Observing Report 11/21/03 (cont'd)
Spent much of the evening being struck dumb by M42, which from a dark site is beyond description. (So much so that I forgot to check out M36 and M38.) It nearly filled the EP at 90x, and the hints of colour that had mere suggestions before were clearly discernable, a greenish-turquoise at the centre and a deeper blue along the edges. M42 was particularly stunning using a friend's Meade 6.7 UWA ... it was like looking out a porthole in a spaceship. I could literally get the entire sword in the EP. I gotta get me one of these!
Later in the evening, I used a buddy's 32mm to hit the Pleiades, always a beautiful sight. (Gotta get me one of these, too!) Used the same EP to good effect on M35, which is another of my favourite clusters. But I still couldn't locate NGC2158, its small companion. Had made plans to view the Clown Face nebula in Gemini ... It's supposed to be the brightest planetary out there ... but forgot. The clouds began to roll in again by 0600, so I didn't get more than three hours at the eyepiece. I might have remembered if I'd stayed up longer.
Later in the evening, I wanted to check out M33, but again, couldn't locate it. But I did locate the cluster Messier forgot: NGC 752. What a gem in a low-power EP. Dozens of stars resolved. Easily the equal of M35. By this time Sirius was high in the southeast, so I made an attempt at M41, which I had tried to find last winter from my front yard, but couldn't. This time I just pointed the scope about 5 degrees due south of Sirius, and there it was ... quite a bright cluster, showing about three dozen fairly bright stars in a loose configuration.
But the highlight of the evening was M1. Had tried to find it last April; no luck. This time I used the method suggested in Turn Left; lined up Zeta Tauri at the top right corner of the finder, and it was sitting in the middle of the EP, an elongated, shapeless glow. Not much to look at, but so far, the only supernova remnant I've seen.
Now, I just hope it doesn't take a year to find M2 ...
Spent much of the evening being struck dumb by M42, which from a dark site is beyond description. (So much so that I forgot to check out M36 and M38.) It nearly filled the EP at 90x, and the hints of colour that had mere suggestions before were clearly discernable, a greenish-turquoise at the centre and a deeper blue along the edges. M42 was particularly stunning using a friend's Meade 6.7 UWA ... it was like looking out a porthole in a spaceship. I could literally get the entire sword in the EP. I gotta get me one of these!
Later in the evening, I used a buddy's 32mm to hit the Pleiades, always a beautiful sight. (Gotta get me one of these, too!) Used the same EP to good effect on M35, which is another of my favourite clusters. But I still couldn't locate NGC2158, its small companion. Had made plans to view the Clown Face nebula in Gemini ... It's supposed to be the brightest planetary out there ... but forgot. The clouds began to roll in again by 0600, so I didn't get more than three hours at the eyepiece. I might have remembered if I'd stayed up longer.
Later in the evening, I wanted to check out M33, but again, couldn't locate it. But I did locate the cluster Messier forgot: NGC 752. What a gem in a low-power EP. Dozens of stars resolved. Easily the equal of M35. By this time Sirius was high in the southeast, so I made an attempt at M41, which I had tried to find last winter from my front yard, but couldn't. This time I just pointed the scope about 5 degrees due south of Sirius, and there it was ... quite a bright cluster, showing about three dozen fairly bright stars in a loose configuration.
But the highlight of the evening was M1. Had tried to find it last April; no luck. This time I used the method suggested in Turn Left; lined up Zeta Tauri at the top right corner of the finder, and it was sitting in the middle of the EP, an elongated, shapeless glow. Not much to look at, but so far, the only supernova remnant I've seen.
Now, I just hope it doesn't take a year to find M2 ...
