Poor seeing but good viewing - a nice ramble

[RobertI]

It was nice and clear last night so time for a session with the 102ED-R.

It quickly became apparent that seeing was pretty bad - this was confirmed when trying to split Alnitak - it just wasn't possible! But transperency was good so I persevered and ended up with a nice mix of old and new.

First as always was M42 - I initially tried with binoviewers and the views were a mesemrising 3D, but with only one magnification of 180x available, it was a bit too much for the Trapezium with such poor seeing, so back to cyclops for the night.

Staying in Orion, next was the beautiful Sigma Orionis - a cluster of four stars which form part of stellar association which includes Orion's belt. The faintest of the four was nicely visible, but weirdly disappeared if I increased the magnification beyond 100x - perhaps due to the seeing? Nearby was Struve 761 a nice group of three stars, two of which make a nice close pair. Also nearby was Iota Orionis, a pretty double with a bright primary and a much fainter secondary 11" away.

Now a couple of carbon stars. BL Orionis was unmistakable with a deep coppery orange. TU Geminorum was not quite as vivd, but still unmistakable. Nearby was the M35 open cluster. This was probably the highlight of the evening, filling the field of view at 70x with a rich array of bright stars gently swimming in the turbulence, but with a little surprise in the same field of view -  the misty cloud of NGC2158 - a faint but extremely rich open cluster which I was not able to resolve.

I finished off with a quick look at the Crab Nebula in Taurus which was nice oval smudge, very easy to see thanks to the good transparency.

A good session in the end.

[mikeDnight]

Nice report Rob.  It's often the case that when seeing is good, transparency tends to be poor. And only rarely do the two play nicely together. Still, as you've proved, perseverance can pay off, resulting in an enjoyable and memorable nights observing.  

[Luke]

Nice one, Rob. I had a lovely eve, from about midnight to 2:30 I think. I just stayed low power with my 10" dob. Not because of bad seeing, I have no idea on that, just as I fancied being lazy. I did think M42 looked particularly 3D last night. And, strangely, some of the star clusters, I don't know if it had anything to do with that I normally do lazy low power in the dob with a 21mm Ethos and last night used the 17.3mm Delos, just to mix it up slightly. The stars in the double cluster really zinged out.

I think my other highlight was seeing a few interesting objects that I sometimes bump into accidentally near my actual targets. I should get around to finding out what those are! I probably won't be able to find them though once I know what they are and where they should be! 😄

Edited December 11, 2021 by Luke

[Epick Crom]

Good report Rob. I must try for NGC 2158, have not seen it yet. Clear skies to you 👍