All observing logs tagged with M3
Sun
No spots or other marks visible on the Sun.
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Checking for Comet Holmes
I started out the session by seeing if comet Holmes was still visible to the naked eye.
Given that the
last time I saw it it appeared to be about the same
brightness as the Double Cluster, and given that
I could see the Double Cluster, I guessed I stood a chance of it
was still of similar brightness to the last time.
After looking carefully for a couple of minutes I decided that
it must be even fainter than the last time. I then grabbed my
10x50 binoculars and had a look in the
general area around Algol and I pretty much saw it
right away. Very faint and very diffuse. Only just brighter than
the background sky. If I wasn't looking for it I probably
wouldn't even have noticed it.
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Started a Star Trail
I set the Lomo Lubitel 166B up on a tripod
and started a star trail.
The camera was loaded with Ilford FP5+ 400 (120 roll film), the
aperture was set to f8. Like the last time I tried this this was
an experiment. This time I was interested to see what results
I'd get with a faster film.
The camera was roughly pointed in the general direction of the
Pleiades (M45) and the Hyades in
Taurus.
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Saturn
Had a brief view of Saturn via John's 'scope.
Much like my last
observation the view was very "soft" with no real
detail visible. No shadow of the rings on the planet could be
seen although, once again, I did get the impression that the
rings were two separate and detached objects either side of the
planet.
Titan was nicely visible.
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Mars
Had a look at Mars via the
905 with the 6mm
eyepiece and the 2x barlow.
Just like always, I couldn't get any detail out of the planet.
One thing I did notice though was that there was a definite hint
of a gibbous phase. The planet did seem to be "taller" than it
was "wide".
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Stopped the Star Trail
Stopped the star tail I'd started earlier.
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M1
Decided to have a look at M1 given that I'd
not taken a look in over a year. With the
905 and the 25mm
eyepiece it was very easy to find and, unlike
previous observations, seemed to stand out really well. Despite
the conditions during the evening (which were less than ideal)
I'm pretty sure it was a better view than the one I once had via the
130M. Although it was the usual indistinct light patch
it appeared to contrast with the background sky better than I'm
sure I've seen it before.
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M65 and M66
Had a look at M65 and M66
via John's 'scope and his 42mm eyepiece. Just two very faint
patches of light, mostly needing averted vision
to see them. It was impossible to make out any distinct shame or
to say what their relative orientations were.
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A break and a chat
Had a coffee and food break and a chat. Given that it was
getting very cold and damp this was needed.
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M95 and M96
Had a look at M95 and M96
via John's 'scope and his 42mm eyepiece. Just as with the
previous
view of M65 and M66
they appeared as two very faint patches of light, mostly needing
averted vision to see them.
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905 totally fogged up
I went to use the 905 and noticed that it
was dripping with dew and that the main lens was totally fogged
up. Decided to call it a night as far as the 905 was concerned.
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Trying for the Eskimo Nebula
We spent some time using John's 'scope to try and locate the
Eskimo Nebula but never managed to locate it. I
made a note to check in some of my books and see how easy it
should be to locate.
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M3
Given that Canes Venatici was quite high up now we decided
to have a look at M3 with John's 'scope. I
first found it with my monocular to be
sure of the location and then we got it in John's 'scope. With
his 42mm eyepiece it was obvious that it was a globular
cluster although no detail could be seen. Switching to
his 15mm eyepiece we could see a hint of mottling in it giving
the impression of a collection of starts without resolving any
actual stars.
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End of session
By 23:55 UT everything was terribly damp
so we decided that it was time to call an end to the session.
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Giving Guests a Tour
A short while after we'd set the 'scopes up and left them to cool
down we were joined by a young couple asking what we were looking
at. We explained that we weren't looking at anything specific and
asked them if they wanted to have a look through the 'scopes.
Over the next 20 minutes or so we gave them a tour of
Venus, the Moon and
Saturn. As usually happens Saturn seemed to go
down a treat.
While showing them Saturn I noticed that the image wasn't too good
this evening. It was possible to make out the planet's shadow on
the rings but that was about all that could be seen. I couldn't
make out the Cassini Division.
Venus was also a bit of a problem too. While it was possible to
make out the phase (it was apparent that the phase was smaller
than the last time
I observed it) there was a lot of false colour (the
contrast booster helped a little but
not as much as it has in the past) and the image was very
unsteady.
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Another guest
Just after the first guests left we had another visit. This person
didn't stay very long, just long enough to have a quick look at
Saturn through Kevin's ETX125. That sight got a
very obvious "wow!" (as it does with most people).
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Photographing Venus and the Moon
I got the Canon EOS 400D out of the car,
set it on the tripod, and took some wide angle views of
Venus and the Moon
together:
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Stopping for Coffee
By 21:37 UT it was obvious that it was going
to be a very damp observing session. I noticed that lots of dew
was forming on everything. I covered up the log book and anything
else that might suffer from getting wet and decided to stop for a
short coffee break.
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M51
John had got M51 in his 80mm 'scope and I had a
look at it (I would have got it in the 905
too but it was in a position that I can't get that 'scope in to
— it's not very good at pointing almost overhead). At first
it was difficult to see but, slowly, a very faint ghostly patch
came into view using averted vision. I was
impressed that I could see anything given that the sky still
wasn't anywhere near fully dark.
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M57
Given that Lyra was at a reasonable hight I decided
to see how M57 looked in the
905. I found it without too much trouble
using the 25mm eyepiece (in that it simply
looked like a slightly out-of-focus star) and I then switched to
the 6mm eyepiece
With the 6mm it simply looked like a faint disc. There was no hint
of the ring structure that I've seen before in the
130M.
Given that the sky still wasn't fully dark I decided to compare
the view I had with the view using the Neodymium filter. It did appear to improve
things slightly although I wouldn't have said that it brought out
any more detail. While I wasn't really comparing like-for-like in
terms of observing conditions I'm of the impression that this is
an object better left to the 130M.
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Antares 905 Fogging Up
By 22:16 UT I noticed that the
905 was starting to fog up. Because of this
I decided to cover it up and see if it would clear.
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M3
While the 905 was recovering I had a look
at M3 thought Kevin's ETX125. For some reason
I've never observed this cluster globular cluster
before. I was surprised at how striking the view was.
Observing with a 15mm eyepiece, at first all I could see was a
diffuse patch in the sky. As my eye adjusted, and especially when
using averted vision, I started to see a mottled
effect in the cluster and I soon had the first distinct impression
that I was making out individual stars.
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Jupiter via EXT125
After a short coffee break we noticed that
Jupiter was visible between trees, low on the
horizon. Kevin turned his ETX125 onto it and I spent a short while
having a look. All four moons were visible, one to one side of the
planet and three to the other side. The view, however, was
terrible. It was impossible to make out any detail whatsoever on
Jupiter. This wasn't really that surprising given that the planet
was so low down and also given that we were observing it thought
some thin (and apparently growing) cloud.
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Jupiter via 905
I uncovered the 905 and turned that towards
Jupiter. Using the 6mm
eyepiece and the contrast
booster the view was no better than it had been via the
ETX125. I spent a short while just observing but the view never
improved and I never saw any detail at all on the planet. At no
point could I even make out the two main bands.
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End of Session
Over the past ½ hour or so more and more thin cloud had
been forming over is and was starting to spread out more. By
around 23:41 UT it was obvious that it
wasn't going to get any better so we decided to call an end to the
session.
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