Observations in the week of the new moon of May, 2020

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For the period around the new moon in May 2020, a few nights of nice weather were predicted.  My ServoCAT arrived on May 15, but I did not had the time to install everything yet.  I used the new, larger battery which will be used by the ServoCAT. 

  • On the night of May 15 - 16, I planned to observe, but when I started, I had a terrible pain in my toe.  Because I could not really concentrate, I did not observe that night.
  • On May 17 - 18, I mostly enjoyed some showpieces: the globulars are really amazing in a larger telescope.  I really enjoyed some nice galaxies too.
  • On May 19 - 20, I saw the ISS pass over when I started observing. A glowworm sat in the grass next to me. I observed again some showpieces, and had a very sharp view of the globulars (really pinpoint stars!).  I could observe the supernova in M 61. This night, I measured the best SQM I have ever measured in Roosbeek: 20.31.
  • On May 20 - 21, I saw again the ISS.  There was some high cirrus, so I did not observe.  Apparently, later in the night, all clouds departed, but I was happy I could have some extra sleep tonight.
  • On May 23 - 24, the ISS came over again.  I concentrated on globular clusters and some planetary nebulae. Clouds started rolling in around 1:00, so I stopped my observations.  I could see the first summer objects, like M 27, M 71 and NGC 6888.

I only took notes for a few objects.  These notes can be found in DeepskyLog.
Location: 3370 Roosbeek, België

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