Paul Cézanne's Astronomy Observing Reports

Now that my Binocular Messier list is almost complete I need to start another project. This will be the Herchel 400 which I’ll attempt with my 1963 vintage Edmund Scientific 6″ reflector. I’m very new to this scope so I expect that there will be some teething problems. So actually, I plan on trying to pick up some old favorites with it, the easier Messier objects first, as practice. Here are the transcribed field notes:

Eyepieces

• 9mm TMB/Burgess Planetary.
• 6mm TMB/Burgess Planetary II.
• 40mm Scopetronix Plossl
• 32mm Erfle

8:43pm – Just spotted Vega, I want to get the Telrad lined up.

8:57pm – A neighbor stopped by, so that was a bit of a delay, and I found that dew is going to be a real problem. But still, I got it centered in the Telrad and looked through the eyepiece and only had to move it around a smidge. So the initial alignment was good. Centered Vega, then centered it on the Telrad so things are looking good so far.

8:58pm – I found the double double almost by accident. Both are easily spilt with the 9mm Burgess. It is kind of fun having an undriven scope watching them slide around the viewfinder.

9:00pm – Saturn is just gorgeous!

9:29pm – With the 9mm it is amazing to see how fast Saturn scoots across the field of view. I’m constantly having to nudge it. I was also thinking about the 15km high wavelets that we read about on the net the other day and looking at the rings know that that is going on there right now. Of course I can’t see it, but still, it is interesting to think about it happening.

9:32pm – It is taking the 6mm TMB/Burgess really well but obviously scooting out of view very rapidly now. It is very very hard to focus because there is so much jiggle and the focuser is so sticky. It is absolutely clear at times. I can even see the gap where the ring moves around the back. It is just amazing that I can see that. They are so edge on. (Ed’s note: the rings were 3.5 degrees from edge on.) It really makes me wish I had more power available, I don’t. This is the shortest focal length eyepiece that I own. I do need to buy a 4mm and 5mm Burgess but they are not available at the sale price that I can see. (Ed note: the 9mm was giving 135x, the 6mm was 203x.) I have to look around though, clearly. (Ed note: I did look around, they are not available at the $40 sale price.)

9:34pm – The Burgess is sharp out to the edges, which is nice, but I have to take my glasses off to do that. If I look through the edge of my glasses they introduce significant distortions.

9:39pm – Certainly can see the North and South equatorial bands. The part of Saturn nearer the equator is brighter. I see one bright moon and on the other side I sometimes get a second moon. It comes and goes. And with averted vision the bright moon really looks like it has a companion so maybe there are two moons on that side.

9:42pm – With the 40mm Scopetronix plossl I cannot get enough infocus to observe without my glasses. With my glasses obviously Saturn is much much smaller. It is even hard to tell that it has rings. It is hard to get it crisp. There is some sort of bleed or something going on here. Probably my eyeglasses. The 32mm Erfle gives a certainly pleasing view. Saturn’s ring is quite easily seen and I can see it without my glasses which really helps. I think that this will be the “finder” eyepiece, not the 40mm. It looks bad when you get to the edge but who looks all that much at the edge anyhow?

9:45pm – It looks like the outer 25% is a bit smeary.

9:51pm – Well, I got M57 pretty easily with the Telrad. This is using the 32mm Erfle. I placed the Telrad approximately where I thought it should go. It is hard to tell with dew and those 2 stars at the bottom of Lyre are kinda dim. It makes me really wonder about using the Telrad. I may need to use a finderscope on this. But sure enough as I move the eyepiece around a little bit I see those two bright stars and it is a 1.73 degree field of view for the Erfle and it puts M57 at the edge of the eyepiece along with one of the stars, so…

9:53pm – Yeah, its confirmed. M57 at the edge, one of the bright stars at the edge. I think it is halfway between those two and I think that they are 4 degrees apart.

9:54pm – I locked down the axis and I caught the Telrad with the sleeve of my jacket so clearly the blue tape will have to go. I’ll have to screw it in but I’ll use existing holes.

9:56pm – I hear an owl in the neighborhood, hooting. That’s kinda cool. With the 9mm I can make out the dark center of it. It is quite fuzzy it seems but the stars are nice and sharp so I know I’m focused. Much, much larger than a star I guess.

10:00pm - Just went over to Virgo, starting over at the star that Ed Ting wants you to start at. Without a star chart I just pushed in to see if I could see galaxies and yeah, I can see galaxies. It is kinda cool. I don’t know what they are, but it is kinda cool.

10:06pm - Been looking for M3 now for a few minutes. I even have trouble find that with the binoculars for some reason. It is clear that just pointing the scope in the right direction and just moving it around randomly isn’t the wait to do it. I’m going to have to figure out how to do this.

10:08pm - I’m going to start a hop at Arcturus and when I went up there to th next bright star the scope kept moving. A little heaving on the counterweights so I had to rebalance it.

10:17pm – I’m star hopping, looking at Astromist trying to find a hop either from Coma Beranices or Arcturus. It is just driving me batty, they are so far apart. I’m not too sure how to find it so I kept on putting the Telrad back to where it shoud be and of course I eventually found it, but that’s hardly a good way to find the harder ones.

10:21pm – With the 9mm I still can’t resolve any stars. It certainly looks grainy but nothing really pops out. It very well could be a focus issue, it is so hard to focus on the dim stars nearby, I’ll keep on trying.

10:24pm – I undid the clutches and get it focused on a nearby star and then when I came back, sure enough, on the outliers you can certainly see stars, and if you are patient, I guess waiting for the sky to cooperate, you can see some stars in the middle. They seem to be sitting on top of all the fuzz.

10:26pm – So far I’ve just been randomly bopping around to things that I knew were fun. I guess now I should head into the books and see what’s in Star Watch. The page I was on did start at M3 so lets see what else is in that Sky Window.

10:34pm – Well M53 was certainly an easy grab. I left the 9mm in accidentally and I centered the star in the Telrad but of course I couldn’t find it. So I got the Erfle again. While focusing the Erfle I jostled the scope some and then of course I saw M53. I confirmed it was M53 by looking at a nearby double. I do see “R Asterisk” (Ed, what the hell is that????) then I follow down to the bright pointer star, I think tha thats alpha Coma.

10:36pm – Through the 9mm it is clearly much dimmer and smaller than M3 was. I don’t think I have a chance of resolving any stars. I’ll look some more but I really doubt it. The double that is nearby, the widely spaced, certainly, is kinda fun, it kinda adds to it.

10:38pm – No, there’s nothing, I’m not resolving anything at all, not even at the outer edges. Maybe the conditions… It is extremely humid today, everything is dewing up.

10:57pm – I think I really do need to get a finderscope on this, this is extremely frustrating. It is hard to even see the allegedy bright star. I’ll try on different targets.

10:58pm – Antares is still below the light pollution screen, the scope is so close to the ground. To me it loooks very high above the horizon but I guess not.

11:29pm – I just got in from a little break, it was getting kinda cold. Had some tea, looked up what I would be looking at next. In my Pocket Atlas I saw that NGC5053 is really close to M53. I figured that rather than give up I’d go back into there again but now that’s all down in the trees. I’ll have to go somewhere else.

12:02am – Finally after trying all sorts of star hopping I got to M5 but star hopping isn’t what I did. I tried coming in from various bright stars over in Serpens and following patterns like I do with binoculars and that’s just really impossible, loolking the eyepiece of the telescope just isn’t going to work it seems. A finderscope might be the better approach. We’ll see. But I got there, essentially by being patient using the Telrad and pointing it exactly where it was supposed to be in the sky and then adjusting that. This is pretty uncomfortable also, it is so low to the ground even though it is pointing high. It must have crossed the meridian, I’m not even sitting on the chair, I’m kneeling. The Erfle dewed up so I’ll be using the 40mm Plossl for awhile. But now the 9mm and lets see what happens.

12:04am – I just completely snagged the Telrad, stretching its tape so who knows if it is aligned.

12:07am – I was able to get it focused in th 9mm. The nearby bright star was far enough away that I had te declutch, move over, find the star and focus and then come back but that’s nice. Its uncomfortable down there on the ground, I’m not going to do much observing. Clearly not as bright as M3 and it appears to be somewhat brighter than M53. I didn’t even bother trying to see if I can resolve stars, hey, its on the ground.

12:09am – Its fascinating to see that the Telrad was not jostled. I’m going to try and do a meridian flip and see if I can see M5 a little more comfortably.

12:11am – This is far far more comfortable. I need to be careful about that to make sure I’m on the right side.

12:16am – Yeah, I’m not resolving anything at all with the 9mm and M5.

12:19am – So the next Sky Windows is Hercules. Its one that I can see when I find it but I have trouble finding it. So I gotta find Hercules and then I’ll find M13.

12:24am – M13 is a quiet easy grab, I’ve seen it before. I put the Telrad on it, the 40mm and then I had it.

12:27am – I had focused on a nearby star. When I declutched I jostled so I had to put the 40mm back in but I won’t focus, I just get it centered.

12:32am – M13 is very grainy, I’m not sure I can say I’m resolving stars but it doesn’t look like an amorphous blob. It has a texture to it.

12:41am – I can certainly now see individual stars in M13 on the outer edges and towards the middle. In one moment of clarity I was able to see individual stars covering the entire area. It has not come back, I’ll look some more.

12:44am – It did not come back. I’ll but the 40mm in and try and get over to M92.

12:47am – The Telrad is completely dewed up, it is way too close to zenith, it is very uncomfortable and frankly I’m tired so I’m going to call it a night, and a very good night also.

12:50am – I can see Jupiter now just peaking over the neighbor’s house. I can’t use the scope, it is way too low to the ground but it will be Jupiter time soon.

12:54am – The Milky Way has not descend yet, it is quite spectacular. It is the first Milky Way of the year. You can see the giant gap, or rift I guess going off into Ophicius and a nice dark spot in Cygnus also which is high in the sky. And of course I’ve stayed up late enough that of course all the remaining Messier objects that I need to complete the full set with the binoculars are up. I’m going to pass for now, I gotta get going to bed. And the hard over (Ed’s Note: M76), over in Casseopia, its not high enough yet. Its going to need to be a lot higher before I attempt it, so we’ll see that in another month or two.

12:59am – I couldn’t resist getting the binoculars and looking at Sagitarrius. I’m just really pleased to see that M7 is a naked eye object which makes sense since it Ptolmy’s Cluster. So then I went to M6 and up to I think it 8 and 20 in the same field of view which is stunningly gorgeous. There’s something to the lower left of the bottom one. And then up to M24, the Saggitarius Star Cloud, and it is just spectacular. Off to its right is something, I don’t remember. And then above that is another one.

1:01am – Then I went over to M4 and Antares. M80 I’m pretty sure I got but without a star chart it is hard to tell. I tried to get M5 with the binoculars but I didn’t get it. I’m tired, I’m going to bed.