1520e 2012/07/18–19

1520e 2012/07/18–19 22:10:50–23:50 EDT Foxmead POD 8  28cmsc

Aligned telescope on Saturn and Spica, then Arcturus. Although I used the 22mm Nagler (127x) briefly, most observations tonight were with the 40mm University MK-70 (70x).
ε Bootis: yellow/yellow, close.
δ Serpentis: blue/blue, wide.
Antares: not split, poor seeing.
I then began a tour of bright Milky Way objects, using CPC1100's "Identify" command to identify groups of Messiers, and later double stars and Named Objects.
M4 (started using 22mm), M80, M19, M62, M9, M6, M7 (returned to using 40mm). M8, M20, M23, M24, M18, M17, M25, M22, M11, M26, M16, M27, M71, M56, M29, M57.
ζ Lyrae: blue/violet, wide.
ε Lyrae: white/white/white/white, close/wide/close.
Albireo: gold/blue, wide.
17 Cygni: white/dim red, wide.
61 Cygni: white/white, wide.
NGC7331: Deer Lick Galaxy.
NGC7662: Blue Snowball.
NGC6992/NGC6995: E half of Veil Nebula. Without OIII filter, I could just barely make out NGC6992. With filter in place, it was quite obvious, and I could then see NGC 6995 to the south.
NGC6888: Crescent Nebula: Faint with OIII filter.
IC5146: Cocoon Nebula: Very faint with OIII filter. First new deep sky object in over 4 years!
With the OIII filter in place, I went back to the gems of the summer Milky Way:
M17: Swan Nebula: Could now see a lot of nebulosity off the Swan's rear end.
M16: Eagle Nebula: Much larger in OIII filter.
M20: Trifid Nebula: Dark rift in centre really obvious in OIII.
M8: Lagoon Nebula: Huge in size with extensive dark area in centre.
I ended up by looking briefly for NGC7000 (North America Nebula) but all I could see was hints of nebulosity here and there in the field of view, since the Nebula is much larger than the 40mm eyepieces 1° field of view.

All in all, a very pleasant evening of observing after a long lapse. I've felt nervous about observing in the dark since the bad fall I had a couple of months ago. After tonight, I feel more comfortable. 23 Messiers, 5 NGCs, one totally new IC, and 7 double stars. I love GoTo!

Temperature = 11.5°C.

1519m 2012/07/14

1519m 2012/07/14 04:50–05:15 EDT Foxmead E window 3  ne

Crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Aldebaran in a quadruple conjunction this morning. Many small clouds on eastern horizon,but they finally cleared enough that all four objects were visible.