It was really nice out there last night. Didn't even feel like any wind when we got there last night and it stayed that way. Less wind than the last few times we've been out. We got there about 7:00 and were driving off at 10:20. A little longer than I planned, but the weather was nice so stayed out there. Also, was waiting for Mars to clear the trees. 🙂
I wanted to get there early as I wanted to try and find Uranus. Uranus has been close to Venus. On the 9th, they were probably in the same eyepiece FOV, but not last night. They were already a little ways apart in only 3 days. I was able to find Uranus, nice little blue ball. It was a few degrees below and to the right of Venus. Venus was very bright. I was wondering if you could have even seen Uranus in the same FOV as Venus was so bright. 🙂
We took a look at Jupiter, too. It looks like one of the moons was heading behind it, at least one seemed to be disappearing.
Besides Uranus, I seemed to also just have to find the Eskimo Nebula for some reason. I was able to find it after a few fits and starts. Found a few other things while I figured it out. I just seem to have trouble figuring out which star is Wasat for some strange reason. ::) Also, the description I was using had the Eskimo by a triangle of stars. The triangle turned out to be bigger than I was looking for. 🙂 Nice cool little nebula. 😉
Also wanted to catch Mars and finally did in the end. Probably the biggest I've seen it. Should be nice watching it for the next few weeks as it gets nearer to earth. Should be the closest on March 5th I think.
Besides those, I was hitting some Messiers, mostly open clusters, half anyway. 11 open clusters, M35, M36, M37, M38, M41, M44, M45, M46, M47, M50, M93. 7 galaxies: M31, M32, M110, M33, M51, M81, M82. 3 nebulae: M42, M43, M78. And one globular cluster: M79
Also, since I was down around Canis Major, I found the Winter Albireo, Herschel 3945. Nice double star, very Albireo like.
A nice night, 22 Messiers, 4 planets, Eskimo Nebula, and Winter Albireo. I'm hoping for some more nice nights this next week and to head out again. I'll post if I do.
Jeff