9/21/2006 M-42

Location was crofton home coords. Seeing and trans were very good with exception of new even brighter street lamps on three sides. Used occasion to test out new Polar Wedge. The light and glare from the new street lamps have made observing from the porch a most un-fun experience. I spent some time observing Orions nebula to develope my note taking skills. I ended the night disgusted with myself for not monitoring the scope closely and it wound its power cord around the tripod to the breaking point.
NGC 1976 The orion nebula is a fantastic sight to behold. With the naked eye from my 2nd floor apt I can only discern a faint dim star. Thrugh the finder scope the dim star becomes a fuzzy purple spot. In an 8 inch telescope with a 40 mm ep the star explodes into a large fantastic nebula. There are two major bright spots that I identified as the trapezium and M-43. Ribbons of rey and green spread north and south with a well defined border on the west side. The nebula gently dissapates on the east side giving the impression of an eagle in flight. The trapezium clearly containes three stars but averted vision hints at more. The contrast with the background sky is terrible and most colors are washed out. The lp filter does little to help solve the problem.
NGC M-43 Viewing this small difuse nebula is a bit more challenging. The dust and gas fan out from the center point and clash with M-42.