Thanks!

terri

T

Terri

Terri

I set up around 8:30 PM EDT, when it was still light, and observed Jupiter and Venus while I waited for it to get dark. My telescope is a 75mm Unitron refractor (F/16). Seeing was moderate on the planets. On Jupiter, all four major moons were visible in a pleasing configuration. The north and south equatorial belts were obvious with hints of some structure in the NEB at higher magnification. I did not see the GRS, but I'm not sure if it was in view at the time. The gibbous phase of Venus was visible at higher magnification, but otherwise, I don't have much to report about Venus.

Other highlights:

1. Around 9:10 PM, the International Space Station passed overhead on a highly inclined orbit with a path from south to north. I identified it using the Stellarium app on my phone. It passed almost through the zenith, near the handle of the Big Dipper, and then descended toward the NNE in the vicinity of Vega. It was similar in brightness to Jupiter (a little brighter), but not as bright as Venus.

2. I tried some deep sky objects, starting with M95 and M96 in Leo. I have medium-to-high confidence that I saw M96, but I'm less sure about M95 (low confidence). For some reason, the sky background appeared mottled to me, which might reflect the sky conditions at the time, since it was not yet fully dark. It might also reflect changes in my vision over the 20+ years since I last did regular observations. In any case, the mottling effect made it harder to identify faint fuzzies with confidence.

3. I continued with deep sky objects, moving on to M65 and M66, also in Leo. They were "faint fuzzies" but easily seen with a satisfying view. Both galaxies fit comfortably in the same FOV at 48x. I did not attempt to see NGC 3628. I did not notice the "mottling" effect as much by this time. The sky was also darker.

4. M13 in Her was spectacular, as always. I recall, in the past, sometimes catching glimpses of granularity in M13 with averted vision under very dark skies. I did not see that effect last night.

5. The main event for the evening was an observation of the brightness of SW Vir. Using my SkyAtlas 2000 to star hop to the location was straightforward, as there are some distinctive finder stars for this variable. I then switched to an AAVSO chart for my magnitude estimate: 7.5. Afterward, I looked up recent observational data for this variable on the AAVSO website and found that my estimate is right in the middle of the pack for recent estimates. That was gratifying.

6. I checked out the multiple start Theta Vir (it was on the way to SW Vir). I didn't know the details for the star at the time, so it was, shall we say, "a shot in the dark." I did not notice any secondary. When I looked up the numbers for Theta Vir afterward, I discovered that the main star is a spectroscopic binary with magnitudes 4.49 and 6.83. It's no surprise I didn't see that! However, there is also another component with magnitude 9.4 at a 7" separation. While theoretically possible in my instrument, that would not be an easy target for me.

I noticed what seemed to me to be an excessive number of satellites. I suppose this is just a statement of how long it has been since I last did any serious observing. At one point, I saw four satellites all moving in the same visual FOV. While I was trying to observe M96, a satellite passed directly over the galaxy! It was crazy!

I packed up around 10:30 PM. The temperature at that time was 44F.

The attached image is of my telescope just before the start of my observing session last night.