General Session - May 14/15, 2018

Venus
Time: 9:08 PM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars

Venus was very bright in the SW sky at about 25º to 30º above the horizon. It has changed position from the previous night's location. It has moved quite a bit from the Ain-Elnath line to being between ζ Tau and Elnath. Also tried using the Venus-Capella line to locate M37. Failed.

M37 / NGC 2099
Time: 9:37 PM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars
S&T Chart Reference: 12

Could make out all of Auriga's stars and I knew that M37 was west of the line formed by theta Aur and beta Aur. Could not see it visually.

Using binoculars, I put Venus at 7 o'clock in my FOV which put the top of the neighbour's clothesline at the top of the FOV. I went almost straight up from there but couldn't see the open cluster. Will try earlier in the evening next time when Auriga isn't setting and, when higher, will make star-hopping a lot easier - especially if observing conditions improve.

Jupiter
Time: 11:47 PM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars + Telescope

Libra was almost on her side in the southeast sky. Jupiter was located very close to the line between α and β Librae as compared to May 8/9, 2018. I used binoculars to see the moons - only saw 3 (Callisto, Europa and Ganymede). I guessed that Jupiter was bright enough to hide Io, the one closest. Then Jerry set up the telescope to look at Jupiter. This confirmed my binocular view but also provided a view of Io.

Ceres (Minor Planet)
Time: 11:12 PM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars
Tonight I was determined to find Ceres with binoculars - and was successful!

I used ε Leonis and μ Leonis to locate κ Leonis. Cancer took some staring for a few minutes so did find ι and Asellus Borealis. Using an imaginary line between ε Leonis and ι Cancer, I confirmed κ Leonis. Ceres, when centred in my FOV, was at 5 o'clock to κ Leonis but wasn't as bright. Averted vision was sometimes required to see Ceres. It had helped to study the star charts in advance of this search!

Scorpius
Time: 12:12 AM ADT
Equipment: Binoculars
S&T Chart Reference: 56, 58, J
Noticed Antares and some of the stars southeast of it. Because it was so low on the horizon, (~ 15º to 20º), the Halifax-Bedcford light pollution obliterated the lower stars that could have potentially been seem. 

On going through my scratch notes, I realized I had also seen ω¹ and ω² that were very bright adjacent to Graffias.

Coathanger / Collinder 399 / Brocchi's Cluster
Time: 12:26 AM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars
S&T Chart Reference: 65
Located Albireo a few minutes earlier so decided to find the Coathanger. Albireo was used to locate the asterism at about 4:30 o'clock from the star. It was upside-down  once more as compared to our recent experience in Chile, and was at a 45º angle. I decided to label all of the stars in Collinder 399.

Hercules & M13
Time: 12:33 AM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars
S&T Chart Reference: 71, 73
Saw the Keystone of Hercules adjacent to Vega very high in the E-NE sky, the stars barely visible. Took about 5 minutes to locate the star arms to Kornephoros and γ Hercules and to Sarin and Rasalgetti. Couldn't locate the stars in the other two arms.

I found M13 easily enough in the same FOV of my binoculars as eta Herculis. It was circular with no clearly defined or bright stars evident.

Ophiuchus
Time: 12:55 AM ADT
Equipment: Visual
S&T Chart Reference: 54, 56, 67
Having located Hercules, I noticed a bright star relatively close to Rasalghethi. Turns out it was Rasalhague (α Oph). Because it was relatively high in the sky, I was able to visually locate the main stars that outline the constellation. It took at least 5 minutes due to poor seeing and transparency at the time and he was lying on his side per se. I didn't look for Serpens Cauda nor Serpens Caput. Couldn't see θ Oph nor 45 Oph.

Cepheus
Time: 12:57 AM ADT + 4:30 AM ADT
Equipment: Visual + Binoculars
S&T Chart Reference: 71, 73
Had to wait for Cassiopeia and Cepheus to rise above the neighbour's house and trees and away from the street lamp.

12:57 AM:
δ Cepheus didn't appear as a double star in my binoculars, probably due to the poor sky conditions. However, I could locate all the major 8 stars of Cepheus visually then used my binoculars when δ Cepheus could be seen. There was a visual row of 3 stars in the binoculars that were later identified (refer to sketch).

4:30 AM:
Got up early to see off δ Cepheus was visible. Between the very hazy condition and the sun rising, I could only visually see Aldermin (α Cepheus). I tried using my binoculars to guesstimate its location but didn't succeed.