The Little Beehive & The Light Bringer

[Nightspore]

 

I ventured out and was set-up by 02:25 GMT. The firmament above me definitely looked like a winter sky, with Orion’s belt virtually at transit. There were no clouds! It was milder than I expected (says the bloke in thermals and at least three jumpers and a hand warmer under a coat). The jet stream has shifted away but there was quite high humidity. I literally only took two eyepieces out with me; the Nagler 6-3mm zoom and the Baade 8-24mm Hyperion Zoom. My first target was a slowly setting Jupiter. It looked good at around 100x with the TV zoom. For reasons of weight  I’d sacrificed the 36mm Aspheric for a 1.25” Baader-Zeiss Amici prism.

 

 

Although I was using the 2” Maxbright diagonal mostly. The Moon, however, was temporarily hidden by a tall conifer in a neighbour’s garden. So I pondered about fetching the 36mm Baader Aspheric. I decided to switch to the BHZ after observing M42 for a while with the Nagler. The Trapezium was as spectacular as ever. As was the Serpent Cluster, even at 15x and possibly the smallest FOV the BHZ manages.

 

 

I turned to the Queen of Ethiopia with the Nagler and was royally rewarded with a sovereign and stunning iota Cass at 120x. Oddly, I found this almost straight away. The Owl Cluster took more finding with the BHZ. Possibly as the flying nocturnal big-eyed predator’s starry ‘head’ was pointing to the 7 O’clock position. Which confused me somewhat. 

 

I swapped the Maxbright for the Zeiss Amici to look at the Moon (Leo) which was 32.1% illuminated. I used the TV zoom naturally but I really couldn’t really distinguish Rupes Recta like I was hoping. The crater Eratosthenes named after the famous Libyan astronomer and polymath Eratosthenes of Cyrene was beautifully defined however. Its floor was in darkness but the eastern terraced inner wall was easily observed with a quite dramatic chiaroscuro. I’m not sure exactly what a polymath is, probably some classical world geek, either way, I bet Eratosthenes couldn’t reformat Ubuntu! 

 

 

I had a look at Sirius, possibly associated with Isis/Aset, the mother of Horus in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon of deities. Then I realised I would be able to see M41 aka The Little Beehive. M41 is a lovely open cluster about the size of the Full Moon. I could see the red giant near the centre of the cluster. This made my night as I haven’t seen this since the winter of 2021. 

 

 

After a much needed cup of hot chocolate I viewed a 57.7% illuminated Venus at 60x, 90x and 120x. Now high enough for me to see. There was a variable 2” plane polarising filter threaded into the Maxbright’s nose piece to take out excess glare. I could definitely see the phase, some cloud detail and the Venusian yellow colour. Quite impressive for a 60mm refractor.

 

 

According to occult lore bees were originally from Venus. Many different traditions attest to this belief. It may well be true as bees are notoriously industrious.

 

 

Although without the knowledge of rocket science, trans-orbital trajectory injection techniques, and re-entry vehicles, I really am puzzled how they achieved this feat. Maybe they should have a word with ‘Buzz’ Aldrin lol.

 

 

Either way, M41 and Venus were the definite highlights of the night/morning. I haven’t seen either for a while.

 

 

[+Streetbob]

An entertaining report. Thanks. I’m impressed you went out so late/earlier.  I had a couple of hours observing Jupiter, Uranus and collecting variable star data.

[Nightspore]

1 minute ago, Streetbob said:

An entertaining report. Thanks. I’m impressed you went out so late/earlier.  I had a couple of hours observing Jupiter, Uranus and collecting variable star data.

 

Thanks and you're welcome. I had planned to go out earlier ... but clouds!

[The Fellas on Google Plus]

Brilliant, Dave! I go through cycles with early morning observing. Usually, when neat planet conjunctions are happening I venture out at predawn to try to grab a view and snap some images. I got my fill of that in 2022. Now, I just choose to sleep in, lol!

[Nightspore]

58 minutes ago, The Fellas on Google Plus said:

Brilliant, Dave! I go through cycles with early morning observing. Usually, when neat planet conjunctions are happening I venture out at predawn to try to grab a view and snap some images. I got my fill of that in 2022. Now, I just choose to sleep in, lol!

 

Cheers Reggie. I didn't originally plan to go out so early, but after nearly a year of doing no observing at all, I'm a bit enthusiastic. It's really quiet in the village I live in, especially early in the morning (even the owls are quiet at the moment). I really wanted to see Venus as I haven't seen her for ages.