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Knew that I needed to start early, to avoid getting discouraged. More correctly, spread out the workload. So, around 3:30 PM, I set up the tripod and the mount. Close to the garage. Prepared the motor controller. Prepared the tripod light. I didn't want to load up the OTA immediately as the mount was in full sunlight. Still, the tube was in the garage, along with the eyepiece case, already at ambient temperature.
I hadn't seen it in a while but I located the CLA-power adapter (in the new "dew heating" aluminium case).
Later took the Oregon Scientific weather station outside so to acclimate. Me: back inside to warm up and wait for sun-down.
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Around 6:00 PM, I installed the Celestron 8" SCT atop the Super Polaris mount (I guess it is the SP-C8 now). Brought out the observing chair and TV table. Ready to go. Now to wait for dark skies. Filled the handwarmer with NIBO. Yeah! Well, until I ran out. Huh. Thought I had more. Did it leak? Evaporate? Anyways, let the fuelled handwarmer sit for a while. Then lit it, successfully, after the second try. Burn baby burn.
Added the orbital data for the 118P / Shoemaker-Levy 4 comet into Stellarium 0.10.2. It matched the location shown in Skyhound.
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Headed outside at 7:00 PM. Somewhat on impulse. I had been considering waiting until the housemate on the top floor shut off their stupid bedroom ceiling light. But then I thought: let's go now. See what you can see. Never know when they're going to wise up... Take a quick peek at Mars now. If the neighbour light is bad, I could come back in.
Outside, I realised, in fact, I wasn't ready to go. Yet. Not completely. No power was nearby; I dragged out the orange extension cord from the garage, stiff from the cold. Dug out the CLA-power adapter. No red LED. Hmm. Inspected the orange cord deep in the garage. Ah. Not plugged in. I dragged this end to the block heater cord and connected there. Red light! Plugged in the motor. I fired it up. Attached the dew heaters and powered them. Attached the visual back, mirror, and popped in the low power eyepiece. Now I was ready!
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8:00 PM, 53% humidity, -4.7°C. Using the Oregon's pale blue backlight. Seeing a low battery warning. Huh. These are relatively new batteries. Doesn't like the cold...
After star hopping, I viewed Mars at low power in the baader planetarium Hyperion-Aspherical 36mm 72° AFOV 2" eyepiece. The fourth planet, a mere 0.694 AU away, was a lovely pale orange. I could see some surface detail. Just a hint of the polar cap at 56x.
Bumped to 111x with the Meade orthoscopic 18mm 40° AFOV 1¼" EP. I noted a dark mottled region in the centre of the disc. Actually, it was a little west of the meridian. It seemed to be an upside-down T shape (I learned later, thanks to Sky and Telescope's Mars Profiler, this is Syrtis Major). The polar cap was very bright, almond-shaped on the limb. I did a very small sketch.
Returned to Meissa, atop constellation Orion, to see if anything looked out of place. Really didn't need to now. It was clear, in my mind. Still, it was nearby... Take a peek, shall we? Nothing unusual. I stared for a long time at the space between the A/B and D stars, to see if I could spot fainter stars. Nothing. Curiously, I thought I saw a low mag star below Meissa, averted. Same distance and orientation but the opposite direction as mag 10 star above the group of 3. I was surprised to see it. But the more I looked, the more it seemed to fade or disappear. I checked the planetarium programs. It is noted as mag 11.99 in TheSky6 and 12.30 in Stellarium. If Stellarium is correct, then this I believe is a new low mag limit for backyard observing for me!
8:45. Orion was clearing the roof. I wanted to revisit M42. It was lovely in the wide field. I slowly amp'ed up the power, ultimately to 222x with the Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x and the Meade 18mm. Pretty clear. Good seeing?! I usually am not satisfied with Barlow views.
Did a sketch of the visible stars. And stared for a time at the Trapezium stars, wondering where the E and F stars were. The 2 faint stars I saw to the north, I wondered if they were the other stars. But something didn't seem right about that...
I decided to keep the dew heater system on the lowest setting. The humidity was not high. Even the finder scope was working fine without any heat.
Took a break from the cold and searched for some clarification on the Trapezium stars. Found a helpful web page on Theta Orionis by astrophotographer Jerry Lodriguss (why is his name so familiar?).
[ed: Upon review, it is pretty clear I saw the E star. It is magnitude 10.3 and almost evenly placed between A and B, being slightly closer to A. But I do not know what is going on at the question mark! There doesn't seem to be a star there, according to Jerry. Is it possibly I was seeing the G star?! That's mag 14.5... How could I miss F at mag 10.2. Other than it being lost in the glare of C, at mag 5.1. To be continued!]
I believe it was around this time that I finally brought a flashlight outside along with the Pocket Sky Atlas.
Next target: a comet! Looked for 118P Shoemaker-Levy for a while. A bit of back and forth between the eyepiece and "the warm room." I star hopped to 134 Tauri and oriented myself with the triangular pattern of stars of 131, 135, 137, 133, etc. But I couldn't see anything in the finder scope or the baader. I gave up at 9:54.
Looked for M1, the Crab Nebula. No joy. But I wasn't entirely surprised. It seemed small to me in the C14 at the CAO! I knew it would be even smaller in my "little" 'scope. And fainter in the city, of course. I double-checked my star hop from ζ (zeta) Tauri. I gave up at 10:05.
Would filters help?
I returned to the Trapezium at 111x and looked very closely at the 4 main stars, A through D. At 10:20, I did a new, zoomed sketch. I definitely saw the E star between A and B, no problem, slightly outside the trapezoid shape of the 4 bright stars. I thought I saw something between C and D, in-line. Other times... I wasn't so sure. I guess I didn't have a bead on the F star.
Wanted to spot some more Messiers. So, without being able to see Sirius behind the neighbour's gabled roof, from the snout of the dog, I star hopped to M50. I found a loose, dispersed open cluster of fine pale bluish stars on a background of very faint fine stars. There seemed to be an overall triangular pattern to the main stars, nicely framed in the low power ocular. It was 10:33. The humidity was slowly rising, 58% now; the temp was slowly falling: -6.5°.
data: FujiFilm FinePix J20, 1.49 sec, f5.6, ISO-100
Around 10:50, tried photos of Mars with a special clamp (on loan from the RASC CAO) and the PNS camera at the eyepiece. Focus issues. I wasn't surprised. That said, Mars was much brighter now, near the meridian. And the contrast was worse. Harder to see detail. The Syrtis was gone, the red world turning.
I felt myself starting to wind down...
OK. Let's try a couple of doubles.
At 11:13, I found μ (mu) Canis Majoris, very near shimmering Sirius. Even at high power, it was a super tight double of two golden stars. Did a drift. Then I estimated the Position Angle to be approximately 310°. Haas says the separation was 3.2" in 2004. Seemed tighter to me. She reported the PA of 345. Wow. I was close, just eyeballing it. She described the main star as grapefruit-orange while the companion was "a shadow." What the hell does that mean? Webb said they are yellow and blue. I seem to agree with Hartung: "a beautiful orange pair."
Next up was φ (phi) 2 Cancri. Star hopped from Pollux, via faint stars φ and χ (chi) Geminorum and then ω (omega), ψ, and χ Cnc. Mildly challenging hop but worth it. At 11:23 I found, at low power, two equally bright stars, equal also in hue, both blue white. I estimated the PA at 225°. Haas said they were 5.2" apart in 2003 with a PA of 218! Smyth described them as "silvery white."
Conditions: 59%, -7.1°.
Nice way to wrap up the evening.
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One of the objectives this evening was to set the telescope up. Up. And not take it down. So to speed future observing. So I quickly stuffed the 'scope in the garage. Done.
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Light was still on in the upstairs bedroom... Stupid.
Consistently used the "laser goggles" going in and out. The deep red goggles definitely helped preserve my night vision. The school lights were diminished. The neighbours to the east had their stupid useless backyard light on constantly. I opened my (white) garage door as much as possible to reflect less light from the noisy upstairs neighbours. Huh. Another argument for a black car...
The whole evening I wondered if the SCT was off, misaligned, overdue. It got bounced around a fair bit in my back seat last summer (without the huge truck case for extra protection). I wondered if I should collimate again. Let's wait till it's a little warmer...?
The views were drifting all night. I'm not sure why. I thought I was polar aligned. Never did check the latitude. One of the clutches felt funny. Cold? Slipping? I dunno...
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