Very cold but clear last night.

  • 6" Newtonian - Viewed M27, M81 & M82, M101
  • Ring nebula took magnification very well
  • M81 elongated but slightly irregular.  M82 a hazy patch. I think I just saw the core. 
  • Tried in vain for M101, but I did follow the star trail to it: The triangle of 84, 86 and HD120915 just nicely filled the 34mm FOV. I verified them by the faint stars at the base. I then jumped to the 3 little stars west of 86, but M101 was not evident. There was a haze coming in from the west, so I blame the seeing. 

Electric focuser died, switched to DS102 refractor

  • Photographed Jupiter but they just came out blurry.
  • M31 visible, no sign of M33 in 6", DS102 or 50mm finder scope
  • Too cold, tidied up and put all away. 




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