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Observation Report From Barcelona

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Posted by Esteve on August 4, 2002 19:12:38 UTC

Hi everybody !

I’m not an absolute beginner practising astronomy but I’m not so experienced as some of the usual contributors to this section.
Despite this fact, I’ve decided to submit some observation reports I hope will be useful for somebody.

Date : 2002-08-03
Time : from 21:00 till 23:00 GMT

Environmental conditions :
Medium light pollution
Moon light at 0.35 (fortunately, rising later)
Seeing condition 3
Windy
Limit magnitude achieved at the zenith : 11.6 (not very much!!!)

Telescope : 203mm SCT

**************************

Yesterday, we decided to look for different kinds of objects.
At first, we located the really amazing M57 (Ring Nebula) in Lyra. We used a low magnification factor (x51) and got a nice view (really shaped). I must say we had to use the “indirect viewing method” to get the best results.

Afterwards, we spent some time watching some binary stars :
Delta & Epsilon Lyrae - We got the 4 stars working at x271 factor.
Beta Cygni (named Albireo) - We easily achieved a clear 2 stars view (with a surprising contrast : orange & blue). Getting the third star, it was a harder task. Using a x271 factor, I think we viewed it but I’m not quite sure. Perhaps it was an optic effect due to the large magnification factor and/or the atmosphere turbulences.
Epsilon Cygni - Another example of double star. We needed a x406 factor.

Then, we passed to M27 (Dumbbell Nebula). Of course, it is larger than M57 and we viewed it directly (without the “indirect viewing method”). But I must say its shape wasn´t so clear.

We finished the observation with Uranus. Despite its brightness (5.7), the viewing wasn´t very rewarding. The planet was low in the celestial sphere (and I’m at 41º N) and the atmosphere conditions weren´t the best ones. So, we only viewed a small blue-green “ball” with no satellites. I know just now Oberon, etc. are beyond the optic capabilities of my telescope.

Well, that’s all !!!
I’ll try to submit more reports in the future (if I’ve time to translate them into English).

Regards,

Esteve

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