by James Ster
All in all, it was a fair night at HGO. Randy and I arrived around 10:00 pm and set up to the setting 1st quarter moon. Randy's 18" dob and my little 85 mm APO provided us with some splendid views of M81 & M82. With my 35 Panoptic in Randy's f5.6 dob, we were able to place both galaxies well within the field of view for an awesome sight.
Despite some very poor seeing most of the time, we were able to enjoy some moments of a few pleasing views including some colored banding in Jupiter and the green hues of the Great Orion Nebula. I was using a 17 mm Nagler Type 4 most of the evening in the TV-85 with 2x Big Barlow or 4x Powermate tossed in for good measure once in a while. I must say that the 17mm's 1.62 of the degree field of view in the 85 mm made for a magnificent framing of M81 & M82. The beehive cluster was another nice object this evening as well as the always spectacular Double Cluster.
We attempted to split some double's but were usually met with dancing blobs. Alberio was low in the north west when we began the evening, but still has some very nice coloring, despite the hazy upper atmospheric conditions that precluded any serious attempts at some very deep sky stuff. The poor seeing was clearing up as it approached 3:00am, but it was mostly due to the 15mph+ winds that brought an evening ending chill to both of us. But all in all it was a nice evening. Thanks again Randy for going up. It's always nicer when you have company.
As far as Saturday night at HGO, I'd recommend some good insulation if your thinking of coming up. Hopefully the skies will allow for some better seeing for Bill's first light. And, if any of you (hey Vic) would like to bring up your refractors and do some comparisons with us, please do. It should be another nice evening.