Waiting, watching, hoping....

Now that I'm working four days, I'd hoped to use my 3-day weekend for long nights of observing. But Friday was pretty hazy... I feel gypped. I'd spent part of the day looking at the Huygens pictures of Titan's surface oline, so naturally I had to at least look at Saturn. The seeing was terrible; it was really unsettled, but I think I did catch a glimpse of the Cassini division a few times. The only moon that was obvious was Titan. Asteroid 8 Flora was supposed to be apparent in the same wide-field view at about mag 8, but without being able to watch movement over hours I couldn't be sure which dim "star" it was.

Saturday was rainy, but there are cloudbreaks tonight. I have the scope out cooling, just in case....

A hazy shade of winter

We were pretty slow at work last night, so I kept going to the door to check the weather. Finally Geoff the security guard called to ask why I held the door open for so long. Oops. When I got off at ten o'clock it was quite clear, but of course I still have a two-hour bus ride from Redmond to Alki, so that doesn't mean much. The sky out that way always seems darker anyhow: less skyglow, and also maybe less haze.

I was tired as usual when I got home, and the sky was overcast, but there were some promising breaks in the clouds so I got the scope cooling anyway. I was nodding off waiting for it to cool, so ready or not I had to get going. It had cooled off a lot and was windy to boot. There were scattered clouds that didn't seem to be moving witht the wind, and patchy haze covered a lot of the sky.

Ursa Major was pretty clear, but also right overhead so it made for difficult pointing. 23 UMa was particularly high, but with some shifting of the scope and so forth I got it in my sights. From there it was an easy starhop: the pair including 28 UMa, the "open box" asterism, then along the top of the box for five box lengths. There are conspicuous markers in front of the box (the "packing list" and "bubble wrap"?) which I'll doubtless become more familiar with. M81 itself seemed not as bright; there was probably some haze that both dimmed the galaxy and brightened the background. Averted vision didn't seem to help either. Nevertheless, I found it within 30 seconds or so of finding 23 UMa. I can't believe it took me so long to find in the first place. M82 actually seemed smaller but a little brighter.

I next had to try for M67 in Cancer, which i had given up on earlier. The area seemed hazy but the marker stars were bright and I had no problem. alpha Cancri has a slightly dimmer red star to its west, and another dimmer pair with the colors reversed lies a little farther west. In between the two pairs is M67. There's a third, dimmest pair right next to M67 that could also be used as a landmark. M67 itself was fairly dull since all the brighest stars seemed dim, although it was a moderately sprawling cluster, seemingly with two major clumps arranged sothwest-northeast, but I couldn't see much for the haze. On some clearer night I'll give it another chance and maybe some high power too.

Leo was rising, and there are a number of Messier galaxies in that constellation I'm pretty sure I've never seen before. Down from theta Leonis in the Lion's haunches is a pair of galaxies, M65 and M66. A trio of stars down from reddish 73 Leonis serves as a good marker; a litte east lies a dimmer yellow star that forms an equilateral triangle with the two galaxies. M66 was noticeably brighter but still difficult to discern in the haze. I wasn't sure for a few seconds that I'd even seen M65 at all. I'll have to return here on a less hazy night too.

I was too tired to look for the other Leo objects, and anyway the seeing was pretty bad, so I bagged it and went to bed.

There's a patch of snow on the ground: M65, M66, M67

Hang on to your hopes my friend: No misses tonight, but the other galaxies in Leo and Virgo should be good targets in the coming months

Another one bites the dust (well, two, actually)

Cloudy last night, which was a bit of a relief since I got to catch up on my sleep.

Sunday night (two nights ago) it was very clear and dark, but bitter cold. I got the chance to observe for quite a while, but I got quite frustrated. First I looked at Machholz, then M1 again (which was visible, but only just.) Then I spent my remaining time looking for M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. I kept running up to my apartment to consult the detailed chart I had assembled from DSS pics. It showed an asterism I think of as the "open box" just north of 28 UMa, which in turn is just northeast of bright 23 UMa in the Bear's head. The open box was easy to find, and my chart showed a diagonal line through the middle of the box and out its bottom would point straight at M81 in about 3 box lengths. I scoured the area and compared it to my chart, but kept getting lost. Finally I looked on SkyMap and noticed that the pointer stars I had been using pointed nowhere; a much better pointer pair would be the two stars along the top of the box, which pointed to M81 in about 5 box-lengths. I realized what had happened: in the M81 galaxy group are a number of NGC objects, and I had lined up one (the one poined to by the diagonal) on one image with another one (the one right next to M81) on another. So my sky "photo" was completely misleading. I got a better one off of the DSS and ran downstairs to try and relocate the box asterism before clouds moved in. I got to the scope and found the box all right, but- arrgh!- it dimmed out behind clouds as I watched. They were thick clouds too, and no signs of breaks, so I wasn't going to be able to wait them out. I was frustrated, though... I hand't got the chance to look at anything rewardingly dazzling like Orion because I got so lost.

Fortunately the next nuight was clear, but I was absolutely dead tired when I got home... this was the first night of my 10-hour shift. Still, I got the scope outside to cool, checked my email, and in a half hour I was down in the parking lot.

I didn't want to be shut out again. On the long bus ride home I'd remembered there were some easy bags in Cassiopeia I'd never looked at. A quick check of SkyMap confirmed M103 to be only a little more than a degree above delta Cassiopeiae. Soon I was looking at the appropriate region, and there was a knot of stars centered around a flattened isosceles triangle in the middle of my view which I assumed was M103. Subsequent checks confirmed this. However, there was another knot, similar in appearance but smaller and dimmer, about a half a degree further away from delta. SkyMap plots nothing there; I'll have to look into it further and find out what it is. The whole area is very rich in stars; it'd be easy to start seeing clusters in any random clumps after a while.

Orion was so temptingly bright I had to look. Each time I look and compare it to photos i think I can see more detail.

Next I tried M67 in Cancer, which should be a fairly easy find straight down from Praesepe (M44), but I didn't memorize the exact starhop from alpha Cancri, and I was getting tired, so I moved on to the goal I was most excited about.

Okay, there's the Dipper. now, there's 23 UMa, the back of the Bear's ear. Left and down a little to the pair including 28 UMa, then a little left to the "open box". Follow the pointer stars about five box widths... few stars in this area, easy to get lost, might have to backtrack and find landmarks....

That won't be necessary. M81 is there in all its resplendent glory, easy now that i know where to look. M82 is a ghostly dash just to its upper right. Both fit easily into the field with my 20mm lens. Absolutely gorgeous, but I'm so sleep-deprived my vision is slarting to blur. Nevertheless I have to linger as long as i can. It's the same sensation after climbing, say, Mount Si: You know you have to come down, but you put so much effort into getting here, and it's just so gosh darn beautiful.

I'd like to hunt down the NGC's in the area, but I'd also like to just appreciate the view of M81 once more. Can't wait to see it again.

We are the champions: M103, M44, M81, M82
No time for losers: M67

Pushing the envelope

Tonight I tried a few newbies before going back to an old toughie. M74 and M77 are both galaxies within short starhops of bright stars; finding them should have been easy. The catch- and there's always a catch- is that they are both fairly dim. For comparison, M1, my big success story from last night, is magnitude 8.0, whereas M77 is mag 8.9 and M74 is mag 9.4.

First I went west to bag M38 in Cygnus before it set. It's an easy find, above Deneb and just below the blue pair of pi1 and pi2 Cygni. I think I'd seen it before, but I wanted to be sure for statistical purposes. It's a big broad cluster in a triangle shape. The six brightest stars were in two curving parallel lines in one corner; two other bright stars were the other corners, and a long thin diamond of four stars formed the side opposite the six brightest.

I tried M74 in Pisces next, as it was higher in the sky. Both alpha and beta Arietis, and alpha and gamma Pegasi (the bottom of the Great Square) point toward eta Piscium. It's nearly mag 4, but it's the only bright star in the area so it's relatively easy. I planned on slewing over to a blue star and then up; it should have been about halfway to an unequal pair of orange stars. I found all the guide stars easily enough, and I thought I saw a faint fuzzy near a dim tight pair, but I wasn't sure. I checked the DSS image; the galazy was much further to the left (east) than I had thought. Even after checking the DSS image for an exact location, I still couldn't find the dang galaxy.

Moving on, M77 in Cetus is right next to delta Ceti. I found the star easily; it's right below gamma, in the head of the Whale. The whole head asterism is bright enough that I'm surprised I wasn't already familiar with it. M77 is in a little trapezoid that includes 4th-mag delta and a 5th- and a 6th-mag star. I found it pretty much right away. No doubt this time; it moved when I moved the eyepiece and stayed still when i didn't. It was very dim, in the middle of a scalene triangle of 8th-mag-or-so stars. I wasn't sure but I thought I detected an elongation along the long axis of the triangle. Consulting the DSS image afterward confirmed all these observations. Ah, success! These observations put a limiting magnitude of sorts on my setup and the sky tonight. Apparently it lies somehere betwen M74 and M77, or mag 8.9 and 9.4.

I thought to try globular M79 in Lepus, but the Hare was still pretty low; still, alpha and beta Leporis point that way so I thought I'd try it. I found the 5th-mag star next to it, but I wasn't sure exactly where to look. Another time, perhaps.

I entertained myself with M42 and Machholz for a few before tackling my last target. I tried the 40mm Plössl for a wider field and really liked the view. In fact, Machholz looked best in my finderscope; a tail was visible pointing east to the Pleiades. I also hit up M31 with the Plössl and could see M32 in the field as well.

Finally I tried M81/M82. I consulted the map and ran back and forth several times, but I just keep getting lost in that area. I think it will be just a matter of getting extremely familiar with the area north of tau Ursae Majoris. I finally gave up; as much stumbling around as I did I'm surprised I didn't hit them accidentally; M81 is supposedly sixth magnitude.

Accentuate the positive: M38, M77, M31, M32
Eliminate the negative: M79, M81, M82

Gotcha!

I was tired as hell tonight from my two-hours-plus commute to the new job in Redmond. But the sky was perfectly clear, and I couldn't waste a night like this, so I put my scope out to cool when I at last got home. And boy was I glad I did. Even as I was setting up I noticed the lack of the usual urban skyglow. The cold clear air was crisp and crystalline. Comet Machholz, which I had been so happy to find telescopically just last night, was an easy naked-eye object. Not going to impress anyone, mind you, but still unmistakably there.

My first choice of targets was M42, the Great Nebula in Orion. I'd seen it before, of course, but until tonight I'd never really seen it. The heart of the nebula, around the bay and the Trapezium, glowed green, and tendrils curled out to the east and west. The east tendril was obviously much broader, but the west one I could follow out for half a degree, as it curved toward and passed just north of a distant outlying star. M43 was also obvious.

Since this area of the sky (Orion, Monoceros, and Canis Major) was well-placed for viewing and fairly uncharted territory for me, I'd thought to explore around here tonight. But since the seeing was so superb, I had to revisit my nemesis, M1. The nasty little Bull-crab was nearly at the zenith, which minimized the amount of atmosphere I had to look through, of course, but also made for very tough pointing. My first try, in fact, I aimed at beta Tauri by mistake, but I realized something was amiss right away and got myself over to zeta. The starhop through the triangle-arc-pointers is easy for me now, and when i got to the Crab Nebula's location, the same spot I was looking at last night, there it was. Plain as day. Well, maybe a dark, overcast day, but still unmistakably there. It's amazing how reduced skyglow helps.

I found M78 more or less right away, since it's an easy slew from Alnitak in Orion's belt, past a red 6th-mag star to another one, then up. It was quite dim; not worth another view in my size scope when the other Orion nebula is so nearby.

From Sirius it was an easy starhop down to a trio of stars in the middle of the dog, then right to M41, big, bright and sprawling. A bright, noticeably redder star marked its center. In the finder I could slew from Sirius over to alpha Monocerotis and then down, past (in the eyepiece now) a 5th-magnitude star to a wide pair, then right to another wide pair and then a red solo star. Just above and to the right was M47, filled with bright blue suns, while to the left was comparably sized but dimmer M46. The latter looked like a deuce of diamonds: a frame of six stars in a rectangle around two skewed rhombuses (one of which had another star in the middle). I tried to slew further northeast to zeta Monocerotis and M48, but I was looking too close to the horizon and a tree was in the way. I also tried to go left from theta Canis Majoris to a cross of blue-white stars and up to M50; I think i found it, but frankly the area was pretty dense with stars and I wasn't sure. It looked like a little Sickle of Leo with a cloud of stars for a mane, and a brighter 6th-magnitue pseudo-Denebola to the right.

I also tried a starhop to M81 and M82, since they were well-placed in a different part of the sky, but I kept getting lost; I need to find good guidepost stars in this area. I wound up the evening at M42 again. Took my breath away.

My neighbor Jeff took a look the first time I was on M42. Last night he looked at Moachholz, but this time I'd got the impression he was not just being polite but actually was impressed by what he saw. Thankfully he has no tolerance for the cold and let me get my scope back quickly.

In the bag: M1!, M41, M46, M47, M50(?), M78
Still hunting: M48, M82, M83

Good librations

I've had three days off for New Years' weekend, during which I've managed to throw my sleep schedule completely off. Just in time for the new job on Monday, too. On the plus side, at least I woke up last night at 4 a.m. to completely clear skies.

A few mornings ago I'd been awake at about the same time, and gone out to find partly clear skies. The area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was clear; this is the fabled "Realm of the Galaxies," home to many, many Messier objects. I looked at SkyMap and plotted my strategy. I could starhop from Vindemiatrix west to rho Virginis, but the hop from Denebola east to 6 Comae looked easier, and a quicker route to more guidepost stars, so I chose to try it first. It's a longer way from Denebola than it looks on the map, and the only marker on the way is a reddish 7th-magnitude flicker less than halfway. But 6 Comae itself is pretty easy to find, and there was another red star just ENE to confirm I was in the right place. I ran upstairs to get reoriented. The best choice seemed to be to use the T of stars starting with those two to find M98, M99, and M100. But when I got back downstairs the clouds had moved in, just covering the area.

Last night the cloud cover seemed to be breaking up, so when I awakened at 4 I went out to check and sure enough it had cleared up. Unfortunately, this time the area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was lit up by the last-quarter moon, about five degrees away. I tried to find my way around the area a little but it was hopeless. However, this month's Sky and Telescope mentioned that a favorable libration of the Moon would bring the coy Mare Orientale into view on January 1st. Sure enough, it was still plainly visible this morning. I could easily identify the Inner and Outer Rook Mountains, and the lava plain was also visible. There was also a nearer dark mare patch, shaped like two slightly skewed lines end-to-end, and a lava-flooded area still nearer. S&T identifies these as Lacus Veris and Lacus Autumni.

The good weather held until tonight, so I went out and tried to find Machholz again, It should have been easier tonight, as the Hyades point right at it (and lambda Tauri). Sure enough, it was easily visible in my finder, and showed a broad bright nucleus and diffuse coma in the 25mm eyepiece.

Since Taurus was rising once again, it was time to take another stab at M1. I've done my homework since last time. I started by getting detailed images of the area from the DSS. Zeta Tauri is at one vertex of a triangle I've mentioned before; this points to two other stars that can then be used as markers for the location of M1. I found the triangle, I found the marker stars, and I found the spot they point to, but there's nothing visible there. I tried averted vision, sweeping gently around the area, and just staring, but danged it I could see anything. I have absolutely no doubt I was in the right spot; I could identify a dozen or more stars from the DSS image (though, oddly, a rather bright spot I thought was a star was also not visible). I guess the light pollution of the city does limit me after all.

I spent the next few making myself feel better by starhopping back to my most recent successes, M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga. I finally saw the "pi" shape of M38 that the SEDS Messier database mentioned, although I still say an arrow is more appropriate. In the elongated loop of stars nearby is supposed to be another open cluster, NGC 1907, but all I saw in that spot was what appeared to be a faint double star. I noticed a trio of stars just above (I guess that's east) of M37 that. when I look in their direction, focus my averted-vision "sweet spot" on the cluster. I hadn't been sure where it was; and with a little practice, I could discern a fair amount of detail without looking directly at M37. I tried using this trick on M1, but still, nothing doing.

First-timers: Mare Orientale, Comet Machholz
Still to go: M98, M99, M100, M1