Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: 0%
Transparency: above average (4/5)
Seeing: est. avg (3 or 4 out of 5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: almost none (see below)
Temperature: 80º-85º
Humidity: 70%-85%
Dew Point: 72º-75º
Time: 9:00 pm – 1:00 am CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Began with visual observation of Jupiter. Best view I have ever seen. Two main belts easily seen, two thin faint belts also visible in steadier seeing. All four Galilean moons visible: one left and three right.

Took photos of many targets using the D50. Most images had elongated stars varied in length and direction. In a couple of photos the stars are almost doughnut-shaped with dark centers. A few photos had no elongation, even at long exposures. Magnification shows elongated shapes are often irregularly shaped. My best explanation for the elongation is wind, although I felt no wind all night with only rare light gusts. Shutter is on 5 second timer. Perhaps I will try a longer timer next time.

Photos of M103 and M31 suffered from elongation. Photos of η Cas and Albireo (shown below) came out well. M76 was barely discernible even with a 30 second exposure at ISO 1600. Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC6543) small, vivid teal, somewhat hazy — maybe from initial dew buildup that I didn’t recognize until much later.

Also took several photos of Jupiter and its moons, none of which were very good because of (as yet undiscovered) dew on the corrector. Several photos of Neptune and Uranus showed good color but no detail.

Albireo (β Cyg - double star). Click image for large (1500x1000) size.

Here’s a quick shot to the waxing gibbous moon taken just after sunset. Moon: FL 300mm, ISO 800, 1/2000 sec, f/6.

Waxing Gibbous Moon

This morning I woke up early enough to catch the waning crescent moon before sunrise. This photo was taken with the Nikon D50 through a Meade 70mm refractor (FL=600mm, f/8.57, ISO200, 1/100s). Click on the picture below to see the full sized (1280×1024) image. The photo is unprocessed except for cropping.

Waning Crescent Moon

Venus was nearby, so I also snapped this photo. FL=80mm, f/4.2, ISO400, 1/200s. You can really see the smudges on the CCD sensor in the early morning light. Click on the picture to see the full-size original (it’s really big, 3008×2000, you’ve been warned!)

Crescent Moon and Venus

Location: Tomball, TX

About 10:30pm

Conditions: initially clear, slightly humid

Setup and aligned telescope. First target Jupiter. Clearly saw black circle of a moon’s shadow on Jupiter’s disk. Within minutes clouds appeared overhead and ended the session.