The clouds were solid as 1900 hours came and went, so I went back inside to watch some college basketball. I checked again about 2000 hours and the sky was now spitting very light snow at me, so back inside. I stepped out again about 2100 hours and I saw Jupiter briefly, but then it ducked back behind the clouds and no other heavenly treats were seen. At this point I re-stowed the gear that I had staged in the garage as it was looking like a no-go for this evening. Doing another check at 2300 hours I could see the sky was finally starting to clear out a little, with about half the sky opened up, but could tell seeing was compromised. It was close to 20° F (-7° C) and conditions were still questionable so I retreated back in to finish up a game I was watching.
It was now nearly 2330 hours and I stepped out on the porch again to find the sky mostly clear. Since it was late and I was tired, I decided not to try and deploy the scope. Rather I retrieved my Pentax 10x50 binoculars and got a chair from the garage and sat on the front porch to simply look around the sky to see what I could find. Again, seeing seemed below average but transparency was about average of what I experience here. So with the binoculars in hand, and some extra layers quickly put on, I sat outside for about 40 minutes and scanned around to see what I could pick up quickly while seated on the front porch. I was facing ESE so Orion was front and center, still on its side as it rose. This was a short and simple outing in the cold rural air with nothing more than my two 1x eyeballs and 10x50s. Here is how it went.
With Orion right in front of me, I could easily see the small and soft gentle glow of M42 in the belt of the Great Hunter. Putting the 10x50s on it, it was a large and beautiful delicate glow. Softly white-gray in coloration to the eye, its diffuse glow was very obvious to the eye. The central cluster, Trapezium, appeared as a tight pair of piercingly bright white stars embedded within the nebula. Even in the binoculars M42 was an inspiring sight as I sat on the front porch.
The very small diffuse glow of M43 was also picked up just NNE of M42. The pinprick sparkle of mag 6.9 Nu Orionis was engulfed in this glow. While it was not as prominent as it would be in my scope, it was nonetheless not difficult. While looking at Orion with the naked eye, I saw an approximately mag 0 meteor streak across the body of Orion toward the SSE.
Dropping down to the celestial hare, I framed mag 2.8 Beta Leporis (Nihal) and mag 4.7 HD 34968 nearly 2° to its WSW. Using this pair of stars I triangulated to a string of four brighter field stars (6th and 7th mag) about 3.5° to their south. Following this string of stars to the northeast I spotted this globular in the binoculars. It presented as a dim and very small rounded diffuse glow. When seeing steadied, it seemed to have a stellar center though no stars were truly resolved. I attribute this illusory sense of a stellar center to the brightness of the compact core of the cluster and how my mind’s eye interpreted the data it was receiving.
I now dipped farther south in an attempt to dig around in Columba trying to catch a glimpse of the beautiful globular cluster
The infamous Pleiades or Seven Sisters (from mythology) is one of the first
The famous Crab Nebula was my next attempt with the binoculars. Aiming my binoculars at mag 2.9 Zeta Tauri, I used the two very widely spaced 6th mag stars to its north as my pointers to this object. Being careful to keep the glare of Mars out of the field of view, I could discern the very small and diffuse glow of M1. It was vaguely oval in shape and evenly illuminated. Not a showpiece in the binoculars as I’ve seen it in my scopes from this location, but nice to pick up in the binoculars.
Melotte 31 (Auriga, open cluster, mag=3.3, size=2.7°, class=unk):
This large cluster contains the bright stars 14, 16, 17, 18 and 19 Aurigae, plus the bright variable IQ Aurigae. It was easily noticed with the naked eye about 5° NNW of Beta Tau. The main stars are also known as the
While observing Melotte 31 with the naked eye, I could just make out a very small diffuse glow just over 3to the northeast. Aiming the 10x50s at Mel 31 I could see M38 now as a bright and fairly large rounded diffuse glow of stellar light. While in the binoculars the cluster presented only a fuzzy glow of unresolved stars, it was quite obvious in the field northeast of Mel 31.
East of Mel 31, I could also see the small diffuse glow of this cluster with the naked eye. It was easier to pick up without optical aid than M38. In the binoculars it was a small rounded fuzzy glowing disk of stellar light. No resolution was achieved, but the combined light of the member stars was quite obvious within the field of view. I could easily frame it with both M38 and Mel 31.
With the naked eye this cluster was more obvious than the other two. About 7° east of Mel 31 it was an obvious condensation of light without the binoculars. Putting the 10x50s on the object it was a somewhat large rounded glow, with hints of very modest resolution of a few members. It was strongly apparent in the binoculars and had a ghostly visual appearance.
First picked up with the naked eye nearly 4° northwest of mag 2.9 Mu Geminorum, in the 10x50s it was a large and bright rounded glow. Its appearance was very diffuse with a precious few stars resolved; but mostly it was the melded light of its members. This has always been one of my favorite clusters and it always stands out beautifully within its surrounding field. This object was stunning as usual and is a delightful object at most any
This curious little cluster is always a nice treat when observing M35. Within the same field of view almost half a degree to its southwest. Through my 17.5 it is a very intriguing and rich little cluster. However, through the 10x50s it was a diminutive globe of diffuse starlight. It was obvious through the binoculars but unless one was looking for it, they might overlook its presence in the view, instead focusing attention on M35.
My final object of this short chilly outing was an attempt on this planetary with the binoculars. I easily aimed them at mag 3.5 Delta
With that final object I was done. I had been out about 40 minutes or so, and I wasn’t really dressed as I would have been had I taken the scope out for a few hours with temps approaching 20° F. So I bid the chilly night sky adieu and went indoors for the remainder of the night. Though it was not conducive for taking the big scope out, I still had a delightful time visiting old friends with the binoculars under a dark rural sky. Thanks for coming along with me, and I hope to see you back out there soon.
