Home Forums RAC Main Forum General Discussion Observing tonight? Re: Observing tonight?

#12396
Luka B
Participant

    Having my scope in the car, I went to Keller Friday night. It was still icy, but better, and I brought my snow cleats. The sound of rubber and metal on ice is, on the one hand re-assuring, and on the other, unpleasant.  The cleats did their job perfectly, and I never slipped or even came close.  The weather was clear, dark and warm. I brought my 8" dob, and several binoculars. I forgot how big the orion nebula was from a dark location. Also how many stars, clusters and even areas of the milky way you can see with the naked eye. I found M1, but it took some star-hopping. I saw a couple Taurus open clusters that I had never really paid attention to before. I forgot my finderscope, and only had the Rigel quickfinder, which made this harder.  Same for m81 and M82. I did find another 15 or so messier objects, and gave some a quick peak, and lingered on others. I tried Mars but was very low in roiling atmosphere, and didn't see much.  I did see a couple small quandrantids.

    Another glorious night for astronomy.