by Leonard Tramiel
Wednesday afternoon/evenings are a bit hectic at our house these days: both kids have various activities to be driven to. Add to this the constant worry that this is THE LAST good observing opportunity and the fact that I have had my new dob for only a month. The combination sent me up too Montebello last night but I didn't arrive until it 6:00, more than an hour after sunset.
The conditions last night were fair. No clouds or fog, temps were cool but not cold, dry with some light breeze but nothing got blown around. The sky was not as dark as some evenings but the top of the valley light dome was surprisingly sharp so the useable sky was a bit larger than typical.
I'm still getting used to the scope. After so many years of using nothing but equatorial-fork mounted cats it takes some effort to star hop with a dob and a erect image finder. When I push on the scope the stars don't move in the directions I expect and slewing in R.A. or dec is (almost) never easy. All in all the change to the dob is more satisfying than I thought it would be but I didn't anticipate these minor frustrations. I'm also trying to decide on eyepieces. Right now I'm evaluating the collection I have, which ranges from cheap 25 and 40 mm Celestron Kellners to a set of Questar Brandons.
I looked at a few doubles, Polaris, Rigel, e Lyrae and a new one (for me at least) 17 Lyrae. All of these (except for the double double, e Lyrae) have large brightness differences between the components. I enjoy looking at doubles. The fact that our isolated star is not the norm is brought home by seeing so many groups. The subtle colors and brightness contrasts are visual treats as well.
I also hunted down a new (for me) galaxy. NGC 7331. It looked like a mini M104 (the Sombrero). The hunt took far longer than I liked and pointed out that I need to use better charts. Perhaps its time to bring up a laptop.
The highlights were Jupiter and Saturn. The seeing was highly variable but there were brief moments of clarity. Saturn is always a treat and I expect to watch it often over the coming months. Cassini was easy as was the shadow of the planet on the rings. The crepe ring was a bit more challenging (but not much). For brief moments I think that I saw, more than imagined, a sliver of darkening far out on the A ring. Four moons were easy with hints of two more. Another use for the laptop.
Jupiter was a treat, despite being far too low in the sky (and so darn bright!) I noticed a shadow transit where I hadn't seen one before, way out near the pole. I remembered that one of Jupiter's moons (Ganymede?) just recently started getting eclipsed again so a polar shadow transit seemed more believable. Detail in the bands was pretty well shot by the seeing.
Add to this the peace of being out under the stars, the conversation and camaraderie of others that share an appreciation of the sky. What more could one want.