I found M2!

This morning, I looked at the sky from a remote location.  Definitely less light pollution there.

Saw M2 tonight, which would be a personal first.  I have never before seen a globular cluster, so I was a bit unprepared for what I saw.  It was like a star that I couldn't bring into focus, even tho the other stars were all sharp.

Absolutely beautiful!

Since this location has a better vantage of the easter sky, I also took a look at Jupiter, just as it was a few degrees above the horizon.  I was able to discern Jupiter and 4 moons.  It appeared that one was just completing it's transit, because at first there were 3 moons, then the 4th looked like it popped out of the side of the planet.

What a stunning morning. 

Just a couple more moon pictures.

Here is a couple more pictures of the moon, taken with the iPhone.

These were taken with a 2x Barlow adapter and a 20mm eyepiece.

Moon 5/25/2011

Well, there wasn't much to look at tonight as it was quite humid and the light from the city was washing everything out so I decided to turn the telescope to Earth's closest celestial neighbor, the Moon.



Not a bad view.

So, what high tech camera did I attach to the telescope to take this picture?

Simple...



We are a sophisticated organization here at Big Bang, Bright Lights!

The hunt for M4

The last few nights have been very overcast and rainy, but this morning we got a break. The rain stopped and the clouds broke, so I went out and had a peek at the sky.

Saturn was quite visible around 2:30, and I got a nice look. There were still some wispy clouds moving through, but I'm almost sure that I saw Titan as well. It was just a flickering spec of light, but it was just where Titan should be. Since I was pointed that way, I took a peek at Arcturus as well.

The clouds in the west were starting to thicken again and I was unable to see much, so I  figured I'd try hunting for the globular cluster M4. It is in the southern sky which was relatively cloud free. I located Alniyat and Antares, as well as HR 6141 (22 Scorpii) and HR 6165 just to make sure I had my bearings, then started looking for M4.

I knew where it was supposed to be, but I couldn't see it at all. It may have been the humidity, it may have been the clouds, and it may have been the light pollution. Maybe my 100mm aperture isn't enough. It certainly didn't appear for me today, but I will continue my search.

Next up for the night is Jupiter. It should rise just before 5am, and I intend to take another peek at it this morning, hopefully I"ll get to see the 4 big moons this morning.  (Last week I only got to see 3 of them, as one was behind Jupiter.)

Anyway, the hunt for M4 will continue if the weather allows for it.

Bitten by the bug.

I have been bitten by the astronomy bug, so have created this blog to document the celestial objects that I see.

The equipment that I am currently using is:

Orion 100mm Newtonian reflector on a dobsonian mount
Orion 1.25" 10mm Plossl eyepiece
Orion 1.25" 20mm Plossl eyepiece
Orion 1.25" 2x Barlow 'shorty'
Orion 1.25" 13% moon filter

Hopefully I will be able to get equipment that will allow me to take pictures of the items that I see, so I can post them.  I'm the mean time, I will post as much information as I can have.