23 Nov report

[MrShorty]

IN between storms, last night was looking pretty clear. NWS said humidity at high elevation was going to be lower, so I loaded up and climbed to the top of the Wasatch Plateau. The parking lot I usually observe from was covered in ~4 inches of snow and hadn't yet been plowed, so I set up in another parking closer to the highway but that was cleared of snow (only had three cars all night, so it wasn't too bad being closer to the highway).

After getting everything set up and all of my coats and scarves and hats and gloves on (~20 F/-5 C, but fortunately little to no breeze), I started with the great nebula in Orion for the first time this season. The trapezium was easily made out, along with lots of clouds and shadows. An impressive site. M43 was also plainly visible. A quick scoot over to the running man nebula showed faint hints of nebulosity. Drifted up the sword and to the belt. My star chart says that Alnitak was a close double star. I failed to resolve two stars there, so I guess it was just too close for last night. I could make out the two faint streaks of cloud from the Flame nebula (Stellarium also calls it Tank Tracks nebula, which was more what I saw).

From there, I climbed north to the 37 cluster. It's just such an odd thing to think that an open cluster would randomly take the obvious shape of the number 37. While looking at the area 37 cluster, I notice a faint cloud of light, that turned out to be Lower's nebula. It was faint enough that, if I had seen it on the star chart first, I would wonder if I had imagined it. Seeing the faint hint of cloudiness before knowing there was a nebula there was good confirmation that I had actually seen it and not imagined it (sometimes I have trouble telling the difference between averted vision and imagined vision).

Left Orion and went next door to Gemini to have a look at the M35 and then followed the string of open clusters M37, M36, and M38 up through Auriga. These are always fun open clusters. M35 is a good sized collection of stars, M37 is a little denser collection, M36 is small, and M38 is a good size. I still have not been able to see the starfish in M38. Drift a little off of M38, and I again notice a faint cloud of light. Check the star chart and discover the IC410 nebula.

From there, I pass by M1. The Crab nebula is a nice oval of light. I discern no internal structure.

From there, I decide to go after something different -- Uranus is fairly high in the sky, so I hop my over to Uranus. For some reason, color seems to be lacking, and it takes me a few looks to convince myself that I have actually found the inner ice giant. The usual blue-green that helps me know I've found Uranus seemed missing tonight -- mostly just a white, small disc. I spent a few minutes staring near the planet, and there were a couple of moments where I thought I could pick out the moon farthest from the planet, but it was so fleeting if it was even real to convince myself that I had actually seen it.

Uranus is near that side of Pisces, so it felt like a good night to pass over M74. M74 was its usual faint self, with an obvious core surrounded by faint cloudiness, but no real structure. The star chart shows NGC660 is nearby, so I move that direction, and find a small, faint smudge.

At this point, it is getting late, so I move over to M31, M32, M110, and M33 to finish the night. M33 was averted vision naked eye detectable, so I find it easily enough. I watch for several minutes to see if there is any structure to pick out. IN general M33 always seems like a structureless cloud. Occasionally I think I see fainter/brighter tendrils throughout the cloud, but never much more than that. M31 is direct vision naked eye visible, and its usual impressive self through the XT12. I slide from the center to one end and then from one end to the other of the visible cloud of light. One major dark lane is easily visible.with hints of other dark lanes. It is sometimes easy to forget just how large M31 is. M32 and M110 are readily visible.

Thanks for reading.

[notFritzArgelander]

Thanks for the report. Could you be so kind as to PM me the location you use? Do you feel safe from 2 and 4 legged critters there?

[MrShorty]

NFA: PM sent (at least, I think it sent it)

[notFritzArgelander]

NFA: PM sent (at least, I think it sent it)

And I received it! Thank you very much for the information!

[Bigzmey]

Nice session MrShorty! What scope did you use?

[MrShorty]

I hauled up the XT 12 for this session.

[John Baars]

Thanks for this nice report. Must be rather dark out there. ( and cold too...brrr)

[bladekeeper]

A good night out, MrShorty! And a very cold one!

Next time you are sitting on M33, have a go at NGC 604.

[Thefatkitty]

Sounds like a great night out with your 12", albeit a bit cold... Your weather sounds like mine...

Nice report and all the best,