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Old 17-10-2010, 04:03 PM
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Talking Observing report for 16/17 October

Just past First Quarter Moon so I decided to put the 8" SCT in the observatory to use as the ground was to wet for the 16" Dob.

Started observing at 19:30 with a quick look at Venus before it disappeared Behind the 15 degree hill in the South West.
Seeing was about 6-10, 10 being best, Jupiter with a nice line up of moons, the great Red Spot was plainly seen in 21mm eyepiece with 2.5 xBarlow giving x95 mag

Then for some deep sky stuff,NGC253 was plainly seen, and with averted imagination some mottling was discerned 30 mm eyepiece75xmag.
I tried a UHC filter to see if it would be of any use?, but is no use at all.

On to the Andromeda triplet M32 was just like a fuzzy star, M31 was surprisingly detailed for such a bright sky and being so low down,M110 was just hinted at , if you didn't know it was there you would miss it.

NGC598/M33 was just seen against the background glow but was a difficult target.

Swung round to the South and zeroed in on NGC 104/47Tuc, very bright and crisp for such a bright sky,30mm2xbarlow 75xmag.

NGC 2070, Tarantula nebula was quite low down but was still able to make out the spidery shape, the UHC filter helps here.

M45/ The Pleiades , low down but still a fine sight.
Tried the UHC on this one too but except for darkening the sky was not much help.

The moon was more more less on the zenith and was very crisp with the double crater's Messier's A and B quite sharp.
there was some fine detail both on the terminator and the limb.
Any dark adaption after that was shot
It was fairly cool by this time with the temp at 8deg C and a slight quite cool breeze, so Coffee time

00:45 17/10/10
Moon Just sinking behind the hill, was able to find Comet 103PHartley2 in the in my 15x65 binoculars from my veranda ,also just seen with the the 7x35 bino's as well,at this stage it was not visible in my scope as it was below the apex of the roll off roof, so onto other things.

NGC253 again this time in a darker sky and the detail was stunning with the dark mottling plainly seen.
NGC55 a similar galaxy to NGC 253 and in the 8" not as bright as I am used to in 16" observing but a nice sight all the same.
NGC891 in Andromeda is a favourite far north galaxy and on a dark night and with the 16" scope is a great target
But in the 8" inch was just about visible

Orion was now quite well up now and I had a good look around in this area, with M42 and the horse head prime targets.
the seeing had improved considerably by this time and I was able to see six stars in the Trapezium at high mag.
I had a go for the horse head, and with a bit of averted imagination thought I could just discern it
Onto M1 NGC1952, I have found a very easy way to find this object,in the Telrad illuminated circles there are gaps, I put the star Zeta Tauri in one of the gaps in the outer circle and it puts M1 in the field of the 30mm eyepiece,
Not a lot of detail to be seen of this object in the 8",but I found it anyway.
By this time the comet 103PHartly had cleared the observatory roof and in the 30mm eyepiece was quite large fuzzy ball,a bit elongated with just a hint of a tail and a brighter center.

The night ended on a really bright note
At 02:42 a magnificent Meteor shot through Perseus about 15degs from Comet Hartley and 5degs from M34 at a guess I would say it was at least mag x10,it really lit up the sky.
the colours ranged from white to green and finishing with a reddish
Tinge before evaporating in a really bright flash
But there is more through the 7x35 Binoculars and the 8x50 finder I watched the trail for about 10 minutes changing shape from nearly a straight line to a question mark shape, it was amazing to watch
I was able to trace it's length to at least10 degree's wow
After that I called it a night at 03:00.

What a great finish to a great nights observing

Last edited by astroron; 20-10-2010 at 10:46 PM.
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Old 17-10-2010, 06:37 PM
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Great to see your obs reports here! Ever since Melbourne became cloud yet again, the influx of reports suddenly stopped and visual observers disappeared off the face of the planet

I've seen Jupiter about 5 times this season, but still haven't caught the red spot What are the odds of that!

Did you use a filter for the Horsehead? A UHC helps but H-beta is best, an 8" from a dark sky should catch it. The UHC won't work on the nebulosity around the Pleiades as it's a reflection nebula and not actually emitting any of the spectral lines that such filters isolate.

cheers
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Old 17-10-2010, 07:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter View Post
Great to see your obs reports here! Ever since Melbourne became cloud yet again, the influx of reports suddenly stopped and visual observers disappeared off the face of the planet

I've seen Jupiter about 5 times this season, but still haven't caught the red spot What are the odds of that!

Did you use a filter for the Horsehead? A UHC helps but H-beta is best, an 8" from a dark sky should catch it. The UHC won't work on the nebulosity around the Pleiades as it's a reflection nebula and not actually emitting any of the spectral lines that such filters isolate.

cheers
those where just joke parts of the post.Sab I have been observing for twenty five years with the last twenty here at Cambroon.
I have seen the horse head on a number of occassions without any sort of filter in both my 8" and my 16" scopes.
I made this a light hearted observing report
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Old 17-10-2010, 08:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
those where just joke parts of the post.Sab I have been observing for twenty five years with the last twenty here at Cambroon.
I have seen the horse head on a number of occassions without any sort of filter in both my 8" and my 16" scopes.
I made this a light hearted observing report
That's the issue with this medium of communication. It's impossible to tell apart jokes and tongue in cheek comments from facts.
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Old 17-10-2010, 09:11 PM
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Originally Posted by pgc hunter View Post
That's the issue with this medium of communication. It's impossible to tell apart jokes and tongue in cheek comments from facts.
Sab ,sorry I forgot to put the emoticoms in , fixed
Cheers
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Old 18-10-2010, 05:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
I had a go for the horse head, and with a bit of averted imagination thought I could just discern ithttp://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....estionicon.gif
Through an 8 inch? Think you need more than an imagination for that - perhaps more like a fantasy!


Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
M45/ The Pleiades , low down but still a fine sight.
Tried the UHC on this one too but except for darkening the sky was not much help.
:sc rewy::screw y:

At first when I saw this I thought you were serious until I came back and saw the responses. I was nearly getting ready to teach you how to observe in a dark sky and send you a couple of links on how to use filters.
:sc rewy::screw y:

Sab, I'll clip him over the ear for you when I meet him!

Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
Then for some deep sky stuff,NGC253 http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/..../winking70.gifwas plainly seen and with averted imagination some mottling was discerned 30 mm eyepiece75xmag.
I tried a UHC filter to see if it would be of any use?, but is no use at all.
You mean the Silver Coin. I know why you put the wink emoticon there - it was baiting me


Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
At 02:42 magnificent Meteor shot through Perseus about 15degs from Comet Hartley and 5degs from M34 at a guess I would say it was at least mag x10,it really lit up the sky.
the colours ranged from white to green and finishing with a reddish
Tinge before evaporating in a really bright flash
But there is more through the 7x35 Binoculars and the 8x50 finder I watched the trail for about 10 minutes changing shape from nearly a straight line to a question mark shape,it was amazing to watch
I was able to trace it's length to at least10 degree's wow
After that I called it a night at 03:00.

What a great finish to a great nights observing
You got pics? No pics, no proof.
Sheez, why do some people have to make up the ending of their log reports in such spectacular fashion as this.

No, seriously tho, how lucky you were to see this and what an absolutely awesome ending to an already great observing night.

I didn't have my scope out this night, but I was outside re familiarising myself with the sky and learning some new constellations. The same time you noticed (aroud 1am), when Orion was reasonably high, the seeing had improved beautifully in my area as well.

You can't half tell you that were missing that 16"!!! There was a lot about your report that you seemed to "imagine".
You had that many M's on your obs list that I had to go and dig up my Messier book so I knew what the heck you were talking about.

Thank you for posting your observations, the lighthearted manner in which this post was written was a nice change.

Sab, it's been that long since we have been able to see the stars here, the excitement is showing through Ron's post. Or maybe that meteor hit him on the head.
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Old 20-10-2010, 10:47 AM
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Through an 8 inch? Think you need more than an imagination for that - perhaps more like a fantasy!

Suzy, the Horse Head is very doable in an 8" scope
I have definitely seen it on many occasion's in my Celestron 20cm SCT in the past.
the reason I was so flippant was due more to the seeing than the none observation of the object
And It was after all a light hearted report just like the sky was light
Cheers
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Old 20-10-2010, 10:58 AM
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Ron, from what i've heard this is one nightmare of an object to get. Would I be correct in saying that a truly dark sky is needed to get this? I wouldn't get it with my 10" in light pollution would I?
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Old 20-10-2010, 10:59 AM
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I like your report, Ron. I find it refreshing to go down in apeture too. After the initial <What the...>, I find myself looking harder and more carefully.

Suzy, there is a faint reflection nebula associated with the Pleiades, which is why I think Ron had donned the UHC filter. Right, Ron?
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Old 20-10-2010, 11:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzy View Post
Ron, from what i've heard this is one nightmare of an object to get. Would I be correct in saying that a truly dark sky is needed to get this? I wouldn't get it with my 10" in light pollution would I?
Suzy, definitely not, this is an object for Dark and Transparent Sky's

Last edited by astroron; 20-10-2010 at 11:56 AM.
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Old 20-10-2010, 12:07 PM
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Suzy, here is a finder chart for finding the Horse Head Nebula
Dark Sky" are a must, and Keep Zeta Orionis out of the field of view
Print it and next time you are at a Dark Sky site with good seeing Use it
you will be surprised how it can jump out at you in moments of good seeing
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Old 20-10-2010, 06:26 PM
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excellent nights viewing Ron,
looking forward to your next report.

regards orestis
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Old 20-10-2010, 09:47 PM
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Nice report Ron, and certainly sounds like a nice night's viewing. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Old 20-10-2010, 10:31 PM
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Thanks Orestis and Rob, I enjoyed the night as it was the first time after all that rain and being flooded in for four day.
I must have been a little Troppo because I had so much fun typing the report and hopefully people got a laugh out of it
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