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Mars (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Mar 5 02:15:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1504
Tonight I caught Mars sneaking away like a thief. He was acting nonchalant and sauntering away up in the general neighborhood of Taurus and Pleiades. I thought it a little suspicious the way he was kind of trying to fade away into the crowd. I put the 70mm Observer on his case to check him out. Even during the Mars opposition this fall, it was tough to make out any surface detail. Tonight, he remained a mystery. With a 9mm Plossl and even a 5mm Plossl, I couldn't make out any surface detail. I could only tell that he was a planet and there was a little color. Soon, I was distracted by streetlights pressing in on my periphery. So, Mars got away tonight. But, I suspect that he'll be back another year. I'll be ready for him with a larger telescope when he shows up.For more information on observing Mars with small scopes (60-70mm refractors) and reflectors of up to about 114mm, please feel free to join us on the 60mm Astronomy Forum ( http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl ). We gave Mars our best shot a few months ago and even have some pictures.
Jupiter (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Mar 4 07:00:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1503
Tonight I observed Jupiter for the first time with my Observer 70 refractor. The planet was bright and unmistakable in the East South East. The air was crisp and clear. I'd estimate that the temperature was in the high 20s or low 30s.I started with a 25mm Explorer II Kellner and then switched to a 9mm Plossl, 8mm Plossl and finally 5mm Plossl. Under low magnification, I'm pretty sure that I saw 6 moons (5 close and 1 a little further away). One of the moons seemed to be right on the edge of the planet. As I pushed the magnification, I could also see two definite bands on the planet with a hint of orangish color.Previously, I had only seen it with a 60mm Jason Astronaut that was limited to 60x magnification. That scope had only yielded a white disk with hints of colorless banding. Tonight was a quantum leap for my personal space program. For more information on observing Jupiter with small scopes (60-70mm refractors) and reflectors of up to about 114mm, please feel free to join us on the 60mm Astronomy Forum ( http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl ). It's an active little board dedicated to wringing the most out of small, generally inexpensive, scopes.
Venus (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Oct 29 23:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1397
Crescent-shaped Venus looked great this evening. It was quite the cute little planet in the 8mm Plossl eyepiece. I popped outside before dinner for a very quick look. It looked like a little white half-moon. Although the planet is completely covered by clouds, I thought I saw a couple of little dimples in the cloud cover around the edge of the planet.
M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 08:00:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1384
As impressive as M42 is with binoculars, it was fun to get a closer view with my Orion Observer. The Trapezium (Theta 1) was easily resolved into 4 stars. With 25mm Explorer II, I could see there were 4 stars, the 10mm Explorer II made it more clear, and the 8mm Plossl provided a good view as well. The only downside that I saw was that the general impression of the gas cloud area was slightly diminished for me when looking through the scope.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 07:40:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1382
Mars was very high in the sky at this hour nearly at the zenith of my telescope. I did manage to view for a short time with my best results again with an 8mm Plossl and 10mm Explorer II Kellner. Due to the nice late night conditions, the planet seemed a little more crisp. However, surface details were still just out of reach. I could tell that there were different colors on the surface.
M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 07:15:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1383
I was glad to stay up late enough to greet Orion for the first time this fall. With an old pair of 10x50 wide angle binoculars, I could see M42 and get a general impression of the gas clouds around the region.
Saturn (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 07:00:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1381
Saturn sat low in the ENE. The planet appeared like a jewel amidst the blackness of space. The rings were impressive. In a 70mm scope with 10mm Explorer (70x) and 8mm Plossl (87x), the rings appeared as one solid ring, but there were tantalizing hints of the Cassini division. Similarly cloud bands were not clearly visible but merely hinted at in the eyepiece. I also believe that I saw a tiny moon near the planet.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.4-inch refractor Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Oct 23 02:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1377
Last night, I observed Mars through a 60mm Tasco with an inexpensive Huygens 10mm eyepiece. The telescope was mounted on a homemade table-top Dobsonian mount detailed at the 60mm astronomy forum ( http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl ).The planet was very bright in the Eastern sky, but again was tiny in the eyepiece. While the $3.75 eyepiece was of dubious quality, I was surprised that I could actually see some shading patterns on the planet surface. There appeared to be a large area of shading in the southern hemisphere and two small shaded areas in the Northern hemisphere.
Gamma And (Almach) (Multiple Star, in Andromeda)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch equatorial reflector Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good
Time: Tue Oct 18 02:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1369
The skies were clear and cloudless. I was observing with an Orion Observer 70 on an Alt-Az mount. I was able to find the double star Almach (Gamma Andromedae) by star hopping from Cygnus to Cassiopeia. The city lights make it difficult to see any but the brightest of stars and constellations. I was able to get the double star centered in my red-dot site and use the 10mm (70x) Explorer II to split it into two stars. One was clearly larger than the other. I thought the smaller one looked whitish-blue.
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