For this adventure I went a bit more serious and lugged along my new Apertura 6”
The scope is mounted on an
This is the first time I have visited this time of year so some different constellations would be available to me. Some of the more southerly autumn constellations that are challenging from home will gain higher elevation, such as Grus, Sculptor, Microscopium, Phoenix, Fornax, etc. Others that are never seen at home will be possible, though only partially due to trees on the property, such as Telescopium, Indus, etc.
The biggest challenge here, as always, is fitting in observing time around my work schedule, which is always partially at night. This time around my observing will be confined to a two to three hour window before midnight. Plus, I also have to contend with the highly variable cloud situation that seems to be more the norm here. Not that clear skies can’t be had, but it seems that the majority of nights do have some level of cloudiness which one must work around. This first evening of observing here this trip was a prime example.
I set me gear up out in front of the office which is all too familiar to me from previous trips. I have to endure lots of perimeter security lighting which I can do nothing about. Plus the incessant glow from the nearby city that illuminates the undersides of any clouds that dare venture across my view. My dark adaptation is therefore limited in its depth, which can most definitely impact observations, particularly of diffuse, extended objects. Nonetheless, I do not let that keep me indoors when at least some clearing presents itself during my off-time.
Setting up the gear this first time I immediately noticed the slightly cooler temperatures and lower humidity than during the first half of the year when my previous trips occurred. This was a welcome change, and I noted that the gear acclimated much faster to the change from indoors to outdoors than in times past. I also was happily not assailed by clouds of killer mosquitoes as I had been previously. This all conspired to make being out under the night sky much more pleasant.
Unfortunately, though it was more pleasant to be outside at night than during previous trips here, I was greeted by my old nemesis, the cloud demons. They were fleeing quickly across the sky from south to north, creating holes and as quickly filling them. The sky would clear, then within minutes the next onslaught would commence. It was like a whole pack of shapeshifting lycanthropes were racing across the sky. Given that my time for fun and frolic is limited, and the moon would be entering the sky around 2300 hours, I persevered in hopes that a larger more lasting hole would reveal itself in time. Now that I’ve provided a quite verbose lead in to my first session for this trip, it is time to get to the meat of the matter. My short and to the point observing report, so let's turn to IDSA chart 89-left and begin.
When a larger hole in the clouds presented itself, I quickly aimed the scope at mag 1.7 Alpha Gruis (Alnair). I studied the field just southeast of this star at 42x and at times suspected I was seeing a very small and difficult dusting of diffuse homogenous light. Dropping in the 10mm (76x) I confirmed its presence, but it was at best difficult with the general sky glow, glaring from Alnair and variable transparency. I had hoped for a little bit more from this object, but didn’t get it.
Looking through the
While looking for the previous galaxy, I also kept my eye peeled for any signs of this one, about 24’ to its SSW. As with
Using the brighter triangle of three stars as a pointer I slid NNW almost 4° to a boomerang of three 6th magnitude field stars. Just southeast of the northernmost of this curl of stars I studied the field with 42x. Nothing was detected. Dropping in the 10mm, I thought I had a fleeting impression of a quite dim and small oval. Dropping in the 7mm (106x) I seemed to detect a subtle uptick in central brightness within the dim disk.
Nudging northwest from the three star boomerang, past mag 5.3 Xi Gruis, I entered southeastern Microscopium. West of Xi Gru I easily spotted Theta1 and Theta2 Microscopii (mag 4.8 and 5.8 respectively). Studying the field just north of Theta2 and just south of another three star curve (7th mag), I didn’t detect anything at 42x, though at 76x I again picked up a hint of a diffuse presence intermittently. Using 106x I confirmed the presence of a homogenous small oval of hazy light. As with the others it was challenging under the prevailing conditions.
My free time was at an end. All in all I spent almost two hours out. But, a fair amount of my time was spent sitting and waiting for clouds to open up in order to take a crack at one of the galaxies I did pull down. Some observations took a while as clouds would sweep through the field of view and I had to bide my time waiting for the next opening so I could continue with trying to detect the target. So patience is most definitely my watchword here.
It is of course always an adventure to observe below one’s normal southern horizon. New and different constellations and star patterns make such opportunities refreshingly new and exotic. So I thank you for coming along, and I hope to get back out there soon. I am also hopeful that at some point over the coming couple of months that I will get some steadily clear skies and better transparency. But, even if I have to slug it out with the clouds for the whole time, I will be out there every chance I get trying to tease a few photons out the southern sky. Until next time, keep looking up friends, I know I will!
