(SNES) O. R., November 26, 2001

[Timetrav2@webtv.net (Andy and Barry)]

November 26, 2001
Time: 6 PM-10 PM
Location: North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Weather: Unseasonably warm, 50's F., with few height thin clouds. Moon
four days to full.
Equipment:  XT-8

You would think with a waxing Moon four days from full and the unwanted
light from unshaded windows and street lights, that I would have had an
awful few hours of observing. Not so. The warm weather allowed me to
observe with a short sleeve shirt on for most of the evening, and having
low expectations of the evening  
surely contributed to my enjoyment of this session.

For the first few minutes of the evening two friends, Bruce and Darlene
came over and observed the Moon, Mars and the Double Double in Lyra. It
was the first time for either of them to observe the Moon in my
telescope and both of them seemed to enjoy looking  at the lunar
landscape very much.  We took a quick look at Mars which was very
uninteresting and showing no detail and was very dull in color. They
could only stay long enough for a quick look at the Double Double near
Vega. Tonight it was just a Double near Vega as I had no interest in
trying to split them..

Because my site is surrounded by trees and buildings, I had to wait a
little while for Saturn to get high enough in the sky to take a look at
it. Using a16mm eyepiece with the 2X barlow I was able to catch brief
views of the Cassini's Division. The planet seems to be tilted at about
a 45 degree angle showing lots of space between the planet and its
rings.  I could make out a shadow on the planet but it was washed out at
times of poor seeing.  

Taking the advantage of the wide Field of View of a 40mm eyepiece I
swung the telescope up to M45, or the Pleiades, aka Seven Sisters).
Although I could not see the whole cluster, (best seen in binoculars) I
was very pleased and amazed at how beautiful these stars were. They were
extremely bright and appeared to make the image of a dancing "stick
man". In some ways I came to the realization the M45 was going to be the
most beautiful grouping of stars that I would see for the evening.

I waited patiently for Auriga to get high enough above the building in
front of me. I was not using my red dot finder this evening and I wanted
to see if I could locate open clusters M37, M36, and M38 using just my
6X30 finder. 

The sky was far to bright to locate M37 in the finder scope so I
resorted to placing Theta in the finder than lowering the scope slightly
then moving it towards Beta. With the aid of the 40mm eyepiece I was
able to see a very faint patch of light that turned out to be M37.
Using my 25mm eye piece to get a better look. I could see many small
dots of light against a greyish background with what appeared to be a
small orange star in the center.  It was obvious that the full Moon was
the cause of the poor view of one of the most beautiful Open Clusters in
the night sky.
Moving the optical tube up and using the 40mm ep again, I succeeded in
finding both M36 and M38.  Both of which were degraded and less
beautiful than M37 because of the brightness of the sky.

I was very happy to see Jupiter rise above the roof top.  I could see
four of its moons dancing around it and there was some banding on the
surface of the planet. Its color was washed out as well.

Still low in the sky, I had to point the telescope between buildings and
trees to see M42 The Orion Nebula. Even though the constellation was low
I still had a pretty steady view of the four stars of the Trapezium, but
the beautiful brightness of the nebula itself was a bit dull because of
its placement in the sky was in the sky glow of the industrial park and
the Moon.

During the course of the evening I observed one satellite and one meteor
pass through the eyepiece.

In all I enjoyed myself.  I was a delightful evening to be outside and I
never tire of looking at these objects of the Fall sky.

Stars in your eyes,
Barry

http://community.webtv.net/Timetrav2/TIMETRAVELERS
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