26 November 2004

Tonight was my first night out since the Can on 15x50 IS binoculars have been back from the repair shop. Because of the bright full moon and the thin clouds seeing wasn't great tonight but I am still appreciating the dark sky these binoculars produce. When Orion broke the trees I was able to see nebulosity around the trapezium and higher up where NGC1977 is. I would not have seen that at all tonight with the 7x35s. As noted under my Moon observations, chromatic aberration was evident and more so than at any time previously and will need to be watched to see if the repair has made it worse. I will need to compare the aberration through each light path and see if one is appreciably worst than the other.

Observing Location	TotL
Atmospheric Conditions	I saw a few stars when I was out at home around 1800 so figured it was not going to be as bad as the weather service charts were indicating so figured I would give it a try. The sky wasn't as dark as usual. That was probably due to the high clouds and the moon reflecting off of them. There were a few rings around the moon and when we were observing the sky adjacent to it we could see thin clouds racing past. It was cool but did not feel as humid as it was supposed to have been. The wind was light but gusted up around 6 MPH. Because of the brightness of the full moon in Tau between the Pleiades and the Hyades it was difficult to make out either of them naked-eye. I could see about three of the brightest stars of the Pleiades and only Aldeberan in the area of the Hyades. I could see Capella but didn't notice the Kids.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Fujinon 7x50 binoculars - Ben
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace

Target	M45, The Pleiades
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	25Nov04; 2030 EST
Comments	First light for the repaired binoculars was my favorite binocular object. The stars resolved crisply. But after having spent time looking at the cluster in the 7x35s I am thinking my field of view might be a little too tight for it in the 15x50s.

Target	Cheshire Cat and Leaping Minnow
Constellation	Aur
Category	Asterisms
Time	25Nov04; 2100 EST
Comments	Ben showed my these asterisms in both of our binoculars. I was barely making the Cheshire Cat out in his binoculars but with a darker sky in my binoculars it was easier. I don't see it as a Cheshire Cat though. The eyes are spaced too far apart relative to the width of the mouth. If they were a little closer I might have an easier time with it. The Leaping Minnow was to the cat's upper right and is composed of two parallelograms.

Target	Moon
Constellation	Tau
Category	Moon
Time	25Nov04; 2130 EST
Comments	We were looking for stars around the moon and they were easier to see in my darker sky than in Ben's binoculars. We noticed chromatic aberration in my binoculars that ranged anywhere from a faint pink around the top limp of the moon to a deep red with a bright orange band just inside it. The appearance of the aberration changed at times without moving or refocusing the binoculars. I have never seen the aberration that intense before. I will have to keep watching it and see if it is something that might be related to the repair.

Target	62 Tua Occultation
Constellation	Tau
Category	Occultation
Time	25Nov04; 2200 EST
Comments	Ben found that 62 Tau was occulted by the moon and it would be emerging from behind the moon at 2145 so we set up to see if we could see a Mag 6.38 star near the bright limb of a nearly full moon. I finally found it about 15 minutes after the reemergence but it was only slightly brighter than the clouds it was moving through. It was just outside of a bright ring around the moon.

Target	Sword of Orion
Constellation	Ori
Category	Asterism
Time	25Nov04; 2230 EST
Comments	I was able to make out the top and bottom stars of the sword naked-eye, but not the central stars and M42/M43. With the binoculars I was able to resolve three stars in the Trapezium and an area of nebulosity around them that changed with time. I also picked out a haze in the area of NGC1977