Some ETX doubles in UMa

I can't believe it's been several months since my last observing session! Actually I've been out a couple of times since returning to Rolla in April. Once with the 8" dob to check out Saturn that is nice and high in the evening now, another time earlier this week to check out the four planets at dawn (I only saw two, Jupiter and Venus peeking through the murk before sunup), and once with my ETX70, only to find that the trip up from TX managed to break my focus knob 'fix' loose. I had to use some epoxy to re-glue the washer I used to patch the broken plastic. It worked nicely tonight and I re-acquainted myself with the procedure for entering custom objects. I selected a few binocular doubles from May's S&T. There was an almost half moon, clear, and about 78F, dry with no dew, and a bit windy. The moon cast enough light that the dimmer stars were washed out but I was able to see Polaris easily. I even managed to spot a dim 7.6 mag star between Mizar and its companion Alcor in UMa. A bright satellite passed by Mizar about 10:00pm. It was the first of three that were to pass through my FOV tonight. It's always nice to spot a satellite this way. D1 or Gamma and 11 UMi were the first stop after alignment. I thought they looked a lot like Mizar and Alcor. Next on my list was TT and 8 UMi. These are mag 6.8 stars that were barely visible in my 7x50's but clear in the ETX. I found this pair by GOTO Kocab. The pair I called D2 (lambda and 2 Draconis) looked blue and orange to me. The group I called D3 was a nice string of four stars that I thought all looked blue-white. The 'crouton' in UMa was too large for the ETX but I saw it easily in 7x50's. All in all, it was a pretty successful night.

M43 with a narrowband filter

I recently ordered an Orion narrowband filter which arrived during the waxing moon and clouds. Tonight was nice and clear so I had a chance to really try it out. I set up the ETX and centered M43 in Orion's sword and focused my 27mm EP. I next attached the filter and refocused. Voila! The sky was darker and the nebula was easier to see with higher contrast. The two bright stars embedded in the nebula were somewhat dimmed. Other than having to refocus the ETX which is a pain, the nebula filter looks like it will be very useful.

Jupiter and Uranus

A couple of nights ago I noticed Jupiter shining big and bright almost overhead and decided to try catching nearby Uranus in my 7x50's. It was a bit smokey but I was able to sketch the starfield just east of Jupiter and caught Uranus visible with averted vision. Tonight it was cold and clear and I caught Uranus and nearby mag 5 and 6 stars easily with direct vision. There was just a hint of blue to Uranus. Here is a sketch I made on 4 Dec 2010. Tonight's view was virtually the same except a bit brighter due to better seeing.

Pleiades and Jupiter

Today I worked out a process for editing my scanned astro-sketches using GIMP 2.6. I made a couple more sketches tonight, one of Jupiter and four moons, and another of M45, the Pleiades. It was a bit smokey and Jupiter was just about to set below the house so I didn't get a chance to observe very long, about 9:30 to 10:20. I've been wanting to sketch M45 and think I got a pretty good result. I'll process the sketches and post them later.

setting up shop

It wasn't too cold, mid 50's, and no moon, clear, so I thought I'd start setting up shop in the backyard observatory at GGG tonight. I set up and leveled my little ETX table but didn't bother setting up the scope. I opted for a chair and 7x50 binocs instead and focused on the Perseus/Cassiopea area just northeast of the house. Limiting mag was about 7. I easily found the double cluster and the major stars of Perseus and all 5 bright stars in Cas. The dc didn't come close to its brilliance in CO this summer but at least it is fairly high. I may try it with the ETX in a few days. There was a lot of smoke in the air and it smelled bad outside so I quit early. I hope every night isn't 'burn trash' night this year.

More moon and Jupiter

The moon is almost full but I decided to setup again tonight in front and see if I could snag a sidewalk visitor or two. I did meet Floyd Smith, a neighbor and first year resident of GGG out walking his dog. It took three tries to marginally align the ETX, not a good night. It wanted to use Vega which was behind a palm tree, and after I started on my second try, the power went off. I finally took the timer of off my outlet and at least stopped that little aggravation. The third time was better: I got Vega ok but missed Fomalhout but found Jupiter ok as well as the Moon. All four moons were on the same side but IO and Europa were overlapped too close and I could not split them. Calisto was barely visible just to the south of a line between Jupiter and the other three moons. Ganymede and the two overlapped moons were plenty bright and easily seen. I was able to make out one cloud band on Jupiter just fine with the yellow filter. Moving on to the Moon, there wasn't much of a terminator but Cardanius and it's companion crater Krafft were obvious, very clear and high contrast. Grimaldi, the dark circular plain, was obvious as were two craters just to the north: Hevelius and Covalarius. The yellow filter kept the brightness down enough so that it wasn't painful to look at the moon but it wasn't as comfortable as first quarter.

Jupiter's Moons and our own

It was exceptionally clear, calm, and warm outside tonight, and my old computers weren't cooperating, so I decided to haul out the scope and see if I could find Jupiter and the moon. I was rewarded with a fine appearance of the ISS and when I turned to Jupiter about 7:00 I was rewarded with a smaller satellite crossing the FOV while I was focusing the ETX. Pretty cool. I found Jupiter after a quick and dirty alignment and experimented with my four filters. The yellow one worked best and at least one cloud band was clearly visible. Ganymede and Callisto were clearly visible but Io and Europa were aligned and very close to the planet's glare so I could only barely make them out. I was using my 10mm ep so things were fairly large. The 10mm and yellow filter seem to make a nice pair with the ETX and Jupiter. I had no problem keeping things in the FOV. I next turned to the moon and it was also nice at 35x and a yellow filter. Not so bright that it hurt and Bullialdus crater and it's companions A, B, and C were clearly visible along the terminator. Bullialdus A is only about 14 mi wide. Copernicus was also a fine sight. I couldn't find my portable map so had to use my laptop's Virtual Moon Atlas.
It may be time to reconsider deep sky stuff and start paying more attention to the moon. I thought I might be able to snag a walkup or two but no such luck. One guy came by as we were watching the ISS go over. Turns out he had worked on it at Houston so wasn't particularly impressed. Ho hum.