New Year's Glimpse of Older Photons

Shneor Sherman

I spent New Year's Eve in Esparto, where there's a 12.5" homebrew stashed in a workshop. The owner of the telescope also attended, and about 10 we rolled it out under very transparent skies (although there were scattered clouds to the south, and a thin haze to the north and west). We had a view of Mars, nearly at the zenith, but with little detail visible, then turned to M42, which looked amazing in the 20mm widefield eyepiece. The central green and peripheral pink of this nebula were easily visible, so we invited the rest of the New Years' revelers out to have look, which they thouroughly enjoyed (and some also noticed the colors). The Trapezium showed four stars and a good deal of additional faint nebulosity was vsible to the south. This was one of the best views of M42 I have ever had, and I was surprised that the 12.5" was capable of the quality of the view. But the skies were very transparent in that area. We rolled the telescope back in after everyone had viewed M42, and partied on...

Clears,
Shneor

Observing Reports Observing Sites GSSP 2010, July 10 - 14
Frosty Acres Ranch
Adin, CA

OMG! Its full of stars.
Golden State Star Party
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