Observing night in Honsem on December 26, 2022

When looking at the weather the last week, I did not expect a clear night anymore in 2022. I was really surprised when I saw a message of an observer-friend to ask if I was interested in observing at our local observing location.  I quickly checked the weather apps, and indeed, a nice night was predicted.  The temperature was 3.1°, with a humidity of 88%.  The humidity rose to 92% at the end of the session, and the temperature to 3.6° (with a minimum of 2.8°).  There was quite some wind, which could sometimes be seen through the eyepiece.

I only arrived at the site around 21:15, when already 6 other observers were enjoying the clear night.  After installing my 18'' Obsession, I could start observing.  I tested the eFinder, which I have built the last months.  I'll described the eFinder in more detail in an upcoming blog post. 

I started with a detailed look of M 42.  It is always amazing how much details can be seen in the Orion nebula.  Using the 13mm Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece, 6 stars of the trapezium were easily visible.  I also had a look at NGC 2244 and the Rosetta-nebula.  The Rosetta-nebula was clearly visible as a faint haze, which was much larger than one field of view of my 31mm Tele Vue Nagler.  The central open cluster (NGC 2244) was easily visible.

The observing site

The next object I observed was NGC 2024, the flame nebula.  The object was faint, but details could be seen in the nebula.  I finished with an observation of comet C/2020 V2 (ZTF).  The comet was small, but bright.

A bit after midnight, the clouds started to cover the sky, so I stopped observing.

Enjoy the timelapse I made during the observing session!