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What an absolutely fantastic night! I was able to go to a star party held by the Minnesota Astronomical Society at Baylor Regional Park tonight. Baylor is about 25 miles west of the Twin Cities and is a great dark sky location. When I was driving out, the sky that was clear all day long suddenly developed a good cloud covering. I was hoping there would be a couple of people anyway because I wanted to see some other telescopes and ask a few questions. When I drove up the observing area, there were close to 20 telescopes and about 30 people. The sky had thankfully just started to clear. I setup next to a guy with a 10" F10 LX50. He had just recently purchased the scope and was eager for his first views of a planet.
The first view was a glimpse through binoculars of Mercury. It was quickly slipping below the horizon. As we waited for Jupiter to rise, we started
looking for objects in Sagittarius. Saggitarius is blocked by trees most of the time from my house but out here it was easily found. Through the LX50, we saw the Swan Nebula (M17). In my
scope, we saw M25 and other unidentified clusters.
M57, the Ring Nebula, was the next target. My scope at higher powers showed clearly the nearly round nebula with a hole in the middle. The 10"
scope was able to use higher magnification and the nebula was even more defined.
Then we turned the LX50 and my 8" scope to the Big Dipper and looked at M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. In the dark sky, it just jumped into view. From
my house, I can't see even a hint of it but at Baylor, I could not only see both galaxies but even the faint connecting arm between the two. What a sight!
The next object we decided to find was the Perseus Double Cluster. The Double Cluster consists of NGC 884 and 869, two open clusters. It was absolutely
the most beatiful sight I have ever seen through a telescope. My f4.5 scope has a very wide field of view and I was able to see both at the same time side by side. They looked like two
piles of diamonds in the sky. If you have a telescope or even binoculars, you have to see the Double Cluster.
After the Double Cluster, Jupiter had risen far enough in the sky and most of the scopes at the star party turned to view it. It looked good in my
scope, I could see the bands clearly as well as its four largest moons. Through the 10" LX50, much more detail was visible in the cloud bands. The best view was through a 6" Astro
Physics refractor.
Jupiter was impressive but I wanted to see more galaxies. I started hunting for M101 near the handle of the Big Dipper. I was just sweeping with my 26mm
eyepiece and I wandered a bit from my target area. I did find a galaxy though, NGC 5676. It was a typical galaxy, small, grey, and fuzzy.
Saturn was just starting to peek over the horizon and I had a good view in my scope. The LX50 next to me had a higher power view that was quite
impressive. I need to use my
barlow lens more often on planets so I can get the higher power views that f10 scopes achieve so easily. I wish I would have brought my barlow to the star party. Next time I will remember.
If there is a star party in your area, you really ought to go to it. You will be amazed at the great views and friendly people. I took pictures of
Jupiter, the Double Cluster, M51, and the Ring Nebula but naturally none turned out. In spite of my photo failures, this was the best stargazing night of my life. I've found a great dark
sky site and saw more deep space objects than I have seen for the past 10 years!
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