
00.45
Seeing conditions poor/ limiting mag 4
Telescopes/equipment
10"SCT/80mm Refractor
Summary
Conditions where unfavourable at time of set up but continued in the hope the strong breeze may have settled down later in the evening. This unfortunately didn't happen but continued regardless , drift alignment took longer then usal . Goals for the night were to explore the lunar surface/Canis Major and puppis region and grab a few pics on the way and end off with Saturn :)
Moon
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan102Small.jpg
From the North to the south along the terminator the Crater Plato, Copernicus,Bullialdus and Clavius where prominent along with the mountain chains in the Mare Imbrium region ...Montes Alpes/Appennines.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan101.jpg
The crater Plato had a slight shadow inside its western wall and the eastern wall was brilliantly light . The nearby lone mountains of Pico and Picton showed no evident shadow and the small grouping of Montes Recti stood out with the nearby Jura mountains revealing some of itself from the darkness of the unlit side .
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan103.jpg
The great crater Copernicus stood out along with the smaller but equally impressive crater Eratosthenes with the Appenines ending out its border.The crater Stadius is a contrast between its to imposing neigbors. The Carparthian mountains on Copernicus southern border provided some intersting views with shadows giving some good contrast.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan104.jpg
Further south another prominent cater Bulliadus provided some interesting exploring , nearby is a prominent rill that was really striking . The crater Clavius in the heavily crated south polar region was prominent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan105.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan106.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan107.jpg
DSOs
With the Moonlight decided to do some double star and open cluster exploring in the Canis Major/Puppis/canis Minor region. Revisted NGC3362 once again , beautiful cluster with the bright tCMA set in the middle , reminds me of a Christmas tree
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/ngc2362Small.jpg
M46 and M47 again , bit harder this time with M46 and the plantery nebula NGC2438
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/m46Small.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/m47Small.jpg
Info from http://www.s33.org/ was used in hunting down some of the DD in the region .
Visited another DSO that I havent see for a while , one of my favorites NGC3242 Ghost of jupiter
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/GhostofJupiterSmall.jpg
Saturn with the Beehive cluster nearby is a great view , lower mag was the order for the night but still with the its moons its a wonderful sight . Bit hard to get anything but tried with the imagers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/SatJan104.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/Sat10Jan1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/SatJan105.jpg
Finishing around 02.15 and after packing up the scope just did some naked eye viewing with the southern cross and carina region rising high in the SE and the good number of brighter stars in the night sky at that time like Regulus/castor/pollux/Capella/Procyon and the compnents of orion/canis major
:) :) :) hopes less windy next time
Jan 10th
Set-up by 19.30
Observing session started 20.30/finished 02.10
Observing Site
Home
Conditions
Strong wind poor seeing until a respite of 1hr around 23.30
00.30 large passage of cloud streamed in from the SW but dissipated by
00.45
Seeing conditions poor/ limiting mag 4
Telescopes/equipment
10"SCT/80mm Refractor
Summary
Conditions where unfavourable at time of set up but continued in the hope the strong breeze may have settled down later in the evening. This unfortunately didn't happen but continued regardless , drift alignment took longer then usal . Goals for the night were to explore the lunar surface/Canis Major and puppis region and grab a few pics on the way and end off with Saturn :)
Moon
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan102Small.jpg
From the North to the south along the terminator the Crater Plato, Copernicus,Bullialdus and Clavius where prominent along with the mountain chains in the Mare Imbrium region ...Montes Alpes/Appennines.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan101.jpg
The crater Plato had a slight shadow inside its western wall and the eastern wall was brilliantly light . The nearby lone mountains of Pico and Picton showed no evident shadow and the small grouping of Montes Recti stood out with the nearby Jura mountains revealing some of itself from the darkness of the unlit side .
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan103.jpg
The great crater Copernicus stood out along with the smaller but equally impressive crater Eratosthenes with the Appenines ending out its border.The crater Stadius is a contrast between its to imposing neigbors. The Carparthian mountains on Copernicus southern border provided some intersting views with shadows giving some good contrast.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan104.jpg
Further south another prominent cater Bulliadus provided some interesting exploring , nearby is a prominent rill that was really striking . The crater Clavius in the heavily crated south polar region was prominent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan105.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan106.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/MoonJan107.jpg
DSOs
With the Moonlight decided to do some double star and open cluster exploring in the Canis Major/Puppis/canis Minor region. Revisted NGC3362 once again , beautiful cluster with the bright tCMA set in the middle , reminds me of a Christmas tree
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/ngc2362Small.jpg
M46 and M47 again , bit harder this time with M46 and the plantery nebula NGC2438
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/m46Small.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/m47Small.jpg
Info from http://www.s33.org/ was used in hunting down some of the DD in the region .
Visited another DSO that I havent see for a while , one of my favorites NGC3242 Ghost of jupiter
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/GhostofJupiterSmall.jpg
Saturn with the Beehive cluster nearby is a great view , lower mag was the order for the night but still with the its moons its a wonderful sight . Bit hard to get anything but tried with the imagers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/SatJan104.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/Sat10Jan1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/beren/SatJan105.jpg
Finishing around 02.15 and after packing up the scope just did some naked eye viewing with the southern cross and carina region rising high in the SE and the good number of brighter stars in the night sky at that time like Regulus/castor/pollux/Capella/Procyon and the compnents of orion/canis major
:) :) :) hopes less windy next time