Star Log 2022-11-15 Morning (Fairbanks, AK, US)

God gave us some clear skies early this morning around 1:30am AKST. The quarter moon was not too bright, so I was able to get in a good early-morning stargazing session before it got cloudy again around 3am. I focused on two objects: one was the Pleiades, and the other was that interesting group of stars around λ Ori (Meissa) at the head of the Orion constellation. Here is a screenshot of the sky in that direction:

Stellarium screenshot of sky towards the south

I looked at Orion first, and did sketches with the H25 and H12.5 eyepieces:

Log book — near λ Ori

Similiar screenshot from Stellarium (28x)

Similiar screenshot from Stellarium (56x)

And here is the sketch for the Pleiades:

Log book — the Pleiades

Similiar screenshot from Stellarium (28x)

Similiar screenshot from Stellarium (56x)

I don't recall seeing any nebular glow this time for the Pleiades. But I was able to see lots of stars with good clarity and decent brightness, including resolving some of the stars which were close together, like that narrow triangle of stars in the center.

I'm looking forward to taking another look at Mars and Jupiter once my Plossel set comes in, especially the 6mm, which I think should be within a few days. I received the Moonglow and Skyglow filter also, so I intend to give that a try at some point. It looks like Fairbanks is now in the center of a big high pressure zone, so I'm hoping for more clear nights this week.