Thursday, April 13, 2023~ 8 – 10:40 pm.
Location~ Moosehorn Creek, NB
Sky Conditions~ Clear with a few clouds mainly the southern and eastern horizons. Light wind.
Transparency~ Not as good as the April 10 session.
Temp~ 9° 43%H
Sunset~ 8:06 pm
Blue Hour~ 8:25 pm
Nautical Twilight~ 8:37 pm
Astronomical Twilight~ 9:15 pm
Night Time~ 9:55 pm
The Western Parade~
Began reviewing the parade of stars from the last session with 8 x 56 binos. Sirius was still putting on a show, but not as spectacular as on the 10th. Seeing and transparency had deteriorated slightly. At 9:05 Orion’s M42 looked really interesting, like some kind of greyish sketch upon the sky, not quite formed yet. Drifted along past the Hyades and was pleased Venus and the Pleiades were still within one FOV. Decided to see if could get them both in an eyepiece, moved the roof of the Ob back further, and popped in a 31 Nagler eyepiece. Beautiful, but to no avail, they were too far apart.
The Northern Sky~
Moved along to the Double Cluster, and then back to the Perseus Cluster, which was almost directly north over the peak of the roof. Wow! Good view, and was able it see it unaided a bit. The bright orange/pinkish dot of NGC 1275 really popped, a little to the right in the FOV. It really is a spectacular object in binoculars. Have to admit I got a little lost in it.
The Eastern Sky~
The eastern sky near the horizon continues to be plagued by transparency problems in the time frame available to me–thin cloud interference, moisture and the “Dome of Sussex” behind it made seeing close to the horizon almost impossible. So my plans of looking/reviewing what was rising went somewhat astray.
Like the eastern sky, the southern sky had transparency problems near the horizon. But I became intrigued by the little house or hut shaped constellation to the west of Spica that was dead ahead– Corvus. I decided that Corvus the Crow along with Crater, and Sextans with Hydra underneath might be my next targets, skies permitting.
Summary~
Sirius, Orion’s M42, Hyades at 8x magnification, 8×56 Binos
Venus and the Pleiades at 8x magnification, same FOV, 8×56 Binos
Venus and the Pleiades at 23 magnification
Double Cluster, Perseus Cluster and NGC 1275 at 8x magnification
Corvus, Crater, Sextans and Hydra at 8x magnification
Scope– ES Comet Hunter – 152mm f/4.8 731mm Maksutov-Newtonian
Mount– Celestron AVX
Eyepiece used– 31mm Nagler
Binoculars used~ Celestron 8×56
Music~
Arthur Rubinstein: Rubinstein Chopin Nocturnes. It had been many months since I listened to this. Went very well with the menu.
Sources~
The PhotoPills App~ Exact time and age of the Lunar Cycle, sunset, twilight phases, etc. Great app.
Stellarium~ Great night sky app. Free, works without internet connection.
