October 8 2023 Observation notes

Went out about 21:00 MDT and set up on the driveway, just far enough  past the west end of the wood shop to block the floodlights on the side of the truss companies new building. Successfully used Sky Align. Just a quick note about conditions. The temperature was down to about 50F when I started with relatively high humidity. It si getting cool enough at night that many people are lighting their wood stoves in the evening and early morning. In addition the county burn ban was lifted last week, so there have been a lot of people burning slash piles, and USFS controlled burns. This has resulted in a light layer of smoke over the entire valley.

My first target, mostly to check alignment and tracking was Saturn. Seeing was about 2 to 2.5/5 ( I am going to start using the scale from "The Backyard Astronomers Guide"). Had several moments of clear seeing, and otherwise minimal blurring with the edge of the planetary disc "dancing" a little. I started with the 25mm eyepiece, then added the 2x Barlow lens. Then went to the 17mm eyepiece with the Barlow. Using a little averted vision I could make out the Cassini Division. The band on the planet north of the equator was clear, and I could detect some shading in the north polar region. The goto function and tracking were very good.

Next was Jupiter. Same eyepiece combinations. The two main bands were easily seen. I could also just make out some shading and swirling in the regions above and below the bands. Unfortunately I didn't try to sketch it. This was the best nights viewing I have had so far with Saturn and Jupiter.

I next attempted the Helix Nebula, but wasn't able to see it, so moved over to the globular cluster M15. I started with the 32mm eyepiece to get it in the FOV (field of view), progressed to 25mm, then 17mm with the 2x Barlow. I observed M15 until the only small cloud in the sky obscured it. After the cloud obscured M15, I moved on to the Pleiades using the 32mm eyepiece.

The entire area wouldn't fit in the field of view. Scanning across, I found an area with an asterism consisting of five stars that lie in almost  a perfectly straight line. I noticed a slight haziness around some of the stars. I wasn't sure if this was the nebula or just from atmospheric conditions. However, it wasn't continuous across the FOV. I later verified in TLAO and online images that what I was seeing was very faint nebulosity.

 The southern sky has been opened up a lot, expanding my options for observing. We had the stand of cottonwood trees that was interfering with the view to the south taken down about a week before. Besides interfering with observing, the bigger ones had damage that made it unlikely for them to make it through the winter. Where they were located and leaning means they would have taken out the power lines.

Before

After

 

This will make setting up a lot easier. It also opens up the possible locations for an observatory quite a bit. That tan covered building across the fields is the truss company building with spotlights on the north and east sides, i.e., facing me.