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Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

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January Planetary Picks

Started by Rod Kaufman, 01/18/2015 05:32AM
Posted 01/18/2015 05:32AM Opening Post
I had hoped to do some viewing from the LAAS site in Lockwood Valley on Saturday evening, January 17, but the clear sky clock showed cloudy conditions later in the evening. The clock fared better near my home but I got clouded-out after a few hours of viewing. Nevertheless, I got some decent views of some lesser known but very interesting planetary nebula gracing our January skies.
First up, a fine double-lobed planetary in Gemini, NGC 2371-2:
http://www.skyhound.com/observing/archives/feb/NGC_2371.html
Although skyhound pegs it at magnitude 13, The Observer's Guide logs it at 11.3 and I feel the latter is more accurate as I picked it up fairly easily in my 16" with a CLS filter and a 14mm ES eyepiece, despite high ambient light pollution. It looks like a micro-version of M76, the little dumbbell, in my rig.
Swing over to Orion and check-out NGC 2022, and at 12 magnitude, it still appears bright and, to me, looks like an egg:
http://observing.skyhound.com/archives/jan/NGC_2022.html
and:
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/nop/advanced/observers/n2022.html
I hope to see them under a dark sky soon...

Posted 01/23/2015 03:08PM #1
I tried 2242 in Auriga last night from my backyard. Mag 4 skies + poor transparency resulted in negative observation. It's on my list. I was able to see 14th may stars in the FOV, and match the field with Skytools.
Sunday I friend and I were able to observe J900 in Gemini and iC 2149 in Aur under similar conditions. These are easy and bright.

John
18" f/3.5 Teeter dob