Wayne, I had a great night a couple of nights ago here in Cave Creek, using my 6-inch refractor on some tight doubles in Ophiuchus. I split one pair 0.80" using 240x (got a nice figure 8!). Last month I even managed a 0.7" pair at 500x. Not bad for a little 6-incher. Richard Harshaw Cave Creek, Arizona Brilliant Sky Observatory -----Original Message----- From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy) Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 2:31 PM To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; amastro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: taaaforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; haclist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: naked eye Milky Way Benson, AZ 85602 hm ph: 520-586-2244 I wondered how the rest of AZ was doing with the strangely bright skies we've been having lately, Steve. Even though the skies have been fairly bright along the horizon, overhead the transparency has been quite good. One of the main reasons that I live in Mescal is because I can step out the back door and see a very nice contrasty Milky Way without having to drive an hour away. If it's good (or even decent) I just roll out one or both of my telescopes, the big one for deepsky and the little one for double stars or planets and the moon. During the nights I look at double stars I merely look at my Sky Atlas 2000, which I use religiously though its poor cover has recently come off, and look for double star symbols and star-hop my scope to those stars. I don't know about the rest of you (many of whom probably use your electronic programs to point your telescope, though I'm sure there are a couple of us dinosaurs still around!) but I am disappointed that many times I cannot resolve the double star that is supposed to be at that location on the chart. I enjoy the sense of discovery so that I typically don't check to see what the characteristics (separation and delta magn) of the chosen double star are. Many times I find that the delta magnitude is the culprit, the secondary being 5-10 magnitudes fainter than the primary and being very close. The seeing has been marginal lately so that I have not been able to split stars much below an arcsecond, much less trying to split these extreme stars. They're good tests, but the seeing has to be very good... Clear skies, Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy) ---------- Original Message ---------- From: stevecoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To: "az-observing@fre" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Bill" <malachite@xxxxxxx> Subject: [AZ-Observing] naked eye Milky Way Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 03:57:14 -0400 Howdy all; I watched some TV tonight and decided to step outside and see what I could from the Happy Jack RV park once the movie was over. It certainly was warmer than last night and the wind has finally slowed down to a light breeze. Once I started to get some dark adaption it was a nice view. There are few lights near where I have the RV parked and so the Milky Way stood out quite well. Obviously, not as good as the SAC observing site at Fredericksen Meadow, but it was very enjoyable. Both Sagittarius and Scorpius are well above the tree line and M 6 and M 7 were easily naked eye. The Rift within the glow of the Milky Way was obvious and had some detail from the Lagoon to Cygnus. I stood outside in pretty thin socks and tennis shoes for all I could take and then needed to get back to the warm confines of the Winnebago. I forced the furnace to kick on for a while and got warmed up enough to post this message. It is very nice to have Milky Way right outside your door. It is one of the nice treats while living in the RV. Clear skies to us all; Steve Coe -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.