A feast for the eyes at Bango

[Kunama]

With the likelihood of rain for the NewMoon weekend in Yass/Canberra area Phil and I decided to go out to Bango for a 6 hour Sky Tour....

I set up the 18" F5.8 Dob with its new 3" secondary while Phil set up the 120mm Astro Physics to play with until the Mewlon300 cooled down.

Once the Mewlon got closer to ambient we started working down my list of targets ranging from the very easy and bright to some fairly faint stuff.
We used a mixture of eyepieces including the Nagler 26T5, TS40ED, Nagler 17T4, Nagler 13T6, Nagler 7T6, Delos 14 & 6 as well as Takahashi LE40 & 12.5 & 7.5

The seeing was a bit variable but the more annoying thing for me was the gusty wind that meant the Dob was limited to around 200x for most of the evening with only occasional moments of 340x and 425x.

Targets for the night included:

Planets: Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto
Messiers: 2, 7, 8, 15, 31, 32, 33, 42, 43, 45, etc
NGC: 55, 104, 253, 292, 300, 362, 1316, 1851, 2070, 4755, 5128, 5139, 7293, 7662 etc

as well as Saturn's moons Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys and Enceladus and a few obscure things that Phil found on SS5Pro...

With all those visual delicacies on offer I still find it hard to beat NGC104 (47Tuc) , we viewed it at 98x, 148x, 182x, 340x and 425x in the 18" :thumbsup:

[rrussell1962]

Nice to see that somebody is getting out! Solid cloud here ever since I fitted ServoCAT to the Obsession last week - works nicely indoors though.

[Tropo-Bob]

Sounds like U had a good evening Matt. I enjoyed reading your report.

For most of us, viewing 47 Tuc never gets stale!

As for me, I have been plagued by smoke and now rain in what I normally think of as the best time of the year for observing. :shrug:

[Tinderboxsky]

I enjoyed your report too, Matt. Observing in company adds another dimension to the experience.

Tuc 47 is certainly a visual magnet. Another globular cluster that I enjoy revisiting regularly is NGC 6752 in Pavo. I find it a striking bright, dense cluster with a spray of sparking yellow stars across the face of the cluster. This is using a 140mm refractor - I have not had the opportunity to observe the cluster through a large aperture. I would be interested in your thoughts if you get the opportunity. Of course, nearby is the large galaxy NGC 6744 to gaze upon.

[Kunama]

Thanks guys, hoping to get a few hours in on Wednesday as well.
Steve, I thought it strange that 6752 and 6744 hadn't been on my lists till I realised that I tend to use their Caldwell numbers (93 & 101) ....
Phil and I have viewed them both on a number of occasions, especially 6752 at up to 510x...

[gaseous]

You’re spot on Steve - NGC6752 through a large aperture (16” in my case) is a stunning target.

[ausastronomer]

I couldn't agree more. A stunning target in any telescope over 6" aperture under dark clear skies. I would probably put this about 4th on my favourite globular list behind NGC104, NGC5139 and M22. 3rd place is tight between NGC6752, NGC6397 and M22.



Matt,

Fortunately I was observing these targets for a few decades before Sir Patrick came up with his Catalogue and I only ever reference any target by it's NGC number. That to me is a good thing because when Moore leaves an exceptional target like NGC2808 off his list, and includes several very bread and butter targets it tells me he didn't put the research in that he should have, or didn't observe 1/2 the targets on his list. That having been said I do like O'Mearas book on the Caldwell Catalogue.

Cheers
John B

[bigjoe]

My personal Favorite Steve ..N6752 Mag 5.4 and 20" in size just ahead of M22 at Mag 5.1 and 32 secs of arc ; which seems to resolve well in very small apertures.. e.g.100 ED or 90mm SW Mak and 19mm Pan.
bigjoe