Posts from August 2002

  • Oh Beautiful Saturn

    So, I finally got around to taking my scope out of the apartment. It really is an excellent instrument. A very nice size, yet still portable: the scope itself easily fits in my backpack, and the mount is fairly light and portable. Very cool! As a result, I finally got a chance to view Saturn! What a view! The planet and its rings were easily visible, with some atmospheric banding visible. Two of its moons, Titan and Rhea, were also visible. Too bad I still don’t read star charts well, otherwise I could have added some more open clusters to my list. :)

  • NGC 6633

    Well, this entry is being made retroactively. :) I found my first deep-sky object! NGC 6633 is a nice open cluster south of Altair. It took me forever to find it! ‘course, that’s mostly because I spent so much time verifying the stars I was using for guides (specifically, Altair :).

    Anyway, NGC 6633 is quite a nice open cluster. Of course, in the city, it looks a little sparse, as many of its lower magnitude stars are too dim to see. However, it’s still quite pretty, and definitely makes a good first target, as it’s fairly bright (mag 4.8) and surrounded by a number of bright stars which make excellent guide stars. Quite rewarding! :)