A few deep sky objects with my sixer

[knightrider]

I must admit, the 10" GOTO dob I used to own was my deep sky toy.

Before I sold the 10" over a year ago, I acquired a second hand 6" SW dob as a planetary grab and go so never really attempted anything deep sky with it. Replaced the joke of a finderscope on it with a 8x50 RACI for easy finding.

Being of the aperture mindset "bigger is better" I didn't expect the detail I saw in the 10", but last night I tried it and was quite impressed with it's performance.


Observing from the Sunshine Coast.
I picked the easy ones first:

Turantula Nebula: Easily observable. Green hue just as I remembered it, captured the surrounding nebula easily with the DGM NPB. (30mm GSO Superview)

Orion Nebula: Bright as always. Although I prefer this one without the DGM NPB. (30mm & 15mm GSO Superview)

In the Trapezium of Orion I captured the 5th and 6th stars or E & F stars. Not obvious at first but afterwards easily seen. I didn't expect to but I did to my surprise! (Orion Expanse 6mm)

Flame Nebula:I was able to distinguish the haze and recognise the dark lane it harbors. Interestingly it was better without the DGM NPB filter. (30mm Superview)

C87 GC Mag 8.4: This was easily visible, although I didn't try to magnify this one any further with other eyepieces. It was a small fuzzball with a more intense centre. (30mm again)

NGC 1291 Galaxy Mag 9.4: Face on galaxy. The core of which is actually quite intense. Easily resolved the core surrounded by the haze of the rest of the galaxy. (30mmm & 15mm Superview)

NGC 1535 Cleopatra's Eye PN Mag 10.5: Was able to spot this relatively easily although it was small to spot. It appeared as a grey non intense spot without a bright core. No colour that I could see in this one. (6mm Orion Expanse)

All in all, I was really quite impressed. I didn't expect to capture the Flame Neb, nor the smaller stars of the Trapezium. I'll be more eager to hunt some more galaxies and PN's with this scope now I don't feel like I'm missing out on the deep sky stuff.

To me it shows that owning that bigger scope wasn't necessarily necessary in order to enjoy the dimmer things of space.

Thanks for reading :thumbsup:

[bigjoe]

Nice report ..Try M77 early in the evening, in Cetus at Mag 9..see below screenshot...to give you an idea of location.

And NGC 1097 MAG 9.4 Very bright...in Fornax.

Also the easiest and brightest Mag 9......NGC 3115 , the Spindle Galaxy later in the month, in Sextans near Leo... very bright and intense cores, easy enough even in a 90mm refractor from the City...Enjoy.
bigjoe

[Tinderboxsky]

That is a good first light result. There are enough objects within reach of your scope to satisfy one for many many years. As they say, the best scope is the scope one uses the most.

[knightrider]

Cool, thanks Joe. I'll give those a shot. I vaguely remember catching the Spindle in the 10" ages ago. Will have to give it a go. NGC 1097 looks very intersting :thumbsup:

I'm keen to check out the Leo Triplet again when it rises later this year.



This is true. It is much lighter to setup than the 10". And quicker scouting the sky.

[Tropo-Bob]

I enjoyed reading this report and would love to see more like them.

I think 6" Dobs are massively under-rated. Some years ago, I owned 6" & 8" Dobs and found that there was not a great of difference between them except that the 6" Dob was lighter, showed a 'cleaner' image and was more often used.

[Bombardon]

Knightrider, Steve, Joe and all,
Might be good to include some easy well-known clusters in the far south that are nicely placed at the moment - most in Carina. I find they are best viewed with small optics and mags of 10 -25. ( In fact K-rider's 10X50 are ideal.)
IC2391, a delicate bright cluster near Delta Vel in False Cross, NGC2516 near Eps Car in False Cross,a striking fig-shaped group with several orange stars embedded; NGC 3114 large cluster like a small paper boat near Ups Car;IC 2602, the Southern Pleiades, brilliant little group; NGC 3293 just east of Eta Car and a rich knot of stars - lost in Eta's splash; NGC 3532, wide, dense cluster, like a glowing Xmas tree with a deep yellow star nearby. Tons of great deep sky treats here and even the Blue Planetary near Southern Cross is worth revisiting. I find on a really clear summer night after rain that the cheapest optics in the smallest scopes can make a great half hour outdoors without the hassle of setting up! You see I get both lazy and crafty in my old age. Nice report, Knightrider. Regards,
Eugene

[bigjoe]

Ha Eugene ..you've just about named all my favorite clusters ..N2516 and N3293 are crackers..Only need put M35 M37, M44, M45, M11, N6067 and N6231 in scorpius to just about do my list from memory.

And the BLUE Planetary N3918 , is My third Favourite with Green CBS EYE , N3242 in Hydra, and the Eskimo which is viewable in Gemini tonight in Oz.

True.. you only need Binos, a small scope of 80mm or so and some plossls or Dual EDs to enjoy a lot of what our skies offer.

bigjoe.