It was a cold one early on Tuesday morning, but the plus side of this was that the sky was crystal clear. A white frost had settled on everything and there was not a cloud to be seen - fantastic observing weather. I haven’t done any work on my Messier list for around a week and I knew that there was little chance during this session. The moon was hanging high over the western horizon and it’s milky light was pervading nearly every part of the sky.
I had already decided before I started that I was going to spend nearly all of my time observing the moon, in particular the Mare Humorum ‘The Sea of Moisture’. Heading outside at around 00:54 UT, I set up the 25×100 binoculars on the tripod and turned them towards the glare of the lunar surface. I didn’t focus in the Mare Humorum just yet - I wanted to soak up the overall grandeur of the moon and take in some of the scenery.
My eyes immediately fell on the ray craters Kepler and Copernicus which looked spectacular as always. Plato, just north of the Mare Imbrium was clearly visible and I could easily see the small but brilliant ray craters Manilius and Menelaus in the south east over towards the Mare Vaporum and Mare Serenitatis. Moving north over the Mare Serenitatis I could make out the magnificent crater Posidonius sitting on the eastern coast of the ancient basin. Further south in the Mare Foecunditatis I could see the striking crater Langrenus lying almost on the eastern limb of the moon. From here I traveled down towards the southern lunar highlands and the outstanding ray crater Tycho where I could easily see the craters Scheiner and Blancanus lying just a little further south. Moving up from Scheiner and to the west of Tycho I landed on the odd and elongated crater of Schiller and finally the crater melange known as Hainzel. Heading northwards from here, the final stop was the Mare Humorum.
The most notable feature around the Mare Humorum aside from the Mare itself is the crater Gassendi lying on the northern shores of the impact basin. The original crater has all but been submerged with lava during the formation of the Mare meaning that the outer rim and the tips of the central peaks (which I could just see) are all that remain today. The smaller crater Gassendi A overlaps the northern rim of Gassendi while Gassendi B lies just to the north west beyond Gassendi A. The 25×100 binoculars readily made out the main crater Gassendi - Gassendi A was just visible while Gassendi B was just at the outer grasp of 25×100s and barely visible.
Heading southwards over the Mare I stopped to examine two smaller impact craters: Gassendi J and Gassendi O. Through the binoculars they really didn’t resemble craters at all but rather bright points of light but I was amazed that the 25×100s could pick them up.
Lying directly south of Gassendi lay three craters that were easily visible: the ancient Doppelmayer, the drowned crater Vitello M and the rugged Vitello. Doppelmayer at some point in the Moon’s past has been partially flooded with basaltic lava while little remains of the immersed Vitello M. My only set back here was my inability to observe crater Lee to the west of Vitello M and try as I might I just could not resolve it. Wandering from the southern shores of the Mare Humorum I let my eye’s drift east into the western fringes of the Mare Nubium and towards the prominent crater Bullialdus.
The crater itself looked extremely bright and I could just make out the faintest hints of the central peaks that rise up to a kilometer from the surface. West of Bullialdus lies the crater Agatharchides which on this occasion I failed to observe, however Agatharchides P and N were quite clear and well defined. Moving south from these small but pronounced lava flows I resolved Agatharchides A, a small satellite crater of the larger Agatharchides but unmistakable nontheless. To the south east of Agatharchides A I could readily see König, an isolated crater slightly larger than Agatharchides A and equally as bold. Ambling south beyond König I was also able to see Campanus and Mercator. Two reasonably defined craters located on the south western coast of the Mare Nubium. Both craters have at some period been flooded with basaltic lava sparing only the central peaks of Campanus and leaving Mercator completely featureless.
With most of my checklist fufilled I decided to call time on a very enjoyable lunar jaunt, but not before turning the 25×100s on Collinder 70 and Collinder 69 in Orion. Despite the glare from the Moon, both of these open clusters looked marvelous through the large binoculars and I spent the last ten minutes of my observation session gazing at these two fantastic objects. By now it was 02:00 UT and the freezing conditions really were setting in so I finally packed up the gear and headed indoors where I could happily thaw out.
Tags: Agatharchides, Agatharchides A, Agatharchides N, Agatharchides P, Blancanus, Bullialdus, Campanus, Collinder 69, Collinder 70, Copernicus, Doppelmayer, Gassendi, Gassendi A, Gassendi B, Gassendi J, Gassendi O, Hainzel, Kepler, König, Langrenus, Lee, Manillius, Mare Humorum, Mare Imbrium, Mare Nubium, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Vaporum, Menelaus, Mercator, Plato, Posidonius, Scheiner, Strathspey 25x100, Tycho, Vitello, Vitello M, Weather
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Tuesday morning’s off-track observing session left me a little disappointed but it hadn’t diminished my determination to nail down M44 and M67 in Cancer as well as M76 and NGC 1499 (The California Nebula) in Perseus. As Tuesday’s unsettled sky wavered in and out of clear spells and overcast gloom, I slowly felt any chance of another observing session slipping away; how wrong could I be?
Well, a lot as it so happens! As I glanced out of the window for the final time late on Tuesday night I saw that the clouds had all but drifted away and large patches of clear sky had managed to break through. Taking a chance, I waited till the constellation Cancer had cleared the roof tops and then headed out at 01:30 UT early on Wednesday morning.
Unlike my previous session I decided to use the 10×50 Bresser bins to find my quarry rather than the hefty Strathspey 25×100s. Moving out into the middle of the back yard I turned to the south east where I could see the mighty Leo rising into the sky. Moving slightly to the west of Leo I began scanning the sky for Cancer unaided. It was a little hard to make out against the orange haze being cast up by the local light pollution, but I eventually found Acubens and Al Tarf, the two stars that make up the lower portion of the constellation. Moving up from here I could just about see Asellus Borealis, and by using a little averted vision I then managed to make out Asellus Australis. This was the important part of my search as I knew finding these two stars would lead me to M44, The Beehive Cluster.
Reaching for my 10×50 bins I tracked back across my original path in the sky and star hopped my way to The Beehive. It really was a fantastic sight and well worth the effort. The cluster itself showed up as a myriad of glowing stars that traced out an almost spherical shape in the sky. A beautiful DSO and one that I’m sure I’ll get around to sketching very soon. Unfortunately a small blanket of cloud slowly drifted over Cancer forcing me to temporarily postpone my search for the smaller cluster M67.
Instead I turned my attention to Collinder 70, otherwise known as Orion’s Belt. Now, I didn’t have a clue that this was an open cluster of stars until I read one of The Rev Aaron’s posts over at Caffeinated Astronomy. This is a truly amazing Deep Sky Object on a par with the Pleiades and is really best viewed through binoculars so you can truly savor it’s delights. From here I moved up Orion to Collinder 69, the group of stars that form Orion’s head. This open cluster doesn’t offer the same WOW factor as Collinder 70, but it’s a beautiful little cluster all the same.
By this point the clouds over Cancer had been swept away eastwards and I could resume my search for the open cluster M67. Having found Acubens, the search for this Messier object was quite easy and in no time at all I was gazing upon this distant DSO. Now this open cluster was a lot smaller and a lot fainter, but was observable none the less.
By about 02:03 UT I decided to turn my attention to Perseus and that’s when something very bright exploded in the sky above me. This actually made me physically jump, but It lasted all of two to three seconds and was then gone. I never actually saw what is was, but I’m sure I heard a crackling or hissing sound that vanished with the light. My best guess is that it was a meteorite fireball, but I can’t be sure because I didn’t actually observe it (more’s the pity).
Feeling a little bewildered I returned to Perseus and began ambling over the constellation towards the location of NGC 1499. Gazing through the 10×50s just above Xi Persei I could make out a rich star field but unfortunately no nebulosity. To be honest I wasn’t expecting to see that much detail but it was still a worth while view.
M76 or The little Dumbbell Nebula as it is also affectionately known was the final stop on my short list and try as I might I couldn’t locate this DSO. It was only later on once I was back inside that I queried the exact location of M76 in Stellarium. I could have kicked myself, I was trying to find M76 around the locality of Tau Persei instead of Phi Persei!
Having no luck with M76 I ended my session by rambling over the north western sky. First up was the stunning Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884) which I have neglected over the last month or so. From here I worked my way down to the beautiful and often over looked open cluster M34. Finally I let the binoculars land on the small and elusive M33 or The Triangulum Galaxy as it is also known. I always find that this galaxy varies in brightness, something which I have put down to it’s position in my light polluted skies.
As I prepared to call time on my session I took in an unaided view of Saturn rising from the south east into the early morning sky. After spending a few moments taking in the distant but bright point of light of this planetary marvel I turned just in time to catch of small, faint meteorite pay me a ‘flying visit’ as it glanced the handle of Ursa Major and disappeared in to the east. Bidding farewell to my fleeting astral visitor I decided to wrap things up at around 02:30 UT and head indoors to warm up.
Tags: Acubens, Al Tarf, Asellus Australis, Asellus Borealis, Bresser 10x50, Cancer, Collinder 69, Collinder 70, Fireball, Galaxies, Leo, M33, M34, M44, M67, M76, Meteorite, NGC 1499, NGC 869, NGC 884, Orion, Perseus, Phi Persei, Saturn, Stellarium, Tau Persei, The Beehive Cluster, The California Nebula, The Little Dumbbell Nebula, The Triangulum Galaxy, Triangulum, Ursa Major, Xi Persei
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