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M83 - gx
Maybe this should be in the BEGINNERS section - but ???
A lesson in observing!
So it's a cloud filled night and the moon's up as well, but the weather
forecast is predicting more cloud all week so it's tonight or 'never'.
I've printed off the monthly 'Skymaps.com' PDF and look for a likely
target to concentrate on tonight. I need something that's a bit
challenging but that will also AMAZE me when I see it through the new
MONSTER 8" reflector - M83 that seems to fit the bill exactly.
So a 9:00pm start - the clouds have cleared directly above me - pity
about the ones all around the horizon - reflecting all that 'lovely'
moonlight!!!
I keep remembering something about 'Dobsons Hole' but I know that my Dob elevates waay past vertical so that won't be an issue because I can cover the whole sky (fool).
So I refer to the sky chart - fortunately the number of stars shown on it
match what I can see in the sky (I should have seen this as a sign!!).
There's CRUX and if I follow 'upwards' I can get to a funny shaped square (CORVUS I find out later) then if I follow the bright stars just off this square I can see two stars (Hydra) that M83 should be equidistant from and just a little bit above. EASY!
Corvus was OK to find with the finderscope - even the two stars in Hydra I thought I'd found but I was never sure, and getting from them to anywhere else - I was just kidding myself - even with the sight scope.
OK lets try again - this time being waay more technical. I can see two
stars aligned just above the house roof that point (almost) directly at where I want to be (Menkent and another CENT star??). Surely if I just get lined up and follow that track I'll get there. (I can hear you laughing).
So I line up and am immediately successful in finding both stars in the
finderscope - this is too easy - but that's it. No M83 goes sailing by
the finderscope - try again and again and again.
Alright thats not working - what can I see - well, above the two
'pointers' I can make out a group of 4 stars, 3 in a line with one just
above - time to consult Stellarium on the Laptop and there they are hCEN 3CEN 2CEN and iCEN - so I now know that I'm 1 finderscope diameter away from M83 - WooHoo.
Now I think I've found Dobsons Hole - it has NOTHING to do with not
seeing the sky does it? - It's about not being able to move the scope in
a 'diagonal' movement, which I needed to do right now!!!!! AAAGGHH!!!!
Still, I've got this close - I can't give up yet - and miss the view of
M83 that I'll be talking to the kids about for days!!!!
So (on my hands and knees) looking through the finderscope I 'jiggle' the scope this way then that, this way then that, then OH NO! I've lost the group of four CEN stars that were keeping me on track!
So I look for something else in the finderscope that might show me where I am. Five faint stars make a 'cup' (OK cup isn't right, but I was desperate) shape. Back to Stellarium and lo and behold I've found HIP66527, HIP66469, HIP66394a and HIP66292. AND I can also see that stars HIP66563 and HIP66539 should be nearby. Back to the scope - there they are - jiggle - jiggle - jiggle and HIP66539 is centred.
I put the 25mm eyepiece in and look through it - there it is - dead centre and it's friend near the edge. Hold on! If it's friend is near the edge then M83 should be near the edge too!!
I look harder (is it possible to 'will' something to appear), nothing - jiggle jiggle and at last SOMETHING. Jiggle jiggle and the something is centred - M83 in all it's glory - which is basically a bit of a smudge that can be seen better by not looking directly at it.
I'm a bit disappointed - so reach for the 10mm ep. knowing that this baby will make M83 really POP. But to me the image gets worse - it just looks more 'washed out' - so I go back to the 25mm and gaze some more.
A 9:30 finish - back inside to my wife with very little enthusiasm.
So was it a successful night?
As far as M83 is concerned NOT REALLY - a bit of a smudge that I would miss 9 times out of 10
BUT I think I really achieved in my sky hunting - sure it took 25 minutes to find 1 thing, but I found it and I learned that 'straight up' might not be best for my scope and that persistence will get me there - even on washed out nights.
Now what should I go and look for next?
Andrew
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