OR: 2004-12-13; 42.5N 71.5W; UT 18:00

Date: 2004-12-13 (yyyy-mm-dd)
Time: UT 18:00 - 20:30 (the hours either side of local midnight)
Location: 42.5N 71.5W (Shirley, Massachusetts USA)
Equipment: 15x70 binocular; 102 ED F9 refractor
Transparency: Excellent
Seeing: Poor (gusting winds 10-15MPH, with intermittent calms)
VLM: At 30 degrees above the southern horizon, in my search for comet
Maccholz, I was just able to detect magnitude 5.95 SAO 149668 with averted
vision. This is quite a testiment to the difference a super transparent
evening can make for detecting stars (a hobby within the hobby for me). On a
good night, this area of my horizon skirts the top of the light dome from
the local prison to the south-southeast, and the city of Leominster to the
west-southwest. I'm impressed to see any star dimmer than magnitude 4.5 with
even averted vision, on _any_ night, this low to the horizon, and in any
cardinal direction from northeast, through south, and on through the west.
On the other hand, the 120 degree zenith "hole" above this altitude gets
well into the 5.2 range with direct vision on just about any night that is
without clouds and has decent transparency (except when the moon is high of
course). The direct vision ZLM conditions during this session were easily to
magnitude 5.7.

General comments: Since the seeing was poor I didn't expect to see much
detail on Saturn, and I've been mostly interested in my ongoing evaluation
of planet views through the Celestron/Vixen 102ED F9 refractor I recenlty
acquired. Thwarted, I instead headed out with the 15x70 binoculars to look
for comet Machholz. Much to my surprise, the transparency was indeed
excellent, and spotting Machholz with the naked eye became an easy effort as
my eyes fully adapted to the dark. I had just risen from an hour long nap in
the den where I keep a red lamp on the table for just such occassions. It
only took a few minutes to be fully dark adapted. After several minutes of
Machholz in the binoculars, I couldn't resist the temptation to bring out
the refractor given the transparency. :-)

Observations:
Geminids- A dozen or so without really looking. I was busy in the eyepiece,
and just happen to catch glimpses of some from the periphery of my vision,
and others directly by chance as I took breaks from the eyepiece to look up
and marvel at all of the bright stars that surround zenith at the Auriga
hour.

Machholz: Obvious to the averted naked eye as a bright patch of light just
about 2 degrees west and north of magnitude 4.3 54 Eri. No tail, but the
core was definitely looking like a star in the 4" refractor, and surrounded
by a large fuzzy haze.

Saturn: Although the seeing was poor, I couldn't resist trying out my new
pair of 9mm HD Orthos in the binoviewer. This yields 204x in the 102 ED F9,
and although the seeing didn't support a nice crisp view of low contrast
details, I was able to discern banding on the surface and see the Cassini
division as a darkening in the center of the ring system. The Cassini
obvious at the ansae, but getting lost as it passed around the front of the
planet. Backing off to 147x using the 12.5mm Ultima eyepieces, details
sharpened up a bit, but this was definitely not a night for detailed
planets. Still, the views were surprisingly good given the conditions, and I
am more confident than ever that on a good night (should I get one this
millenium), this scope is going to be sweet for Saturn. I am anticipating
the opportunity to observe Jupiter.

M44: Very obvious naked eye with direct vision. Simply gorgeous in the 35mm
Panoptic at 26x and 2.4 degrees. The more experience I get with open
clusters, the more I see the red star components that each of the older ones
seem to reveal. I guess M44 is one of the older ones.

M41: Not a naked eye target, but obvious in the 6x30 finder, and a simply
beautiful target for the 2.4 degree field of the 35mm Pan. This one too
showing red stars.

M42: A lot has been said about this object and it's many components. This
nebula looks to me like Batman's cape spread out like wings over the
Trapezium.

M43: Obvious. Nice round flower like object with one side flattened.
Surrounds a bright star.

NGC1977: Again this evening I'm convinced I was able to detect The Running
Man nebula. I've seen claims that this nebula isn't readily visible in 6"-
8" scopes, but I don't buy it. I'm confident that I've seen this twice in
the 4" refractor with a wide field eyepiece, on nights of excellent
transparency. Then again, it is possible that I am seeing other
nebulosities in close proximity, and improperly identifying them.

The Double Cluster: Obvious naked eye, At 26x, 2.4 degree field, beautiful,
red stars peppered throughout the region.

M81/82: Binocular objects, the pair obvious. Interestingly enough, I've had
a lot of trouble finding these from month to month. I think it's because
they are circumpolar and therefore the orientation of the star-hop changes
with the hour.

M37, M36, M38: Binocular objects. Obvious, but hard to observe at zenith
without laying down, and I wasn't prepared for that given the cold climate.

M50: Binocular object. Obvious and bright.

That's it folks. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours at midnight.

Stephen Paul
Shirley, MA