Observing report -- August 31, 2013

So I didn't mention it, but a couple of weeks ago I bought a used Meade LX10 off Craigslist. It came with the Magellan I, a digital setting circles + computer that does push-to. Also came with a solar filter, a nice set of eyepieces, and two count'em TWO diagonals. This thing is beautiful. I've always had a soft spot for Celestron, for no particular reason, but man, this deep blue is really, really amazing. I've been playing with it at home, but this was the first time I've had to go out with it. Needless to say, I've been itching to go.

I went out to Boundary Bay; after a short detour along NorDel Way (motto: "Hey, at least it's not Whalley") I arrived and found another guy there with an 11" Celestron. "Is that a CPC?" I asked. "Naw, the CPC's a forkmount, not a GEM like this." "Oh yeah, right..." and pretty soon we were chatting away. His name was Doug, and he was extremely friendly. I asked if he minded company for the night; "Hell no, bring 'er up!"

Took a quick look at Venus and Saturn while waiting for Polaris to come out; showed it to a couple folks out for a walk, who were pretty tickled by it all. By then it ws darker, and I was able to do a polar alignment. First two-star alignment (Arcturus and Vega) gave "ALIGNMENT ERROR -- CHECK STARS", which always makes me think of Lovecraft and Stross. A second try with Vega and Albireo did much better, and when I asked it to show me M57 it was right there. And not only M57 but M13, M18, M20, M10 and M56. I had been really anxious to have the Magellan work...it was a big reason for picking up the scope in the first place. Just tired of hunting all the time, you know? But everything went about as smooth as could be.

I switched back to M8 to do a quick sketch, and see how it looked with the O3 filter; it brought out a lot of nebulosity I hadn't noticed before. M20, the Rosette Nebula, showed a hint of nebulosity around the double star, and maybe, MAYBE something like the dark lanes. But it was pretty faint, and I certainly wouldn't swear to it.

Doug showed me M57 through the C11, and wow -- bright and colourful, which was a first for me; the colour was faint but it was there. Maybe a hint of the central star with AV.

Just as I was looking for the star, Doug tapped me on the shoulder and said, "What the hell are THOSE?" He pointed at two orange lights gliding silently through the sky, maybe 10 degrees apart. I grabbed my binoculars quickly and looked. "Balloons -- balloons with candles in 'em," I said. He had a look and agreed. We'd heard party noises from the nearby golf course before, so we guessed they were having some fun. Those suckers were moving fast, too...some really strong wind there.

Over to M11, which is always pretty, then M16 and M17, which I found in binos and then directed the scope to...because the 9V battery in the Magellan handset had died! I hadn't replaced it since buying the scope, so I'm hoping it doesn't go through batteries quite that quickly. Found M22 and M25 in the neoughbourhood too, and then saw a spectacular fireball that left a glowing trail across the southern horizon. Doug showed me Neptune, which was nice to see.

About 11:30 we noticed we were getting dew on our corrector plates; we struggled gamely for a while while I looked up M15 and M31 (M32 visible, but no sign of M110 tonight), then decided to pack up. The Pleides were rising as we shook hands and said goodnight.

Post-mortem:

• Oh, I love having a southern horizon.
• Doug likes the Husky box a lot, recommends it, and says not to worry about collimation, etc.
• Dew -- I guess I'll have to do something about this.
• I am very, VERY happy with this scope. The clock drive is wonderful and the Magellan seems to work very well.