My Most Recent Viewing
September 10, 1999
Long Lake, AZ

I took this telescope up to Long Lake (~49 miles south of Flagstaff, AZ) for some serious dark sky viewing. Dark skies? Well, only if you don't consider the glow from the Milky Way. Spanning from horizon to horizon the glow was bright enough to cast shadows. My only disappointments with this site were that the fishing was pretty bad and that I got rained out one evening. Some highlights from the viewing session:

All of the nebulae in the southern sky were spectacular. The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is huge! The detail in the Trifid Nebula (M20) was like I've never seen before. Major dust clouds in the Eagle Nebula (M16). The Swan Nebula (M17): definitely 3-dimensional and, in my opinion, a toss-up to the Orion Nebula (M42) in structural magnificence. I spent the most amount of time looking at this beauty with and without an O-III filter.

The Orion Nebula (M42), in color. Wow! Blue and green with six stars seen in the Trapezium. The O-III filter had to be removed because it cut down the light from the fainter Trapezium components. I'll never forget seeing Orion's reflection on the lake as it rose from the eastern horizon.

The Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 & 6992) showed much more filamentous detail than I've seen at other dark sites.

M33, the Pinwheel galaxy in Triangulum was absolutely huge. I was convinced I saw another galaxy involved but my Sky Atlas 2000 didn't show anything in that position. I didn't think it was a comet because it didn't move over the course of 4 nights. Turned out to be NGC 604, an emission nebula in M33.

Jupiter and Saturn were high in the Western sky and blinding. I definitely need to get a polarizing filter to cut down on the intensity. Still, I was able to see 7 distinct bands on Jupiter as well as the eddies in the larger bands. Saturn was spectacular with two bands visible and absolute razor sharp definition of the Cassini division.