Robert Leyland wrote:
> I took my 8" Dob out last night, for a view of Saturn and M1. Saturn
> looked great, especially sine this was the first time observing for a
> month or more, and of course the first time this year :-)
>
> I couldn't see M1 at any magnification unfiltered. However putting
> an UHC filter in dropped Saturns brightness a lot, and really faint
> fuzzy cloud was visible around the planet. [snip...]
I tried observing the pair from my San Jose residence on Saturday night,
but there was no sign of M1 in my 12.5" Starmaster, regardless of
eyepiece employed. Yes, there was a definite glow around Saturn, but it
was too regular to be the Crab; no irregular nebula extension
whatsoever. A fair amount of light pollution in my area, and the
humidity was up pretty high, too, registering 88-91%. The seeing,
however, was excellent. Tried the usual array of filters, and reduced
the amount of glass by observing without a Paracorr, but only averted
imagination would make the Crab appear ... along with Mark's melted
butter. ;^) Attempted observations of Saturn/M1 about 7:00pm, 9:30pm
and 11:45pm. Ended up ignoring DSO's for the night, chasing down a few
asteroids instead. The sky looked *wonderful* at midnight, completely
clear here in South San Jose, so you can imagine my surprise when I woke
at 6:45am to find the area completely socked in; it was the thickest fog
I'd seen in months. (Thought I'd slept in 'til summer!)
...Bob...
Bob Czerwinski