Well, after nearly three months of fluffy white stuff dominating the sky, SE Queensland finally had some clear weather with (almost) cloudless nights on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday, I devoted to a little more practice with DSLR planetary photography ... and, once again, I am in a better position to appreciate the fantastic results achieved by others while mine remain pitiful!
Wednesday, I setup for a peaceful* evening at the eyepiece despite the moon. Seeing was poor early on but cleared up after 10pm when the conditions notably cooled. I checked out the double star 145 CMa as recommended by the 2014 Astronomy guidebook - not so hard to spot - and a few other double stars. Then I concentrated on a few favourites since it had been so long:
- The Orion Nebula, where 6 stars of the Trapezium were visible
- Omega Centauri and other globulars
- The Moon (of course)
- Mars (just)
- Jupiter, watching a lazy GRS transit and the occultation of Ganymede - I can comfortably watch Jupiter for hours!
What can I say? It's better than television.
* I say peaceful, but I set up at the front of my house due to being totally "treed in" on the other three sides. This means that I get occasional interruptions from car headlights and all manner of passers by - you'd be surprised how many people walk their dogs late at night. Also, when the weather is balmy and people leave their windows open, I get to hear every domestic dispute within a half-block radius.
