JUNE 3rd-4th Scope Session at Hueston Woods

LOCATION: HUESTION WOODS
                      OXFORD, OHIO, USA

It wasn't too bad of a night considering the moon had been waxing for a few weeks.  The sky was clear enough that we were able to spend most of our time in the northern sky away from Luna's glare.  Doug Elick joined me on this night's adventure, and we used his 10" Dob in addition to my 8" Newt.

A list of objects we were able to see:

NGC 6543 Cat's Eye Nebula
M92 - Globular Cluster
M57 - Ring Nebula
M13 - Great Cluster in Hercules
M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy (I think?!)
Iridium Flare
International Space Station (ISS)


This was the first time seeing the Cat's eye nebula.  It was just a blue dot, looking much like Uranus did the first time I saw it.  It is very usual to see something that looks like a blue star, most stars are white/yellow/orange colored.  With more magnification the 'dot' became more of a round ghost like shadow.  In my professional option, it was kick ass.



M92 is a globular cluster located just 'leading' the constellation of Hercules.  By leading I mean, it comes up in the East just before Hercules, so Hercules kind of chases it in the sky.  M92 is almost as impressive as the globular cluster in Hercules.  It is very easy to find and very pleasurable to view.


M57 is an exploded planetary nebula, with a green tint to it.  It can be tricky to see, but thanks to the stars of the nearby constellation of Lyra, one should have no problem locating it.


M13 Popular and easy to view globular cluster located in the constellation Hercules

M101  The Pinwheel Galaxy, located in Ursa Major, was extremely hard to see.  It was but a mere smudge of grey smoke.  It is a galaxy we view face on, but the surface brightness is ultra-dim.  Good luck seeing it with anything small than a 12" telescope.

Iridium Flare - 66 Iridium communication satellites orbit the Earth, and at certain times at night the sun will illuminate the satellite and make it visible for a second of two as it rotates, hence the flare.  I saw it twice, spaced by about 5-7 seconds apart..  It was like nothing I've see before in the sky and I plan on trying to view on again soon.

ISS - Just as we put all the equipment away, I got an ISS alert on my phone.  So we waiting around another few minutes to watch the International Space Station come over the horizon.  It was only visible for about 2 minutes before it disappeared in the middle of the sky.  The ISS is only visible while sunlight is hitting it, and fades away if it crosses the Earth's terminator. 

To finish off a good night already, we saw 6 deer in the road at different locations, and two more just outside of the park.