Best Night Of Viewing Yet

There I am with my winter hat on, my eye-patch (to adjust my "night vision" for viewing), my two jackets, my red light head lamp (doesn't ruin your night vision when used in the dark) and my mittens that fold back to allow me to use my fingers.

Last night I got a good view of some clusters, Messier-41 (I will shorten the name Messier to just 'M' so be warned) and NGC 884/869 (double cluster), I also got a good view of the Orion Nebula which is almost a must for me to look at EVERY night. A little bit of Pleiades, and a quick attempt at Saturn. I was all over the place last night!

I shoveled off my back deck the other night and it's uneven so polar aligning is a bit of a pain, plus I don't have a level which I though I had laying around somewhere. So tonight was just a cruising night, point in a direction and hope to get it in sight. Thankfully I've been spending a lot of time gazing at Stellarium wishing I could see something when I stepped outside. Finally between last night and the night before I've had some pretty good sights of things that just make me want to view more. I spent a good hour and a half to two hours viewing all of these with the occasional break to go inside and warm up a little. With the past weeks deep freeze temperatures of -10°F and lower, this weeks 15°F feel nice and warm and I was barely even shivering. Which is great because it makes focusing a lot easier with less shaking of the scope. Ended up with beautiful crystal clear views of all the clusters and nebula I happened to point at.

First view was M41 because the small window of view I have north was a bit cloudy. Looking at M41 I was thinking to myself it's such a great sight seeing a cluster of stars all together in the scope, then you look away from the scope in the direction of the cluster and you see absolutely nothing there. Then you look back through the telescope and it's staring you right in the face. Using my 32mm eyepiece (allowing for a 31x magnification with my scope) the stars were a little faint but I had the whole cluster in my view. I then put my 12.5mm eyepiece (allowing for 80x magnification) in to get a closer look. I could make out the stars a bit better but I didn't have as much in my view. I'm learning pretty quickly that my 32mm EP is going to be my best friend. I also gave my 2x Barlow (which multiplies the magnification by 2) a shot with the 32mm (making it a 16mm), the view with that was just about perfect. So many stars, I don't bother trying to count them, you'd get lost, and be there forever!

Image From The Big Foto

Next while I was over at M41 I swung to the west a bit and aimed at the Orion Nebula (M42). Basically with the 32mm it was just a little smudge in the eyepiece so I put the 2x Barlow in and it magnified it nicely. I probably could have put the 12.5 or the 6 in and gotten a better view, but without being polar aligned I don't want to get too close as it's a pain to keep it in view. So I settled with what I had.

Image From Nick Howes

Before going towards the Double Cluster I stopped at Pleiades (The Seven Sisters), which I've seen a few times but I couldn't help but stop. Lovely group of stars. I have always wondered what that was in the night sky. It's always captured my eyes when just looking up, and seeing it up close and personal like I'm flying towards it is amazing.

Image From Nick Howes

Then to the North-West to view NGC 884/869 (Double Cluster). 32mm Eyepiece aimed at the double cluster was jaw dropping to me. So many stars in such a small space. I can't see it with the naked eye with all the light pollution. By the way I live in an orange zone, just outside of a yellow zone (check this link to see what the light pollution colors mean, basically I have pretty high light pollution, would kill for a blue or even green area). I must have looked at the double cluster the longest. Again I attached the 2x Barlow to the 32mm and looked at the double cluster. Doing that made it hard to have both in my field of view but I got more stars out of zooming in that much, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Image From Nick Howes

I attempted for Saturn but all I've been getting last night and the night before is a glowing yellow dot, no sign of rings around it. Figured I'd get something ring like or even look like ears with my 12.5mm EP but I didn't; Especially after reading about Galileo's viewing of Saturn with his less powerful scope. I never even thought to try the 12.5 with the Barlow while I was out there, since I'm not getting clear views with the 6mm and didn't even try the 4mm. Could also just be bad seeing conditions or clouds since there are a few scattered throughout the sky. Also maybe it's just not high enough in the sky? Can't wait until Saturn is in our evening skies instead of really early morning skies. After doing some looking around online and with Stellarium I have realized that apparently what I was looking at wasn't Saturn at all, it was Arcturus a bright giant orange star in the constellation Boötes. WHOOPS!

All in all this was probably my best and most succesful night of viewing I've had since I got this telescope. I must also say that I'm now completely addicted and don't know what I'm going to do with myself the next couple of night because they're supposed to be cloudy. You think if I aim a fan into the sky it'll blow the clouds away? hahah

All the images above are from other sources, that I linked to. The views through my scope are amazing, and maybe some time when I get a camera mount I will be able to share better with my own images. The Orion Nebula (M42) always looks more fantastic when photographed than it does through a scope. Images are just to show you what I'm looking at so it's more than just words.