Observation Log

First object of the evening. The yadda yadda yadda. Probably bad seeing early in the session, or not fully dark-adapted yet. M110 was visible. M32 was not detected at 60×.

First object of the evening. The Andromeda Galaxy was looking like its usual cotton-candy self — beautiful but not much internal structure. Probably bad seeing early in the session, or not fully dark-adapted yet. M110 was visible. M32 was not detected at 60×.

Sky conditions improved later and M33 (Triangulum Galaxy) actually showed structure. Tried it in December too, but this view was far better. One of the group — someone younger with sharper eyes — noticed mottling in the spiral arms. Low surface brightness object that rewards a truly dark sky.

A quick look at the Queen of the planets, Saturn. Rings edge on. No Casinni division detected. Titan and Rhea seen. Bunch of people saw it too. Bumped up mag to 150x

Double cluster in Perseus. Tack sharp. Spent too much time in this region. Tried Heart and Soul nebula, nothing detected. Need filters, I guess. My AP gear is shooting the same right now. M103, NGC659, C10 (LawnMover cluster) in Cassiopeia. Bunch of other OCs. The problem with OCs is, you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Wanted to do Auriga, before dinner @ 9 pm, but nope

Knew that Io was being eclipsed by Jupiter and would re-emerge at around 9:50 pm. Started watching Jupiter at 9:40 pm at 60×. Sure enough, just after 9:45 pm, Io appeared at the edge of the southern equatorial belt — a small dot out of nowhere, like an apparition in the inky black background. Switched quickly to the 10 mm EP. Within minutes the moon brightened up. First time I saw this. Pretty cool.

M1 was featureless. Somebody who had seen M1 on Stellarium was disappointed, no colors

M45 looked nice in the binocs, Merope nebula not detected. Seeing? Equipment?

Uranus was but a light blue dot. At 150x slightly better, still nothing to write home about. Pushed it to 300x, no good.

The 'Hello World' of the astronomy world. A whole bunch of people lined up to see this. With the UHC filter, it looked pretty good. Counted 5 stars in the trapezium. Checked if Betelgeuse was still there. Affirmative. Still not gone Supernova

Keeping Alnitak just out of the FOV, trying to observe Flame was a challenge. But finally made it. With Alnitak in the center, M78 is at about 4 O clock. The technique is to move away from Alnitak, towards M78, put M78 all the way at 10 O clock position and retrace the path. Careful not to bring back Alnitak in view, you will lose your dark adaptation

Also called the 13th Pearl Nebula. A buddy suggested it — the two of us spent 30–40 minutes trying to locate it, hopping between scopes. It sits in Orion, between M42 and Saiph, a little less than midway. We could barely detect it; no amount of averted vision or tapping helped. Saw some nebulosity in the region but not the famous keyhole shape. Apparently the dark keyhole is an actual empty hole in space, visible only because of the surrounding reflection nebula.

Somebody wanted to see Jupiter, but before that showed them the Castor double star system.Easily split. Next was Jupiter, its bands in full glory

Beehive in Cancer. Hadnt seen it in a long time. Saw it in the binocs too. Nearby was Leo, but still under the influence of LP from the East.

The PN in M46 was nice, a tiny blob, but nice at 150x. Reminded me of Ghost of Jupiter

Another OC. Exhausted. Decided to get some shut eye. Till 2 am or so. Leo, Virgo, Coma B are calling !!

All three galaxies in FOV. Very cool. Took some time to detect it, but NGC 3628 showed the central dark lane. M66 was an elongated fuzz ball, and M65 was eliptical, but had to strain to see details. Its kinda cool, peering back in time, 35 million years ago. A poignant feeling

Fuzz ball. No details at all. Seen only with averted vision

M105 barely detected. NGC3373 not detected

Markarians chain in all its glory. NGC4388 looked beautiful, edge on. Visibly bright core. M86 looked very large and diffuse, washed out core in my opinion. M84, central core very apparent, but probably dimmer than NGC4388. Couple of other galaxies too. Spent a good 40 to 45 minutes here. Saw thru the 16" scope as well

A dense globular. It actually looks like a central bright star with a ring of stars around it. And in the background you have thousands of stars, all closely bunched up. Very pretty. Would be a nice target for binoculars.

Prominent central nucleus, (wonder why its called black eye) low brightness spiral arms. The contrast between the core and the sorrounding region was intersting

Needs no introdduction. The bulge above the nucleus, the diffuse glow, the central dark lane, it’s a visual treat. Tonight was not the best views I've had of this galaxy, but it was pretty good

M51 and its interacting partner galaxy seen, core distinguished. Spiral arms of M51 seen but interaction between the two not seen. Tried at 150x and 200x (8mm ep)

M81 core was not as bright as earlier, but pretty obvious. Spiral arms seen. In the same FOV was M82

Just 1 deg from M81. This is supposed to a very nice elliptical galaxy. I was in the field, but did not detect anything. 16" scope maybe? Or am I just tired?

Bright core, spiral arms. Like a halo around it. While looking thru the eyepiece a meteor shout across the sky in my FOV. Interesting

Omega Centauri was well above the hills to the South. The pièce de résistance, no observation session is complete without viewing this baby. Globular cluster. Several people saw this. Decided to call it a night. That’s when I realized, I had completely forgotten Auriga. Oh well, theres tomorrow