Date/Time
Dec 22nd
19.30>02.45
Observing site
Home
Conditions
Fine and sunny lead up to evening
Brisk evening breeze, dissipated by 21.00
Streaming cloud banks in 15 minute window 22.00 from SW direction
Build up of cloud by 02.30, little ground wind
Med dew
Seeing conditions steady and good
Limiting mag 4>5
Telescopes/equipment
10" SCT
80mm Refractor
Mars
Started the evening with some visual observing of Mars around 19.45.Once again conditions were favourable except for the breeze , in the early evening twilight Mars was a delight to view. Good detail observed with a variety of eyepieces ranging from 22mm to 6mm. Sytris Major the dominant feature with a hint of Terra Meridiani on the edge of the planets disk. It would be nice to have a filter to aid a tad bit more contrast, even in the twilight Mars is quite bright but with a little patience detail revealed itself. The last week had some great nights viewing the planet and last night was another bonus.
Tried some images with the ToUcam using a 2.5x powermate and a 2.5 barlow stacked to see if conditions would let me dig out a decent image. through this combination the planets disk on the K3CCD tools capture screen was quite large and had some work keeping it in view. Once again i was getting some good detail on the capture screen but transferring that to the final image is a continued challenge and frustration , but in the attachments are some examples.
MOC
Once the night sky had darkened I set out to try some of the Monthly observing challenges. Before commencing checked my collimation through the SCT , the last week has been for some reason been very favourable for doing this . Diffraction patterns have been relatively stable then what I'm used to and have been able to decrease the size of the pattern to get a more accurate adjustment ....Joy....been pleased with the results.
NGC1365
Virtually directly at zenith i was hoping to pick this galaxy out but proved to be pretty tough. Could spot it first with averted vision but faint , front on was harder and would drop in and out. I could only make out a faint square point of light with maybe a hint of elongation at one end.
M46 and NGC 2438
40mm wide angle eyepiece gave the best image of M46 with M47 just inside the FOV, could make out NGC2438 in M46 using this eyepiece. M46 has a fairly even brightness amongst its members unlike M47 which has a number of brighter stars . The longer focal length eyepiece delivered a more pleasing view then going higher with the magx, found no advantage in magnifying NGC2438.
NGC362
Looking back into urban light pollution the star field around NGC362 viewed through the 40mm looked sparse except for some brighter stars on the edge of the FOV at 3/8 and 12 o'clock. The globular cluster is small but quite bright , as i increased the mag the cores condestation was resolved with a nice layering of fainter stars circling the core , very nice view through a 9mm eyepiece.
Moon
Really wanted to explore the lunar surface but was interrupted and finally stopped by increasing cloud .
Summary
Another great night for viewing , except for cloud breaking my ambition to image and observe the moons surface and a chance at Jupiter , the night was very enjoyable . A big surprise for the night was the performance of a University optics MK70 Koing 40 mm i purchased from a forum member.The previous night i had done some quick peeks using it in a f/5 120 mm refractor , this fast system revealed some noticeable edge of FOV aberrations but was sharp . Through the F/10 SCT was very good , in comparison with a 32 meade SWA viewing M42 the kiong displayed a darker background and a distinctive edge on nebula detail around the Trap . Impressed and looking forward to trying it in better skies , the eyepiece though requires some careful eyeplacment and eye relief is a little tight.
