Astronomy

Observing Log for

Session Details


Aberdeen

57.1208, -2.09038

10m

Notes

First light with my new portable telescope - a Vixen ED80sf on a Portamount (alt-az). Weather was still mild with light high cloud gradually building from the west.

Observations

Moon

To align the finderscope and check out the optics I first pointed the scope at the waxing Moon, only 3 days from full. It was bright in the south-west and immediately focus showed a beautifully crisp image. The details was quite astonishing with ejecta trails clearly visible across the Maree and the craters at the terminator awesomely three-dimensional.

M45 - The Pleiades

With my Moonfish Ultrawide 30mm eyepiece in I wanted to check out some of the bigger targets. The obvious one was M45 sitting in the murk above the roofs. The cluster was easily found by slewing the telescope round and the view through the eyepiece was excellent. The cluster perfectly framed with the stars pinprick points of light right across the view. The background was pleasingly black despite the cloud and light pollution.

The Double Cluster

Again the field of view of my new set-up was used to check-out the Double Cluster. This was located almost directly overhead but unfortunately the cloud was starting the make its presence felt and the view was somewhat diminished by this. Definitely one to return to.

Images