Canis and Ursa (Major)

12 January 2021, 22:00 – 23:15

Cold, but not as brutal as Saturday. Hazy sky, with bands of cloud waxing and waning in the southwest like a poor man’s aurora. Light condensation on scope.

Seeing: Poor

Transparency: Poor

Given the conditions, and the prospect of cloud ending the session at any moment, I stuck to old (and bright) favourites once again.


Sirius, The Dog Star, Canis Major

171x and 240x. Having recently read that the white dwarf star Sirius B is close to its maximum separation from the primary, roughly 11” east-northeast (following), I wanted to see if I could detect it with my scope. Unfortunately the indifferent seeing quickly put paid to that idea (even Rigel was tough to split tonight), but definitely one to try again if and when conditions allow.

Betelgeuse, Orion

171x. Now looking much more like its old self after last year’s dimming event. A grand view in the DeLite; the orange colour also seemed more intense than last year.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini

240x and 133x. Same puffball appearance as Saturday night. Still difficult to make out the shell structure, but the central star was showing well. No colour discernable.


With the clouds starting to interfere I was forced to relocate to the other side of the sky, and with no time to waste consulting star charts, the M81/M82 group was the obvious choice. (At least I can see these galaxies in the finder – just.)


M82, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Tapered streak of light (like a candle burning at both ends). Mottling and dark lane visible with averted vision, but nowhere near its best tonight.

NGC 3077, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Faint, but obvious. Condensed core with averted vision. It still embarrasses me that I never saw this galaxy before March of last year.

M81, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Bright core with stellar nucleus. Ill-defined outer haze; I reckon the spiral structure might be visible in the Ethos on a really good night when M81 is near maximum elevation. Dark patches near core were just about visible. Something else I hadn’t paid enough attention to before tonight: the two close foreground double stars in a line southwest from the core; the outermost pair just barely split at 133x.

And so, with the clouds closing in, that was it for the session.