quick observing (Union)

• date Thu 27 Dec
• time 10:04 PM
• Union back deck
• 0.1°C
• 85% humidity

Wouldn't you know it. I popped outside to lock the garage and found a clear dark patch overhead... Last night, we had invited Al over for dinner and possible telescoping. Alas, it was overcast and foggy. We should have done it tonight.

But I had been watching the weather all day! It was not looking like it was going to clear. Now I felt lazy. And it would take a while to get Mom's telescope out...

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Well, I got the binos at least. My Bushnell 7x binoculars only. No tripod.


Eastern horizon is brightening. The Moon would rise soon. Mars was brilliant. Looked at Messier 42 (M42). Could see the luminosity and 2 stars. Tried looking left of the belt to see what I could see... Nothing caught my eye. Looked at Messier 45 (M45) briefly. Very nicely framed at 7x. Recognised Gemini.

Located Comet Holmes by scanning near Perseus. Confirmed it's position on a chart at Sky & Telescope. Reviewed the position, confirming it was outside the "Eiffel Tower" near Algol. Actually, it was closer to κ (kappa). Later I could see it naked eye.

Scanned for Comet Tuttle "below" Cassiopeia. I don't think I saw it... The S&T (online) charts didn't go beyond the 25th of Dec... There was a faint blob, smaller than Holmes, quite far away, only visible in the binos, almost in-line with M45...

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I put a sheet of dark red cel onto Mom's iMac computer. Perfect!

(sent via webmail while from Mom's iMac)