💾 Archived View for koyu.space › mrael2_obsv › sessions › 2015 › 2015-04-07.gmi captured on 2023-09-28 at 16:16:47. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-06-03)
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Date: 2015-04-07
Time: 8:45 - 9:00 PM MDT
Seeing: I
Transparency: 7
Telescope: 254 mm f/4.92 Newtonian
Objects: M81 and M82
Eyepiece: 30 mm (42x)
Both of these galaxies fit easily into the same field of view with the 30 mm eyepiece.
M81 exhibited a bright core with a dim, elliptical halo of stars surrounding the core.
M82 did not have a bright core but instead had uniform brightness along its entire cigar-shaped length. Yet M82 has a tortured appearance as if scars are on its surface.
M82 was best seen with averted vision. M81 was perhaps twice as large as M82.
A bright star appeared very close to M82's edge, and two other stars nearby formed nearly a straight line.
Exceptional skies in Ursa Major were covered by 9:10 PM by clouds. Tonight's window of good observing was short.
Temperature was above freezing, but I still used long johns and gloves with my hooded winter coat.