Gregoria Luna's Astronomy Blog

First night of decent seeing for a while, so I took my dob out to look at planets. Last night I went out to observe Mars late, but the darn scope wouldn't cool down and the image was horrible . Tonight was pretty good. In addition to doing some planet viewing, I got some exploration done, and it's always a nice night when you get to see something new.

 A few days ago I became aware of comet C/2020 M3 ATLAS, which was passing through Orion. I resolved that I would give it a try with my 6" f/8 Dobsonian some time. The past few days have had excellent transparency, so I've been using most of them to get some observing done. Two days ago I first tried the comet, but couldn't confirm it. Tonight, I went out again, and I'm pretty sure I got it. Despite not intending to make a big deal of it, I stayed out nearly an hour, did some exploration and found some star clusters.

Get your head out of the gutter. I've seen Uranus on several occasions at the Cline Observatory. I like to show it alongside planetary nebulae when I'm running sessions in the dome, to help explain to the public why they're called that, and because seeing all the planets is pleasant and nice. I've never found Uranus myself, though, and the night before last, while exploring the autumn skies with my 6" f/8 Dobsonian, I decided to give it a go.

 I've kind of dropped the ball with my blog this week. Here's a few updates, and some sketches too.

I had no idea, going in to creating a blog, that my very first observing report for this blog would be so eventful. Not only did I have an amazing night, but it had a rocky start. I got great observing done tonight in the end.