viewing alone (Bon Echo)

Everyone's gone home. I'm staying at Bon Echo another few days.

Instrument: naked eye and Bushnell 7x50 binoculars
Mount: hand-held
Method: star hopping

Bon Echo doesn't really have any good astronomy sites. The Joeperry boat launch has excellent west visibility but it's a 500m hike down the portage trail. There's the The Rock itself! Incredible site lines in essentially every direction. But how would you get to it after hours? Hmm, I wonder if the camp itself would be amenable...

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Getting itchy to do a Messier marathon. OK, maybe not the one-night thing. But I'm interested in starting to see all of the "classic" Messier objects. I've started making notes about where they are, by season and by month. I need a map though, something that shows where every one is...

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Having decided a couple of days ago to not bring my telescope down from the car, I'm limited to naked eye and binocular viewing. It's a beautiful sunset (despite some clouds) highlighting the conjunction.

Spotted the Moon at 8:25pm, 15° above the horizon. It is still a very thin crescent.

Spotted a planet 3° (south or left) from the Moon. It's Venus. Binoculars confirm it.

I found Jupiter at 8:50pm, 20° (south or left) from Venus.

Saw a Perseid meteor at approx. 10:50pm. It started in Draco and ended in Boötes.

Observed Messier 13 (M13)—the Great Hercules Cluster. It is very faint.



Not great seeing. I think there's a thin cloud layer.