Observing Report -- January 11, 2013

First observing run of 2013! It was absolutely, stunningly clear last night...but that was the RASC lecture (exoplanets w/the MOST telescope; interesting, but I already knew much of the talk). Tonight it was hazy in the north, and it slowly stretched to the south -- but that took a while, and I had a couple hours anyhow. Which was good, because ZOMG it was cold.

Started out with Jupiter, 'cos how can you avoid Jupiter when it's up there so big and bright? The GRS was obvious, which was nice -- I picked it out without knowing that it was going to be visible.

M35: noticed a ragged curve of maybe 14 stars (suns!) anchored by two bright stars at the end...kinda looks like a frown. Maybe able to see colours (left: blue; right: pale yellow). I thought I'd found NGC 2158, but after comparing it with some sketches I think I was wrong.

NGC 2392, the Clown Face Nebula/Eskimo Nebula. I cannot say that it was terribly impressive, even with an O3 filter. (Did I mention that I bought an O3 filter? 'Cos I did.)

M31: Only mentioned in the spirit of completeness.

M42 with the O3 filter is pretty impressive.

M47: I was unsure if I'd found this, so I made a quick sketch. When I got home, I was able to verify that I really had it. Good to find it, but man, not much to look at. Close to the horizon, and there may have been some haze in there too.

After that, I headed in; my feet were freezing. Thought about improvements for next time (don't use a metal clipboard, get a clip-on flashlight, buy a folding table) while packing up, and came home to wine, my wife and the fire. Nice.