Paul Cézanne's Astronomy Observing Reports

Well, this is is. I have 4 Messier objects to go to complete the list with my Canon 15×50is binoculars. I’m going to make the attempt on 3 of them tonight. The 4th, M76, needs to wait until a bit later in the year. I set the alarm for 2:45AM.
Here are the field notes:
2:56am – [...]

I have very few Messier objects to complete and I’m getting excited about doing so. The clear sky clock looked good so I set the alarm, with red LED numerals of course, for for 3:15AM when the objects (M2, M5, M30, M72, M73) I cared about would be visible. Here’s the field notes:
3:19am – quarter [...]

Yes, I set the alarm for 3AM trying to complete all but one of my Messiers with the binoculars. It was nice stepping outside already completely dark adapted. Here are my notes from my brief session.

It has been rainy and cloudy here for probably the last three weeks, there has been no astronomy at all. Last night was the first good night in a long time and I went with 2 friends to Pilgrim Heights, my favorite nearby dark site, only to find that the winds were making it through [...]

I was quite worried about grabbing the dim galaxy M91 in my quest to see all 110 Messier objects with my Canon 15×50IS binoculars. And this was with good reason, you M91 had alreday eluded me a short while ago, twice actually but the second attempt was pretty short.
So you can imagine my surprise, when [...]

When my wife is away I often sleep poorly, I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t get back to sleep. One obvious advantage is that this can be some prime observing time! I knew this would happen so I planned out a few Messier object to grab and had my [...]

The Virgo Cluster is spoken with dread for those doing a Messier Marathon. It isn’t that people are afraid they won’t get the galaxies, for the most part, that’s easy they say. The problem you face is getting too many galaxies. You see, the Virgo Cluster contains between 1,300 and 2,000 galaxies. With our modest [...]

I’ve been an astronomer for something like 3 years now. I honestly can’t remember when I started, except that it was a February. Soon after I started the talk on my club’s email list (yes, I joined a club immediatly, you should too, really, you should.) was of something called a Messier Marathon. Now I [...]

Jeannette and I drove to Marconi Beach this evening to try and watch the space shuttle launch. It is amazing that it goes from Florida to off the Massachusetts coast in about 8 or 9 minutes. Intellectually I know it goes that fast but having just driven that distance spread out over three days, I’m [...]

In the previous posting in this blog, I recounted the tale of how I tried but failed to see the moon occult Epsilon Geminii. Basically, I failed to see it because the clouds moved in right around the time it was supposed to happen.
But how close was it?