Observers Log, 6 May 2023

Set up the telescope for the first time this year! Set up just inside the pasture fence on the north side of the driveway, and just west of where the old concrete culvert comes out from under the driveway. Set up during daylight for a change, which was a nice change. Ran power from the wood shop.

The Moon was effectively full (97.36%) and visible in the early evening daylight. After being sure the mount was level, I used the 25m eyepiece to look at the moon for a bit. I really need to get a good moon map and set up a regular observing program. Venus and Mars were already starting to go behind the trees on top of the hill behind us (west), so didn't even try or them. That hill blocks the west view up to about 45 Degrees.

Having read the NexStar Users Guide II, I decided to use two star alignment for the first time. I went back out after it was starting to get dark, about 21:30 MDT and chose Arcturus and Procyon for alignment targets. I initially tried to use the sky tour function just to see how well the alignment worked, but it kept choosing targets that were washed out by the Moon. Wanting a relatively bright object away from the moon, I chose M13, the Great Globular Cluster. The scope slewed to it and it was just a little off center in the 25mm eyepiece. Centered it best I could using the hand controller. in the 25mm eyepiece the general shape of the "gray fuzzy" was pretty well defined. Tried the 32mm eyepiece and it was still obviously visible, but the edges slightly less well defined than the 25mm. Went to the 13mm eyepiece and was starting to make out individual stars on the outer edges of the cluster. Tracking was very good. With the 25 and 35mm eyepieces there were two stars outside he cluster, at approximately 8:30 and 5:00 in them. They maintained position for the approximately 40 minutes I spent on this target. I then switched over to Castor, a double star, before it went behind the hill. The 32 mm eyepiece couldn't split them, but 25mm did .

Seeing tonight was so-so, with some waviness. Transparency was also so-so, with some very high thin clouds that almost weren't visible.

The hard copy log I am keeping has pages lined on the front, and blank on the back. This will allow me to use them for quick sketches while at the eyepiece. I did a very quick an rough sketch of M13.


 

 

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