Bringing back the FUN in observing...as in visual observing.....and other random comet hunting news 11th Nov 2013

Stargazing should be a fun and relaxing activity and should not be a chore that one had to labour through. I have seen my fair share of ups and downs in my hobby. I have gone through bouts of frenzied activity where I burned myself out, whilst trying to challenge myself to see fainter and fainter fare. This happened really early when I returned to the hobby in the early 2000's. Every trip to the dark sky site meant making long list of objects to hunt down and sketch, arranging and re-arranging star maps that I had printed out from Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000, and kept in waterproof binders for field use. I also spent many hours in solitude, all on my own, sketching away as I tried to "bag" as many DSO's as I could, alienating all my observing buddies. Lately my obsession with astro-imaging with my NexStar GOTO and Meade DSI C has kept me busy everytime I head to dark skies. So it was refreshing to just get out and gaze at the heavens with no defined plans, other than to drink in the views...and maybe see a comet or two, seeing how it is now predawn comet season.

I had one such refreshing session last night, right from my light drenched observing playground in Culver City. Just me, the skies and two good old fashion manual scopes. I had not used my Celestron/Vixen C6 newtonian in a while now. This was my most used scope whilst back in Brisbane, and also when I came over here to Los Angeles. Its still my favourite scope in my scope armoury, despite owning larger scopes, such as my now sold 10" GS dob, which hardly got used due to its size, and the effort it took to just get it out to take a look, or the C8, which is a great scope, but still a little on the heavy side for nights when you don't want to have to deal with hauling scopes out. The C6 has just the right combination in terms of light gathering and portability. And now that I am a proud owner of an Astroscan, I can just carry the C6 on Vixen Porta and sling the Astroscan over my other shoulder. So nice to just have scopes, and to not have to carry my camping chair, laptop, imaging gear, etc etc. No set up time. Just plop the scopes down and away you go. And if you need to move the scope to a better location, as I did tonight to get a better view of the comet, all you had to do was pick the scope up and move.

And boy did I have a fun session, just casually perusing what the heaven's have to offer. This time of the year is great as the skies are more transparent, due to falling temperatures. Also the constellations of winter are up, later in the night. Good old friend abound like Orion the hunter, and his trusty dogs, Canis Major and Minor. Andromeda is off to the west, with Perseus not far behind. Even later in the night mighty Leo, the lion rises from the east. The coming of winter also brings nice bright DSO's that punch through the veil of light pollution, M42, the great nebula in Orion; M45, the seven sisters; and a myriad of open clusters stretching from Perseus and its double cluster, to the many Messier clusters in Auriga, the charioteer and Gemini, the twins. Throw in a planetary nebula (The Eskimo Nebula) and some bright galaxies (M31 and M32 in Andromeda) and you got yourself a rollicking good time. Jupiter, the king of planets is also currently on display, residing close to the Eskimo Nebula in Gemini. Plus an added incentive is the presence of four comets in the early morning sky (Comet ISON, Comet Lovejoy, Comet Encke and LINEAR)! The first two are brighter and will reach naked eye limit by the end of November.

Anyways, since it was a free and easy session, I hit every single one of those DSO's and gazed at them at different magnifications to find the optimal magnification for the best and most detailed look. There was no rush so I took my time with each single one of them. The highlight of the night for me was Jupiter and Comet Lovejoy C2013 R1. Seeing was superb and Jupiter was razor sharp in the C6, showing all sorts of detail in its belts. I also observed one of the moons cross Jupiter's disk and re emerge on the other side as its tiny disc slowly moved off Jupiter's creamy surface.

And I bagged my second comet of the year, Comet Lovejoy! The comet is currently moving through the starfield's of Cancer and Leo, and it is pretty bright (last night it was at magnitude 6.5...so much brighter than the "Comet of the century" ISON, currently languishing at about magnitude 8). Did not see any tail, but the nucleus was star-like and it had a nice big coma. Will have to try and image this comet before the moon enters the morning sky after the 15th of November. If I can get up, I will also try for ISON, which is sinking lower and lower each day as it speeds towards its destiny with our sun....stay tuned for more...