Quote:
Originally Posted by mental4astro
3 nights straight!
Man, what is was like to have time to burn, and no responsibilities on your hands. Sigh....
Looks like you are really giving the 12"er a good shake there Orestis,  .
And the sketch, cool,  . Nicely detailed, and a subtle touch. What eyepiece were you using with it? M104 reveals more detail as you kick up the magnification, as it seems you were doing.
Have you gone over Eta Carina with your 9mm? You'll be amazed how much you'll see, particularly around the main wedge-shaped nebulosity that surrounds the Key Hole proper. There are two very young, tight and bright clusters that lie in this area, and both have created their own shockwave fronts out from themselves, like two bubbles that encase them. This is a very subtle feature. These shockwaves in turn have carved the shapes of some of the dark pillars within the nebula.
I've struggled to see the Cassini division so far this year in my big dob. Saturn is just too bright in it, and unless I tone down the image with filters, it is too glarey. Fabulously described experiences mate. I'm impressed.
You are really doing well to see the faint, faint, really faint, streamers within the dark lane of The Hamburger. A testament to your eyes, your scope and the sky you observe under. You should have a go at sketching it too. And don't feel like you need to do your sketch with the one eyepiece. Switch around eyepieces to tease out the detail. I dare say there'd be an ASOD there too,  .
Mental. |
Thanks Alex
,
For the sketch I was using the 9mm Tmb a magnification of 167X.The 6 mm at 250x was a little hard to focus so I stuck with the 9mm.I know that you recently bought this Ep off Sylvain,It is an awesome eyepiece isn't it ?I use it all the time.
Regarding eta carinae i did use the 9mm on it and was overwhelmed with a wealth of detail as you said the region near the star(the shockwaves) are outstaning.Very textured.Through the 26mm represents closely to what your sketch shows.
Yes i think that the glare of saturn is whats making the cassini division particulalry difficult to see.I am thinking of purchasing some polarising filters for use on the moon and planets soon.
The streamers that I saw were extremely faint and required patient observing.I'll try to sketch it though it will be difficult.
Cheers Orestis