by Stacy Jo McDermott
Well, it turned out to be a very nice night here at McDermott Observatory on 3/2. While I wanted to come down to MB, I thought it better that I do my observing where I didn't have to do a whole lot of lifting in and out of Babe the wonder truck.
First off I started with the goal of getting M79. It had eluded me during my 2/9 (on 2/9 I wasn't sure if I had bagged it or not) session so I thought I'd tonight I'd go for it. Glad I did - found it! It helped that the seeing was steady. It looked like a little ball of cat fuzz. Not hairball, but fuzz ball. It is at this point that I am decided to get the Orion 10" dob by summer. So when I get it, I'm inspired to name it Cat Fuzz.
Since the seeing was so steady and the transparency seemed so clear, I thought I'd check out how high I could push my telescope with what eyepieces I had on the planets of Jupiter and Saturn. Well, hello kitty! Using my 10mm with a 2x barlow, I was able to discern the Cassini division in Saturn's rings. A first with my 120mm. I also saw 2, possibly 3 moons - possibly because I was so entranced with the rings. Saturn sat there quite nicely almost as to say "here I am, look all you want".
I hit Jupiter an hour later and again, BAM! lookee at that red spot! Again, the details were more than I had seen through my 'scope in prior observing sessions. I was able to make out the two main bands, the GRS, and two minor bands. Three of the moons were lined up nicely to the left side.
Back to the Messiers - M78 - another one that had eluded me on 2/9. This time I used the last star in the belt to be my guide rather than going up from the first star in the belt. When I got to the general area, I was amazed that it was sitting right there the whole time ;-). What I noticed was that is a crowded little area, but was able to distinguish it from the description of it that is on the TAC website (Messier through the year article).
I have to say that I never thought I'd enjoy astronomy from such an urban area but I'm finding that I do like it - the challenge of thinking about the strategy in finding these objects in less-than-ideal conditions is quite fun. I was quite inspired by the article on city observing in the April edition of S&T. However, I do take issue with the light dome eminating from the north/northeast in our fair Oz-like city. After looking at my SkyAtlas 2000, I thought I'd go for M109 - I mean how hard could that be?! Well, the light pollution interference was enough to put M109 in the "find when you're away from city lights".
Jane Houston Jones has inspired me as well to do a mini-camping vacation up at Lake Sonoma. And, I'm inspired to see all the Tacos down at LSA on 3/16.
So it was a good night from McDermott Observatory (it has fine amenities). Sorry I missed the mini-MM at MB however.