Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:34 AM
Subject: Impromptu Observing Session 3/19/07Last night 3/19/07 Leon Lewis, Brook Moyer, and Myself agreed upon meeting at lake Alvin for a short observing session. I had one target in mind, and that was the Horse Head Nebula. After initial alignment, I targeted M42 to verify that I had an exacting alignment. M42 appeared almost dead center in the 12.5 mm eyepiece (200 X). Knowing the telescope knew where it was, I entered B 33 as target. The telescope slewed to position. I then green lasered the position to visually compare to printed star charts. We then used a low power eyepiece to locate pointer stars and confirm proper telescope location. According to star charts and telescope readout we were located on the Horse Head Nebula. Now to find it. First attempt was with Leon’s 26mm Plossel 50 deg AFOV with 1.25″ H-Beta filter giving us a .5 deg TFOV at 100X. Slight nebulosity could be discerned crossing the eyepiece from an 11 o’clock to 4 o’clock region. Averted vision only hinted at a slight dark area. Three different observers could not confirm sighting.
Next I tried a 27 mm Panoptic 68 deg AFOV with a 2″ H- Beta filter giving us a .72 deg TFOV at 95 x. This helped a little with the nebulosity and contrast improving. Using averted vision I could just make out the outline of the Horse Head. Leon tried to confirm but was unsuccessful, as was Brook. Without others confirmation I must say that I imagined the Horse Head, as to really having observed it. However I now know the guide stars to location and the orientation of the object in the eyepiece and what eyepiece and filter combination to use.
Other interesting events were seeing the Orion Nebula through Leon‘s 80 mm ED Celestron refractor. I honestly did not expect much but I was astounded by the tack sharp Trapezium and the complete circle of nebulosity surrounding it. The view was most unexpected. Also a visit to Saturn with the 80 ED revealed a high contrast orb with a hint of the Cassini division. Also was a surprising wide field view of M81 / 82. M82 revealed the dark dust lane that crosses its edge on view. Most impressive for a 3″ telescope. Brook had an excellent view of the Bee hive cluster and also of Saturn at 500x. I was very impressed with the detail he was getting at the telescopes theoretical limit of magnification. Five moons could be discerned and I made an attachment as to what we saw.
The temperature had fallen very fast and we were not prepared for much more observing so we packed up at abut 10 pm and called it a night. All in all a good time.
JJ
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