Today was a mandacation or astrocation day for me (meaning a "mandatory vacation" for the mood checking email software). This quarter I have obliged to take seven days off and they are curiously scheduled around lunar dark periods. Conditions looked OK, so I went to Coe, with a new list, a new 2" mirror diagonal, and new pulsing reticule illuminator ("Oooooooooh, said the audience").
The never-predictable Coe observing environment was to my liking, so I even tried a new uniform-of-the day: shorts and long sleeve shirt, rather than spark in the dark underwear and a goose down jacket. Temps were in the low 60s to high 50s and humidity never exceeded 55%. Transparency was so-so, and seeing grew to be rather steady after midnight.
The hardware worked well. The 2" mirror diagonal was that sold by Orion for under a hundred dollars. Frankly, for the cost of the adapters needed for the higher priced optics diagonals, I feel I did OK. I was able to use my 40mm UO Erfle and enjoy benefit of a 70 degree FOV for the first time. The clarity and sharpness of the C11 with this lens appeared to be acceptable.
The illuminator is the Rigel Pulseguide. This toy is nifty as it makes searching for fainter objects easier through the finderscope.
Which brings up the list of faint objects: I began the H2 list, as downloaded from the TAC website. I now know the meaning of "faint". I was able to log 15 objects in Coma and UMa, but there's little that I can say about many, other than faint smudge or streak. I also think I'll change to the H2 observing program book offered by AL and Rose City. I am out to improve my observing skills, so I'll try to sketch FOVs and objects, and include more data. Many of these object appear to have little detail.
Continuing this list means I must upgrade my documentation. Many of the objects are not included in NSOG or the Tirion atlas. We'll see where that leads.
Six astrocation days remaining.