Location: home,
Equipment:
Except the light pollution (man-made and from near-full Moon) conditions were good this evening. Clear skies and crisp dry air. Seeing was better than average and as a result I got the best views of the season for Jupiter and Saturn.
19:15. Jupiter
Since AZMP has used Jupiter for alignment, I have started with Jupiter. I was able to push the power productively to 208x in 7” Mak/Delite 13mm and 143x in SV102/Delite 5mm. Two scopes have delivered monochromic but sharp views with similar level of details. South Equatorial Belt was resolved in two portions and South Temperate Belt was well defined.
19:45. Saturn
The best view of Saturn in 7” Mak was achieved again with Delite 13mm (208x). I was able to push SV102 to a bit higher power with Delite 3mm (238x). Both scopes provided similar level of details, but the view in SV102 appeared sharper. Cassini division was well defined. Shadows of the rings on the globe and the globe on the rings were dark and sharp. North Equatorial Belt and North North Temperate Belt were thin dark sharp lines across the globe and North Polar Region was evident as shaded area.
I really wanted to see Mars, but this season it rises behind a huge tree in my backyard. I need to look for another location to observe it. So, I went to the main course of the evening – splitting doubles. Nearly full Moon was climbing in the east. I looked for the unobstructed portion of the sky away from its glow. That happened to be Cassiopeia.
20:00. Cassiopeia Doubles.
WZ Cas – 7.4, 8.3, 9.6, 10.4, ab57.7”, ac155”, ad181.4” – real
STF 3053 – 6.0, 7.2, 11, ab15.3”, ac98.7” – another showcase system, richly golden A and bright blue B. I have logged this pair a few years ago, but came back to pick silvery spec of C. SV102 (39x), 7” Mak (84x).
HJ 1913 – 8.0, 10.7, 22.8” – dark silverly dot of secondary was immediately evident next to copper-colored main in 7” Mak at lowest power (TV Plossl 32mm, 84x), but not in SV102 at 39x. Nice contrast.
ARY 8 – 8.1, 8.6, 8.3, ab39.3”, 104.7” – neat narrow triangle of identical white stars, SV102 (39x).
STF 7 – 8.0, 8.5, 1.3”, uneven yellow pair, split with some space, 7” Mak (300x).
STT 1 – 7.5, 9.5, 1.6”, white, light blue, 7” Mak (300x, 386x).
STF 9 – 9.3, 9.3, 20.1”, white pair, SV102 (39x).
STF 10 – 8.0, 8.6, 11.1, ab17.5”, ac55.4”, AB – pair of white stars with fainter silvery C some distance away, SV102 (39x).
V377 Cas – 8.2, 9.4, 2.3”, yellow, blue, clean split with 7” Mak (245x).
HDS 44 – 8.9, 10.3, 12.3”, white, silver, 7” Mak (84x).
STT 7 – 9.2, 9.8, 8.6, 7.8, ab0.9”, ac48.5”, ad109.1”, all white. A, C and D - wide apart in 7” Mak (84x). AB – tight clean split 7” Mak (386x).
FOX 106 – 6.6, 10.9, 11.9, ab82.5”, bc9.9” – bright white main and a pair of faint grayish stars some distance away, 7” Mak (180x). This was my 2,000th double!
STF 30 – 7.0, 8.9, 11.7, ab12.8”, ad149.1”, white, bluish, silver, 7” Mak (84x).
BU 394 AB – 8.5, 8.8, 0.8”, white pair, snowman split, 7” Mak (300x).
HJ 1033 – 10, 10, 6.9”, white pair, 7” Mak (180x).
HU 511 – 9.0, 10.3, 4.5”, white, blue, 7” Mak (180x).
BU 108 – 7.8, 10.6, 12.1, ab4.5”, af35.9”, white, silver, gray, 7” Mak (180x).
By 23:00 I had my good share of doubles. Checked Mars again. Nope, still behind that tree. Next time I will bring out extra-light grab-and-go setup and look for location around the property to see it.