Quick session after the storm

[Davesellars]

As the storm passed it cleared although there was a thick haze early evening so didn’t even think about getting a scope out. After a nap and waking up at 1am the sky certainly looked considerably better and dark although looks can be deceiving... So I popped out the AZ4 and the 120ST and gave it a go.

Well I was glad I didn’t bother getting the dob out! It was wet, the air was wet and soon my scope was sopping with the humidity. I could tell the transparency wasn’t good either...

However, I managed to get a few in though to at least call it productive of sorts.

I started with the Leo to gauge the transparency. Both M65 and M66 were visible but very washed out apart from the core. NGC 3628 wasn’t visible which wasn’t surprising.

On to brighter things and visiting some old friends...

M13 - my, it’s been a long time since I observed this. Very bright at least and reasonably resolved the best view being with the 14mm Delos. I went to the 5mm Pentax however the conditions weren’t exactly supportive of this power and it looked exceedingly washed out and the seeing really not giving a good sharpness. The nearby galaxy NGC 6207 could not be seen which was definitely an indicator of bad transparency. No more galaxies tonight!

M92 - nice and bright and surprisingly small after M13. Good view with the 14mm Delos.

M57 - The little ring was lovely and bright with the 17.3mm Delos and resolving the ring an not just a fuzz. With the 7mm Pentax the shape of the ring and became evident giving some detail.

I took a quick look at the Double Double near Vega and then noticed incoming high level clouds coming in so called it and packed up.

I’d installed Dark Sky Meter on my iPhone and it had given readings of 20.5 and 20.6. No idea how accurate it is but at least should give me a reference for other nights after using it for a bit.

[Eastman]

On ‎05‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 11:48, Davesellars said:

On to brighter things and visiting some old friends...

M13 Always Nice!