Location: St. Croix Observatory (SCO)
Date: 2024-09-28/29
Time: 7:30 PM – 12:40 AM ADT
S&T Chart Reference: 66, 77
Equipment: 10" Meade SCT
Eyepieces: SvBony 10-30mm Zoom eyepiece (used 30mm)
Magnification: x83
Seeing: Excellent (1)
Transparency: Good (3)
|
Time |
SQM |
Temp |
|
9:47 PM |
21.07 |
9° C |
It was a great night at SCO. No wind was evidenced in the mirror-like water in the south and east and it was cloudless throughout the session. When we first arrived, an owl was hooting quite close by. FLIES! And we didn't bring repellent so it was an interesting evening to determine who won out - us or the flies. At 10:05 a flock of geese could be heard to the south but they didn't surprise us by landing in the southbound as they did on September 14th.
This was to be a Messier night but I had challenges with alignment go the scope and generally just finding these faint fuzzies.
Following failed attempts to find M110 near the Andromeda Galaxy and M9 near the star Sabik in Ophiuchus/Serpens Cauda, I found M30 and this was followed by finding a second Messier of the night - M72 north of ν Capricornus and not too far away from M73 (which I did not observe this evening).
M72 was faint and diffuse but I could make out 2 stars in the cluster. It was diffuse throughout the cluster with no apparent dense core.
 |
Constellation: Aquarius Type: Globular Cluster Magnitude: 9.3 Distance: 55.4 kly Size: 5.9' |