💾 Archived View for koyu.space › mrael2_obsv › sessions › 2015 › 2015-08-04.gmi captured on 2023-11-04 at 12:16:08. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-06-03)
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Date: 2015-08-04
Time: 8:08 PM - 8:18 PM MDT
Object: Venus
Seeing: III
At 138x, Venus had a very slender sliver of a crescent, which I estimate to have been about 2%. It set at 8:18 PM, and I began observing at 8:08 PM, which was just shortly after the sun dipped below the horizon. The atmosphere was roiling on this warm evening near the western horizon, so the crescent shimmied throughout, but it was very enjoyable to see such a thin crescent as Venus gets close to inferior conjunction.
At 277x, the seeing went down o IV and became unpleasant with the view very dim, so I stayed mostly at 138x.
Venus set right amid the Mogote Peaks.
Research into the theoretical percentage of illumination tells me that this evening's value was 4.4% illumination.
Time: 9:30 PM MDT
Seeing: I
Transparency: 6
Object: M4
At 84x, this globular cluster has a hazy center that becomes brighter with averted vision. Yet stars are resolved from the center to the outer edges throughout the entire expanse of the cluster. It's as if the outer layer of this globe has fewer, more distinct stars while the center is dense and composed of innumerable, minute sand grains.
By 9:45 PM, skies were nicely dark for the best views at 84x.
Time: 9:50 PM
Object: NGC 6144
At 84x, this globular cluster was a dim patch of fuzz, small, and nearly triangular in shape. A brighter star appeared at one "apex" near the cluster's border while another star, just dimmer, lied at another "apex."
Time: 10:04 PM
Object: M80
At 84x, this globular cluster was small but bright and very spherical. No stars resolved, but the center was much brighter than the surrounding halo. Nicely symmetrical and quite pretty!
At 138x, it became much dimmer and unremarkable.
Time: 10:30 PM - 10:35 PM
Object: M32
This galaxy at 84x was small with a bright, star-like nucleus very close to the center of M31.
Object: M110
At 84x, nebulous throughout with no bright center. Consistent and uniform nebulosity from northeast to southwest. I may have the directions wrong, but the angle is like from Washington state to Florida.
Object: M31
Andromeda is big, bright in the center, and iconic! Dust lanes @ 84x!
Object: Sigma Scorpii
This double star had minimal separation between the two targets. The most interesting item was the surrounding bright nebula Sh2-9.
I realized later that I had a Moon filter on my 9 mm eyepiece, so that's why M80 was very dim. I will have to re-observe M80 at 138x.
The Moon rose at 11:15 PM, but seeing was bad, about IV or III at best on the eastern horizon.
This was a great night of observing!