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Observation Log - 01/10/2004
| Subject: | Planetary nebulae, globular clusters |
| Seeing: | Average |
| Light: | Poor |
| Location: | Home (balcony) |
Equipment
| Scope: | Meade LX90 |
Comments
This was the first half-decent night in a couple of weeks, so I was keen to get set up and observing again! I started off with a quick tour of the old favourites, M11 and M27.
I then moved over to Aquarius to check out the Saturn and Helix nebulae. Both were clearly visible but only just discernable from the surrounding stars due to their slightly fuzzy edges.
As slightly different parts of the sky are becoming visible, I thought I'd try to get a look at M57, the Ring Nebula, which had been just out of reach until now. The ring itself was clearest at 77x as sketched below. I tried at 200x, but the conditions didn't allow too much detail to come through. I was getting bad reflections from a cream-coloured window frame, which I ended up taping off with a black bin liner.
 Eyepiece sketch of M57, the Ring Nebula. |
I've managed to cut a fair amount of light polution by placing a dark blanket over the glass under the "hole" I observe out of. Maybe it's time to put up some curtains to cut out a bit more!
Before turning in, I had another quick look at the Pleiades from the front door. Even with an almost full moon and severe peripheral light, five of the brighter stars were visible with the naked eye. The LX90's finder revealed a few more, but what I'd really like is a nice little refractor to get some good wide field views of objects like this! An Orion ED80 is most definitely on the wish list...
