Binocular Observing Report

Purple Haze

Location	Saratoga, CA
Date	10/30/2000, 11PM PST
Conditions	Horizons occluded with rain soaked clouds, Zenith clear and moist.
Equipment	Orion MiniGiants 9x63

As I was about to turn the lights out last night at Midnight, after buying stuff on Astromart for a few hours :-) I took a quick peak outside, in my pajamas.

Boom! A hazy bright blue light from M42 shined in my eyes as I opened the door. Orion was gloriously rising. Wow! Fresh rain clouds were breaking up all around me on the horizons, and at zenith, a huge clear patch of perfect clarity opened up, stars madly dancing from the moisture.

Our street was dark. Jupiter and Saturn passing near Aldeberan below the Pleiades. Close together for now.

Rushing to get my binos, I stepped in a muddy puddle. Fleece robe, fuzzy slippers, red light, and my Messier finder charts. My observing lawn chair in my driveway, inviting me to sit. Yow! Sat on a wet newspaper.

Cold and wet I settle down to some serious bino astronomy. I am using David Green's "The Ultimate Messier Catalog" FileMaker cross platform application to generate my Messier lists. I have one for my refractor and one for binos. It's cool. Check it out at http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/TUMOL.html.

I like it because it prints out telrad finder charts, and a small thumbnail of each object with each observing form. Lots of tables and sorting options too. He calls his program "giveware". If you like, donate some money to your favorite (hopefully astronomy related) cause.

Saturn: bright Yellow touching rich star field of M45. Titan there. Wonderful tilted view.
Jupiter: 4 moons CEIG configuration. Orb is reddish orange. Touching Aldeberan
M42 Ori: O'Meara says look for "God" here. Didn't find Him.
M43 Ori. Trapezium blinking. Hazy nebulosity.
M45 Tau: Merope blue/purple haze. Bino heaven. Reminded again of Jimi Hendrix
M36 Aur: Easy find OC's in Auriga. Log 'em
M37 Aur: "
M38 Aur: "
M35 Gem: very faint
NGC 2419 Lyn: "Intergalactic Wanderer", m10.4. No way.
NGC 896 Per: Double Cluster. Easy Find. Some stars in between. Who knows why M deleted this one. Bino heaven+
M31 And: hazy stretch in wet sky. No companion(s).
Practice an the "Andromeda Quick Draw" with binos, like a six-shooter. Turn around. Point and Look. Galaxy in center FOV. Repeat 10 more times. Spot on each time.

So cold and wet. Pack up. Front door locked! Freezing. Ring doorbell to wake up family. While usually supportive of my nighttime weirdness, they are Not Amused.

One more M31 Quick Draw before closing the door.

All in all, a great night for bino viewing.