Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, Nikon 10x50 binoculars (new item), 32mm TeleVue Plössl eyepiece (new item), 9mm Planetary eyepiece. Previously viewed objects: Messier 42, Messier 45, Messier 31 Not much of a night out, but I did get to try out the TeleVue 32mm Plössl eyepiece I picked up a couple of months ago finally, along with the 10x50 binoculars I got for Christmas. Both were very nice, but while it was a reasonably clear night it was awfully humid.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 102mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, 55mm, 32mm, 25mm, 12mm TeleVue, 9mm & 6mm Edge-On Planetary eyepieces, Paracorr, 12mm illuminated reticle eyepiece. New objects observed: NGC 6426, NGC 6118, NGC 7142, NGC 5976A, NGC 5981, NGC 2403, NGC 2655, NGC 2715, NGC 6356, NGC 6342, NGC 6217, Previously viewed objects: Venus, IC 4665, Messier 7, Saturn, Titan, NGC 5557, NGC 5866/“Messier 102”, NGC 5907, Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110, NGC 404, Messier 33, NGC 6633, Messier 51, NGC 5195, NGC 7000, NGC 7009, Messier 13, NGC 6207
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm, 12mm TeleVue, 6mm eyepieces, 2x Barlow, OIII filter, Paracorr. New objects observed: NGC 6755, NGC 6781, NGC 752, NGC 1245 Previously viewed objects: Messier 31, Messier 32, NGC 7009 I got a good night for observing for the first time in nearly two months. Ugh. I was mostly pursuing Herschel 400 objects this night, but did spend some time observing the Andromeda Galaxy for a while. It looked pretty good, especially for being in the city - not only was the nucleus nice and bright, but there were hints of the rest of the galaxy around it, even the barest hints of the dust lanes.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm eyepiece New objects observed: NGC 7606, NGC 404, NGC 488, NGC 1023, NGC 891, NGC 7479, Palomar 13 Previously viewed objects: Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 33, Messier 110 Location: Sunrise, up at Mt. Rainier. This was not the best night to have gone up to Sunrise, but it’s unclear if I’ll be able to make another trip up this year, so I went last night. To get a feel for how the night was going to go I found M33 and was not encouraged; it was rather faint, despite being at 45º altitude.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm, 12mm Tele Vue eyepieces, OIII filter. Once again, no ParaCorr this evening. New objects observed: NGC 40, NGC 278, NGC 7686, NGC 7789, NGC 6940 Previously viewed objects: Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110, NGC 185, NGC 6939, NGC 6946, Messier 51, NGC 5195 New Location: Paradise, up on Mt. Rainier. My eight year old daughter has been wanting to come with me on one of my observing excursions sometime.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55m, 12mm Tele Vue eyepieces. Also looked at M13 & the Veil Nebula through someone else’s telescope. New objects observed: NGC 7335, Stephan’s Quintet (NGC 7317, NGC 7318 (a & b), NGC 7319, NGC 7320), Mayall II, Maffei 1 Previously viewed objects: NGC 7331, Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110, NGC 3077, Messier 81, Messier 82, Messier 13, NGC 6960, Messier 45, Messier 33 Location: Sunrise Point, Mt.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm, 12mm Tele Vue eyepieces. New objects observed: Basel 1, NGC 6704, NGC 6712, IC 4665, Collinder 350 Previously viewed objects observed: Messier 11 (Wild Duck Cluster), NGC 7331, Messier 31, Messier 32 The main task this night was looking around for that interesting asterism I remembered seeing a long time ago. I think it’s in the neighborhood of the Wild Duck Cluster, and if so I think I have indeed found it again.
Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm, 12mm TeleVue Nagler, 32mm, 6mm eyepieces, OIII filter. New objects observed: Messier 107, Messier 23, Messier 24, Messier 109, Messier 108, Messier 55, NGC 2976, Messier 25, Messier 15, Messier 75, NGC 6946, NGC 6939 Previously viewed objects observed: Messier 8, NGC 6530, Messier 97, Messier 51, NGC 5195, Messier 13, Messier 92, Messier 81, Messier 82, NGC 3077, NGC 6960 (Western Veil Nebula), NGC 6995 (Eastern Veil Nebula), NGC 6974, Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110
I've fairly diligently kept up keeping records of what I've been observing, either by tweeting about it or noting it in the notes on my iPhone or in SkySafari (also on my iPhone). It's been a pretty brutal last year and a half or so, weatherwise, so I had surprisingly few chances to even get out and observe anything. Plus, once you've fallen behind a bit it's hard to pick yourself up and get caught up.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ. Forgot to note eyepieces. New objects observed: Messier 69, Messier 70, Messier 14, Messier 39, NGC 7082 Previous objects observed: Messier 31, Messier 32 Notes: Knocked off a few more Messier objects.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm eyepieces, OIII filter. New objects observed: Messier 72, Messier 30, Palomar 12?, NGC 188, NGC 7293 Previous objects observed: M31, M32, M110, M33 New location! Keechelus Lake Notes: Catching up on these again, sigh. This time, I investigated a dark site at Keechelus Lake up by Snoqualmie Pass. It has the advantage of being a much shorter drive than the other sites I've investigated, but on the downside the sky isn't as dark as it is at Sunrise or Mt.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Celestron AstroMaster 76 EQ, Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm, 4mm eyepieces. New objects observed: Messier 34 Previous objects observed: Jupiter, Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 77 Notes: Went out to see if it's easier to look at Jupiter with my f/9 3" telescope or not. It was, but not so much that I'll likely do so a lot. Jupiter was less washed out looking though.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 25mm, 15mm eyepieces. New objects observed: Messier 77, Messier 74, NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy) Previous objects observed: Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110, Messier 33 New location! At Johnston Ridge Observatory, near Mt. St. Helens. Actually, when I got to Johnston Ridge, it was extremely windy. So windy I was having to brace myself against the high winds and was not confident that the wind wouldn't blow my telescope over.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm, 4mm, and 6mm + 2x Barlow eyepieces. Previous objects observed: Messier 31, Messier 32, Uranus Notes: Not much to say. Got M31 and M32, and observed Uranus again this year. I think it was after this night I decided I had to clean my eyepieces off finally.
Catching up on Astro Logs again... Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm eyepieces, OIII filter. New objects observed: Messier 101, NGC 6992 + NGC 6995 + NGC 6960 (East & West Veil Nebula), Stock 2, Messier 76 Previous objects observed: Messier 31, Messier 32, Messier 110, Messier 33, NGC 884 & NGC 869 (Double Cluster) New location! A spot in the middle of nowhere near Mt. St.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm eyepieces. OIII filter. New objects observed: M71 (supposedly), M27 (supposedly), NGC 7027 Previous objects observed: NGC 6543 (if I remember right, anyway), M2, M31, M32 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm eyepieces. OIII filter. New objects observed: NGC 6207 Previous objects observed: Double Cluster (NGC 884 & NGC 869), M31, M32, M110, M33, M13, M92 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, OIII filter. New objects observed: NGC 5866 (aka M102), NGC 7331, M73 Previous objects observed: NGC 7009, M31, M32 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw. This night, though, I took better notes.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm eyepieces. OIII filter. New objects observed: M2 (supposedly) Previous objects observed: M57, M8, M20, M21, M17, M16, M31, M32, NGC 7662, NGC 6543 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ New objects observed: Mu Cephei Previous objects observed: M31, M32 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw.
One in a series of entries catching up on a serious backlog of Astro Logs. Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ New objects observed: M6, M52 Previous objects observed: M57, M56, M31, M32 Notes: Catching up on a massive backlog of Astro Logs I let develop. Unfortunately, all I have are the notes I left on Twitter about what I saw. Weirdly, I notice looking back that I had never put down M56 as something I'd seen, but I'm certain I've looked at it before.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ and Celestron Astromaster 76 EQ, using the 32, 25, 15, and 9 mm eyepieces and the ultrablock filter.
New objects observed: dew
Previously observed objects: M31, M32, M42
Notes:
I had had great hopes for this night - the sky was going to be clear for a long time for the first time in ages, with halfway decent transparency to boot. I went and set up my shelter and scope early in the night, but found that there wasn't a whole lot out that I could look at early on, so I went back inside, leaving my stuff out for later.
When I came back out, I was a bit surprised to find that massive amounts of dew had settled on everything. Still, it wasn't the end of the world. I started looking around, but found that I was having a really hard time finding anything in my finder scope. Then I noticed that I was having a tough time seeing anything at all. Finally I shined my red flashlight on my eyepiece, and saw that it was fogged up. Oh no!
I tried swapping other eyepieces in, but that didn't help. The primary mirror was fine, at least, but I still couldn't see anything. Eventually I noticed that the secondary mirror was fogged up, so I packed everything up and took it back into the garage. I pointed the 6" upside down to dry out and left the lens case open so that could fully dry out as well. I took the 3" out for a spin for a while and was able to see M31 (but not M32) and M42, but not with the same detail as with the 6" of course. I am not, however, sure how much of the difference was from the size of the mirrors and how much was from any dewing on the 3".
After a while, I brought the 6" back out and was able to observe M31, M32, and M42 briefly, but it dewed up again within a few minutes and I gave up. I have begun researching anti-dewing solutions and will try them out next time the weather permits observation.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 15, and 10 mm eyepieces and the broadband, ultrablock, and OIII filters. New objects observed: M42, Betelgeuse Previous objects observed: M81, M82, M31, M32 Notes: The Moon was not out, and the clouds parted, for the first time in weeks, so I went out for a brief unplanned session with the telescope. Unfortunately transparency wasn't real great and skyglow was fairly bad, so it wasn't the best night.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 15, and 6 mm eyepieces. New objects observed: M81, M82, M33, M110 Previous objects observed: M31, M32, M57, M13 New Location: Sunrise Point, Mt. Rainier National Park Notes: This was a pretty big day, observing-wise, but very short. The weather and moon had been very uncooperative for the last couple of weeks, so I hadn't been able to do any observing at all.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 9, 6, and 4 mm eyepieces and the OIII and broadband filters. New object observed: NGC 6934 Previous objects observed: Vega, M57, Albeirio, M13, M31, M32 Notes: Despite the Clear Sky Chart saying that last night was going to be super transparent, sadly the Tacoma smog was pretty bad last night, dashing hopes of super good observing. I could see long beams from the headlights on the C17s flying in and out of McChord all night, and the skyglow was pretty bad.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 15, 10, 6, and 4 mm eyepieces and the ultrablock filter. New object observed: Uranus Previously observed objects: Epsilon Lyrae, M57, M31, M32, Pleiades Notes: Sadly, it looks like tonight (the 22nd) will be the last really good observing night at least for the next several days. Last night was pretty darn good, but tonight looks like it'll be absolutely amazing. Mostly last night I just identified objects to show my daughter when I take her out tonight rather than looking for anything new.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 25, 15, 10, 6, and 4 mm eyepieces and the broadband, ultrablock, and OIII filters.
New objects observed: Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009), M103, Double Cluster (NGC 884 and NGC 869), Stock 2, Blinking Planetary Nebula (NGC 6826)
Previously observed objects: M31, M32, Owl Cluster (NGC 457)
Notes:
Better observing this night than the previous couple of nights observing, but there seemed to be some seeing issues. The Saturn Nebula, sadly, did not show enough resolution to show the weird lobes on the side, but it was kind of cool nonetheless. After I found the Saturn Nebula I tried to find M72 and M73, but they were sadly right below the top of the wall of my viewing shelter in that direction, and I didn't feel like moving the curtain. I'll have to get those a different night.
After I was done with the Saturn Nebula and trying to find M72 and M73, I turned my attention to Cassiopeia. After some fumbling around I figured out which bright stars were which, and observed the Owl Cluster again. I then observed M103 for a bit, and while trying to move my scope to observe a group of clusters further down from M103 (I was looking for NGC 659, 663 and 654), I managed to get lost and ended up finding the Double Cluster by accident. Fortunately it's a lovely sight and well worth finding. I was also able to observe the somewhat obscure open cluster Stock 2, which was pretty big but nothing to really write home about.
At this point in the night clouds were beginning to come in from the north, so I swung south to M31 and M32 again in hopes of finding M110 again. M31 and M32 were fine, but once again I was unable to see M110. I half heartedly tried for M33 while I was in the neighborhood, but not surprisingly had no luck there.
To wrap the night up, I swung my telescope towards Cygnus and quickly spotted the Blinking Planetary Nebula. I wasn't actually able to get it to blink, but I observed it for a little while before the clouds got too menacingly close.