Monthly Sessions, 2019

[cloudsweeper]

Just got my last one in for the year - sky clear at 4pm - waxing crescent Moon, low, south - M. Nectaris and Fractasorius looking good - much clearer detail 30 minutes later, but then it all clouded over.  I had planned for more, but anything's better than nothing!

Anyway, not a bad year at all, 102 sessions, averaging 8.5 sessions per month.  Breakdown shown on the bar chart.

A few memorable views include:

# Seeing the Trapezium E and F stars with the Dob.

# Being surprised with my first experience of the "bulging craters effect" on the Moon.  (Appeared inverted by a trick of perception.)

# Spotting Comet 46P - very faint indeed, but worth tracking down.

# Estimating the shadow length from Mons Piton on the Moon to be over 34 miles.

# Taking the mag with the Moon to x423, and still quite stable.

# Viewing the location of a Black Hole - Cyg X-1 being a blue supergiant with a Black Hole in close orbit.

I wish my friends on SGL a Happy New Year, and great stargazing in 2020!

Doug.

 

[RobertI]

Well done! I was poor at logging my observations in 2019, so don’t know exactly how many, but I suspect it was around 30-40. I clearly lack your commitment! 

[cloudsweeper]

12 hours ago, RobertI said:

Well done! I was poor at logging my observations in 2019, so don’t know exactly how many, but I suspect it was around 30-40. I clearly lack your commitment! 

Thanks Rob.  I tend to keep detailed records, since it's easy to lose track of what I did and when!

Doug.

[Paz]

That's a good innings! 

I'm totting up my notes to see how it went.

[cloudsweeper]

18 minutes ago, Paz said:

That's a good innings! 

I'm totting up my notes to see how it went.

Thanks Paz - it is indeed worthwhile to log activities.

And the New Year got off to a reasonable start with another late p.m. Moon session using the Dob and enjoying seeing some small pits in Mare Serenitatis at x254 before clouds rolled in.  (This has been a familiar pattern over recent days.)

Doug.