June Observing Challenge!

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi guys.

A new month, therefore some new objects to view as part of our Monthly Observing Challenge.

Andrew, John and I were a little disappointed with the lack of responses for the May challenge, but hopefully people are just getting warmed up and will be into it much more this month.

Remember the idea is to get you out observing with a purpose.. perhaps to see some things you haven't seen before. To improve your skill as an observer as you take notes or draw sketches of what you see through the eyepiece.

It doesn't have to be a work of art and you're not competing with anyone else. It's all about you and what you get from it!

The response from the astrophotographers in May was great - i'm looking forward to seeing more great images of the June objects.

Don't forget, the template (or, a template - feel free to use your own or another one) for your observing logs can be found on the IceInSpace Files page.

Take advantage of the new moon this weekend to hunt down some of these great June objects!

There are sticky threads in this "Space & Astronomy" forum for your observing reports and sketches, and there are sticky threads in the "Deep Space" forum for the astrophotography.

Many thanks to John (ausastronomer) and Andrew (astro_south) for their work in writing up the descriptions for the June objects.

Challenge Objects - June 2005

[iceman (Mike)]

I spent some time last night observing for a change (instead of imaging!) even though the seeing was very good.. but it was the boring side of Jupiter so I figured i'd just "look" instead

I observed and sketched 4 of the 6 June objects, couldn't get the Ara Glob (N6397) because it was too low, and M8 (Lagoon) was too low and behind a tree. I'll get those later in the month.

I'll scan my sketches tonight and post them up when I get a chance. Also took the opportunity of the clear sky to check out M4 (Glob near Antares), NGC5139 (Omega Cent) and NGC5128 (Centaurus A Galaxy). All looked great as usual..

The seeing was quite good for the night (7.5/10) but the transparency was pretty ordinary (5.5/10).. there wasn't any clouds but it just wasn't very dark and was hard to find the faint fuzzies. In defence of the sky, I didn't properly let my eyes dark adapt, as I was sketching and writing notes. Also there was a lot of moisture in the air, first night of dew for almost 2 weeks!

Get into the June objects guys, some lovely things to see.

[dhumpie]

Here's my contribution to get the ball rolling. Have many more objects to scan and play around with....

Darren