Observing report - a little long...

Got the XT8 out last night (following up on a shorter observing session from
the turn-around in the cul-de-sac for the neighbor & his boy), and spent
quite a bit of time in the driveway.

XT8, 21mm SWA, 8mm SWA, 8-22mm Zoom, 14mm (50 deg. field). 8mm discarded as
seeing was not supporting much past 120mag, or so...

Time between 20:00 & 22:00. Temp between 60 & 70 degrees.

Moderate light pollution to the West, but every light on in the neighbor's
house. Hunkered down behind the Suburban and edge of the house shielding
the streetlight. Started with Venus, & worked my way up.

Venus - bright, somewhat oblate spheroid. Must be about 65% or so [although
HNSKY says it was about 60%...]. Only good in the 21mm & 14mm, much too
bright for any

Mars - "You don't know what you had until it's gone (or some such)" Alas
for the heady days of August & September 2003! Fairly bright, but small &
not enough steadiness to support the magnification needed to discern any
features. [HNSKY reporting 5.4" size, so that's not surprising.] Best
viewed in the 21mm.

Plaeides (M45) absolutely sparkling. Spent some time here, just scanning
through the cluster with the 21mm.

Hyades continued to be too frustrating to observe. They spill out of the
FOV and are too loosely associated for me to appreciate them... Used the
21mm, but got bored pretty quickly.

Saturn - ultimate distraction tonight. Stopped me from going anywhere else.
In the 21mm, very nice orientation and clarity. Went to the 8mm SWA, but it
was defeated by the upper-air currents. Back to the zoom, and somewhere
around 10mm it just sparkled!
Get the family: wife "That's nice, what is it? And call me when you get
something else nice in the telescope..."; Youngest daughter "We just saw
that at Chabot!" (on the field-trip); Middle daughter "(16, having a crisis,
too overwraught to come look, I paraphrase...)"
Absolutely sure of Titan, but not too sure of Iapetus. Mimas, Enceladus &
Dione showing off & on just off the preceeding edge of the rings. Tethys &
Rhea visible, but it's the three just off the preceeding edge that keep me
looking for the next hour, or so... I'm playing with the zoom, and with the
focus (why don't the zooms seem to be parfocal?), and don't notice the time
going by... The Gatorade has definitely had time to solidify in the
freezer, dangit.

Finally, NGC2392 just up from Saturn. Have a little trouble finding it, but
then "Bang!" there it is in the FOV. Not much structure supported by the
seeing, but I can definitely see the central star shining quite brightly.
I've never noticed it being that obvious, before. Finally settle on the
14mm, and just look for a while before calling it quits.

Gotta get back out for tonight, and thank goodness the Bay Area is clear,
finally!

Rob
37.54 N
121.98 W


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In article x044c.9959$mM.76348@attbi_s02,
"hbb2102" wrote:

SNIP

Saturn - ultimate distraction tonight. Stopped me from going anywhere else.
In the 21mm, very nice orientation and clarity. Went to the 8mm SWA, but it
was defeated by the upper-air currents. Back to the zoom, and somewhere
around 10mm it just sparkled!
Get the family: wife "That's nice, what is it? And call me when you get
something else nice in the telescope..."; Youngest daughter "We just saw
that at Chabot!" (on the field-trip); Middle daughter "(16, having a crisis,
too overwraught to come look, I paraphrase...)"
Absolutely sure of Titan, but not too sure of Iapetus. Mimas, Enceladus &
Dione showing off & on just off the preceeding edge of the rings. Tethys &
Rhea visible, but it's the three just off the preceeding edge that keep me
looking for the next hour, or so... I'm playing with the zoom, and with the
focus (why don't the zooms seem to be parfocal?), and don't notice the time
going by... The Gatorade has definitely had time to solidify in the
freezer, dangit.


Rob,

I enjoyed reading your observing report, but have a suggestion. Record
your observations in UT (Universal Time). I'm really surprised that you
could see Enceladus and Mimas with only 8" of aperture with the rings so
wide open- that's really a sign of good eyesight, excellent seeing, or
both.

Starry Skies,
Rich