2026-03-06

• Condition: VG6
• Quality: 19.84 mpsas
• Location: Home, Spearfish: 44.49, -103.87

8:36PM

• Target: NGC 1893
• Const: Auriga
• RaDec: 05h22m +33.25
• Type: Open Cluster
• Class: II 2 m
• Scope: AT102ED
• Setting: 55x

Image

Nice cluster that almost blended in with the nearby starfield. I took some extra time to enjoy M36, M37, and M38 nearby. I do love this area of the sky and put my 28mm eyepiece in for a nice sweep of central Auriga.

9:02PM

• Target: Sirius b
• Const: Canis Major
• RaDec: 06h46m -16.45
• Type: Star (Double)
• Scope: AT102ED
• Setting: 34x - 178x

I then slewed to Sirius, eager to employ the occultation bar on my Svbony zoom lens. I quickly found out that even the narrow strip that I used was still too thick, and I probably did not push the bar far enough into the focal plane. The bar was evident, but a little out of focus and a bit too thick. Even still, I was able to use it to hide portions of Sirius with great effect.

I spent a good while rotating the occultation bar, adding a barlow, changing zoom, and microfocusing in an attempt to spot the sibling. At no point was I convinced that I was even close to spotting it, but this time spent was not wasted as I now better understand how to use the occultation bar in my favor.

I also realized that I should do a better job of polar aligning my GEM mount in order to maximize the occultation bar’s effectiveness. With a good polar alignment, if I position the bar west to east, I would need to rotate the bar less during observation as it would follow the path of Sirius.