A gap in the clouds & the value of GoTo.

[lenscap]

Having had almost constant cloud cover for about a month, I was a bit sceptical when Clear Outside forecast a couple of hours of clear sky for Wednesday evening.

When I got the (second hand) 200p it came on a manual EQ mount so I've done plenty of star-hopping, but I've since fitted a DIY Onstep GoTo system.

Uranus was one of my main  targets. I'd failed to star-hop to it a couple of times in the past so it would be a first for me.

Did a 2 star align & slewed to Alrischa (alpha Psc) , a tight 1.8" double. It was a wobbly dumbell at X100, not a clean split.

A short  slew to o Psc, a yellow giant named in Stellarium as Torcularis Septentrionalis. (What awonderful name!  If I ever write a book that will be the name of the bad guy.) ?

That should have put Uranus in the finder FOV, & there it was , just about visible when tapping the scope.

At X30 in the 200p ( 32mm Plossl ) it was a pale blue dot (copyright - Carl Sagan). At X100 a tiny, paler, slightly blurred bluish disc bracketed by 2 ninth mag stars. I am still amazed that an object that shines only by reflected light can be seen from 2 billion miles away with just the aid of a few small pieces of glass.

On to psi1 Psc, an easy white double, like a pair of headlights.

Then 19 Psc. Amazing colour, a deep cherry red giant! It makes Betelgeuse look pastel pink.

Next I headed over to Gemini, starting with Castor (a bright pair of headlights at X100).

Wasat, Mebsuta & Mekbuda were all easy splits at X30 but Propus (1.6") was too tight even at high power in poor seeing.

Then I had a good look at M35 (I love open clusters) before moving to some of the usual suspects in Orion. I think Orion is to constellations what Jupiter is to planets. However often you have observed it, if it's up there you just have  to look!

Then the clouds rolled in, but in less than 2 hours of great fun I had bagged a previously elusive planet, an amazing red star, a bunch of previously unseen doubles and finished with lots of familiar objects in Orion. To me this proves the benefit of GoTo, particularly in mostly cloudy , light polluted skies. I just could not have found this many objects in the time available by star-hopping.

And to think that just a couple of decades ago, the idea of remote controlling  your scope, using a planetarium app, by wifi, would have seemed almost science-fiction.

Clear skies!

[Eastman]

17 hours ago, lenscap said:

Then I had a good look at M35 (I love open clusters)

Nice report, open clusters like M35 are showpieces indeed.