Telescope: Bresser 102 mm,
Mount: Bresser Alt/Az Manual
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
2022-01-18
21:10-21:50 CST (
The night was clear, warm, but starting to get windy. Since the next several days were forecast to be very cold, I thought I’d sneak out my telescope before bed.
I set my sights on the constellation Aries since it was perfectly situated and I haven’t paid it much attention in the past. I quickly found the yellow star Hamel. Then I hopped west to the blue-white star Sheratan. From there I found the double star Mesarthim. Even in my wide field Astro-Tech ED Paradigm 25 mm eyepiece I could see the double. The pair really stood out at 12 mm and were like a pair of eyes staining at me at 5 mm. Both stars appeared identical though at first glance the more northeastward star may have been slightly bluer. However, I’d look again and the other star appeared bluer. I soon realized that I was partially looking through the branches of my leafless Burr Oak tree and the swaying branches were playing a few tricks on me.
While I was in neighborhood I swung over to the Pleiades, M45. I put in my Stellarvue UBW 15 mm, 82 degree wide high piece and enjoy a tour around the Seven Sisters.
Before I called it quits I swung over to Perseus and to the bright star Algol. I went north from there to check out the Spiral Cluster, M34. It was quit beautiful but since the winds were getting high and 5:00 AM comes early I started to pack up for the night. Luckily, that only takes about 2 minutes.
Oh, but wait… The super bright Moon was rising over my roof so I had to take a look at it with my 12 mm and the 15 mm eyepieces before going in for the night. It was a good finish to a long work day.
