Observing Report 10/27/03
Equipment: Heep ('umble 4.5" DS Newtonian on EQ mount, 900mm, f/8)
Eyepeices: 20mm, 10mm, 6.7mm Meade Plossls
Location: Newmarket, Ont. (approx. 44n, 79w)
Time: 0230 - 0730 UT
=======================================================
Night after night, the story is the same. I venture outside, searching for any token that the clouds will part and clear skies prevail. Every night I am disappointed. Two weeks since the last half-decent night, and that was a day after the full moon. Over three weeks since viewing anything other than the moon and Mars was possible. No sign of letup in the pervasive gloom. The forecast? Unremitting rain. I breathe a deep sigh, resign myself to my fate, and trudge back indoors.
Last night I peer out of my front window. What's this? Mars? A break in the clouds? Will it metamorphose into a sucker hole big enough to set my scope up for even an hour of observing? Yes. Clouds dissipate, skies slowly clear from horizon to horizon. I hurl the garage door open and rouse Heep from its slumber, and set up outside on my light-bathed driveway. Auriga rising in the east, but not quite high enough yet. It's about 8:30 PM local (0130 UT). Head back inside for an hour of sitcom inanity.
Return at 0230. Capella high in the eastern sky. Tonight is the night to find the Messiers in Auriga. My first target is M37, just below the easternmost side of the lopsided pentagon formed by Auriga's brightest stars. M37 is an oval patch of grainy light with the 20mm (45x), with perhaps a dozen stars clearly resolved. With the 10mm, the image is resolved into dozens of beautiful, close set gems on a black velvet-clothed bosom.
Next target is M36. Larger and looser than M37, with perhaps two dozen stars resolved at 45x. No faint glow present, so I decide that dropping in a larger EP would not reveal significantly more detail. Somewhat rectangular in shape, with a very close double near the center.
Last, find M38 very close to M36, about 2 FOV's northwest of M36. Largest of the three. Stars are not as bright or crisply defined as M36, but there are many more of them, accompanied by a background haze. The brightest stars form two lines that cross each other at nearly right angles to form a ragged "X" shape at 45x. The 10mm (90x) resolves few of additional stars in the background haze. From a dark site, this must be a beautiful object.
I see Saturn and Castor through the branches of my neighbour's trees, and further south, Orion struggling to free himself from the muck on the horizon. Dew having started to form on Heep, I return it to the garage and head indoors to await Orion's and Gemini's ascent.
After about 90 minutes, I head back out, like a photographer for the Enquirer, to track the stars. Orion is high in the southeast, but still reclining somewhat, while Gemini is much higher in the east, and the Pleiades almost at the zenith.
(To be continued)
Equipment: Heep ('umble 4.5" DS Newtonian on EQ mount, 900mm, f/8)
Eyepeices: 20mm, 10mm, 6.7mm Meade Plossls
Location: Newmarket, Ont. (approx. 44n, 79w)
Time: 0230 - 0730 UT
=======================================================
Night after night, the story is the same. I venture outside, searching for any token that the clouds will part and clear skies prevail. Every night I am disappointed. Two weeks since the last half-decent night, and that was a day after the full moon. Over three weeks since viewing anything other than the moon and Mars was possible. No sign of letup in the pervasive gloom. The forecast? Unremitting rain. I breathe a deep sigh, resign myself to my fate, and trudge back indoors.
Last night I peer out of my front window. What's this? Mars? A break in the clouds? Will it metamorphose into a sucker hole big enough to set my scope up for even an hour of observing? Yes. Clouds dissipate, skies slowly clear from horizon to horizon. I hurl the garage door open and rouse Heep from its slumber, and set up outside on my light-bathed driveway. Auriga rising in the east, but not quite high enough yet. It's about 8:30 PM local (0130 UT). Head back inside for an hour of sitcom inanity.
Return at 0230. Capella high in the eastern sky. Tonight is the night to find the Messiers in Auriga. My first target is M37, just below the easternmost side of the lopsided pentagon formed by Auriga's brightest stars. M37 is an oval patch of grainy light with the 20mm (45x), with perhaps a dozen stars clearly resolved. With the 10mm, the image is resolved into dozens of beautiful, close set gems on a black velvet-clothed bosom.
Next target is M36. Larger and looser than M37, with perhaps two dozen stars resolved at 45x. No faint glow present, so I decide that dropping in a larger EP would not reveal significantly more detail. Somewhat rectangular in shape, with a very close double near the center.
Last, find M38 very close to M36, about 2 FOV's northwest of M36. Largest of the three. Stars are not as bright or crisply defined as M36, but there are many more of them, accompanied by a background haze. The brightest stars form two lines that cross each other at nearly right angles to form a ragged "X" shape at 45x. The 10mm (90x) resolves few of additional stars in the background haze. From a dark site, this must be a beautiful object.
I see Saturn and Castor through the branches of my neighbour's trees, and further south, Orion struggling to free himself from the muck on the horizon. Dew having started to form on Heep, I return it to the garage and head indoors to await Orion's and Gemini's ascent.
After about 90 minutes, I head back out, like a photographer for the Enquirer, to track the stars. Orion is high in the southeast, but still reclining somewhat, while Gemini is much higher in the east, and the Pleiades almost at the zenith.
(To be continued)
