An enthusiastic group of four – Geoff, Gary, Lydia and myself – converged on North Turramurra Golf Club on Wednesday evening for the first ‘weeknight’ observing session. We had three scopes – all dobsonian – of 10, 12 and 16 inch apertures.
As we were setting up, the sky looked quite good, with just a few patches of cloud. However, by the time it got dark the cloud cover had increased to about 80%.
Scopes ready for observing
While waiting for the clouds to clear, Geoff gave us some valuable tips and advice on collimating our scopes and other equipment related issues. We also sat around chatting about astronomical matters and trying to identify constellations in the clear patches of sky.
Throughout the evening the clouds remained troublesome, and we were only able to observe briefly through the gaps. It was also difficult to get our bearings in the sky with few constellations fully visible. Despite this, we were able to view several objects:
- Jupiter – Io was very close to the planet and was due to transit at about 9.30pm with its shadow transiting about an hour later. We missed the start of the transit due to cloud. Later when we glimpsed the planet again, the seeing was too poor to see Io’s shadow.
- M42 and M43 (The Orion Nebula) looked quite good in all three scopes as Orion was in the north – the darkest part of the sky.
- M78 (nebula in Orion). A very faint nebula with two magnitude 10 stars at its centre.
- M1 (Crab nebula).
- M45 (The Pleiades).
- 47 Tucanae (globular cluster).
Of these, M78 and M1 were objects I had never viewed before. I had tried to find M78 from Riverview, but failed. Geoff found it quickly with his 16 inch scope after I pointed it out on the chart.
Although the viewing was difficult, it was still an enjoyable evening, and we stayed until about 10.45pm. As we were locking the gate, we looked up and saw that the sky was finally becoming clear!
Peter Nosworthy
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