2016 - 1st Observations

My sky was clear. The temperature was +6 degrees F (-14 degrees C). A semi-bright amorphous aurora was obvious along my north-northeast horizon up to about a 10 degree altitude. A hint of green was evident in the 'false dawn'. Natural skyglow was bright enough to illuminate my surroundings without the need for artificial illumination.

After a day of sweeping, shoveling, and plowing snow, The Beast was set up in the Colosseum with the idea of checking out Uranus. In particular, I wanted to see if I could detect any of the Uranian satellites with the 6-inch f/6.5 achromat.

Uranus was weakly visible to the unaided eye. It was quickly acquired in a home-made, 90-degree, correct-image, 9x50 finder. From there it was evident with The Beast at 60x. The magnification was increased to 166x - as a transition magnification - before moving up to 370x to search for Uranian satellites.

The planet's small, blue-green disk was obvious as were two 11th magnitude field stars, one south of Uranus, the other to the west. I knew where to look for Uranus's brightest moons, but none were seen. The 'bright' 6th magnitude planet was accompanied by an obvious glow (chromatic aberration? condensation on an optical surface? something else?) It was obvious that the glow was strong enough (not to mention the seeing) to destroy all hope of glimpsing any moons in the Uranian system.

I went inside for a small meal and a 'warm-up' break. Returning outside about an hour later I found The Beast's coverings (the possibility of frost was anticipated) to be coated with a light dusting of frost. The first session of 2016 was declared "over" before frost could complicate my take-down and bring-in procedures.

Sketcher,
Happy New Year!
Clear Skies to All!

On 12/31/15 11:13 PM, Sketcher wrote:
My sky was clear. The temperature was +6 degrees F (-14 degrees C). A semi-bright amorphous aurora was obvious along my north-northeast horizon up to about a 10 degree altitude. A hint of green was evident in the 'false dawn'. Natural skyglow was bright enough to illuminate my surroundings without the need for artificial illumination.

After a day of sweeping, shoveling, and plowing snow, The Beast was set up in the Colosseum with the idea of checking out Uranus. In particular, I wanted to see if I could detect any of the Uranian satellites with the 6-inch f/6.5 achromat.

Uranus was weakly visible to the unaided eye. It was quickly acquired in a home-made, 90-degree, correct-image, 9x50 finder. From there it was evident with The Beast at 60x. The magnification was increased to 166x - as a transition magnification - before moving up to 370x to search for Uranian satellites.

The planet's small, blue-green disk was obvious as were two 11th magnitude field stars, one south of Uranus, the other to the west. I knew where to look for Uranus's brightest moons, but none were seen. The 'bright' 6th magnitude planet was accompanied by an obvious glow (chromatic aberration? condensation on an optical surface? something else?) It was obvious that the glow was strong enough (not to mention the seeing) to destroy all hope of glimpsing any moons in the Uranian system.

I went inside for a small meal and a 'warm-up' break. Returning outside about an hour later I found The Beast's coverings (the possibility of frost was anticipated) to be coated with a light dusting of frost. The first session of 2016 was declared "over" before frost could complicate my take-down and bring-in procedures.

Sketcher,
Happy New Year!
Clear Skies to All!



Thanks Sketcher!


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