Moonlit Night Sights

[EpickCrom]

G'day fellow astronomers! After what seemed like an eternity of cloudy nights, we finally got a clear night ( well partial clear night) over here in Perth. The waxing gibbous moon was up but I gotta take what's given. Out came the 10 inch dob for some quality time.

Started in the constellation of Gemini in search of the Eskimo Nebula NGC 2392. I have observed this wonderful planetary nebula before, but this time I wanted to hit it with higher magnification then I've used on it before. I used my 5mm eyepiece barlowed to give me 480x. At this power the central star was easily visible with the nebulosity surrounding it appearing a light green. A wonderful sight.

I cruised around Centaurus next, stopping at Alpha Centauri first. Both stars in this closest of doubles to earth looked magnificent at 100x, shining brightly with a delicious light golden colour. I moved to open cluster NGC 5617, a fairly rich cluster, though rather muted by my light pollution in suburban Perth plus the light of the moon. There is another nice open cluster near by, NGC 5606. This is an interesting cluster, small, compact and moderately rich. I have dubbed it the "Syringe Cluster" due to its shape:rofl:

Some clouds were starting to rear their ugly heads so I quickly turned my attention to near by Circinus. Got a Squiz of Alpha Circini, a beautiful double star. Close to Alpha Circini is an asterisk that I've never seen before. It looks like an elongated arrow. At the tip of this "arrow" lies the double star CO Circini. Please check this out if you can as I found it to be quite an interesting asterism.

Clouds were coming and going so I decided to pack it in, early start at work the next morning. Not a bad 45 min session despite the moonlight. Clear skies to you all;)

Joe

[AdamJL]

Wonderful report, Joe

Thanks for sharing

[EpickCrom]

No worries Adam, glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reading:thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Thanks for sharing Joe! Your reports are always such wonderful reads!! :thumbsup:

[EpickCrom]

Thank you Dave! Wishing you clear skies.

[ngcles]

Hi Joe & All,



Enjoyed your report Joe. When it's both dark and top-notch seeing, you'll find me looking at virtually all the PNe available. The difference between very good and great seeing reveals a wealth of detail in some objects.

I remember fondly a night in late February around 15 years ago with the 18" when we had a rare night of magnificent seeing down at a southern highlands site we used regularly and I spent most of the night on PNe.

Particularly notable was NGC 2392 in Gemini. Here is an old note using 25cm and the note using 46cm:

NGC 2392 PNe Gemini
25cm x181: Very bright PNe, even without the UHC. The central star is very prominent. With the UHC, it appears to verge on 1' diameter, with diffuse edges, brightening generally evenly to centre where there is a brighter area perhaps 20" diameter within which is the central star. WNW to W of within the halo is a slightly darker arc. Bright powder blue, near culmination. Magnitude 7 star N by about 2’.

46cm x494: Wow!! Words nearly fail. Virtually all of the detail in the Hubble image is visible or at least there are hints of it. This PNe has a prominent magnitude 11 central star. The whole halo just over 1' diameter with a very diffuse looking edge. This outer halo comprises the outer 15" diameter and is patchy in brightness with a radially streaked appearance like someone has raked it (like rake-marks in a sand bunker on the golf-course) outward in places. It is blue without filtration. Then heading inward there is a definite, fine, circular, possibly slightly ovoid boundary where the inner halo takes over. The inner halo is generally smoother, but at times when the seeing settles completely, you can occasionally make out a maze of fine, weakly brighter streaks criss-crossing the centre -- particularly in the S half of the inner halo and some occasional tiny darker areas between. A magnificent object -- wonderful! Seeing this night was exceptional.

Best,

L.

[Tropo-Bob]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your enjoyable reports. Keep up the good work!

[EpickCrom]

Wonderful observing notes there Les, thanks!I agree PN are among my favorite objects to observe too. Clear skies!

[EpickCrom]

Thank you Bob! Wishing you clear skies:thumbsup: