Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsAs mentioned in the previous reports, we were four of us, Tim, Steve, Doug and I, fighting the cold wind with various degree of success. I was testing a new telescope: Obsession 18", with Argo Navis digital circles and ServoCAT GOTO, slewing and tracking. It worked perfectly. I was a bit surprised. I had not connected the ServoCAT motor control before !. Although the wind was rather strong, the strong friction of Dobsonians helped a lot. I looked at Galaxies in Leo and Ursa Major, The Orion Nebula, the Eskimo Nebula and open clusters in Cancer and Puppis. M46, a dense open in Puppis, that includes a Nebula impressed me most: a large number of relatively faint stars almost uniformly distributed in space and intensity over a 27' field with a 3' nebula not far from center. Very beautiful. I truly enjoyed that first night out with the new machine in a beautiful site and with very good company. Jean-Paul Richard |