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Old 09-01-2011, 01:43 PM
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michaellxv (Michael)
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Obs report 8/1/11

Last night was the first club night for the year. Skippysky forecast was coudy at the 10:30pm image and clear by 1am image. I was going anyway.

As I left home the sky was already beginning to clear so I had hopes of a good night. As I approached Willunga there was a thick cloud bank pearched on top of the ridge. I was driving through cloud over the top of Willunga hill, things didn't look so good any more. I arrived at the site with a thick covering of cloud.

Not to be detered we waited and by about 11pm the sky was clear enough to get a look. I went straight for the 'elusive' NGC1808 & 1792.

10" Lightbridge, 26mm & 15mm EP

NGC1808 & 1792
I hopped around through now familiar star paterns to where it should be and there they were both in the FOV of the 26mm. I put in the 15mm for a closer look.

NGC1808 positioned inside a trpaezium shape of four stars. It appeared brighter in the center and overall had an elongated oval shape.

NGC1792 had a more even brightness over the whole galaxy and was slightly broader on its short axis.

I couldn't see anything in the way of finer structure but I was just happy to find them.

M42
First look through the 10" from a dark site and I was not disappointed. I could see just as much more again as the 10" revealed from home. The big bright wings I could see from home now came around to complete the loop. Inside this area was clear but fainter nebulosity. Fine structure could be seen throughout.

With the 15mm I caught brief glimpses of the E & F stars in the trapezium.

SMC
I took Patrick's SMC charts for a spin over the SMC. They proved very useful to identify areas of interest. I didn't get past chart 1 there is so much to look at. I didn't take detailed notes but will certainely be back.

About 12:30-1am the clouds came back, we waited for a while but there was no sign of it clearing soon so we packed up. On the way home it was clear sky once I was back over Willunga Hill but the wind was terrible. i was too tired to set up again at home.
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Old 10-01-2011, 08:12 PM
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Hi Michael, glad persistence paid off and you got some viewing in.
Were you able to see the Running Man nebula in Orion? I haven't seen it yet- I'm guessing it's one for a dark site. Thank you for the report.
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Old 10-01-2011, 08:51 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
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Suzy
Re: the Running man (NGC 1977) I got this from my backyard in Colac which has some LP and some transparency issues. The UHC filter helped.
I found the technique is to let you eye drift from M43 toward the line of 3 stars, the brightest part of the neb is closest to M43. The actual man shape is quite hard but with resaonable skies a 10" should get it. Also keep trying, I tried for several nights before I was confident I was seeing it, apparently with seeing, practice makes perfect!

Last edited by barx1963; 10-01-2011 at 09:07 PM.
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Old 10-01-2011, 09:01 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Skippy skies, a knowledge of local weather patterns, and a good gut feeling are invaluble in our hobby. Sounds like the stuff of a satisfying session.
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Old 10-01-2011, 09:06 PM
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Many thanks Malcolm!
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Old 10-01-2011, 09:39 PM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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Good to hear that you had a good night, Michael. I find 1808 and 1792 quite elusive as well, I think because they are a far way from the brighter stars of the constellation. Also at this time of year they tend to be in Dobson's hole a fair bit of the time. I got them both the other night but got so frustrated chasing them around the zenith I only did notes on one. They look good in the same FOV though.

Glad you found the charts helpful with the SMC. There is certainly a lot to look at there.
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Old 10-01-2011, 10:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzy View Post
Hi Michael, glad persistence paid off and you got some viewing in.
Were you able to see the Running Man nebula in Orion? I haven't seen it yet- I'm guessing it's one for a dark site. Thank you for the report.
I haven't specifically gone looking for it yet, but I must have a try.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mental4astro View Post
Skippy skies, a knowledge of local weather patterns, and a good gut feeling are invaluble in our hobby. Sounds like the stuff of a satisfying session.
It's quite a good site, the surrounding hills seem to keep the clouds at bay rather well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
Good to hear that you had a good night, Michael. I find 1808 and 1792 quite elusive as well, I think because they are a far way from the brighter stars of the constellation. Also at this time of year they tend to be in Dobson's hole a fair bit of the time. I got them both the other night but got so frustrated chasing them around the zenith I only did notes on one. They look good in the same FOV though.

Glad you found the charts helpful with the SMC. There is certainly a lot to look at there.
It was quite difficult to work out which way I should tilt/turn the dob to get where I wanted and when to do the complete flip through zenith. I found chasing down 1 or 2 objects just as or more satisfying than ticking off a list of a dozen items.
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