Managed to catch this lunar eclipse even though there was light cloud coverage, low fog and lightning in the horizon!! It was raining on and off all day and I didn't think I was going to be able to see the eclipse at all. However, somehow, It did clear enough and I managed to view the Total Lunar Eclipse. I also took some images which can be viewed Here.
May 03, 2003
Objects observed: A tour of the sky.
Telescope Used: 254mm Dobsonian Reflector.
Today I had a guest over and I decided to give a "tour of the sky". The first object of choice?? Jupiter! The bands were easily visible and two moon were off to the left of the planet, while the other two were to the right. One moon was bordering on the edge of the planet. The Great Red Spot was not transiting at the time of observation.
The next object was M44, the Beehive Cluster. A large open cluster that is very impressive in a scope of this aperature. The cluster is, in fact, so large that it takes up more than the whole field of view! Whats next to observe? How about some galaxies? And you Know what? Lets goto M81 and M82!
After a couple minutes of searching, I landed the scope on M81. The very bright core makes this galaxy obvious. A quick move up? M82. M82, is elongated and shaped like a cigar in the telescope. There is a fairly bright star to the bottom right of it that can make it easily to locate. But the galaxy is bright enough itself to be obviously visible.
Next we visited with M51 and NGC 5195. These galaxies are fainter than M81 and M82, but still fairly easily seen. Shaking the scope just a little helps you find galaxies when you cannot see them very well. Objects "pop out" at you when they are moving. I still feel that I am close to resolving the sprial structure. But not doing any serious studies tonight we move o to M65 and M66.
M65 and M66 are two easily located galaxies in Leo. They both also appear in the same field of view. They are not as far apart as M81 and M82, but not as close as M51 and NGC 5195. I decided to end the session on these two galaxies. A great night.
