Man, I was so hoping to bing Vesta Tuesday or Wednesday. (Its sitting in downtown Leo right now, right in the backwards question mark) Tuesday was hopeless, however (snow), cloud cover for Wednesday on weather.com showed some breaks forming in the clouds.
So I ran outside last night and looked up.
To the northwest/west, the skies were as clear as glass.
All other directions were completely covered with clouds.
I wasnt about to stay in AGAIN so I loaded up the scope and wheeled it across the street. Fired up the fan and watched the skies as the scope cooled down. Clouds moving from north to south. Yet oddly enough, northwest/west was still clear (minus a dark cloud band on the horizon)
So, the Moon was gorgous, Orion was in the clouds, but I did peek at the Orion Nebula (I have some artistic talent, when I can operate the scope without gloves Ill start sketching at the eyepiece) More on Orion in a minute.
The Great galaxy in Andromeda was beautiful. I saw a faint disk with a very bright nucleus. Had some trouble at first locating it due to the orientation of the sky (I usually look for it in the fall between its rising and being overhead, I can find it in a whole two seconds naked eye using averted vision. Now in the winter its setting and a little harder for me to find (just not used to looking for it at that time of night I guess) But find it I did. (Orion XT8 Classic and a 32MM EP)
Still, I guess I cant really complain. I had one whole quadrant relatively clear, But I was really hoping to learn a bit about asteroids and maybe even attempt to track it each night. I may not have the Hubble, but I CAN see a great many things.
And a note about stars......
Yes they are little dots, most of them.........
However, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Arcturus (off the top of my head) all show as bright 4 pointed stars in my FOV (32MM or 25MM gives the same results) (If stars are considered the gems in the sky, then these stars are of the highest quality)
I have higher power EP, but I typically do not use them except for the moon and planets. Speaking of the moon, I saw a huge, well defined, raised crater sitting along the moons terminator. Very nice indeed, almost filled my FOV (4MM EP w/ Zhummel moon and sky glow filter)
And lastly, back to Orion for a sec. I just finished looking at Andromeda and decided to look to the south. I saw a HUGE BRIGHT LIGHT to the left of Orion, between Orion and Sirius (no it wasn't Sirius, but it was in the same area of sky. It was much, much brighter than Sirus)
But before I could spin my scope to it, the clouds rushed back in covering the entire southern sky (at least the parts I wanted to see anyway)
To add to my disappointment, about 3 seconds after moving the scope I heard a jet, then one flew overhead, and backtracking its course, you guessed it, it came from the same section of sky as my mystery light. No UFO, No supernova, and when I got a few seconds of no clouds over Orion, the light was gone, and Betelgeuse was still there. It was just a plane flying directly twords me. (I did bing the plane as it flew overhead and was able to manually track it for two or three seconds before I lost it in the clouds, it WAS a plane. It had wings, blinky lights, and was not being chased by other planes. So no PMs about UFOs plz)
O well. I think I will stick to trying to bing Vesta
Venus is next, as soon as I can bing it without setting my eyes on fire. (you cannot hide next to the Sun forever, Planet!)
And as for Mars and Saturn, all I have to say is QUIT HIDING BEHIND THE EASTERN CLOUDS !
Star
So I ran outside last night and looked up.
To the northwest/west, the skies were as clear as glass.
All other directions were completely covered with clouds.
I wasnt about to stay in AGAIN so I loaded up the scope and wheeled it across the street. Fired up the fan and watched the skies as the scope cooled down. Clouds moving from north to south. Yet oddly enough, northwest/west was still clear (minus a dark cloud band on the horizon)
So, the Moon was gorgous, Orion was in the clouds, but I did peek at the Orion Nebula (I have some artistic talent, when I can operate the scope without gloves Ill start sketching at the eyepiece) More on Orion in a minute.
The Great galaxy in Andromeda was beautiful. I saw a faint disk with a very bright nucleus. Had some trouble at first locating it due to the orientation of the sky (I usually look for it in the fall between its rising and being overhead, I can find it in a whole two seconds naked eye using averted vision. Now in the winter its setting and a little harder for me to find (just not used to looking for it at that time of night I guess) But find it I did. (Orion XT8 Classic and a 32MM EP)
Still, I guess I cant really complain. I had one whole quadrant relatively clear, But I was really hoping to learn a bit about asteroids and maybe even attempt to track it each night. I may not have the Hubble, but I CAN see a great many things.
And a note about stars......
Yes they are little dots, most of them.........
However, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Arcturus (off the top of my head) all show as bright 4 pointed stars in my FOV (32MM or 25MM gives the same results) (If stars are considered the gems in the sky, then these stars are of the highest quality)
I have higher power EP, but I typically do not use them except for the moon and planets. Speaking of the moon, I saw a huge, well defined, raised crater sitting along the moons terminator. Very nice indeed, almost filled my FOV (4MM EP w/ Zhummel moon and sky glow filter)
And lastly, back to Orion for a sec. I just finished looking at Andromeda and decided to look to the south. I saw a HUGE BRIGHT LIGHT to the left of Orion, between Orion and Sirius (no it wasn't Sirius, but it was in the same area of sky. It was much, much brighter than Sirus)
But before I could spin my scope to it, the clouds rushed back in covering the entire southern sky (at least the parts I wanted to see anyway)
To add to my disappointment, about 3 seconds after moving the scope I heard a jet, then one flew overhead, and backtracking its course, you guessed it, it came from the same section of sky as my mystery light. No UFO, No supernova, and when I got a few seconds of no clouds over Orion, the light was gone, and Betelgeuse was still there. It was just a plane flying directly twords me. (I did bing the plane as it flew overhead and was able to manually track it for two or three seconds before I lost it in the clouds, it WAS a plane. It had wings, blinky lights, and was not being chased by other planes. So no PMs about UFOs plz)
O well. I think I will stick to trying to bing Vesta
Venus is next, as soon as I can bing it without setting my eyes on fire. (you cannot hide next to the Sun forever, Planet!)
And as for Mars and Saturn, all I have to say is QUIT HIDING BEHIND THE EASTERN CLOUDS !
Star
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