Post by Al Degutis on Jul 10, 2005 19:36:11 GMT -6
My friend and neighbor, Dave, invited me to join him and his longtime friend Roman for some observing on this clear, moonless night. I didn't bring my telescope out. Dave has a Meade 8" SCT (2080) similar to my LX200 minus the goto and tracking motors. Roman had his Fuji 10x70 binoculars. Once I looked through them and then my Minolta 8-20 x 50 bino's the view didn't compare. I put my bino's back in my case and just enjoyed the 10x70s.
I'm not much of a star hopper since I'm spoiled with my GoTo scope. Luckily Dave drove and we started with the galaxies in and around the Big Dipper. We viewed M81/M82, M100 and M51. I tried my hand at targeting the scope in the west to see a globular about 15 degrees north of Arcturus. I was having trouble navigating the scope to it. Dave took a shot and couldn't as well, and Roman finally succeeded. It was M3.
Next, we moved to the south where Sagittarius had just come up over the southern obstruction (trees). I had never viewed anything in Sagittarius although I have looked at Scorpius which only half of it clears my tree line. Now that I know I can see part of Sagittarious, I plan on spending more time observing it. In Roman's bino's I was able to spot a number of firsts for me: M11 (Wild Duck Cluster), M8 the Lagoon Nebula which was very impressive in these binos, and M20 the Trifid Nebula which was good sight as well. Dave targetted the scope at these items and the views with his University Optics 40mm 2inch eyepieces were very nice.
I took a shot at targeting M11, trying to overcome my sense of failure to target M3 manually. Dave had a Telrad and showed me how to use it. Using the Telrad was very helpful in targeting M11 which I did with little effort.
In the bino's I was looking around Alberio and scanned a little south and found what I believe is the Coat Hanger asterism, or a similar one. Very cool to see the line of stars and the four star circular arrangement.
Roman took off for his 1.5 hour drive home but left the bino's for us to continue using. Dave worked with me to find M33 the Triangulum Galaxy in the bino's. I was having trouble finding it because it's surface brightness was so spreadout and it was only about 8-10 degrees above the horizon. It took a while but I spotted it. I also looked at M31 which was another awesome view in the binos. We called it quits around 3pm.
A very good night of observing.
I'm not much of a star hopper since I'm spoiled with my GoTo scope. Luckily Dave drove and we started with the galaxies in and around the Big Dipper. We viewed M81/M82, M100 and M51. I tried my hand at targeting the scope in the west to see a globular about 15 degrees north of Arcturus. I was having trouble navigating the scope to it. Dave took a shot and couldn't as well, and Roman finally succeeded. It was M3.
Next, we moved to the south where Sagittarius had just come up over the southern obstruction (trees). I had never viewed anything in Sagittarius although I have looked at Scorpius which only half of it clears my tree line. Now that I know I can see part of Sagittarious, I plan on spending more time observing it. In Roman's bino's I was able to spot a number of firsts for me: M11 (Wild Duck Cluster), M8 the Lagoon Nebula which was very impressive in these binos, and M20 the Trifid Nebula which was good sight as well. Dave targetted the scope at these items and the views with his University Optics 40mm 2inch eyepieces were very nice.
I took a shot at targeting M11, trying to overcome my sense of failure to target M3 manually. Dave had a Telrad and showed me how to use it. Using the Telrad was very helpful in targeting M11 which I did with little effort.
In the bino's I was looking around Alberio and scanned a little south and found what I believe is the Coat Hanger asterism, or a similar one. Very cool to see the line of stars and the four star circular arrangement.
Roman took off for his 1.5 hour drive home but left the bino's for us to continue using. Dave worked with me to find M33 the Triangulum Galaxy in the bino's. I was having trouble finding it because it's surface brightness was so spreadout and it was only about 8-10 degrees above the horizon. It took a while but I spotted it. I also looked at M31 which was another awesome view in the binos. We called it quits around 3pm.
A very good night of observing.
Some of your targets, I haven't been able to view thru my ever constant orange skies.
