Equipment:
Discovery Telescopes Dob 6" f8
Eyepieces: 32mm Televue Plossl (38x, 1.3 degree FOV), 18 mm Meade Superwide (68x, 1.0 degree FOV),
7mm
Nagler (174x, 0.47 degree FOV)
Atlas: Orion’s deep map 600
Site: 63 Derby Lane, Huntington, WV
Weather: Getting colder. Very windy. The dob hums as the wind blows over its upper opening. I use my car as a wind/light block. Dry – no dewing. Ahh, it’s a dry cold …
Began by looking at the crescent moon. Hit Venus – just a crescent itself. Saturn looked good in the 7mm Nagler. I cloud see one dark band on the planet. Jupiter showed the North and south equatorial bands and when the seeing steadied another thin band.
I visited the Orion Nebulae. I could see it in the finder. Nice overview of the nebula and the near by nebulae in the 32mm P. Prefered the view in the 18 to the 26 though there was some dimming in the 18.
After a quick stop to look at M35 – found with 32 P and then observed with the 18 SW. I had to find a galaxy.
I moved on to Leo. M65 and 66 were glimpsed in the 32 P. I liked the vies in that and the 26mm over those offered by the 18 or the 7 – too much dimming. They could be seen as ghostly ovals hanging in the inky blackness of space. I observed these for a while before the wind and the cold drove me in.