[AZ-Observing] Re: Very good night at Messier Marathon site
- From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 06:04:04 GMT
15480 Empire Rd.
Benson, AZ 85602
hm ph: 520-586-2244
We had a very good and comfortable night in SoAZ as well.
Because of prior committments in Tucson I didn't start observing until about
2am, but stayed up until about 5am and thoroughly enjoyed the summer Milky Way
through my 20x100 binoculars. These binocs are mounted on a fork-type
equatorial stand on a heavy-duty tripod and have 45-degree angled eyepieces
which are nice, but still not the best for objects high overhead. The views,
though, are spectacular and give a definite 3-D feeling for open clusters which
contain varying brightness stars in them. The brighter stars appear to come out
at you compared to the fainter stars which appear to stay in the background.
Neat effect!
Globular clusters show very well, too, and the brighter ones show resolution of
individual member stars. But maybe the most interesting sight last night was
the planetary nebula, M27, which appeared as a hazy blob suspended in front of
the background stars. Mesmerizing...
These binocs give about a 3 degree field which I enjoy because it puts the
object of interest in context with its neighbors. Many times I will spot a
double star or an asterism nearby that would be missed in the narrow field of a
telescope. Plus using two eyes for viewing makes the objects more enjoyable.
I hope to use the binocs for the upcoming HAC Messier Marathon, which I did
last year and had many rewarding views.
Clear skies,
Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
---------- Original Message ----------
From: stevecoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: "az-observing@fre" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Very good night at Messier Marathon site
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 14:17:17 -0400
Howdy all;
I am truly sorry that you will have to put up with that "you should have
been here last night" line, but it is true. The clouds stayed away, the
breeze died off and the stars came out. I rated the night at 7 out of 10
for transparency, very good views of the Milky Way, Omega Centauri and
plenty of galaxies in Leo, Coma and Virgo.
At 1 AM, right before I went to bed, the gegenschein was evident between
the tail of Leo and Saturn. A faint, oval glow could be held steady in
that region.
Right now (11 in the morning) it is clear and the wind is gentle. It is
gonna be hot, last night I never got beyond a light jacket. Very nice
compared to all the cold weather observing we have been doing.
I did shoot some images, so I will see how those turn out and show them at
the club meeting a week from today. I look forward to Dean Ketelson, he
is always an excellent speaker, thanks for getting him Tom Polakis.
Clear skies and cup cakes, what more can anyone want?
See ya;
Steve Coe
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