Montebello 4/18

by Pentti Kanerva

I was out with Orion's 5" Mak-Cas and used almost exclusively 62X with a .77 degree field. I had prepared to look for the comet 2P Encke but it set before the sky got dark enough.

I guess the atmosphere is suboptimal when Sirius splits in five ways. But that seems not to matter in hunting down galaxies and such. With a small scope cannot see any detail in them anyway. So I tried a few by memory: M1, NGC2903, M42/43, M57/NGC5195, M98; failed on M101. Then used charts to find the Messier galaxies of Leo. They all came out easier than before so I was encouraged to go for more, adding NGC #s 3628, 3384, 3377 and 3607 into my catch, all in Leo. Anything fainter must wait for a larger mirror, darker skies, or younger eyes.

The last three of us left at midnight. The temperature was 37F (+3C, 276K), the wind still blowing, the car coated with dew. On the way down saw a cat crossing the road (to get to the other side).

Pentti