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| Capella in Auriga |
So in my previous blog I said I was done for the year. And I really thought I was. The weather was unfavorable, my schedule just seemed too jammed up and basically nothing seemed to point to a good night out. Well I've been out twice since then and did come away with a few good captures.
The first night was 17 December. It was very nearly a new moon and the forecast was for serviceably clear skies most of the evening. I made the trek with all my gear and even arrived just before sunset. That's always nice to be able to setup before dark. Sighted my first star - Capella - just after 5pm.
Since I had almost 90 minutes before my Seestar plan was to launch, I decided to capture some shots of these stars appearing during the twilight. Saturn was easy to find but hard to get a crisp view of. Aldebaran in Taurus displayed some good color (as did Capella). Next I went after Algol, a variable star in Perseus. Algol is a bright star, but requires a commitment of numerous evenings to track it's changing magnitude.
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| Aldebaran, the red giant in Taurus |
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| Algol, the variable in Perseus |
I had a list of visual targets to view while the Seestar was running its plan. But we had over 5 inches of snow the previous weekend and while a lot of it had melted, there was enough to exacerbate the light pollution. Most of my targets were based in the southern part of the sky which is where things were obscured the worst. Dew was also forming on everything which turns the log page into a spongy mess. The only target I was able to log was Algol.
I had two items on my planner: a good shot of the Pleiades and the Horsehead Nebula. Things went well for M45 in the hour it ran. The plan then launched towards B33, but I got impatient and tried to connect a 2nd device to the Seestar. Unbeknownst to me, that interrupted the plan The Horsehead never made it out of the stable. But M45 came out well.
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| M45, Pleiades in Taurus. Nice capture of the nebulosity. |
So damp and cold and an aborted photo session made me figure "OK, now I'm really done". Wrong. My sky condition app forecast a decent evening on 23 December. I decided to take one more shot at B33 but just leave the rest of my gear at home.
The night was very clear and the seeing was good. The stars didn't twinkle like they did the previous session, a sign that visual astronomy would be favorable. Oh well, I stuck to my goal.
One item I have really wanted to update was M42, the Orion Nebula. I had pictured it before with the smartphone but hadn't done an advanced go of it. So I did a quick view of it in Stargazing mode and the result turned out really well!
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| Nice! |
Finally at 1930, the task was on for B33. It was a long 60 minutes since I didn't bring any other gear for observing. I tried to just take a catnap but I couldn't sleep - even listening to a dry podcast. Plus since the Seestar was platformed on my truck bed I couldn't jostle around. Finally the hour was up and I am happy with the results.
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| B33 and NGC 2024. |
I could say the Horsehead has been a goal of mine since I started this hobby and getting it is a great way to wind up the year. See you in '26!
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