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
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
posted by Pete in Space at 9:17 AM
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