Rare, ( and short, ) session.

[Greymouser]

I just though I would post about my rare session observing last night, not because it is out of the ordinary, in fact it would be most ordinary to most people!

Anyhow, the forecast was good and I was not feeling too bad, nor too tired, which was rare in itself lately. I have not been sleeping well at all, for one reason or another, so have found it difficult to motivate myself. So, even though the moon was half full last night, I set up my Celestron Evolution 9.25 and left it to find equilibrium.

I came back about an hour later, plenty of time I thought; which it was. Now I have not had the scope out since before Christmas and have always before, used the Sky Portal app to control the scope. That has always been fine, except when the app crashes causing the mount to go off on a wild slew, often causing the diagonal and eyepiece to crash into the mount! ( Ouch! ) This has been an added motivation to avoid using the scope to be honest. Last night however I thought I would try a different approach and used the supplied hand controller to control things, after all it cannot be that hard eh? Its not! Not shocking to most, but it was to me as I had always assumed the app would be far easier, not so, the controller method is much better! ( However I did enter the latitude and longitude the wrong way around at first, which left the mount thinking I somewhere off the coast of Somalia! )

I entered the time; location and went for a two star alignment, using Polaris, then Betelgeuse, not expecting too much to be honest, but I was wrong, easy peasy! Then sent it slewing to nearby M42 which then appeared almost dead centre, wahay!  Why did I not use the controller sooner? Goodness knows, it is so much better and easier, even without looking at the manual for it first...

I was using the 6.3 reducer and a Baader 10 mm eyepiece, giving me a magnification of around 148, I think. The image was good but not great, it is not the best of eyepieces, so I changed it out for my favourite 16 mm eyepiece, ( not sure of the make... ) giving about 92x. Much better this time, clear and sharp. The trapezium easy and obvious and I thought I could see a few stars in the centre of the trapezium, is this possible, or just wishful thinking? Either way, a lovely view with loads of nebulosity on show, does this never end? I spent what seemed like ages just looking at the nebulae, which seemed to expand with detail and extent as I watched: lovely. 

Next I went to have a quick look at M31, which again was almost centre, though hard to see because of both the moon and that tree, which even though leafless, was in the way. Good to see an old friend anyway.

Next I stayed with the 16mm and went to have a look at the Pleiades, M45. This was one of my favourites as a child, just starting out with my little 50mm frac, I find it still is, though it is much better with more aperture! I changed out to a 40 mm eyepiece, about 37x, better and better. Do I see a hint of nebulosity or not, I just cannot decide, though find myself doubting my observation, even though it seems to be in the right place, even more of a hint in the 16mm. The easy control given from the hand controller leaves me wandering around M45 for what seems ages, again.

Now I am starting to tire and getting a little nippy with the cold. ( I am not so young any more... ) I decide to have a last wander over to the moon. Aarrghhh, I'm blind! Foolish me forgot to add my moon filter and the 16mm, leaves me half blinded from the searchlight! Anyway, I spend the next hour or so wandering around the surface of the moon, keep coming back to one crater in particular, not sure which one, so I will not speculate on naming it, but it had an interesting shape and degree of detail. I went up to a 5mm and about 296x, loads of detail and an interesting texture in the centre of he crater, several mounts and maybe other very small craters,( ? ) below. Either way, fascinating, as ever the moon is.  

Starting to get numb fingers now, time to pack up. Good job I did because I nearly juggled the OTA to the floor, with numb fingers, as I dismantled!

Not sure how long the session lasted, but not really long enough! My conclusions: Why did I not use the hand controller sooner? I am now re motivated to get back to more regular observing. I need to make sure I have a list of targets and choose a moonless night next time. I wonder if I can get away with chopping that tree down, it is  on a school playing field... What a wonderful versatile scope the Celestron 9.25 is and how much closer is that C5 travel scope? Well chuffed.

( Not out tonight, it is my weekly bottle of wine night! ? )

 

[Paz]

Nice report, it's good to be getting out there and doing it, I've had a thin spell recently also.

I get cold hands (and feet) and have found by trial and error that, oddly enough, keeping my head warm helps me the most.

[Greymouser]

4 minutes ago, Paz said:

keeping my head warm helps me the most.

I find myself wearing two hats sometimes!

[Whistlin Bob]

Brilliant!

[Stu]

Great report. The C925 is a fabulous scope, and when everything works it all comes together.

Regarding the traoezium, you won't see anything in between the 4 stars, but might glimpse the E and F stars which are just outside, and much fainter.