Post by Al Degutis on Apr 4, 2005 1:00:13 GMT -6
No, I don't mean the movie or TV series...
I had the telescope (Meade 8" LX200 SCT) out for the first time this year. Good thing too, the view of the handheld binoculars were giving me motion sickness. I started by spening some time viewing Saturn before it was obstructed by trees and then Jupiter. I was able to see the Cassini division and a band on the planet's surface but the seeing was providing much more detail. The planet's shadow on the rings created a complete gap and coupled with the angle it looked like a slanted @ symbol.
Jupiter's bands were easy to see and it's moon were even visible in my 8x50 finder.
I also observed M44 and M3. I really need to get a 32mm ep to view open globulars such as M44.
What really caught my attention was in the constellation Corvus. I was looking for M104 and in the finder spotted what looked like an open cluster. I centered it and looked through the eyepiece to find a triangle with a smaller triangle inside. I sketched it for later identification, althought it was very easy to remember. A search of the Internet later, identified it as the Stargate asterism. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Looking at a star chart, inside the inner triangle there's a faint star (I didn't lookup the magnitude). I did not spot that faint star but plan to try and catch it the next time.
While packing up at 2am (CDT) I kept my eyes to the sky watching (hoping) for meteors. I spotted two while packing up. I stood around for about 10 minutes more hoping to spot a third. I was pulling my gear (packed in a garden utility cart) up the hill to my garage and saw an awesome meteor (mag 1) streaking about 40° from east to west in the northern horizon where I was facing. Cool way to end the evening. ;D
I had the telescope (Meade 8" LX200 SCT) out for the first time this year. Good thing too, the view of the handheld binoculars were giving me motion sickness. I started by spening some time viewing Saturn before it was obstructed by trees and then Jupiter. I was able to see the Cassini division and a band on the planet's surface but the seeing was providing much more detail. The planet's shadow on the rings created a complete gap and coupled with the angle it looked like a slanted @ symbol.
Jupiter's bands were easy to see and it's moon were even visible in my 8x50 finder.
I also observed M44 and M3. I really need to get a 32mm ep to view open globulars such as M44.
What really caught my attention was in the constellation Corvus. I was looking for M104 and in the finder spotted what looked like an open cluster. I centered it and looked through the eyepiece to find a triangle with a smaller triangle inside. I sketched it for later identification, althought it was very easy to remember. A search of the Internet later, identified it as the Stargate asterism. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Looking at a star chart, inside the inner triangle there's a faint star (I didn't lookup the magnitude). I did not spot that faint star but plan to try and catch it the next time.
While packing up at 2am (CDT) I kept my eyes to the sky watching (hoping) for meteors. I spotted two while packing up. I stood around for about 10 minutes more hoping to spot a third. I was pulling my gear (packed in a garden utility cart) up the hill to my garage and saw an awesome meteor (mag 1) streaking about 40° from east to west in the northern horizon where I was facing. Cool way to end the evening. ;D
