Quick session 16/11/11

[Ags]

It's a work night so I could not put in a long session but the clear skies beckoned...

I started with Jupiter in my new Speer WALER at 150x. One thing I have noticed about observing Jupiter with a wide angle EP is that the field is wide enough to show some of the surrounding background stars which provides a pretty effect. Jupiter is great at the moment even my small scope - as always I searched for the GRS but it did not seem to be on show. The extremely stable seeing did reveal some structure above and below the equatorial belts. Last year I could make out some color on the Jovian sattelites, but this year they just seem to be white dots.

Then I went after a couple of nearby doubles. Gamma Ari is a bright even white pair easily split at 150x. Lambda Ari is a wider pair, unevenly bright and the brighter component seems cream-colored.

I packed away then I noticed Orion so I had to have a quick look. At 150x the nebula looks like fuzzy crescent. It was low down so the seeing was not good, and as usual Trapezium E and F evaded me.

I had a look at Alnitak which if I recall is a tight double but it was too low in the sky to split - and perhaps the Speer WALER is not the right EP for the job.