Home › Forums › RAC Main Forum › General Discussion › Observing tonight? › Re: Observing tonight?
I got out myself last night. I got there about 10 and stayed till 12. The seeing was decent but not as good as Saturday. I looked at M103 and NGC 663 in Cassiopeia first. Then I started looking for M3. I just scanned from Arcturus to Cor Caroli in my binoculars(8×40), and sure enough it was obvious when I saw it (Thanks Scott!). I looked at it in my scope with more magnification, but couldn't resolve anything. Then I started on the Virgo Galactic Cluster. M58 was pretty easy to hop to, but not very bright. Then I found both M59 and M60. Those were brighter. Next M87 stuck out pretty well. Then I hopped over to M90 and M89. M90 was more prominent. Then I followed their line to an easy to spot almost-"V" shaped asterism, which guided me to M91. It took me a little bit to see that, and it was probably the toughest of the bunch I saw. Next was M88 which was easy compared to 91. Last I went over to M84/M86. I could only see M84. It seems that M86 is larger and has a lower surface brightness.
I also did see 1 meteor. From approximately Theta Persei to Chi Andromidae. I didn't check the time, but it was probably 11:15 or so. It was mag 1.5 to 2, I would estimate. There was also one Sheriff's Deputy that stopped by at about 10:30 or so. After seeing my telescope he was satisfied that I wasn't doing anything bad or illegal.
I heard coyotes, dogs, 1 or 2 owls, some other high-pitched bird, and a ground noise that scared me. It seemed large and close. I realized it was a horse a few second later, and that it was at the farm across the street. I could also hear the river flowing nearby. It didn't top Saturday, but it was a nice night for astronomy.