#1  
Old 21-01-2020, 11:35 PM
GUS.K's Avatar
GUS.K (Ivan)
Registered User

GUS.K is online now
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Medlow Bath
Posts: 553
Quasar in Pictor.

Had success tonight spotting the Quasar ( HE 0515-4414) in Pictor with a Red shift of Z=1.713 (Light travel time of 9.8 billion Light years). Attempted it last night but clouds rolled in before I had a chance to spot it. Seeing was okay tonight but skyglow from Sydney(100 km's away) was pretty bad in the eastern part of the sky. It is around magnitude 15 and was spotted with direct vision through my 18 inch scope with a 13mm (153x) and 9mm (220x) eyepiece. Other highlights from tonight were Eta Carina with the two lobes and the skirt of ejected material between them clearly visible and Sirius B easily seen with low power(not a challenge for the 18) but looked really nice.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 22-01-2020, 06:57 AM
mental4astro's Avatar
mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
What a nice report, Ivan

I did not know about the Pictor Quasar. Busy star field around it?

The Skirt around Eta Carina I spotted for the first time not too long ago. I never imagined it was even possible, but there it was in a very good 10" Cassegrain. It left me gobsmacked! Poor conditions for so long has prevented me from examining & doing a scope-side sketch of it. I'm keen as mustard to have a crack at it and the Nebula again from up in the 'Mountains.

Have you tried for the fainter members of the Trapezium, Trap. G, H1, H2 & I? Needs good seeing to distinguish the various components because of the big variation in magnitude between the close-set stars. The cluster responds well to high magnification.

Alex.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 22-01-2020, 07:39 AM
Tinderboxsky's Avatar
Tinderboxsky (Steve)
I can see clearly now ...

Tinderboxsky is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Kingston TAS
Posts: 1,031
I enjoyed your report Ivan. Thanks for posting.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 22-01-2020, 02:26 PM
GUS.K's Avatar
GUS.K (Ivan)
Registered User

GUS.K is online now
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Medlow Bath
Posts: 553
Thanks Alex and Steve. Alex, the quasar is not too far from Canopus, so it's a relatively rich field. I used Simbad for the data and Wikisky to make up a few charts at different scales and was able to find it reasonably quick with a few star hops from Canopus. It's not much to look at, being a very faint object among many faint stars, but just understanding what you are seeing and the enormous distance and time involved makes tracking it down worth the effort.
Regarding Eta Carina, I was sure you saw the skirt through my 18 inch scope a few years back at the Hat hill rd observing site.
I have never really tried looking for the fainter trap stars, have seen A to F in a 5 inch refractor, might give the fainter ones a go tonight if seeing is good( another supposedly clear night tonight as well).
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 07:33 PM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement