Equipment: 16” Dobsonian, 55mm, 12mm TeleVue eyepiece, Paracorr.
New objects observed: NGC 4435, NGC 4443, NGC 4419, NGC 4450, NGC 4350
Previously viewed objects: Messier 89, Messier 90, Messier 87, Messier 86, Messier 84, Mars, NGC 4478, NGC 4438, NGC 4458, NGC 4477, NGC 4459
This was the first night I got any telescope since last September, ugh. The weather the entire winter was not at all cooperative.
I didn’t have high hopes for the evening, since the fence between my neighbors and I got replaced over the winter because it fell over, and it’s letting more light into my yard.
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.
Equipment: May 5th, Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 6mm, 4mm eyepieces. May 6th: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 9mm, 6mm eyepieces, OIII filter.
New objects observed (all May 7th): M97, NGC 3077, M89, M90 (maybe)
Previous objects observed: May 6th: Venus. May 7th: M81, M82, M87
Notes:
May 6th: Went out in the evening and looked at Venus some, but unfortunately observation was hindered by the branches on a tree it started going behind while I was looking at it.
Equipment: Celestron AstroMaster 76 EQ, Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, 32mm, 15mm, 10mm, 9mm eyepieces.
New objects observed: Mercury, M60, M86, M84, M58, M104, M5
Previous objects observed: M87
Notes: An excellent night with good transparency and seeing, which has been quite the rarity around these parts for the last six months or so.
To start off the night, at late evening I walked down to the corner with the Astromaster (easier to carry) to try and get Mercury.
Equipment: Orion Skyview 6 Deluxe EQ, using the 32, 25, 15, 10, and 4 mm eyepieces.
New objects observed: M51, M64, M87, M49
Previous objects observed: M81, M82, M53, Saturn, Titan
Notes:
Pretty good night. Very productive, given the four new galaxies, although the north still showed a lot of washing out from the lights of downtown Tacoma and the Port, which is usually a sign of some transparency issues. I also set up the viewing shelter, though, and wore an eyepatch for a while before hand, so that may have helped.