date: 31.8.05
time: bout 7 till 8.30
seeing: 3/10
transparency: 6/10
scope: still my 8"
EPs: 15mmSV & 10.5 TV plossl
I had just finished dinner and remembered that on my last observation i noticed my collimation was way out... so i fixed it.
I told cheryl i was just going to do a quick star test to see if I had fixed my scope, "sure you are" she said with just a hint of sarcasm (actually dripping with sarcasm)
anyhow i took the scope outside then came back in for a bowl of icecream
then went back out about 15 mins later to do my "star test". collimated near perfect... now some observing
I noticed that i was missing one of augusts observingchallenge items, the planetary (5189) near "the fly". I thought this would be both faint and very small and so very hard to find. WRONG. thanks to the chart on the MOC page i star-hopped to the right spot easy. the object is somewhat larger and brighter than expected and tho the seeing was bad i still made out a vague shape in my 15mm SV. i bunged in a skyglow filter and it became more pronounced tho just as vague in shape.
next up i decided to go back to another august MOC object, NGC6025 to see if it looked any better in my now darker skies (the moon was out last time i think). nup, bout the same... I tried to use my imagination on it to come up with a descriptive name and the best I could do was interlocking "U"s.
I wondered if my guide stars to the helix that i remembered were correct so i checked them out. the seeing being worse than last time I didnt expect to see much and I was right. fainter but suprisingly still there (no one pinched it nor had it gone on holidays). I am so stoked that i can see it from my yard tho!
The dumbell, which I have renamed the bright blob was once again easy to find with my guide stars that are up here (points to head). more distinct in shape than when last viewed tho.
gama delph. I have done a report on this MOC obj already but it is a really nice lookng double so i went back
the lagoon, right in the middle of the dob hole! Gah!
brilliantly bright and wonderful in detail, it made me realise the need for a rightangle finder
. cruising the area looking for the triffid I found something else up there... not sure what it was tho, so i am going to have to check it out. dim and vaguely oval shape it was. I just dont know...
while in the area the second last stop wa a small bright glob in scorpio (m80). now if you like globs than this small tight glob is for you. give it a try if you havent already it one of my faves
. m4 most people have seen and is to my scope a very loose glob near m80 and antares... m80 rocks in comparison
after seeing the thread on splitting antares i decided to give it a go myself... at 228.5x i didnt get anywhere. i put it down to bad seeing.
anyhow not a bad night "star testing" hey
8.30 and back inside for "house". one of few shows i go out of my way to watch
, cos' it's basically the same as my last report. It was clouding in so I just looked at the regulars like the swan/triffid/lagoon/omega centauri/M47/etc etc etc!
