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2024-04-03 Wednesday

Condition: VG6

Location: Home, Spearfish: 44.49, -103.87

08:38PM

Target: TX Aurigae (HD 33016)

Const: Auriga

RaDec: 05h10m +39.01

Scope: AT102ED

Setting: 55x

Image

Happened to land almost perfectly on-top of the star while navigating through the finder scope. Orange and red.

08:49PM

Target: EL Aurigae (HD 32088)

Const: Auriga

RaDec: 05h05m +50.4

Scope: AT102ED

Setting: 55x

Image

Solid orange, south of 9 Aurigae.

09:03PM

Target: NGC 2022, PN G196.6-10.9

Const: Orion

RaDec: 05h42m +9.05

Scope: AT102ED

Setting: 55x, Ultrablock

Image

The noise was pretty visible even though this PN is faint. The Ultrablock filter makes a small improvement to its visibility. Found about a third of the way from Meissa to Betelgeuse.

09:17PM

Target: NGC 2024, Flame Nebula

Const: Orion

RaDec: 05h41m -1.51

Scope: AT102ED

Setting: 55x, Ultrablock, AV

Image

This was my second attempt with NGC 2024. I also attempted it on the 1st, but was unable to detect anything. This time, while I can't consider it a complete success, I did at least have some success.

I was never able to see the complete nebula at once, but rather in patches. AV would sometimes allow me to see a small piece of it for a moment at a time. I had better results by closing my viewing eye for 10-15 seconds (my hand was covering my non-viewing eye), then opening it while it was at the eyepiece. This would give me a quick glimpse of an area sometimes with a shape. My sketch is the estimated range and area of where these patches of nebula would appear.

My compass on the sketch is different from the other nearby targets since I rotated my mirror for a more comfortable viewing position.

09:37PM

Target: NGC 2194, Collinder 87

Const: Orion

RaDec: 06h13m +12.48

Scope: AT102ED

Setting: 55x, AV

Image

Neat and tiny cluster. Could easily be missed, and can be easily lost. AV greatly helps for both finding and observing. All of the stars in the cluster were tiny and faint, but AV did help resolve many of them.