STARLOG

CHILLY CLUSTERS

NOVEMBER 19, 2000

It's been almost two months since my last StarLog entry. Way too long for my tastes. Although viewing the Messiers in Aurigae before, I had done so before I started logging my Deep Sky Adventures, so wanted to return to them to make their catch "official". But between layers of clouds and bright moons, the opportunity just hadn't presented itself. Tonight, though clear, was pretty cold, hovering near freezing. The stiff north breeze didn't help matters much, either.

Normally, I have my portable observatory (a 2-man dome tent with the windows cut out for sticking my telescope through) set up by this time of year. This year, however, we have a crew trying to re-roof our house before winter sets in. Their scaffolding and shingles are strewn all over the lawn, and I'm afraid to set up the tent until they are finished.

I had occasion to be out tonight after dark, and I must say, I could see more stars than usual, even with all the streetlights and porch lights glaring at me from neighbors' yards. Despite the cold wind, the temptation was just too great. I ran inside and grabbed my observing gear. Hurray for small, portable telescopes!

I aligned my finder on Jupiter this evening. Even at 32x, this is an incredible sight, with the four Galilean moons dancing around the gas giant and its two largest bands easily visible.

I really wasn't wanting to do a detailed study of Jupiter this evening, but went ahead and popped in my 10mm Plossl eyepiece (70x) to fine tune my alignment. Jupiter's disc became much larger, and the two main bands were starting to show variations in their borders. After ogling the sight for a minute or so, I decided I had better move on.

I couldn't pass up Saturn after looking at Jupiter, so I left my 10mm Plossl in the telescope and swung the scope around until the red dot was squarely on Saturn. Looking through the eyepiece, there she was! Saturn was at the edge of the eyepiece, but with the wind pummeling my rickety little mount, I couldn't complain.

Saturn was in full glory tonight, with Titan being easily visible to the planet's East (not celestial East). The Cassini division wasn't really obvious, and I didn't want to waste time ferreting it out.

At 32x, this cluster appears as a fairly circular smudge of light. About a dozen stars could be resolved, with hints of nebulosity between.

At 70x, a lot of the nebulosity is resolved into fainter stars. There really isn't much of a discernable pattern to the stars. If anything, this open cluster reminds me of a loose globular, with its round shape and being denser toward the center.

M37 is much fainter than M37, and appears to be much more condensed. At 32x, it appears as a mottled gray circle, with just a few stars being resolved.

At 70x, the cluster becomes faint enough that it almost disappears. However, several individual stars can faintly be made out. These stars are obviously packed tightly together. This cluster comes even closer than M36 to being a globular. With a little more aperture to brighten the cluster, this would probably be fairly spectacular.

At this point, it was getting a little too cold for me and I was ready to call it a night. But Orion was above the housetops and was beckoning to me. Who could resist? I quickly pointed my telescope towards M42.

At 70x, the fan shape was obvious, with a dark band clearly separating M42 from M43. The wind was slightly rocking my telescope, but I was nevertheless able to make out three of the Trapezium stars, and the fourth one kept winking in and out of view. I'll give a better report on this one when it's a little higher in the sky, but its nice to see my old friend in the evening sky once again.

There were a lot more DSOs I wished to see tonight, but I didn't want to run the risk of catching cold (I have six singing engagements in December). Although my report is brief (for me, at least), I consider the 20 minutes under the stars to be well spent.