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Old 21-10-2009, 06:13 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

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Observation Report Snake Valley Camp 16-17 October

Snake Valley this time was a mix of very good skies and very bad. On Friday night (16th) we had an hour or so of decent skies from full dark until the high clouds then mizzle settled in about 11pm.
Only managed to do a bit of planetary work. All planet positions were worked out before leaving for the camp and plotted in Uranometria.

Uranus (Location RA 23h 37' Dec -3deg 21') Star hopped from triple star asterism Phi Aquarii, then 92,90and 96 Aquarii then scanned west until located. low power EP (47x) showed a pale aqua colour, disc not readily discernable. Medium power 13mm EP (115x) shoed a nice disc with clearly defined edges. Attempted to use higher powers, however poor transparency did not improve view.

Neptune (Location RA 21h 44' 26" Dec -14deg 2' 22") Located Delta and Gamma Capricorni. Then moved north to triple asterism formed by 45,44 and 42 Capricornii (all about 6 mag) Planet was located just west of 42 forming a triangle with 42 and 44. Disc barely discernable at 115x. Blue colour very evident.

Minor Planet 3 Juno.(Location RA 23h 46' Dec -8deg 43') Located wide double Omega Aquarii. Star hopped via several 6th mag stars until located double star at RA 23h 47' Dec -9deg. Both components approx 7th mag. Juno forms a long isosceles triangle with these 2 stars with tow fainter stars further to the west. Faint point of light probably about 8th mag.

On Saturday night (17th) we had persistent cloud all afternoon with tempting holes. Cloud persisted until about 10pm then started to clear. Conditions from 11pm until about 2am were very clear with periods of excellent seeing and transparency)

M31 Large extended nebulosity beyond bright compact core. No spiral structure evident. Observation made with some light pollution evident due to low position on horizon. Located Alpha Andromedae in corner of square of Pegasus. Moved NE via Delta and Pi Andromedae then Beta and Mu Andromedae. Galaxy located NW of Mu Andromedae.

M32 Round compact glow SE of core of M31. Nor resolvable with high power ( up to 167x) otherwise could be mistaken for a globular cluster

M110 Faint nebulosity extended north-south located north of M31. Considerably larger than M32 but much fainter. Averted vision suggested some evidence of structure.

M33 Located Alpha Trianguli with reference to Beta Andromedae. Moved west with low power EP until faint glow was detected. Higher power 115x brought out some evidence of spiral structure which was very clear with averted vision. Very large with bright extended core.

M74 Located Alpha and Beta Arietis then hopped to Eta Piscii via Gamma Arietis. Located 6th mag double star to NE of Eta Piscii. M74 is located approx half way between these two stars. Large face on spiral. Some evidence of spiral structure to north of core.

M42 Easily located in Orion. First time viewing with aperture larger than 200mm. Very bright with much evidence of structure. Trails of dark dust evident to south of central part of nebulosity. Trapezium stars very evident at 115x. Easily located stars E and F without averted vision. Use of UHC filter dramatically increased contrast.

M43 Small but very bright to north of M42. Rounded on one side. Some structure evident

M34 Located Gamma Andromedae and Beta Persii (Algol) both visible about 5deg above horizon. Located faint cluster in finder scope about half way between these 2 stars and slightly north. Loose cluster of bright stars fill inner third of FOV at 115x

Other objects observed but no notes taken included Jupiter, NGC 2070 (Tarantula Nebula) All observations made using 300mm GSO Dobsonian focal length 1500mm.

Last edited by barx1963; 21-10-2009 at 10:55 PM.
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Old 21-10-2009, 11:18 PM
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ngcles
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Snake Valley report

Hi Malcolm,

Very nice report. Looks like you made hay while ... well while it was dark anyway.

Well done in particular in seeing spiral structure in M74 -- a tough assignment and I've always found it a difficult target to see much detail in. Though NGC 2997 and M74 are very similar in so many ways, it is much easier to see spiral arms there than M74. Maybe it has to do with the elevation it reaches in our skies?

As a matter of interest, what are your thoughts on the Snake Valley site? How dark is it? Sounds like you all had a great time -- and when it boils down to it, that's what its all about!

Thanks for posting your observations much enjoyed .


Best,

Les D
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Old 22-10-2009, 12:50 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

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Thanks for the comments Les. I was rapt with the M74 ob. Had tried several times before at home but LP defeated me. Tried again last night now I know where and what I am looking for, but still cannot see it here. I think seeing the spiral was actally helped by being faint, sometimes big objects are almost too bright to see structure effectively. A fellow observer using a 16" Lightbridge confirmed being able to see the structure as well.
It was nice getting the 3 Andromeda Messiers. First time for me as they are blocked by trees etc at my place.
Snake valley has very nice dark skies for a site so close to Melbourne. As it is only half an hour from Ballarat, it would be only be 1.5 hours away for many Melbournians. There is some glow from Ballarat itself but as several objects (M31, M32, M110, M42, M43) where in the sky in that direction and I was still able to observe them, its isn't too bad. There is a road nearby, so headlights can be a bother. Have noticed that many of the imaging guys are less worried about lights than us visual types and the majority of attendees are imagers.

Thanks again
Malcolm B.
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Old 22-10-2009, 01:28 PM
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erick (Eric)
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Great observation report Malcolm. I was flitting around making nuisance of myself and you were hard at work - well done!

When I get my new dob, I'm heading down towards the far fence, wet ground permitting, to get away from the imaging village. I'll just visit them from time to time.
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Old 22-10-2009, 01:57 PM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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Interesting report Malcolm. I like the way you include star hopping steps. Reckon M74 might be on my list for tonight. Hmmm...
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Old 22-10-2009, 04:39 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

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Paddy
Thanks for that, I enjoy working out the star hopping and find it useful to record for my own purposes so I can revisit or check later to confirm I have found the right object.
Eric
Glad you thought I was hard at work, I was really just having fun and being envious of Peter and Paddys 16" scopes! I may well join you at the fence. I enjoy having imagers around but they do generate a bit of light which is not always helpful when trying to see targets like M74!
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