Post by Dave Mitsky on Oct 3, 2012 16:28:50 GMT
There was a fine apparition of the Lunar X on Saturday evening, September 22. The Lunar X, which is also known as the Purbach or Werner Cross, is an X-shaped illumination effect involving various rims and ridges between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach. I used my wife's 6" f/8 Orion SkyQuest XT6 Dob and a Vixen 8-24mm zoom eyepiece to observe the phenomenon and took a few afocal photographs with my Canon PowerShot SD980 IS digital camera.
When I finally went out to put the scope away, I gave NGC 404, which has been the subject of a discussion on Cloudy Nights, a try. I observed Jupiter, some DSOs (M31, M32, M35-M38, M42, the Double Cluster, and Stock 2), and a few multiple stars with the zoom eyepiece and a 24mm Explore Scientific 68 degree eyepiece before moving on to Mirach. The sky was unusually transparent. However, I was unable to see Mirach's Ghost (or M110) through the 6" from my red-zone front yard.
Dave Mitsky
When I finally went out to put the scope away, I gave NGC 404, which has been the subject of a discussion on Cloudy Nights, a try. I observed Jupiter, some DSOs (M31, M32, M35-M38, M42, the Double Cluster, and Stock 2), and a few multiple stars with the zoom eyepiece and a 24mm Explore Scientific 68 degree eyepiece before moving on to Mirach. The sky was unusually transparent. However, I was unable to see Mirach's Ghost (or M110) through the 6" from my red-zone front yard.
Dave Mitsky