Star Log 2022-10-27 (Fairbanks, Alaska, US)

Unexpectedly, as I was leaving choir practice last night, the skies had suddenly become clear. I was quite excited, so I headed home, put on all my cold weather gear, and got my equipment set up in the front yard. Then, about fifteen minutes later, a large sheet of what looked like alto-cumulus rolled in and covered nearly the entire sky.

So, that was a bit disappointing. But in those fifteen minutes, I was able to get another look at Jupiter with the 60mm refractor. I saw four planets off to left side (the inverted view) and another nearby star on the same side, which I determined later was "BT Pisces", in Stellarium. That was at 10:20PM AKDT.

I looked first with the 25mm eyepiece, but I also got to try out the 12.5mm eyepiece which recently had arrived in the mail. It did double the magnification as expected, but the color blur was still too much for me to see any detail on Jupiter. I was suppose to get a SR4 eyepiece as well but unfortunately the 3rd party Amazon seller cheated me and did not send several of the eyepieces that were supposed to be included in the sale, and they have not responded to any of the messages I have sent them. I'm working with Amazon to try to get a partial refund without having to send back the one piece I do have, but it has been an uphill battle.

I'm happy anyway to have the 12.5mm eyepiece and am looking forward to trying it out on some of the brighter star clusters or galaxies, if I get a clear sky again some night.