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Other (Other, est. mag NA, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: 60 miles east of Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Sun Feb 22 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 944
B33 Horsehead NebulaWith my handy new HB atlas and an H-Beta filter, it took all of 5 seconds to nail it's exact position. IC434(the backlight) and its sharp boundary were clearly defined. The torso of the horse was fairly easy with direct vision, and with effort coupled with averted vision, I was able to trace the outline along the top of the horshead as it pointed downward. I was able to trace the contours along the top of the head down the lengh of the snoot, but wasn't able to do the same for the underside of the nose. As you can imagine, I spent a fair amount of time on this to see what detail could be coaxed. All in all, considering the conditions, you could say I was pretty thrilled with the results. For kicks, once I knew exactly where it was, I tried without the filter. I could still faintly make out IC434 and its sharp boundary, but making out the torso was very hard. With averted vision, the notch was barely glimpsed. Without the benefit just using the filter and knowing its exact size and position, it would have been a negative report. Transparencywas hit and miss on this night, so I was very happy with the results.
Other (Other)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: poor Seeing: poor
Time: Sat Nov 1 02:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 905
Tonight, I observed absolutely nothing except for some thick low hanging clouds:(
Satellite (Satellite)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Oct 13 02:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 893
The viewing conditions tonight were great. The skies were clear and steady. I spent a litte time on Mars and it still looks big and bright. The detail was great. I popped over to Uranus and was viewing at 310x and I happened accross a stationary satellite. Or rather, Uranus passed behind it. At first I just thought it was moving really slow as it moved through the high power FOV when I noticed that Uranus and the field was moving and the satellite was stationary. I'm no magnitude expert, but I would guess that it was roughly 12-13 magnitude and was blinking white light. I thought maybe scattered light was causing it, but after moving it around the field and changing eyepieces, it was definitely NOT scattered light. I jacked the magnification up to 500x, and it still looked the same. I even went inside the house and took a 5 minute break, and sure enough, the Dob still had it in the FOV when I went back outside. I was wondering what different types of satellites are stationary? I know it wasnt direct TV, since my dish was pointing elsewhere. I thought maybe a weather satellite? Do weather satellites blink white light? Anyway, it was a fun observation for me since I have never seen a stationary satellite before. Are there any satellite experts out there that can give me some insight?
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Oct 6 08:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 887
Mars, once again was looking great tonight. Shortly after dark, seeing conditions really started settling down nice. I was able to view mars at 260x with a nice crisp image. I also viewed at 310x and 405x, but the image softened up and I lost the surface detail. The polar ice cap while very tiny was easily seen as a little white spot and the borders were sharply defined. The Syrtus Major region was quickly rotating to the extreme left and was easily seen. The darkened Sinus regions were easily seen at the central meridian. There was a particularly bright area north and west of Syrtus Major, and at first because of its brightness, I thought a storm was brewing, but then I deduced that it was simply the Hellas region. It never looked so bright to me before. I experimented with various color filters, and I always seem to fall back on yellow or red going for the surface detail. I have tried greens and blues looking for frost or limb haze, but I guess I dont really know what I'm looking for. The blue filter wiped out a lot of surface detail, and I'm assuming that Mars had some clouds hanging around. All and all, a great observation.
Mars (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Aug 2 08:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 852
Seeing last night was unbelievable!! We were able to use 600x with good results on mars last night. Definitely my best view ever. I know nothing about mars, but the polar cap was sharply defined. There was an obvious dark formation visible that I could only best describe as looking like a pair of bikini bottoms as seen through my dob. The guys I was observing with got a good laugh at my description, but it was true. I guess that was what made it so funny. I couldnt think of a better description. What in the world formation looks like that?
M13 (Hercules Cluster) (Globular Cluster, in Hercules)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Mar 30 08:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 796
Last night was my first observation of M13 since last fall when it was lost to the sunset. It amazed me once again in its size and brightness. At 205x, the entire cluster was clearly resolved and bright with masses of stars forming shapes and knots sprawled throughout the cluster. Taking advantage of the great seeing, I went to 310x and almost fell off my stepstool. I was peering directly into the center of the core. At 310x, the outer portions of the Halo spilled outside the FOV. I then went to 410x and was able to look through the thousands of tightly packed the central core stars and out through to the space behind. My best view of M13 to date. One of these days, I'll have to get behind some really big glass to check this cluster out.
NGC3242 (Planetary Nebula, in Hydra)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Mar 11 03:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 782
What a great first object for the new 16"!! At 310x, it was fantastic! There was a large outer halo with a football shaped ring inside the halo. It was extending pretty much east west. Inside the bright football shaped ring was a darker central region. Inside the darker central region was the central star. What a great object!!
NGC2392 (Planetary Nebula, in Gemini)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Mar 11 02:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 783
This was truly my best view of the Eskimo Nebula. At 310x, it showed its trueform. What a beautiful aqua color!! Inside the outer halo was a brightring that was a pear shaped that was wide at the bottom and narrowed towards the top. Inside the bright oval ring was a darker area, but still brighter than the outer halo. Right in the center was the bright central star. There was some brighening in the lower portion of the inner ring that could have been construed as a smile. The central nose....oops star,looked like a big clown nose. With a little imagination, it looked like a clownface.
Jupiter (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Dec 15 05:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 733
Well, with a bright moon in the sky, Jupiter sounded like as good as any target. I was surprised to see a moon in transit accross the planet. I never noticed one before, so it was a pleasant surpise. Early in the evening while Jupiter was still low in the sky, I noticed 3 of the prominent moons just to the west of Jupiter. Later in the evening, one was missing. At 59x, it wasn't really detectable, but increasing magnification to 157x, the small black dot just north of the southern belt was clearly seen. From my perspective, as the evening wore on, it was transiting from right to left accross the planet as the evening wore on. Quite a fun find.......
NGC253 (Galaxy, in Sculptor)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: south of Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Nov 30 16:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 728
Beautiful almost edge on spiral galaxy that spans 25x7 arc minutes. It actuallyseemed bigger than its listed dimensions. It seemed to stretch more than 1/2accross the 1.1degree FOV at 59x. The Sculptor galaxy was standing on end and leaning slightly to the right. Some dust features were visible near the brighter central region. It was actually easily found by simply panning up fromthe 4.3mag alpha star in sculptor and working my way up to the Beta star inCetus. If you are tired of observing galaxies that only show the bright centralcore at the eyepiece........check out this one!!
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: poor
Time: Wed Nov 13 01:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 725
M81 was bright and obvious at 59x and was surrounded by a bright haze of its halo. No specific detail was noted in the spiral arms other than the presence of lumunosity. M82 was spectacular!! Wow....I think I even said that at the eyepiece. What a cool looking galaxy, and easily viewed from my lousy back yard. M82 had no bright central core, the whole galaxy was bright!! At 118x, the galaxy filled the entire field of view. The long edge on galaxy streaked through the entire FOV. I see where it gets its nickname "Cigar Galaxy".
NGC1491 (Bright Nebula, in Perseus)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: poor
Time: Wed Nov 13 01:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 718
Emission Nebula:A small irregular shaped faint glow with a star just bordering the eastern edgeof the glow. No detail noted other than the location of the nebula and the star on the eastern edge. Without the OIII, all that was noted was the star. Iwas happy to be able to simply make note of it with the moon in the sky.
NGC7662 (Planetary Nebula, in Andromeda)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: poor
Time: Wed Nov 13 01:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 717
Blue Snowball: Thanks to some advice I got in an email(thanks Fiske), I was able to locate theposition of the Snowball immediately in the binocs. I had trouble locating thisbefore because of its high position in the sky. At 59x, it clearly showed itselfas a small powdery blue disc without any detail. At 157x it appeared to have aslight darkening in the center. Maybe an illusion, I'm not sure. The darkeningin the center didnt hold. It came and went with averted vision. Maybe I was holding my breath....(a joke) I detected a slight brightening along the bottomsouth to south east border. I tried 314x, but the seeing was awful and I couldnot detect anything. The seeing is awful tonight. I'd like to check this oneout on a night of good seeing for sure. The moonshine was hitting inside my tube, which didnt help matters. I tried the OIII filter, but it didnt seem tomake a difference.
NGC7293 (Planetary Nebula, in Aquarius)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Nov 7 03:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 713
I decided to see if I could view the Helix Nebula from my light polluted back yard. I had to use binoculors to just get oriented since it is in Aquarius which is a fairly dim constellation. It lies within a pattern of 5 stars easy to see in binocs so it was pretty easy to find. I used an OIII filter to confirm its position. The dimensions are about 16x28 arc minutes so you cant miss it. I couldnt make out any real detail and it was fairly faint, but I was able to note the slightly darker center. When I removed the OIII filter it became completely invisible. My feet were getting cold so I decided to pack it in for the night without studying it to carefully.
M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Nov 6 01:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 714
I spent some time observing M27 with medium to high magnification tonight. I had no specific goals in mind, but never really tried high magnification on the Dumbell before long enough to make any observations of note. At 157x with the OIII filter I was noting detail in the neblosity when I noticed a star popped and out of view in the lower lobe with averted vision. With that, I removed the filter to see how many more I might pop into view. Of course, I lost detail and brightness in the neblosity but the central star popped into view as well as 1 star in the upper lobe. At 314x I was able to detect 4-5 stars in the lower lobe along with the central star and 1 star in the uppper lobe. All required averted vision.
M1 (Crab Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Taurus)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Oct 23 09:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 705
I went after the Crab Nebula with a bright moon in the sky using the OIII filter. I thought I would at least be able to confirm a visual, but was uncessful. Dark skies,Paul
M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Oct 23 01:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 704
With a bright moon in the sky, I felt like doing some comparisons with the OIII filter. The nebula was easily noted as faint grey spot showing no detail without the filter. With the filter the dumbell shape became obvoius, but the moonlight shining in the tube was awfully distracting, but a noticable improvement was noted. I can't wait till the November 4th new moon!!!!!!!!Paul
Saturn (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 6 09:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 701
Tonight was a great seeing night!!! I was able to get nice detail on Saturn using 314x. There were several dark belts and bright zones noted on the planet with the darker south pole standing out nicely. The rings were unbelievable!! The Cassini Division at moments of steady seeing had crisp well defined borders. I was able to observe the Encke Minimun as well. It appeared as a thin grey strip along the outer perimiter of the A Ring.
Neptune (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 6 05:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 703
Easy to find in Capricornus. I decided to take advantage of the great seeing and do some high power exploring of Neptune. Noticable bluer and smaller in size than Uranus. And made a positive id on Triton as a tiny point of light quite a bit further away from from the planet as compared to the moons of Uranus.Paul
Uranus (Planet)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 6 04:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 702
Well, I got the location off the sky chart on the sky & telescope website and figured I would check it out. It was actually easy to find in Capricornus. Seeing was excellent so I viewed Uranus 314x. The color was a beautiful aqua green. There were a couple faint stars in the FOV and I was trying to make out which might be moons. I didn't do my homework before hand or follow up with subsequent obversations, so I was unable to determine which (if any) of the moons were observed. Titania is about 13.7mag and Oberon is closer to 14mag. Paul
M33 (Pinwheel Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Triangulum)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Sep 29 02:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 711
I could not detect in my suburban backyard. It has been said that if you cant see this low surface brightness galaxy in binocs, you wont see it in any scope regardless of aperture. I'm not sure if this is totally true, but I'm sure it isnt too far off. It washes out easliy in light pollution. Save this observation for dark skies.
M71 (Globular Cluster, in Sagitta)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Sep 29 02:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 710
A very easy find in Sagitta. A nice globular at 130x, but cant hold a candle to M13.
NGC6826 (Planetary Nebula, in Cygnus)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Sep 29 02:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 709
This one took a couple minutes to find for the first time. The Blinking nebula is so small, you can pass it off as a star at low powers if you arent careful. The blue color stood out very well. I found it at 59x and then moved straight up to 157x. It appears as a blue disc with averted vision, but when looking straight at it, the disc fades and the brightness of the central star takes over with no filters. I tried the OIII filter and the nebula did not fade at direct vision and it seemed to conceal the central star. Nothing too exciting, but fun to observe for a few minutes.
M76 (Barbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Perseus)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Sep 29 02:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 708
The Little Dumbell was easily found in Perseus without any filters in my suburban backyard. All I could note was a small grey area roughly 3x2 archminutes in size standing on end. With the OIII filter, M76 stood out much more clearly. I was not able to observe the central star. I started at 59x and moved up to 118x with much improvement. M76 stood out well at 157x. I tried higher magnifications without much success tonight. I would have to say somewhere between 120x and 150x is ideal for this object on this night.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 12.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Sep 22 04:00:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 700
This was my very first observation with my new telescope!! Being I was in my light polluted back yard, I didn't know what to expect. Put it this way, I wasn't disappointed. Obviously, this object stands up to light pollution very well. At 59x, the ring was very sharp and the center was obvious. At 118x, M57 showed detail in the texture of the ring, and was my favoritemagnification. The central area was so well defined, I tried averted vision for about 20minutes hoping to see the central star.(no luck) I later learned that a much higher power is necessary to glimpse the allusive star along with much darker skies. Happy viewing!!Paul
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