Weather Conditions
Temperature -4C, Windchill -11C, Humidity 68%, Wind SW 24 kph, Sky was clear, seeing was less than average, transparency was less than average.
Objects Observed
Jupiter
Observing equipment: 8″ Dobsonian with 14mm Meade EP giving approximately 85x. Seeing was not good enough for higher magnifications.
In the early evening, through periods of intermittent reasonably good seeing, Jupiter was sharp and clear. From left to right alignment was Callisto, Io, Jupiter, Ganymede. Europa was eclipsed by Jupiter. Equatorial belt clearly visible and one bright band between two dark bands were visible in the south.
Perseus Double Cluster (NGC 884 and NGC 869)
Located just a few degrees off the pointy head of Perseus the double cluster is one of my favorite open clusters (or 2!). Together the clusters nicely fill the field of view in my 14mm eyepiece. The clusters are somewhat unique in that they are both close to us (NGC 869 is roughly 6700 light years distant and NGC 884 is about 7600 light years distant) and, at roughly 5.5 million years old for NGC 869 and 3.5 million years old for NGC 884, quite young as clusters go .
M36 and M38
Two open clusters with Messier designations in the constellation Auriga. I enjoy finding M38 because its near two of my favorite asterisms – the Leaping Minnow and the Cheshire Cat. Look northwest of Elnath to the asterism Leaping Minnow. The minnow is “leaping” toward the smiling face of the Cheshire Cat. M38 is located just where you might imagine a dimple on the cat’s face if cat’s had dimples! M38 reveals a definite pattern of stars that some say it looks like the math symbol pi. M36 was easily found by scanning toward the horizon from M38.
Filed under: Observing Logs
