Adelaide 21/4/2015

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

What a fantastic night of observing!

Conditions were cool, cloudless and still, which made the cool temperatures much more bearable.

The evening started with all the usual, easy to find bright stuff, all looking glorious. One of my son's faves, The Tarantula Nebula was easily found and we were able to resolve much more detail than on previous obs.

I've been determined to observe the southern pinwheel galaxy, and I have in the past been able to spot it through binos, but get lost with the viewfinder. I had planned my starhop a bit better and was able to find my target area much better, but the extremely low face-on brightness and the small scope meant that I just couldn't see it. Looking through binos confirmed that it was unseeable. Undeterred, I started hunting for 2 other DSO's in our prime viewing area.

Centaurus A was fairly easily found, and using a little bit of imagination, we could see some of the brightness that can normally be seen in AP shots.

Next, I hunted around for M104 knowing that edge-on galaxies provide just a little more brightness over a smaller area. I hunted around with the binos first, and picked a couple of areas of brightness in the target area. Then I moved to the scope, and on the second attempt, there it was! I was prepared for it to be faint, but I was stunned at how small it was! I guess we were really only seeing the brightest part of it.

After the excitement had died down, we went inside for a cuppa while we waited for Saturn to come up. I didn't mind killing my dark adapted eyes, as I was happy with the results for the night.

After Saturn I went after a couple of clusters. NGC2156 in Carina, M4 and NGC6231 in Scorpius. All 3, amazing.

I've been amazed at the progress we've made with this little 150mm Dobsonian scope.

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

How do you find the Tarantula nebula? I get lost even before I look to the skies!

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff

How do you find the Tarantula nebula? I get lost even before I look to the skies!

Under good skies, you should be able to find the Large Magellanic Cloud with the naked eye. Then use your finderscope to scan around the outside edge of it, and you should be able to make out a fuzzy. Then you just need to use the scope to find it.

It's really faint, conditions and dark adaptation will need to be quite good, but stick at it.

Oh, and make sure you look at some Hubble quality pics, so you know what sort of shape you are looking for.

Good luck!

EDIT: I found a good link to a sketch, that resembles what you might see http://www.docdb.net/img/dso/ngc/2/n...treicher_2.jpg

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

Originally Posted by BeanerSA

It's really faint, conditions and dark adaptation will need to be quite good, but stick at it.

Oh, and make sure you look at some Hubble quality pics, so you know what sort of shape you are looking for.

Good luck!

EDIT: I found a good link to a sketch, that resembles what you might see http://www.docdb.net/img/dso/ngc/2/n...treicher_2.jpg

I had a look at some hubble photos and they definitely helped. It didn't take too long to find, but it was extremely faint. I had to use peripheral vision to see it.

Tonight was good for me. I got to see the nebula and clear views of both Saturn and Jupiter. It's so exciting being able to see Jupiter's rings! Haha although I have to admit that I thought it was Venus before I used my scope

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff

I had a look at some hubble photos and they definitely helped. It didn't take too long to find, but it was extremely faint. I had to use peripheral vision to see it.

You've seen it nonetheless, and now you are wiser about the night sky.

[deanm (Dean)]

Jupiter's rings, eh?!

You should alert NASA!

Dean

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

Originally Posted by deanm

Jupiter's rings, eh?!

You should alert NASA!

Dean

Haha *insert sacrasm* I'm sure you know what I mean. It's "belts" then.

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by deanm

Jupiter's rings, eh?!

You should alert NASA!

Dean

Originally Posted by BilliGoatsGruff

Haha *insert sacrasm* I'm sure you know what I mean. It's "belts" then.

Well, it does have a ring, but it's tiny. And you probably can't see it with amateur gear.

[BilliGoatsGruff (Billi)]

Originally Posted by BeanerSA

Well, it does have a ring, but it's tiny. And you probably can't see it with amateur gear.

Hahaha wouldn't it be nice if we could though?

[deanm (Dean)]

Yes, Jupiter does have a ring system, but it is waaaaay too faint for even the biggest aperture amateur gear to visualise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Jupiter

Dean