A beginner's eclipse

by Greg Parker

On arrival I knew we were in for a treat. The sky was crisp and clear, much improved over the wavy haze of the past few days. And dry, too - my hard-won dew discipline (keep those eyepieces covered!) was unneeded. I had correctly remembered their local horizon, so totality would be ending before the moon hit the trees. The stage was set.

All three of us were watching when the first bites of the moon vanished - one through the telescope, one through the finder, and one through my binoculars. Each provided fine but distinct views of the changing colors. Two meteors cross the frame as I watched. The second was quite faint but within a hairsbreadth of crossing the moon's disk. I was delighted to see the stars near the moon and everywhere else appear as the moon darkened.

My friends stumbled off to bed soon after totality, but I stayed to take advantage of the darkened sky - this was my first time out without glare from a moon more than 75% full. I first visited some now-familiar targets. Albireo is practically an old friend by now. M31 was much more impressive without the moon washing it out. After many minutes of fruitless searching for the Ring Nebula - it had been so easy the day before, practically in a fog bank - I checked the Nightwatch chart. Whoops, it is not in fact between g and n Cygni, and by then Lyra was gone for good behind a tree.

Next I turned to some new sights. The Dumbell Nebula was brighter, more compact, and more sharply defined than I had expected. Nice. n Cas was disappointing; I think the red star of the pair is just too small to hold its own. The central Perseus area looked intriguing, but it will have to wait for another time because I didn't look for anything else after I found the Double Cluster.

Wow! Now I begin to understand why people buy wide-view eyepieces that cost more than my entire rig. 869 is my favorite of the two (assuming I interpreted the inverted view correctly). I re-collimated on the spot to make sure I had the best possible view of the fine, bright points in its core. I can't wait to show them to my friends.

I took a quick detour to what I later identified as M34 after stumbling across it in binoculars. Determining its position and training the scope on it was a good navigational exercise, especially since it was near the zenith (the enemy of Dobsonians everywhere). I'm glad I added the reflex finder on Sunday.

After one last look at the moon (reappearing from the eclipse but disappearing into the trees) and one last look for a missing lens cap (probably left in a friend's pocket), I packed my toys and left for home.

-- Greg Parker gparker-tac@sealiesoftware.com