Post by timothy on Mar 4, 2005 0:05:15 GMT -6
No moon
transparency 5/10
seeing 5/10
some wispy clouds with clearing of large areas in between
lvm 3.5
5" newtonian EQ
Began the evening wanting to get another look at Machholz. First I used my 10-50 binoculars but I could not see it so I started looking with the scope at 60x. I was'nt able to find it the last couple nights but tonight I finally locked in. Still has a small coma and a very faint hint of a tail. Bumping up to 120x did'nt make much of a difference. Now that I know where it is I look with the binoculars again and was able to see it very faintly , kind of like seeing M1 on a bad night.
I recieved an OIII filter and have been going through a bit of a learning curve with it the last few nights. I started thinking that the people that say you need a bigger scope might be right. Tonight I observed M42 again with the filter in and I described what I saw as a small thick puff with the dark lane prominent but not as sharp as with no filter. Then I decided to look with out the filter. Being kind of low ( about 25 degrees ) I saw more of the wing tips but the whole nebula was kind of transparent compared to when I did my sketch 2-3 months ago and it was more opaque. So now I describe the view with the filter as large, thick, billowing and bright with the dark lane jumping out at me and also an area to the west that I had'nt seen before.
Now I can't wait untill Cygnus Is high in the sky ,for now I will be able to see the north american neb and the pelican. How about M20,17,16,8,27,31........
transparency 5/10
seeing 5/10
some wispy clouds with clearing of large areas in between
lvm 3.5
5" newtonian EQ
Began the evening wanting to get another look at Machholz. First I used my 10-50 binoculars but I could not see it so I started looking with the scope at 60x. I was'nt able to find it the last couple nights but tonight I finally locked in. Still has a small coma and a very faint hint of a tail. Bumping up to 120x did'nt make much of a difference. Now that I know where it is I look with the binoculars again and was able to see it very faintly , kind of like seeing M1 on a bad night.
I recieved an OIII filter and have been going through a bit of a learning curve with it the last few nights. I started thinking that the people that say you need a bigger scope might be right. Tonight I observed M42 again with the filter in and I described what I saw as a small thick puff with the dark lane prominent but not as sharp as with no filter. Then I decided to look with out the filter. Being kind of low ( about 25 degrees ) I saw more of the wing tips but the whole nebula was kind of transparent compared to when I did my sketch 2-3 months ago and it was more opaque. So now I describe the view with the filter as large, thick, billowing and bright with the dark lane jumping out at me and also an area to the west that I had'nt seen before.
Now I can't wait untill Cygnus Is high in the sky ,for now I will be able to see the north american neb and the pelican. How about M20,17,16,8,27,31........
