Open: Sunday, 1 November 2015, 2136 MST Temperature: 57°F

Session: 874 Conditions: Clear

This night's session was planned to be short and just for observing. 2146 MST: first viewed the fine double star Albireo, 83X.

I then did a tour of some Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) in the constellation of Cassiopeia, as described in an article in the December issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, pages 50-52. Used the 2" 24mm UWA eyepiece (83X) on all the objects viewed.

First was the star Iota Cassiopeia. All three stars were visible.

Next were the open star clusters Stock 5 and Trumpler 3.

I then tried for the very faint Hartl-Dengel-Weinberger 2 planetary nebula. I could easily see the arc of stars shown in the article, but could not detect any nebulosity with my 8" LX200-ACF.

Last object in the tour was the star Psi Cas. The three components, A, C, and D, were all visible.

2225 MST: viewed M45 (Pleiades) and then M1 (Crab Nebula), 83X. That was followed by NGC7293 (Helix Nebula), 83X. The views of the Crab and Helix nebulae were good this night.

2237 MST: the eastern sky was beginning to brighten due to the rising waning gibbous Moon. As I had a long day of activities planned for the next day, I began closing up for the night.

Close: Sunday, 1 November 2015, 2250 MST Temperature: 55°F

Session Length: 1h 14m Conditions: Clear

---

My review of NightCap Pro has been updated for the iPhone 6s Plus. Also, I have posted my review of the Orion SteadyPix Universal Smartphone Telescope Photo Mount.

---

Comments are welcome using Email. If you are on Twitter you can use the button below to tweet this report to your followers. Thanks.

Tweet

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page