Orion Nebula Second Observation

Tonight was the first night out for awhile, it was very cold (-26c), but I had to get out, the sky was so crisp and clear i couldnt resist going outside and getting my first glimps of the sky in 2005. Tonight was so calm and clear, I was able to spot 4 of the Trapezium star's, before I was able to only see 3. However the 4th star would come in and out of view, depending on the stability of the sky.

The Nebula had a pear shaped figure, and I could really see the greenish tint. I find the best views are through my 32mm Eyepiece, which gives me 32x magnification. This allows me to get the whole view of the nebula in view.

Here is what I saw through my finder, in my drawing here you can see the 3 stars that make up Orion's belt fairly faintly, and the 3 stars that consist of his 'sword' are darker. Orions Nebula is the centre star.

Here I am showing what i was able to see this night while observing, This was also the first time I was able to spot the 4 new born stars in the centre.

Date: 27/1/05
Time: 9:00pm EST
Location: Front of 111 Reed
Seeing: Good
Site Conditions: Very cold, -26c
Eyepiece Used: 32mm
Instrument: NexStar 114GT

Andromeda Galaxy M31

For the first time in about 2 Months the sky cleared up last night and I got to go outside for the first time this year, the temperature was -26c out, but i had to take advantage of this because the sky was very stable and clear according to my Clear Sky Clock....

Anyways, after Months and Months of searching I finally have found the Andromeda Galaxy!!!! First few attempts it was too close to Zenith and my 114GT cant point straight up, and when it wasnt near Zenith, i just couldnt find it

I used the Star Hopping technique that i have learned from the pros here and from Turn Left at Orion. I started hopping from Mirach in Pegasus and started to sweep the sky with my 32x EP. And finally found a slightly glowing smudge! Is this Andromeda from a 4.5" scope perspective? I was so excited!, almost as excited as finding Orion Nebula!!! I tried magnification up to about 111x and the shape basically remain a glowing smudge.

The Andromeda Galaxy is the most Distant Object we are able to see with the naked eye! If you were in a dark enough location you would be able to see the slight smudge without a telescope or binoculars!!! The Galaxy is roughly 2.9 million light years away (thats pretty far away to be able to see it naked eye!) and contains twice as many Stars than our Milky Way Galaxy. Also the Galaxy is about 125,000 light years in diameter.

This was my first time able to use my new Baader Moon and Skyglow filter too, and boy I like this filter, it makes the sky very dark, but leaves the stars and objects just as bright for more contrast. This was also the first time I got to use my dew heaters, and Rigel Finder, this finder is amazing for hopping, which worked wonders once I aligned it, which by the way was very easy to do on the fly. My Green Laser Pointer with mount did not stand a chance in the cold, it froze up, and never got to use it. ( i am going to try lithium batteries next time)

I stayed out for just over an hour and when i came in, I had to wait 15min before turning off my Rigel, as the power knob froze in the 'on' position!!!! The Dew-not-Dew heater worked great, not one touch of frost on my EPs.

Here is what I saw through the finder, it also shows the Star "Mirach" in the constellation of Andromeda, also shown in the sky map above.

Here is the view that I saw through the Telescope, I tried to match the galaxy's smudge as best I could, it was very cold out, and afterall I am no artist.

Here is another view of the Andromeda Galaxy at 32x magnification that I saw that same night.

Date: 27/1/05
Time: 9:00pm EST
Location: Front of 111 Reed Drive
Seeing: Good
Site Conditions: Very cold. -26c without the wind!
Eyepiece Used: 32mm with Baader Moon and Skyglow Filter
Instrument: NexStar 114GT