Isabelle

July 29, 2011

August is right around the corner and as night fell, so did the mercury (no,... not the planet, although I have been told that it is visible before sunrise). At 9:00 pm, already a chill could be felt in the air so I grabbed my jeans and sweater. Since the mosquitoes are still making themselves present for some stargazing action, I also grabbed some OFF! I set up in the front of my mother's house since the backyard has way too many trees. Unfortunately, this left me in plain view of cars passing by. They were few so I can't complain but,.. sigh.

Here's a question you might want to answer:

Don't know?

They flash their high beams for a better view of what is in front of them. Since it is an object of interest, they drive slowly by and when I look up, completely blinded by the lights, they smile look down and drive away quickly.

My viewing destination was the constellation Sagittarius where Messier Objects are abundant. In my mind, I was bound to come across something interesting. Armed with a telescope much smaller than my 10" Sky-Watcher, I found myself having a hard time adjusting to the viewfinder which was far inferior to my Telrad! The big red spot on my Orion Starblast proved to be more of annoyance than an aid with the small Messier Objects. Did I find any Messier objects? I tried for M25 and M17 with little luck.

Was the aperture of the scope too small for the objects chosen?

Was the awkward viewfinder the cause for my demise?

Was the fact that I was negotiating my way around rose bushes when viewing a handicap to my cause?

Were the cars driving slowly by looking at the side of the road "phenomenon" a disturbance?