[§AB]

Had a great night out last night. Had an all night session planned. I got all my eyepieces and filters out, the Millenium Star Atlas and a rug to spread out all this stuff on aswell.

Seeing: 5-7/10 (varies)
Transparency: 5/7
Telescope: 114mm (4.5") reflector
Limiting mag: approx +4.5

Adjusted my collimation by magnifying a star at 330x. This time I actually got it nailed! At about 8pm I started off with Jupiter, which showed a sharply defined disk at all magnifications up to 165x. Unfortunately, the seeing was slowly deteriorating. At 151x the view was still good though, with the GRS plainly visible as a small pink oval (not how I remember it!). The rift in the SEB was clear. The SEB was considerably more pale than the NEB.


At about 10pm I hunted down the Helix nebula for the first time ever. Using 36x I could barely see the thing. Using a narrowband filter however improved it a lot, its donut shape now obvious. Increasing magnification to 60x made the nebula harder to see. As I completed my observation of the Helix, I happened to kick the tripod, jarring the entire scope. Ofcourse such a thing would happen just when I perfected my collimation. I decided to check the collimation using a star and ofcourse it was slightly out. I quickly tweaked it to as good as I could get it and carried on. I also checked out the Saturn Nebula which was very bright and magnified well. It appeared as a blusih green oval but its "saturn-like" structure was not evident.

My next target was NGC 253, a large edge on spiral galaxy in Sculptor. Despite my light polluted skies, at 60x its core was plainly visible and using averted vision I could see its pencil thin shape extending for a good 0.5º. By now it was midnight and getting cold!

My next object was NGC 55, another edge on spiral in Sculptor. It was now well past midnight and I was freezing. Again using 60x, it appeared as an east-west streak, about 0.25º long. With averted vision the core area appeared to consist of two seperate bright areas. The cigar-shaped figure of the edge-on arms was faint but discernable.

By now Cetus was well up so I decided to have a crack at one object I always wanted to try, the planetary NGC 246. Using 36x, I starhopped to its marked location which was marked by 3 or 4 11th magnitude stars. Without the filter, I could barely discern a patch of haze with averted vision. I decided that I needed more power so I increased the magnification to 60x. The nebula was still painfully difficult to see as it blinked in and out of view. Using the narrowband filter, the nebula definately became more obvious but still very faint. However, I could just make out a circular shape and its western edge appeared brighter than the rest of the object.

It was now well past 1am and I was shivering and had to take a piss, so I walked inside. Annoyingly my bro was still watching TV so I closed my observing eye and kept the other one open lol. Got a jacket and made some hot chocolate. My brother decided to turn on the kitchen light, and when I told him to turn it off immediately, he grunts "Why"? I respond by saying "because if you don't I'll beat the s**t out of ya". Obviously he's just got no courtesy.

My next stop was another object which I've been wanting to check out. Now past 2am, I hunted down the Grus Quartet. Using 60x, I was able to get NGC7552 and 7582 in the same field. 7552 appeared as a tiny, circular smudge located just east of a 9th mag star. NGC7582 actually showed its elongated form. It appeared as a faint elongated smudge. The other two members of the quartet were invisible.

At this point I decided to pack up as I was tired and it was late. I happened to catch a glimpse of my narrowband filter under a light and it was very...ah...disturbing! But it is the most used item in my collection! Now where did I put my camera blower-brush?

It was a great night, even if the morning after has me hung over and feeling sick from almost no sleep!