by Jamie Dillon
Took my own dare last night and pulled Felix out back. The night before the transparency was breathtaking, and I did a couple of naked-eye long gawks. Tuesday night the stars were twinkling like mad, but what moved me indoors was the thermometer, at 20 F by midnight. Told myself there'd be public shame if I missed another night.
Now this wasn't in Lynx, but I did go after new objects. "Milky" was in fact the word I used in my own notes to describe the sky. Later there was woodsmoke drifting overhead which didn't help. But I went after open clusters on my Dickinson's (Edmunds Mag 6) page 5, in Orion, Taurus and Auriga.
The highlight was a pair of clusters just at the north tip of Orion's bow, due east of Aldebaran and just into Taurus. NGC 1807 and 1817, both dense and interesting. They fit into a single 1 deg field; both of them spread out in catchy shapes, with dense background stars.
For the rest, I had a chance once again to note the limitations of my backyard. NGC 1647, the binocular highlight in this month's S&T, was in fact better in the binocs. Spent plenty of time nailing the field for NGC 1746, between Aldebaran and El Nath and didn't see it. Same for 1857 in Auriga, off south of Capella. Both first on the hotlist for the next hilltop jaunt.
Not that I didn't get dessert. Stood and studied M36 and M38, after visiting M37. Had fun looking at 1907, Navarrete's Cluster, the pretty little dense neighbor OC of M38. Finished by gazing at sigma Orionis, that septuple star.
And though the mercury said 24 F, it wasn't uncomfortable, didn't even get a hat. Telling myself the seeing was probably terrible the night before. Right.