Hello Orion, New Galaxy, Earthshine

[cloudsweeper]

Weds. 3.15am - mild, still, clear - put the Dob into action.  Nothing specific planned.  I was pleased to see the Pleiades and the head of Taurus again - fine clusters with bright components.  (Using ES 30/82, x42, about 2deg of field.)  Orion was lower, SE, and mostly obscured.

On to Mesarthim and Sheratan (Aries), changing to the 20mm Myriad for a smaller exit pupil.  A couple of hops led to a new galaxy for me - NGC 772 ("Fiddlehead" Galaxy, a face-on spiral).  Small, very faint, but definitely right where it was expected! 

I then spotted the lovely slim crescent waning Moon quite low, but happily between two houses, and revealing marvellous detail.  (Other targets would have been hard to locate since the Rigel and RACI were dewed up by then.)  In the Myriad, the overall view was splendid - the Moon looked exactly like a bridge (crescent arch uppermost) in the EP, and the grey earthshine below (seen near new Moon) looked good against the blackness.

The main view was of Oceanus Procellarum - stunning and sharp on raising mag to x254.  The close, black "eyes" of Galilaei and partner, then the larger Reiner, Marius, and Aristarchus (and nearby winding Schroeter's Valley).  Up to x423 - clear, but wobbly, and hard to track of course - so I dropped to x318 and concentrated on dozens of specks of the Marius Hills (volcanic cones) and the rilles in that region.

Just after 5.00am, all of Orion was on show east of south, so who could resist M42 and the Trapezium?  At x127, the E and F stars of the Trapezium were easily spotted without AV.  Faint, yes, but their separations from the main four are a comfortable 5".

5.15am - finished, very satisfied, and not sure how two hours passed so quickly!

Thanks for reading.

Doug.