Telescope Reviews: Wonderful Frustratin' night!!!!

Last night was another one of the few starry nights we've had here in Central Oregon. I started observing just after sunset by aiming my little light bucket at Gamma Pegasus and searching for comet T7! Success!! It was a bright fuzzy ball in the star field and with averted vision I THINK I was seeing the tail. It was quite a thrill.

I left scope out while I went to eat dinner and wait for stars to move. When I went back out around 8 pm, the sky conditions deteriorated some but I aimed the scope at Orion and took in M42. Looked great with the 4 stars in the Trapezium easy and a fifth winking in and out. Moving a bit east I hunted for M41 with no success for some reason. I went to Cancer and found M44 where I saw many, many stars in the cluster. I tried for M37 but it was too close to zenith by this time and my dob wouldn't cooperate very well.

Around 10:00 pm the big dipper broke away from the trees and I started hunting all around it for faint fuzzies. I feasted upon M51 for quite some time and then gazed in awe at M81/82 as they were in a hole in the moisture or something. The seeing for them was the best of everything last night. After those two galaxies, and beginning to get cold I pointed the scope to the bowl of the dipper to try and find the Owl Nebula (M97). I looked and looked and looked getting frustrated. It should have been there but wasn't. I decided to pack it in. M108 was on the list too but it wasn't going to happen.

I wish for more nights like last night but a bit warmer (of course, tonight will be cloudy again sigh)

--------------------
LarryC
Volunteer
http://www.sunrivernaturecenter.org