Name:	Todd Vance Bowie, MD
Date:	Sunday, July 9, 2006
Time:	00:41—00:51 EDT
Seeing:	5 (average)
Transparency:	3
Site:	Home 38° 54' 51'' N 76° 44' 5'' W
Object:	M103
Constellation:	Cassiopeia
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x

Description:

Haze came in and out—at times, magnitude 3.43 star η Cassiopeiae was visible, but never for more than an instant. The star in the center Ruchbah (δ) was brilliant white but had the faint bluish tint associated with fluorescent lamps. The star χ appeared orangish. All other stars were white or light gray.

The moon was almost full, but behind me.

M103 is an open cluster ENE of Ruchbah, but only three stars with apparent nebulosity could be seen. The nebulosity made it look like a hazy hyphen from NNW to SSE.

I took this opportunity to check (again) my binocular field of view (advertised at 305 feet per thousand yards, which translates to 5.8 degrees). I could not put η and Caph (β) in the field of view together, but I could almost do so. The angular distance between eta and Caph is 5.3786 degrees. Thus, the true field of view of my binoculars is 5.3 degrees.