November 7, 2016
№ 10 / November 7, 2016 / Home / 1941-2000 JST / Cold and clear / Waxing moon (46%) / 8x42 & 10x50
Another brief sojourn. I was irritated when I began because I've felt as if I've neither learned nor see anything new lately. So, I stared at Alpheratz (α And) for a while to calm myself, and discovered that it's surrounded by several stars; I counted approximately 10. Taken as a whole, it looks like a folded napkin or a newspaper folded into the shape of a boat. I practiced hopping from α to δ to β, and from there up to M31, and this is a surer way of finding the galaxy than my previous method which was little more than pointing the binoculars at Cassiopeia and sweeping to the right (South) hoping to come across it. M31 itself is to the left (North?) of the trianlge of stars: HIP 2948, 32 And, & υ And; within this triangle of bright stars, I counted six or seven dimmer ones.
I enjoyed the little time I had outdoors, and with reluctance returned indoors to complete the paperwork I have to prepapre for work tomorrow. The more I use the 8x42 and 10x50, the more I appreciate them.
The Moon is almost half-full, and it was having a negative effect on the visibility of the stars. The smiling face in Auriga was barely discernible, but none of the OC's were visible.
CONSTELLATIONS: And / Aql / Aur / Cas / Cyg / Del / Peg / Per / Sge
DEEP SKY OBJECTS:
Cr 399 (As/Vul) Diminished by the moonlight
Kemble 1 (As/Cam) HIP 18505 (bright star in the middle), NGC 1502 & NGC 19139 only
Mel 20 (OC/Per) Looked good; it wasn't adversely affected by the moonlight
M31 (SG/And) No less beautiful because of the smaller aperture
NGC 869 (OC/Per) Meh
NGC 884 (OC/Per) Meh
NGC 1502 (OC/Cam) Visible
Stock 2 (As/Cas) I couldn't make it out
- 1
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