Rainy day Report

[Special K]

This seems a good time to take stock of a recent burst of activity!  The following is a collection from the past weeks mostly.  The common denominator was a clear spell lasting quite a few days punctuated by leaving the EQ5 out on the deck throughout.  I was surprised how much easier this made observing at the drop of a hat without having to lug that out every time!

Comet 21P/Giabobini-Zenner figures high on my list of activities:  

• I first picked this up in Cassiopeia in mid-July just north of the Heart Nebula.  At that point, the comet was fairly dim with no hint of a tail, but still very exciting to get it in the 6" refractor!  It was more of an averted target than direct vision.
• 3 Sept, spotted next to Capella with 10x50's but this was best guess.  Consulting the chart confirmed the blotch I'd seen was it, which was a little gratifying!  Experience in looking for obscure galaxies comes in handy at the eyepiece.
• 6 Sept wee hours, it has travelled down Auriga and is a much easier target to find with the bins.  102x with a No.12 Yellow looked pretty impressive.  A diamond asterism, likely FSR761 cluster was nearby, adding to the appeal.  The moon was still waning around 25% in the vicinity which washed the comet out somewhat.
• 7 Sept wee hours, earlier rain cleared the air, transparency sublime and the moon had dropped a lot of intensity!  21P had moved about 2 degrees SSW and pleasing to view in a rich field with M38.  Comparing the magnitudes of this cluster with the comet they looked fairly similar but obviously much smaller.   Signs of a fan-tail still playing with my mind, I continued using the No.12 to revealed a few extra details.

The seeing on 7 Sept might have been poor but I was running an uncooled 6" scope straight out of the house, so that didn't matter much!  I reckoned the NELM was much closer to 5.5 than 5.0 which happens from time to time from home.  M31 was a naked eye, averted glow.  M33(!) was even visible in the bins, which is rare here indeed!  M45 Pleiades were a smashing blue at 19x.  Capping the session was a lovely, thin crescent moon with remarkable Earth-shine glowing in the pre-dawn sky.  Simply exquisite!  

I had two good sessions on double stars:  one in Camelopardalis:

• Webb 2 is a smasher of contrast:  
• Σ389 is a 2.7" separation of 6.4 and  7.9 which is pleasing
• Σ384 escaped me this time but is sub 2" with mag 8 stars.

….and the other in Lyra:

• Eta 1 and 2, of course the Double Double...……..say no more!
• Σ2470 & Σ2474 make up the Little double double and as an interesting variation, both sets are in parallel. Excellent target to hunt down
• Σ2390 I resolved in the 6" but not the ED80
• Σ2333 was a nice split
• Zeta 1 and 2 are a huge 44" separation but with a bright yellow primary

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to leaving the mount out for a week again sometime soon

 

 

 

[cotterless45]

Excellent report ! Been following 21p all the way down. Some class targets there !

Nick.

[wookie1965]

Great report I am yet to see 21p and until I get this mount sorted I get the feeling I wont catch it.