Sat Aug 19 IHOP

by Darrell Lee

Seeing was 3 arc-second, not very good. I could get a hint of Iota Cassiopeiae's closer pair dividing, but certainly not a clean split. I brought my 10" Dob, a 90 Mak, and 10X70 binoculars. I had 10 Messier objects to reach 70, enough for my AL Messier certificate, and I got about 20. Most were in Sagittarius and Ophiuchus, since my last note-taking Messier starhopping session was way back on March 1. Of course, I'll probably get them all before I submit anything.

I was going to start my binocular list, but decided to concentrate on the telescope Messier project. I spent a fair amount of time showing things to Dan and Renee. Time like that is well spent, bringing newcomers into the fold.

I was pleased with the DSX-90AT's tracking and go-to, but its views were dim like only a small aperture scope can deliver. I put it on M2 and let it track for an hour and a half. Came back, and it was still on target. Unfortunately the Autostar went haywire later. I was in the guided tour mode, and the Autostar went to Deneb instead of M15, and when I told it to go to Deneb, it went to the Ring Nebula. It also wouldn't let me input a 00 hour a.m. time. I had to fake it as 1:00 a.m. before it would accept an early morning time.

M56 was my most challenging target last night. It wasn't bright enough to show up as a bright fuzzy in my finderscope, and wasn't big enough to stand out in my low power views.

Sorry the observations list is thin, but a list of M2, M6, M7, etc. doesn't say much. I had a fun night and prepared myself for the 10" views I'll be having at Bryce Canyon NP in a month.

Darrell