Observing at Snake Valley: 8 March 2008

goober (Doug) · #1 10-03-2008, 09:32 PM

Snake Valley - 8 March 2008

My wife and I drove up to Snake Valley on the Saturday afternoon. We installed ourselves in a cottage about 15km from the camp, and set off to find it - no guarantee! We drifted in around 3:30pm - scopes set up everywhere, but absolutely no-one in sight!

I returned around 8pm, just as darkness was falling. Conditions weren't great - a layer of high cloud had followed us around all day, and it was still there. Still, gaps were appearing and I set up the baby refractor next to Fortress Eric.

I found Ken covered in cables, and introduced myself. I drifted along and found Phil of the Eyepieces (see my report on his Ethos in my scope in February), who introduced me to Steve (big Tak Mewlon) and Tim (I think... I hope, lovely homebuilt truss 16" dob). I spotted a 4.5" Tasco and figured that had to be Rob's from Bright, but didn't find him until much later in the evening.

There were a few mutters about the clouds, mainly from me! It wasn't helped by the enthusiastic descriptions of the great conditions they'd had the previous (Friday) night.

Gaps were appearing in the sky, and it was looking promising. I wanted to push my scope and dig out galaxies in Leo and beyond. No chance of that happening - clouds just wouldn't cooperate, and Phil was bouncing around with his new 26mm Nagler T5 that he picked up off Starkler. He said it would be great in my scope, and he was right, damn him. 20x, 4 degree FOV, dark skies - it was fabulous.

So, with what appeared to be a black and green pineapple stuck in my scope, and the balance hauled all the way back, Phil and I swept around as the cloud allowed:

Mimosa (not Bcrux!), 4755, Iota Crucis, Lambda Crucis - lovely view, easily encompassed with change. The carbon star tucked in against Mimosa seems to have dimmed in the past month.

Eta Carinae and 3293 or 3532 - take your pick, Eta and one cluster. Either pair of objects framed nicely in the field of view. The backdrop of milky way stars was stunning.

Sweeping around Orion - Crux/Carina clouded over so we swung over to Orion, just framing Alnitak to Iota. It was then I realised just how sharp the field was across the four degrees. Nebulosity was all over the place - I could even make out the dark lanes that separate 2023 from 2024 (I though this was an illusion but I saw it again easily the next night). I then studied the 1977 and could see dark lanes in there too - hints of the Running Man? I could have spent 30 minutes drinking this view, but ... clouds!

Musca - we swung back over to pick out the Musca globs 4833 (bright, Phil suggested at the edge of resolution, I didn't see it) and 4372 (duller, but definitely there - I don't see it from Melbourne).

Open Clusters - Phil swung up to 5617, I think, right between the Pointers. Rather innocuous cluster. I went into the Coal Sack and dug out 4609, which was a pleasing cluster.

Omega Centaurii - why not, right next door. Fantastic view at 20x. What I wasn't prepared for was the context of a four degree FOV - it is amazing. The wider field really highlights just how flattened Omega Centaurii is, especially down one side I wasn't prepared for that.

Large Magellanic Cloud - probably my most memorable view with the 26mm Nagler. Basically photo-esque views of the spine, just riddled with bright, fuzzy knots. You could trace it from the Tarantula right down to Beta and Mu Mensae.

Around this time the 26T5 was reclaimed, with me gnashing my teeth and mentally redesigning the eyepiece case (26T5, Ethos, 7T6, etc). Still, I think the scope rebalancing would get old real fast, and I'm positive I'll take out the 2" eyepiece and drop a 1.25" straight onto my diagonal one careless night. I'll keep plugging with my 1.25" eyepieces for a bit longer.

I nearly forgot, but a Pentax 30mm XW also found it's way into my scope. Frankly, while a fine eyepiece, it just made me want to put the Nagler back in. There was also a bit of distortion near the field edge that I didn't see with the Nagler.

Phil, his eyepiece taunting work done, packed his horns and forked tail away and went to observe with Steve. I spent the rest of the evening oscillating between various scopes for a peek.

Saturn - nice and steady in my scope. Tim (?) had it in his 16" so I went over for a peek. Surprised to say my view held up very well against the 16". Certainly more detail in the 16", clearer banding, a few more satellites, etc, but I was happy with the view from my scope.

Eta Carinae - viewed through the Tak Mewlon. Very, very nice view of the homunculous. I could see a dark, needle like shard shooting into one of the lobes, and both lobes showed ragged structure.

NGC 4945 - viewed through the 4". Xi Centaurii was naked eye, so I put the scope right on it and the galaxy jumped out at me. Very easy to see it. Viewed at 49x, appeared to run NE/SW. Seemed to be some lumpy detail in this object, but it was difficult to assess due to the variable conditions.

Leo Galaxies - there was a gap in the clouds near Regulus, so I swung over and put the scope where I thought 53 Leonis would be. Two bright galaxies were in the eyepiece at 24x, but it clouded out before I could confirm what they were (I'm assuming M95/M96, but not sure).

Around midnight it had totally clouded over, apart from the low west where Orion was setting. A few there packed up and were heading back to Melbourne. The cloud wasn't moving, I was yawning, so I decided to follow suit and pack it in for the night.

I gazed at my list of around 60 objects I'd wanted to view over the weekend, and found I'd crossed off one of them (NGC 4945). Hmm, bit of work to do on night two at Snake Valley!

Starkler (Geoff) · #2 10-03-2008, 09:57 PM

Great to see the ole nagler getting a bit of use after living most of its last year in its box

erick (Eric) · #3 10-03-2008, 10:08 PM

Doug, let me be a real horrible person and tell you that by about 1am the sky cleared and remained that way for the rest of the night!

Those that remained had a splendid time!

ngcles · #4 11-03-2008, 12:06 AM

Hi Doug & All,

Excellent report -- much enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time to write it all up. I'll get to Pt 2 in a moment ...

You wrote:

"Bcrux, 4755, Iota Crucis, Lambda Crucis - lovely view ..."

Grrrr ... The mere mention of that name (Becrux -- and Garcrux too) though both are unfortunately really wide-spread is enough to make my blood boil! Beta Crucis actually has a "proper" name that is sadly too often forgotten or neglected. It is Mimosa. Everybody got it!

Now, repeat after me: Mim-o-sa. See, easy isn't it!

You wrote:

"Phil was bouncing around with his new 26mm Nagler T5 that he picked up off Starkler. He said it would be great in my scope, and he was right, damn him. 20x, 4 degree FOV, dark skies - it was fabulous."

My word yes, the 26mm T5 is a totally stunning piece of glass in any telescope.

You wrote:

"I nearly forgot, but a Pentax 30mm XW also found it's way into my scope. Frankly, while a fine eyepiece, it just made me want to put the Nagler back in."

There are devotees on either side of the Nagler/Pentax fence and both are clearly extremely high quality glass and give superb views. The preference of one over the other really comes down to personal choice -- but I'm on the same side of the fence as you!

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

goober (Doug) · #5 11-03-2008, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngcles

"Bcrux, 4755, Iota Crucis, Lambda Crucis - lovely view ..."

Grrrr ... The mere mention of that name (Becrux -- and Garcrux too) though both are unfortunately really wide-spread is enough to make my blood boil! Beta Crucis actually has a "proper" name that is sadly too often forgotten or neglected. It is Mimosa. Everybody got it!

Now, repeat after me: Mim-o-sa. See, easy isn't it!

Les, you're right. I'll be more disciplined ... keep at me. Every time I look in the eyepiece now I mentally work out which way's north (from my "west only" sketch of Sirius a couple of weeks ago).

goober (Doug) · #6 11-03-2008, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erick

Doug, let me be a real horrible person and tell you that by about 1am the sky cleared and remained that way for the rest of the night!

Those that remained had a splendid time!

Eric, that's great! Apart from low west, it wasn't looking good at midnight.

PhilW · #7 11-03-2008, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober

... a Pentax 30mm XW also found it's way into my scope. Frankly, while a fine eyepiece, it just made me want to put the Nagler back in. There was also a bit of distortion near the field edge that I didn't see with the Nagler.

We tried both the 26 T5 and Stephen's Pentax XW 30 in a couple of different scopes that night. There was a bit of scope to scope variation as always happens, but the general conclusion was that they are both great wide-field eyepieces, and most observers would be very happy with either one.

I am a great admirer of Pentax eyepieces, but the reason I went for the Nagler at the end of the day was mainly because of exit pupil considerations. The Nagler has a 5.6mm exit pupil in my 14", whereas the Pentax produces a 6.5mm exit pupil - just a touch too big for my average-sized eyes. And if it's good for taunting Doug with, then so much the better

.

It was a great few days at Snake Valley & we got our fill of galaxies in the Leo cluster. And Mimosa was looking splendid (I hear you, Les!).

Phil

Starkler (Geoff) · #8 11-03-2008, 10:26 AM

Phil I know you were tossing up between the two so I'm glad that you're happy with your choice

Rob_K · #9 11-03-2008, 11:39 AM

Great report Doug, and good to meet you even if it was very briefly under cloudy skies! Yes, as Eric said they did clear up on Sat night, and by my estimation they were roughly a magnitude darker than Friday night, although the seeing was not as good. Lots of little galaxies that were barely or not visible on Fri popped easily into view on Sat in my little scope... But it sounds like you also got magnificent skies on Sunday night!

Cheers -

§AB · #10 12-03-2008, 03:00 PM

nice report yet again Doug. Shame about those freaking UNWELCOME clouds

There's nothing more infuriating than seeing clouds after a 150km drive to a once-a-year dark sky observing oppurtunity. Those 2 galaxies you saw near 53 Leonis before the airborne s%&! moved in were definately M95 and M96.\

Quote:

Originally Posted by erick

Doug, let me be a real horrible person and tell you that by about 1am the sky cleared and remained that way for the rest of the night!

Those that remained had a splendid time!

lol that ALWAYS seems to happen right after I pack all my stuff in

Stephen65 · #11 13-03-2008, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Doug, let me be a real horrible person and tell you that by about 1am the sky cleared and remained that way for the rest of the night! http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....milies/doh.gifThose that remained had a splendid time! http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....es/happy19.gif

I knew that would happen, it always does, but it won't clear till I have packed up and driven halfway home...