by Albert Highe
The Clear Sky Clock indicated that the skies would be cloudy at Dinosaur Point during the late afternoon, but clear after dark. The forecast for Saturday looked worse. So I called and activated the permit for Friday (but not Saturday).
Denny W. and I were the only ones to show up, arriving by 5PM. Due to Friday afternoon traffic, my drive was a little longer than normal, but tolerable. The skies did not look promising. What little blue sky could be seen was also covered by a thin layer of haze. The high clouds were thicker elsewhere. The Sun was almost completely obscured as it approached the horizon. But, we set up anyway. I've learned to trust our friend Attila Danko and his buddies at the Canadian Meteorological Center.
By 7:30PM, Venus poked through the clouds, and by 8PM, Denny and I were enjoying good views of Jupiter and Saturn through the remaining haze. Brighter stars became visible. And by the time it was dark enough to begin the search for faint fuzzies, around 8:30PM, the entire sky cleared within about 15 minutes. It was quite amazing to watch. There was no wind, so the clouds were not blown away. Instead, they hung motionless until they just evaporated before our eyes. The evaporation proceeded as a wave of clearing, beginning at the northwest and spreading to the southeast. Temperatures stayed in the mid to low 60's. The relative humidity never climbed above 65%. It was a wonderfully warm, calm, dark, and fairly transparent night.
| Equipment | 12.5" f/5 ultralight dob with 14mm Radian and 7.5mm LE eyepieces. |
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I hadn't looked at this Messier object from good, dark skies for some time. My immediate reaction is that I was looking at a giant eye that was staring back at me. Its outer halo was unmistakably shaped like an eye while the bright nucleus formed its pupil.
One of the best views I've seen for some time. Easy to spot in my 80mm finder. It looked much brighter than I've ever seen it without a filter.
Spiral structure easy to see. Some bright HII regions also visible.
Denny left around 12:30AM, and I left about a half hour later. It was so warm that I had to strip down to my T-shirt to keep from sweating while packing up.
An unexpectedly pleasant night.