Messier Driving Marathon 8/25-8/26

by Ken Mason

At 7:00 Vega could be seen. It was still pretty bright out so that really surprised me. Waiting for it to get dark I was setting it up for imaging.

Well imaging was not going to happen that night. A loose gear would not allow any autoguiding. I had tightened the gear three times. The gear gets loose as the autoguider shifts it left and right in 1/4 second periods.

So I did a little observing using my tiny 4" Tak. I first went to M57 at 30x it was way too small. So I headed to the dumbbell (M27). Indeed the M27 was nice to see. The best of the night was m31/32. I was amazed how picture perfect viewing of m31 and m32. It was so amazing that I could see the faint extended arms of m31. M31 was seen way wider than my 30x view. It no longer looked like the puff cloud that I was used to seeing at my home. M32 was bright!

I went to view M51, but I could not get over the awesome view of M31.

I turned off the telescope and put on the dust covers. Heading back to the car and looked west and saw M45 rising very nicely. I went to sleep in my car at 1:30AM. 7:00AM I packed up the telescopes and headed home.

So sorry I did not show up at IHOP. I just can't get over those dark skies I have in Nevada. I'm still observing a few times each week from home. I'm working on stabilizing my mount. I also go a new telescope for imaging. It is a Meade SN-6. It is a nice little 6" Schmitt Newtonian. I'll be using it tonight for viewing and if I'm lucky some imaging.

Regards,

Ken