Just back from attending the first SCP astronomy camp, held at Silverton NSW, 5-8 October. This report is from the last night, 8 October 2007:
The skies cleared, but a fairly stiff wind blew. Later in the evening it moderated a little & Graeme decided to set up his 11” Celestron SCT (using Pentax EPs, I think). Dennis & I followed him out and soon we were touring the night sky with the GOTO. Lots of interesting stuff – M31 Andromeda galaxy, Trifid nebula, Lagoon nebula, M33 spiral galaxy, Veil nebula, M22 globular cluster, 47Tuc globular cluster, NGC253 Sculptor galaxy, Dumbbell nebula, NGC7006 tiny 10.6 mag globular, NGC6231 open cluster, Grus quartet and much, much more. While this was going on I viewed the odd object through my scope, including the Andromeda galaxy and the “triple treat” in Corona Australis, shown to me on Saturday night. This is a globular cluster, a reflection nebula, and a “jet”, all fitting comfortably in the FOV. Dennis called it a night as he had a long trip ahead of him, and Graeme decided to pack up too.
Inspired by all this, I retreated to the cabin to consult my charts. Quick cup of coffee and I was outside again, firing up the trusty Tasco 4.5” f8 reflector again. Using a 21mm X-Cel eyepiece, I hunted down some galaxies I hadn’t seen before in this scope. First up, NGC253 in Sculptor. Wow, so big and bright even with my small aperture. More work sorting out positions, then on to M55. Brilliant – huge, edge-on and nearly as large & bright as 253. Then to Fornax – saw Fornax A easily, although tiny after what I’d just seen! Much fainter galaxy close to it. Then onwards to Grus – three small galaxies easily visible, plus one extremely faint (or did I imagine it?). Went to M33, visible as a largish, faint patch of nebulosity. Intent staring revealed just a hint of structure.
Well, finished up re-visiting Andromeda, with its 2 companion galaxies clearly visible. Their apparent detachment from the visible part of the galaxy makes you realise just how big M31 is, when you think of the long-exposure images. Then a quick look at the Great Nebula in Orion (stunning as always), and the Flame Nebula. I’ve seen the Flame quite clearly in my scope before in really dark skies from home, but this time it was only barely there and very, very hard to make out (probably a bit too low to the horizon, because the skies at Silverton were pretty awesome on the night). Off to bed then for a nap - set my alarm to try to image the crescent moon. Slept through & missed it, but hey, I was happy!
