Observation 14: Christmas skies

 1915

Temp: 45f and dropping

Skies: clear, unobstructed view. Beautiful night for viewing. 

Observations:

Saturn and Jupiter hang low in the Southeastern sky. The telescope is polar-oriented and swung to bear on Jupiter. This astronomer's beautiful wife provided him with a new set of lenses and filters in honor of the late Mr. Christ's birthday, and tonight's session focuses largely on orientation and efforts to learn these new pieces of equipment. 

There is one barred owl calling in the cold air tonight, a few low calls and then silence. The hunter is on the move.

The 25mm lens is used for spotting, and then swapped out for a new toy, the 2X Barlow. The Barlow is connected to a Nikon camera chassis through a T-piece. First efforts at astrophotography did not go particularly well - I believe the problem is probably mostly the Nikon, as it's an older chassis that has trouble focusing sometimes. This equipment is probably due for upgrade, but I don't want to sell a kidney right now for a new camera, so it'll have to wait a while. The Nikon seems to enjoy taking mostly blurry and overexposed photos: I haven't found the right combination of ISO and shutter speed yet, but practice makes perfect. We'll keep at it.

Switching from the Barlow, I tested my new Plössl lenses. The 20mm Plössl was applied to the scope with a skyglow filter, providing a more colorful and enhanced view of Jupiter and Saturn before they dip below the horizon. 

As the giants set, Mars rises overhead. The scope was pivoted to view Mars and the lens was swapped out for a new 12.5mm Plössl lens. Mars is quite bright tonight and the view is excellent - I feel like I can see a moon, but I am not 100% sure if I am seeing a moon or some other distant astronomical body. Much to learn!

As I observe Mars, the moon creeps closer. I switched the scope to the moon - what a sight! Crystal clear view of our satellite through the telescope tonight. I tried the Barlow again, but the Nikon refuses to bring the moon into focus. Not one to give up on such a tempting image, I switched to an iPhone adapter and snapped this shot of the moon:

 

Raw and unedited, but not terrible considering it was taken by clamping my phone to the lens. 

A startled bird flies overhead making distressing noises. Perhaps the hunter has taken a friend of his. Nature is amazing, but Nature is also bleak: one must die to feed another. The astronomer's cat dashes off, not wishing to reflect too much on this.

Moving along from the moon, I switched to the Pleiades. This star cluster is amazing to view any time, but when I swapped to my 6mm Plössl, I could see with some clarity. I spent a solid five minutes gazing at this cluster and flitting from star to star; every time I see the Pleiades, I feel like I see more and more stars. This cluster will be high on my list of celestial bodies to observe for the foreseeable future. 

My neighbor's rabbit, Oreo, is out and about tonight. A little escapist, he always manages to flee his cage, but he always comes back to them. I warn him to be extra cautious as I know that predators are around. Astronomy cat has no interest in Oreo (she is wary of him), but I bet the barred owls in the neighborhood do. 

My celestial map shows me that Castor and Pollux are visible, but to my dismay they are occulted by a humongous oak tree. I point my telescope instead at Rigel, viewing her blue beauty before panning across to see if I can spot any traces of the Orion nebula. No such luck tonight - perhaps I need to try a different filter. However, due to poor planning, I can't tell which light filter is which, and my red night-vision conserving flashlight makes them all look red. I will note the color on each filter tomorrow. 

A long session tonight, filled with fun observations and exciting new equipment. If the viewing holds up tomorrow, I plan to take another session.