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Old 05-12-2010, 12:41 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
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Observing Report 3/12/10

Well finally made it out on a half decent night, the last few months have been frustrating to say the least, not many obs, spent a bit of time visiting old favs, managed to get E and F stars in the Trapezium, saw the Running Man, etc before knocking of a few new targets as detailed below.

Observing Report 3/12/10

All observations made using Dobsonion mounted 305mm Newtonian reflector at f/5. Eyepieces use are 34mm Meade 4000(44x) 24mm Panoptic (67x) 13mm Nagler T6 (115x) or 13mm Nagler with Barlow (230x)

Charts - Uranometria 2000 (2nd ed.) Data derived from Uranometria (2nd ed) Deep Sky Field Guide.

Observations 3/12. Seeing good, transparency fair, skies clear but some minor smoke haze due to DSE burnoffs.

NGC 936 Galaxy in Cetus
RA 02 27 37.0 Dec -01 09 19 Mag(V) 10.1 Dim’ 4.7x4.1 SB 13.2 Class SB(rs)0+
Locate Delta Ceti by naked eye. M77 lies about 1deg of this star. Moved about 2deg to Sp to 75 Ceti (mag 5) then a mag 7 star lies about 1.25deg slight N of p. Gx is detectable as a diffuse glow 30’ o S. Obvious core with a faint outer envelope. In low power EP there is a group of 4 stars which lie to N of the galaxy that appear to form a question mark shape with the galaxy as the ‘dot’.

NGC 1662 Open Cluster in Orion
RA 04 48 29.0 Dec +10 56 00 Mag 6.4 Diam’ 12 No. of Stars 59 Mag Brightest Star 9.0 Type cl Open Cluster
About 1deg 45’ to Np of mag 4 star 7 Orionis. Only about 12 stars directly observable but many more suggested by averted vision. Appears in 2 groups larger group on p side of cluster forms a “circlet”. Only 2 bright stars in f group. 1 star in larger group has a hint of red colour.

NGC 1535 Planetary Nebula in Eridanus (Ghost of Neptune)
RA 04 14 15.8 Dec -12 44 21 Mag(V) 9.6 Diam” 51 Mag Cent Star 12.1
From Gamma Eridani a line of 3 mag 6 stars 2.5deg long aligned EW lies about 1deg to N. Target lies about 2.5deg to f of f star of this line. Fairly large and discernable at 44x as a disc. Little obvious structure or colour. Very round, edge appeared slightly fuzzy at high power.

NGC 1647 Open Cluster in Taurus
RA 04 45 42.2 Dec +19 07 00 Mag 6.4 Diam ‘ 40 No. of Stars 200 Mag Brightest Star 9.0 Type cl Open Cluster
Very large estimate 100+ members, fills field at 67x. Nice pretty open cluster with no abvious concentration of stars

NGC 1746 Open Cluster in Taurus
RA 05 03 36.0 Dec +23 49 00 Mag 6.1 Diam ‘ 40 No. of Stars 20 Mag Brightest Star 8.0 Type cl Open Cluster

Estimate 40+ stars from visual. Very loose cluster, needed only 44x to see entire cluster. At high power just didn’t appear to be a cluster

Malcolm
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Old 06-12-2010, 07:58 PM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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Nice report Malcolm and some lovely OCs there. Hope you get some clear skies for more soon, but it ain't looking promising.
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Old 07-12-2010, 09:44 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

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Thanks Paddy, the observing has come to a shuddering halt since Friday, so this one little report may be all I have to show for a while as I going to hospital next week to have my dodgy foot operated on. Hopoefully should be OK to get some eyepiece time at the next new moon, but with feet you never can tell.
Anyways thanks for your comments and enjoyed reading your LMC report. I will print it out and try to follow it in Uranometria, at least get some vicarious observing done!

Malcolm
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Old 07-12-2010, 11:53 PM
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Great obs Malcolm good to see you back in action. What magnification did you use on NGC 1535? This baby can take whatever you throw at it, it is fantastic at high power. To me, it is a nice greenish colour.

Good job despite the DSE's best efforts to ruin (as per usual) what little clear nights we have.
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Old 08-12-2010, 06:59 AM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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Good luck with the surgery Malcolm. Hope you recover swiftly and well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by barx1963 View Post
Thanks Paddy, the observing has come to a shuddering halt since Friday, so this one little report may be all I have to show for a while as I going to hospital next week to have my dodgy foot operated on. Hopoefully should be OK to get some eyepiece time at the next new moon, but with feet you never can tell.
Anyways thanks for your comments and enjoyed reading your LMC report. I will print it out and try to follow it in Uranometria, at least get some vicarious observing done!

Malcolm
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Old 09-12-2010, 10:01 AM
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ngcles
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Thought you'd see a bit more in NGC 1535

Hi Malcolm & All

Quote:
Originally Posted by barx1963 View Post
NGC 1535 Planetary Nebula in Eridanus (Ghost of Neptune)
RA 04 14 15.8 Dec -12 44 21 Mag(V) 9.6 Diam” 51 Mag Cent Star 12.1
From Gamma Eridani a line of 3 mag 6 stars 2.5deg long aligned EW lies about 1deg to N. Target lies about 2.5deg to f of f star of this line. Fairly large and discernable at 44x as a disc. Little obvious structure or colour. Very round, edge appeared slightly fuzzy at high power.
Very good report as usual mate but I'd encourage you to have another go at NGC 1535. Personally I'd never heard the moniker "Ghost of Neptune" before and the only one I knew of was the "Eye of Cleopatra" -- no matter, as you know I've a peculiar and acute aversion to "common" names anyway.

But, I'd have thought (given the conditions) you'd see more in this excellent planetary nebula that really comes alive in apertures >10". I've got a sketch at home (somewhere) with my 31cm in 1999 that shows quite a bit of the detail in my observation notes reproduced below that were taken in 2006 with 46cm at Bargo under a "nearly dark" sky with seeing I rated at 7/10:

x185, x317, x371 (Unfiltered, UHC & OIII)

This is a very bright and lovely simple disc (double-shell) PNe that responds strongly to the use of the UHC and OIII filters, but is probably the most aesthetically pleasing unfiltered in this aperture in these conditions. A circular outer disc about 60" diameter with very diffuse looking edges that grows evenly and slightly to centre. Then there is a strong and abrupt boundary that jumps up in brightness to the inner disc that is 20" diameter -- much brighter that then within the inner disc generally dims weakly to the central * and containing some tiny (<3" dia) slightly darker patches within and a very small dim area just surrounding the central star at magnitude 12. Beautiful smoky-blue colour in the outer halo and brighter cyan/blue in the inner halo without the filter. Best at x317 unfiltered. A mag 13 * is in the outskirts 2/3rds of the way to edge on the W.

So I'd encourage you to give it another go. It is one of my favourite summer PNe.


Best,

Les D
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Old 09-12-2010, 07:21 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

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Thanks Les
The smoke haze probably affected the view, I should be able to have another go and see what I can see.
The Ghost of Neptune come from Stephen O'Meara's "Hidden Treasures", he also uses the Eye of Cleopatra moniker. O'Meara does tend to add his own monikers to objects, some of which only he uses! I would prefer not to use them but many people relate to them, so I often include them in my reports.

Malcolm
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