We had a clear evening Saturday here in Ohio. I was delighted to find M81 and M82 for the first time. They were both easy to find in my 90mm refractor at 80x.
I thought M82 was the neater of the two. The edge-on appearance was new for me, and a few of the little filaments were occasionally visible. M81 looked quite large with averted vision. The elliptical shape was clear, but no brightening of spiral arms.
I need to find a darker observing site.
My son came out and we looked at Mizar for a minute. Then Polaris, but he wasn't able to see the dim secondary star. Then I aimed south and found Nu-1 CMa, which is a nice little double.
M47 was beautiful, but still no joy with M46. M46 looked wonderful last winter in my 4.5" - f5 reflector. I think the magnification in the refractor is too high, and it gives too narrow a field of view.
The Moon came up about 9:00, and the sky became way too bright for DSOs. I was getting cold and went in, but we had a nice session.
Rick Wiseman
I thought M82 was the neater of the two. The edge-on appearance was new for me, and a few of the little filaments were occasionally visible. M81 looked quite large with averted vision. The elliptical shape was clear, but no brightening of spiral arms.
I need to find a darker observing site.
My son came out and we looked at Mizar for a minute. Then Polaris, but he wasn't able to see the dim secondary star. Then I aimed south and found Nu-1 CMa, which is a nice little double.
M47 was beautiful, but still no joy with M46. M46 looked wonderful last winter in my 4.5" - f5 reflector. I think the magnification in the refractor is too high, and it gives too narrow a field of view.
The Moon came up about 9:00, and the sky became way too bright for DSOs. I was getting cold and went in, but we had a nice session.
Rick Wiseman
8" Zhumell Dob
90mm f11 achro refractor
4-1/2 f4 rich field newt reflector
