7/10/10 Observing Log

Second observing session of 2010. I didn't observe much in the summer last year, so this is an opportunity to see some summer objects.

Observed these objects tonight:

• Saturn - Spent a bit of time looking at Saturn. The rings are starting to open.


• M5 - First sighting. Bigger than I expected. Dim but very nice starfield. Can see lots of individual stars, especially with averted vision. Looks good through 8mm Orion Stratus at 150x.


• Arcturus - Attempted to attach my camera holder to my scope and take a picture of Arcturus through the eyepiece, but was not particularly successful. The picture came out, but was not very impressive.


• Antares - Took a look at Antares in order to star hop over to M4.


• M4 - First sighting. Found it by star hopping from Antares.

Hopefully I'll get out more often between now and winter.

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See Saturn, Mars, Regulus, and Venus!

If you look west tonight, you will be able to see Saturn, Mars, Regulus and Venus in a rough line.

Saturn is highest in the sky and farthest south, followed by Mars, the star Regulus in the constellation Leo, and then the very bright planet Venus.

Here is a picture of the configuration:





If you miss it tonight, don't worry, the same configuration will roughly occur for the next week or so. Venus will move to the left of Regulus over the next two weeks, and Mars and Saturn will get closer to each other by the end of July.

For those who are curious, the screen cap was taken on my iPhone using the Starmap app.

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