Monday, May 2, 2022~ 9 – 10:10 pm.
Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
Sky Conditions: Clear with some clouds in the west
Temp: 7° with 56% humidity
Sunset: 8:31 pm
Total Darkness~ 10:32 pm
Moonrise~ 7:00 am
Moonset~ 10:42 am
Age of Moon: 2d 3h 32m
2 Day Moon and a return to the Observatory~
After various health and other assorted issues I returned to the Observatory after over a year. Spent an hour vacuuming up winter crud, etc. Had been out here a few times, grabbing stuff or showing people one thing or another, but this was the first time actually observing. Since sunset was at 8:30, can start doing alignment soon. Off with the roof!
I was greeted by a very spectacular 2 Day Moon low in the northwest which I glimpsed with 8×56 binos as the roof was blocking it for the scope. Note to self: view on the ground with the AR 102 next time.
To my amazement, the scope was still pretty much aligned. Also, the time and date were accurate, as the last time it was actually used it was on ADT.
Checked out Polaris (for accuracy), plus Vega, Arcturus and Spica. Batteries in the crosshair Orion 10mm eyepiece were shot. However, if I do an re-alignment it will be just to be picky. It probably wouldn’t hurt to do a rebalancing of the scope on the AVX mount.
Finished off with the Beehive Cluster M44, first with the 8×56 binos , then the 10mm Ethos and finally the 21mm Ethos. It was a big Wow! and not even totally dark yet at 10:05.
Summary~
Moon at 2d 3h 32m– 8×56 binos
Polaris– 10mm Orion crosshair eyepiece=73 magnification
Vega– 10mm Orion crosshair eyepiece=73 magnification
Arcturus– 10mm Orion crosshair eyepiece=73 magnification
Spica– 10mm Orion crosshair eyepiece=73 magnification
Beehive Cluster M44– 8×56 binos
also with 10mm=73 magnification & 21mm=35 magnification
Scope–ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount–Celestron AVX
Music~
Since I was trying to focus and didn’t want anything with vocals or lyrics, almost at random I picked Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition off my iPhone playlist. It was perfect. Thus began my journey into classical music as a companion to stargazing and observing.
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition by Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal & Charles Dutoit
Sources~
New Atlas of the Moon by Thierry Legault & Serge Brunier [2006]. Beautiful Firefly reference book with overlays, unfortunately out of print.
The PhotoPills App~ Exact time and age of the Lunar Cycle, sunset, twilight phase info for our gps location, etc. Great app.
