- Condition: E6
- Location: Home, Spearfish: 44.49, -103.87
An early morning session! It's nice to be doing this at the beginning of the day when I feel the most refreshed. It was so cold this morning though, that I didn't stay out as long as I would have hoped.
- Target: α Geminorum
- Const: Gemini
- RaDec: 7h34m +31°53
- Type: Star (Double)
- Scope: ST80
- Setting: 150x, 1/2 stop-down
- Double: AB: 50°
../images/2022-11-4_AlphaGeminorum.jpg
Very beautiful split! Both appear white-yellow.
- Target: δ Geminorum
- Const: Gemini
- RaDec: 7h20m +21°59
- Type: Star (Double)
- Scope: ST80
- Setting: 150x
- Double: AB: 250°
../images/2022-11-4_DeltaGeminorum.jpg
This one is hard. I can only momentarily detect the sibling. It seems to pop in to view for a split second, then I can't see it for a while. No amount of micro-focusing seems to help, it's just so faint that it's hard to see.
- Target: ι Cancri
- Const: Cancer
- RaDec: 8h46m +28°46
- Type: Star (Double)
- Scope: ST80
- Setting: 60x
- Double: AB: 320°
../images/2022-11-4_IotaCancri.jpg
Beautiful and easy. Primary is orange and secondary is a yellow-white.
- Target: ζ Cancri
- Const: Cancer
- RaDec: 8h12m +17°39
- Type: Star (Double)
- Scope: ST80
- Setting: 150x
- Double: AB: 70°
../images/2022-11-4_ZetaCancri.jpg
Fairly easy split, both look a ghostly-white.
- Target: M 48
- Const: Hydra
- RaDec: 8h13m -5°48
- Type: Open Cluster
- Scope: ST80
- Setting: 60x
When I found M48 in my finder-scope and looked through my lens, the lens was de-focused to the point where there were circular corona's of light. The shape of the 'light circles' from the stars in and around M48 produced a distinct heart-shape in my lens. As I focused, I continued to see the heart shape in the cluster; though I'm not sure if it was a trick of my mind at that point. Very neat little cluster.
