Date/Time: Nov18, 2012 1900-2100hrs
Location: Little Lepreau, NB
Weather: Clear, no wind, -5 degrees C
Equipment: 8" Meade LX200, with 2" 30mm eyepiece, and 1 1/4" 25mm eyepiece, Cannon Rebel DSLR camera mounted piggy back and attached to eyepiece.
Attendance: Brandon H., Myself.
Report: Aligned scope on Capella and Aldebaran, which were in the east. Go to did not work well, it would go to a position under where it was suppose to go.
First went to Jupiter with 2" 30mm eyepiece. Very nice view of four of its moons, two on each side of the big planet. Two of its cloud lines were easily visible, with a hint of reddish color in them. The clouds were very nicely defined and much color could be seen in the different layers of clouds. Also, there was a star or moon that showed up when viewing and in the image just below Jupiter and to the right. Not sure what this was. Also, it should be noted that there was suppose to be a shadow transiting Jupiter at 2357hrs on this night. Unfortunately, this was past my bedtime on this evening.
Imaging Jupiter proved to be difficult. It would not seem to come into clear focus for some reason.
Then went to the Moon. Many nice deep craters could be seen at the terminator. Very impressive detail was viewed with 2" 30mm eyepiece. Some of those craters must be extremely deep and mountainous, if a person was actually there.
Imaging the Moon was easier than Jupiter. It came into focus better, although not perfectly. This is a problem that needs to be improved upon. Without an eyepiece, almost the whole Moon will come into the viewer. Almost but not quite all. The secret to imaging the moon is to use high speed shutter and low ISO.
Next to Uranus. This has been one of my main goals this fall, to find Uranus on my own. It has proven very difficult to find, even though I know where it is by looking at star charts and it is about as bright as it gets at the time of this observing report. This is because it looks so much like just another star, except that you can see a disk and it does show, to me, as slightly greenish. I actually observed Uranus on Nov9/12, through Curts' 8" Dobsonian at the SJAC 'Bark at the Park' observing session at Rockwood Park. When focused in on, you can tell its a planet. This is because, stars do not form disks in telescopes, only sharp points of light. Betelgeuse and maybe a couple others being the only exception.
All of the above is why I took a large field picture of the area where Uranus is. Its right below the great square of Pegasus. Ive looked at the picture and it does not stand out to me. I did the same thing with Neptune, although depended on the go to to find it. After studying the picture, could not locate Neptune.
Other notes: No shooting stars, or satellites were seen.
