by Jamie Dillon
It was the 3rd bright night in a row outside, with Jupiter and Saturn and the Pleiades and the Hyades all beckoning up there. Monday night I'd opted for bed, Tuesday had followed the returns, esp our local elections on the Sec of State webpage. Phooey on it, I hauled out Felix and got in a soul-restoring hour.
The seeing was on the low end of fair, 2/5. The Cassini division was barely safe at any speed. But the big news was once again M42. Too disrupted at 210x, in the 16mm Koenig at 79x it glistened. Just south of the Trapezium the color was arresting, a glowing turquoise.
First sight of M35 this fall as well, that big OC in Gemini, with all those swirls and lines and patterns defying the moonlight.
Just as everything was packed up, the sprinklers kicked in, out in the backyard (deliberate timing here). Heard a geyser-like sound, oh-oh. Sure enough, the sprinkler head under the honeysuckle had blown right off the pipe, shaft and all. Water was going 10 ft in the air. Luuuucky! Being right there, when everything was fresh and wet, I could thread the whole thing back onto the pipe under the ground thru the hole, saved a good 2 hours of digging next clear day.
But that's not what I was seeing as my head hit the pillow, it was that blue glow in that big gorgeous beloved emission nebula.
(Felix is a Celestron 11" f/4.5 Dobs with a primary made by Discovery. Was using a 22 Pan, 16mm UO Koenig, a 6mm Radian. Has astro glow-in-the-dark stickers begged off my kid. He was collimated OK too, the seeing was just kaphlooey. Aldebaran was boiling and giving off sparks.)