| Equipment | Celestron C8 |
|---|---|
| Location | Santa Rosa, CA |
| Seeing/transparency | 5/10, 7/10 |
| Weather | cool with high clouds that moved out by 8:30 |
Humidity seemed high but my Dewguard Dewshield kept the corrector dry and clear (plug, plug)
What a great night, it was just dark enough to make out the Beehive (naked eye) with averted vision. Maybe conditions weren't optimal but that didn't matter. I started out with Jupiter and the moon, but they were jiggling like a bowl full of Jell-O so I figured I would just start going page by page through "Turn Left". I started out with M93 and thought I had found it but thought it was strange that my charts didn't list the large open cluster just east and south. Then I realized it was M46 and M47, boy I really over shot that one.
I, however, tried again and this time ended up in the right place. It is much harder when most of the stars listed in the charts aren't visible because of light pollution. Observing for me is kind of like learning to read a new language; at first everything is just a jumble of words and patterns having no meaning, but the more I see and learn, the more the sky crystallizes and starts to have meaning. It truly is amazing...but now I am rambling.
Anyhoo, before I got too cold and tired, I hit M46,47,93,50,36-38,94,53,64-66(no sign of NGC3628),3,42-45 and 41. These may be old hat for some of you but each one is new and exciting for me. Before I bought this scope I was lusting after the whizbang Goto scopes. Now I'm glad I didn't go that route. The satisfaction of being able to follow a chart and find these faint fuzzies is just as good as seeing them.
All in all, I'm having a blast.