Brief Ob Session on 2 Feb 06

Post by **Airconvent** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:36 am

Sky was clear tonight, so I dragged my 66mm refractor out for a solo spin at my multi-storey car park.

Started off well with M45, M44, M42 and M41. M41 was quite dim but looked better with the broadband filter installed. The increased contrast due to the elimination of sky glow was good and the stars did not dim very much...

I tried M45 both wideview and magnified. A beauty to behold!

Next I tried Saturn. This time, I had my full eyepiece kit with me (less the Radian), so pushed the mag up to x234 (4mm + x2.5 TV Barlow). Image softened somewhat but the planetary band features can still be resolved.
Next I tried it with the x2 generic barlow. At x187, the image was smaller but I do prefer this one as it was sharper and more pleasing to the eye...

From here on, it was a disappointment. I tried my hand at finding M93, M46 and M47 but just couldn't. I suspect the aperture was too small so I am beginning to feel this scope is more ideal for good clear skies like Mersing.
Of course, this is the first time I actually used the star chart (really!!) to look for the objects. Managed to identify 2 stars but can't seem to snare the objects. The conclusion is painfully clear here...."Aperture" Don't leave home without it! and of course, I sorely missed my goto. After one hour of futile attempt, I packed up and headed home...

Incidently, the Orion part of the sky has always been a mite boring in my opinion. There are cool stuff, yes, but few bright ones especially for those who don't star hop well. The Sagi side is another story....lots of bright nebula, globulars and clusters....eagerly waiting for it to return !

rich

cataclysm · Post by **cataclysm** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:19 am

I share the same sentiments. The sagittarius part of the skies are certainly more interesting. Especially the star clusters in our light polluted sky.

jermng · Post by **jermng** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:25 am

Yeap! Can't wait for Saggi and Scorpius to come back ..

Canopus Lim · Post by **Canopus Lim** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:45 am

The nice thing about Saggi are the many globular clusters which can be seen with an 8inch (although need to do a bit of averted vision to resolve some brighter stars in the glob) in Spore.

It would be even better if there is dark skies like in Mersing and a 12 inch scope. I once saw M22 with a 12inch dob and it simply blew me away. All the stars from the core to the outer edges were resolved and pin point!