Zubenel
28-09-2022, 11:33 AM
At the beginning of August I contacted my friend Joel who lives 31/2 hours North of Brisbane to organise a catch up with a night of astronomy in mind as he loves it as much as I. 2 other friends couldn't make it but Joel invited his neighbour Glen who happens to have a c8 in housed in no less that a home built dome. More investigation required on that one at a later date!
Joel had scoped the remote spot after I sent him a link to the Light pollution map on a soggy Queens Memorial Day of Mourning . He chose a Bortle 1 site in forestry between Poona and Tin Can Bay on the Fraser Coast. It did not disappoint. I was well expecting to see the ocean on the Lee side of Frazer Island bit a line of native trees rimming the planation forbade it.
Arrived at 3 and backed the caravan into a side track which fortunately had a reasonably flat verge off the main track , close by suitable for the scopes.
Van and scope set up before the guests arrived which is always nice so a good welcome introductions and chin wag could be had with out the distraction of "getting set up done before dark.
My long time friend and original owner of "Zamar" arrived with his brand new coated 16' F4.5 mirror ( and associated telescope :) ) . He set up close by. A slight South Westerly was blowing with virtually no clouds visible. This helped to keep the midges away as when it stopped they were vicious. Full body Tropical strength Bushmanns did the job though.
There was one house at the end of the road and around dark a car with 3 gents pulled up. Peter said hello . They were wondering what we were about but warned of the midges. Peter invited them back but at around 10pm, one lonely car came down the track and didn't stop .
Hader and Altair were chosen and used as guide stars for the Argonavis / Servocat goto system and then we were off.
A small amount of cloud came through and partially obscured views of the Veil Nebula but wasn't too much of a hindrance as which time we flipped to the planets and the Southern sky taking in 47 Tuc /NGC104 and surrounds.
The following list will have descriptions in rough order only interspersed as I could wax lyrical far too long on the conversation and reaction given on each deep sky wonder.
The Jewel Box Cluster NGC4755 12mm Nagler but 20mm fully framed and a better presentation
The mighty Omega Centauri NGC5139 20mm Nagler and 31 mm Nagler holy hand grenade/pineapple ;)
Centaurus A /Hamburger Galaxy lower contrast due to low altitude. 12 mm showing Dark band .
I had planned the Milky Way Nebula tour so while the core was still high at around 70° we began with
M20/ NGC6514/The Trifid Nebula with the 31mm pineapple and the UHC filter. I also pointed out the faint extended reflection nebula to the side.
On to M8 Lagoon Nebula NGC6523,NGC6530 and cluster. With and without UHC filter revealing lovely nebulous detail as usual but dropping out the Open Star Cluster.
The Eagle Nebula/ M16 / Star Queen nebula and Open Cluster NGC6611. ( Herschel didn't perceive the nebula so this NGC number only pertains to the OC. The nebula can be faintly seen with a small dark area in the "Heart " of the eagle. Initially viewed with the 31mm Holy hand grenade for the widest field of view ,I slid the UHC filter in which revealed a further hint to the Pillars of Creation .
Upping the magnification to 12mm yielding 210 x brought 2 of the 3 pillars to view and confirmed by Joel and Glen . Averted vision enhanced the detail.
Around this time Peter shared a first with us . The Parrot Head Dark Nebula /Barnard 87 of roundish shape in the incredibly star rich region of the Milky Way.
In continuing the nebula tour I slewed to one of my favourites, The Swan/Omega /M17/NGC 6618 .This nebula's shape is represented very well without a filter . Viewed through the 31mm Pineapple ;) all of us dwelled for some time . I point to the dark region adjacent to the neck and mention that this is recorded as one of the coldest places discovered so far.
When the UHC filter was engaged a number of things happened . Lots of mottling of the Swans ``Feathers `` come out the head reveals itself more and the back portion completely expands to a much larger bulbous area.
Whilst in the zone I pointed out the incredibly dense star field off the spout of the Sagittarius teapot which I had recently imaged . A long time favourite Dark nebula was found using the 31mm Nagler . B86/ Ink Spot is inky black but what enhances it more is the open cluster NGC6520 immediately adjacent to it AND the uncountable star field that surrounds it. As I have previously described , I never fail to fill my eye with golden star dust when I look at this region. I gave the boys a challenge and they confirmed a faint Globular cluster Djorgovski 2 diagonally opposite to NGC6520.
I noticed LYRA had peaked and was headed down towards the West so over to M57/ The Ring Nebula Planetary Nebula/NGC6720
Then using the Lyra Double Double Epsilon 1,2 we could only see them as 2 x oval stars at almost 90 degrees orientation.
Saturn had climbed up near the meridian so a good amount of time was spent using eyepieces up the 9mm Type 5 Nagler. yielding 280 x magnification. Cassini's Division came in and out . Ring Shadow on the planet and planet shadow on the ring always brings a 3D effect that is replicated nowhere else. 5 moons were visible but Sky Safari wasn't too accurate in replicating their positions.
M27/Dumbbell Nebula/NGC6853 . Large and bright . Better shape which parallels its name without the UHC filter.
Saturn Nebula/ NGC7009 with the 12mm Nebula . I love the bright blue hue with the wings visible.
Andromeda Galaxy /M31/ M32/ M110 31mm Nagler . BIG Bright but low and 6/10 seeing . I struggled to see NGC206 which is a good indicator of excellent conditions . In Spite of that the largest dust lane was visible and the view was well received.
Ticking off a good few classes of DSO's it was time for a new class being Supernova remnants.
Peter's and probably mine number one for this class has to be the amazing Veil Nebula. I started with the Western Veil Nebula /NGC6960 with UHC that can not be beaten, from its pinpoint end through 52 Cygni to to wispy split and its mottled detail. I taught the boys to slew with the remote controller as it is far wider than the 31mm would give.
Then onto Pickering's Triangle/NGC6974 and finally the Eastern Veil/ NGC6995 with its massive curved appearance to what some call the crab claw reminiscent of our local Spanner crab claw in South East Queensland
Jupiter was high enough to give an OK view through the 9mm but no GSR . I can not explain the absence of a solid thin Northern equatorial band. I am used to seeing 2 bands however the Northern seems to be quite diffuse? the oddity for the night.....
I noticed Grus was high in the South so we slewed to the Grus Quartet. NGC7582 / NGC7588 / NGC7590 and with a small slew using the 20mm Nagler to NGC7522. A nice example of an interacting Galaxy Cluster with NGC7582 being the brightest and showing some spiral detail .
We had been watching the Southern Cross disappear and the pointers did the same but that meant that the Clouds of Magellan were climbing higher. So the Amazing Queen of the Globular Clusters 47 Tuc / NGC104 was targeted. With the 20mm framing it perfectly the core wasa golden glow. Always impressive, then to an underrated Globular NGC362.
Time was drawing close to the boy's departure so I knew one of Joel's Favourites was up but not high.
I slewed to the unrepeatable sized (in the local group of galaxies ) bright nebula namely the Tarantula Nebula / NGC2070. The seeing wasn't great so 30 Doradus Open cluster which contains some of the largest known stars and recently imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope wasn't recognisable with its very small and tight rosette of stars.
Time for farewells as it was time for Joel and Glen to head home as 11pm had just ticked over .
Peter and I went in for coffee and a snack.
Into some very faint and fuzzies. ' My first was Hickson 3, a very faint cluster . I managed 2 out of 3 galaxies with averted vision being PCG2043 and PCG2045
Peter had found the Skull Nebula / NGC246 which looked like the Sky safari image through "Zamar '' with 1 eroded side of the circle .
Stephan's Quintet /NGC7317/ NGC7218A NGC7318B in Pegasus was difficult with a possibility of a bit more high cloud coming through. With AV I managed 3 out of 5 galaxies.
Mars had climbed to 30 degrees or thereabouts so I slewed around and through the 9mm it was a whirling dervish with instantaneous rest breaks revealing an unidentifiable dark zone and a non round face.
We then headed to the Spanish Dancer / NGC1655
. It's a wonderful but small galaxy with tightly wrapped spiral arms. twin dark areas were easily seen between the core and arms using the 9mm Nagler.
The Rosette Dark Nebula Complex with Open Cluster/ NGC2244.
Better in Peter's 16 with the larger FOV but unfortunately he didn't have a UHC filter but only the o3 filter.
So I pulled out the Televue 55mm Plossll . with about 1 degree FOV we still had to move the scope around to take in the nebula which is slightly offset to the central Open cluster NGC2244. The UHC Filter did a good job.
Hubble's Variable Nebula NGC2261 12mm Nagler . Photographic in appearance.
Cone Nebula LDN613 and OC NGC2264 sparkled in the black sky background.
We viewed the Flame Nebula NGC2024 through Peter's 16" which he recently named Enterprise-E while managing to keep Alnitak out of the FOV. Then onto the glorious Orion Nebula M42/ NGC1967 which was now at a decent height in the East. Peter's 16" had the FOV for a wonderful experience taking in the majority of this exceptional nebula . I pointed out Open Cluster NGC1980 OC and the vicinity of the Orion Waterfall HH222 which I am yet to image successfully.
Peter pumped up the mag and had a good look at the Trapezium giving 6 stars .
I had a look through Zamar and had no problem doing the same so deduced that the seeing had improved.
The usual green dark maroon colours were observed .
Perseus . Double Open Cluster NGC 884 and NGC869 was no problem in Zamar however as the altitude was so Low I suggested Peter move his Car which he did to get a nice view of these Far Northern wonders.
M34 . Large bright Open Cluster .
Jupiter had climbed close to the meridian by this time.
Some improvement was seen but not GSR and the Northern equatorial band had returned to its samilair Copper colour and tightly so.
NGC Face on Spiral had a tight core but no detail in the arms were seen.
NGC247. Introduced by Pater the bright star in the end was a giveaway with photo realistic views.
Back to the Tarantula Nebula and this time boated around the LMC with Peter's wider field . It's just stunning the nebula surrounding the Tarantula NGC2040. This time though when centering in on the central brightest feature , like the JWST recently published photo, that very tight and small circlet of star was seen through the 9mm Nagler. A really nice view.
3 am had rolled by now as we mutually brought the night to a close. I packed away "Zamar" so I didn't have to do it in the morning.
Bed around 4 with my head full of stars......and then up at 8:30 . Not enough sleep but and joys of deep sky observing far outweighed the the effort and lack of sleep.
Awe and Wonder folks.
Good night .
Wes Smith 27th sept 2022.
Joel had scoped the remote spot after I sent him a link to the Light pollution map on a soggy Queens Memorial Day of Mourning . He chose a Bortle 1 site in forestry between Poona and Tin Can Bay on the Fraser Coast. It did not disappoint. I was well expecting to see the ocean on the Lee side of Frazer Island bit a line of native trees rimming the planation forbade it.
Arrived at 3 and backed the caravan into a side track which fortunately had a reasonably flat verge off the main track , close by suitable for the scopes.
Van and scope set up before the guests arrived which is always nice so a good welcome introductions and chin wag could be had with out the distraction of "getting set up done before dark.
My long time friend and original owner of "Zamar" arrived with his brand new coated 16' F4.5 mirror ( and associated telescope :) ) . He set up close by. A slight South Westerly was blowing with virtually no clouds visible. This helped to keep the midges away as when it stopped they were vicious. Full body Tropical strength Bushmanns did the job though.
There was one house at the end of the road and around dark a car with 3 gents pulled up. Peter said hello . They were wondering what we were about but warned of the midges. Peter invited them back but at around 10pm, one lonely car came down the track and didn't stop .
Hader and Altair were chosen and used as guide stars for the Argonavis / Servocat goto system and then we were off.
A small amount of cloud came through and partially obscured views of the Veil Nebula but wasn't too much of a hindrance as which time we flipped to the planets and the Southern sky taking in 47 Tuc /NGC104 and surrounds.
The following list will have descriptions in rough order only interspersed as I could wax lyrical far too long on the conversation and reaction given on each deep sky wonder.
The Jewel Box Cluster NGC4755 12mm Nagler but 20mm fully framed and a better presentation
The mighty Omega Centauri NGC5139 20mm Nagler and 31 mm Nagler holy hand grenade/pineapple ;)
Centaurus A /Hamburger Galaxy lower contrast due to low altitude. 12 mm showing Dark band .
I had planned the Milky Way Nebula tour so while the core was still high at around 70° we began with
M20/ NGC6514/The Trifid Nebula with the 31mm pineapple and the UHC filter. I also pointed out the faint extended reflection nebula to the side.
On to M8 Lagoon Nebula NGC6523,NGC6530 and cluster. With and without UHC filter revealing lovely nebulous detail as usual but dropping out the Open Star Cluster.
The Eagle Nebula/ M16 / Star Queen nebula and Open Cluster NGC6611. ( Herschel didn't perceive the nebula so this NGC number only pertains to the OC. The nebula can be faintly seen with a small dark area in the "Heart " of the eagle. Initially viewed with the 31mm Holy hand grenade for the widest field of view ,I slid the UHC filter in which revealed a further hint to the Pillars of Creation .
Upping the magnification to 12mm yielding 210 x brought 2 of the 3 pillars to view and confirmed by Joel and Glen . Averted vision enhanced the detail.
Around this time Peter shared a first with us . The Parrot Head Dark Nebula /Barnard 87 of roundish shape in the incredibly star rich region of the Milky Way.
In continuing the nebula tour I slewed to one of my favourites, The Swan/Omega /M17/NGC 6618 .This nebula's shape is represented very well without a filter . Viewed through the 31mm Pineapple ;) all of us dwelled for some time . I point to the dark region adjacent to the neck and mention that this is recorded as one of the coldest places discovered so far.
When the UHC filter was engaged a number of things happened . Lots of mottling of the Swans ``Feathers `` come out the head reveals itself more and the back portion completely expands to a much larger bulbous area.
Whilst in the zone I pointed out the incredibly dense star field off the spout of the Sagittarius teapot which I had recently imaged . A long time favourite Dark nebula was found using the 31mm Nagler . B86/ Ink Spot is inky black but what enhances it more is the open cluster NGC6520 immediately adjacent to it AND the uncountable star field that surrounds it. As I have previously described , I never fail to fill my eye with golden star dust when I look at this region. I gave the boys a challenge and they confirmed a faint Globular cluster Djorgovski 2 diagonally opposite to NGC6520.
I noticed LYRA had peaked and was headed down towards the West so over to M57/ The Ring Nebula Planetary Nebula/NGC6720
Then using the Lyra Double Double Epsilon 1,2 we could only see them as 2 x oval stars at almost 90 degrees orientation.
Saturn had climbed up near the meridian so a good amount of time was spent using eyepieces up the 9mm Type 5 Nagler. yielding 280 x magnification. Cassini's Division came in and out . Ring Shadow on the planet and planet shadow on the ring always brings a 3D effect that is replicated nowhere else. 5 moons were visible but Sky Safari wasn't too accurate in replicating their positions.
M27/Dumbbell Nebula/NGC6853 . Large and bright . Better shape which parallels its name without the UHC filter.
Saturn Nebula/ NGC7009 with the 12mm Nebula . I love the bright blue hue with the wings visible.
Andromeda Galaxy /M31/ M32/ M110 31mm Nagler . BIG Bright but low and 6/10 seeing . I struggled to see NGC206 which is a good indicator of excellent conditions . In Spite of that the largest dust lane was visible and the view was well received.
Ticking off a good few classes of DSO's it was time for a new class being Supernova remnants.
Peter's and probably mine number one for this class has to be the amazing Veil Nebula. I started with the Western Veil Nebula /NGC6960 with UHC that can not be beaten, from its pinpoint end through 52 Cygni to to wispy split and its mottled detail. I taught the boys to slew with the remote controller as it is far wider than the 31mm would give.
Then onto Pickering's Triangle/NGC6974 and finally the Eastern Veil/ NGC6995 with its massive curved appearance to what some call the crab claw reminiscent of our local Spanner crab claw in South East Queensland
Jupiter was high enough to give an OK view through the 9mm but no GSR . I can not explain the absence of a solid thin Northern equatorial band. I am used to seeing 2 bands however the Northern seems to be quite diffuse? the oddity for the night.....
I noticed Grus was high in the South so we slewed to the Grus Quartet. NGC7582 / NGC7588 / NGC7590 and with a small slew using the 20mm Nagler to NGC7522. A nice example of an interacting Galaxy Cluster with NGC7582 being the brightest and showing some spiral detail .
We had been watching the Southern Cross disappear and the pointers did the same but that meant that the Clouds of Magellan were climbing higher. So the Amazing Queen of the Globular Clusters 47 Tuc / NGC104 was targeted. With the 20mm framing it perfectly the core wasa golden glow. Always impressive, then to an underrated Globular NGC362.
Time was drawing close to the boy's departure so I knew one of Joel's Favourites was up but not high.
I slewed to the unrepeatable sized (in the local group of galaxies ) bright nebula namely the Tarantula Nebula / NGC2070. The seeing wasn't great so 30 Doradus Open cluster which contains some of the largest known stars and recently imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope wasn't recognisable with its very small and tight rosette of stars.
Time for farewells as it was time for Joel and Glen to head home as 11pm had just ticked over .
Peter and I went in for coffee and a snack.
Into some very faint and fuzzies. ' My first was Hickson 3, a very faint cluster . I managed 2 out of 3 galaxies with averted vision being PCG2043 and PCG2045
Peter had found the Skull Nebula / NGC246 which looked like the Sky safari image through "Zamar '' with 1 eroded side of the circle .
Stephan's Quintet /NGC7317/ NGC7218A NGC7318B in Pegasus was difficult with a possibility of a bit more high cloud coming through. With AV I managed 3 out of 5 galaxies.
Mars had climbed to 30 degrees or thereabouts so I slewed around and through the 9mm it was a whirling dervish with instantaneous rest breaks revealing an unidentifiable dark zone and a non round face.
We then headed to the Spanish Dancer / NGC1655
. It's a wonderful but small galaxy with tightly wrapped spiral arms. twin dark areas were easily seen between the core and arms using the 9mm Nagler.
The Rosette Dark Nebula Complex with Open Cluster/ NGC2244.
Better in Peter's 16 with the larger FOV but unfortunately he didn't have a UHC filter but only the o3 filter.
So I pulled out the Televue 55mm Plossll . with about 1 degree FOV we still had to move the scope around to take in the nebula which is slightly offset to the central Open cluster NGC2244. The UHC Filter did a good job.
Hubble's Variable Nebula NGC2261 12mm Nagler . Photographic in appearance.
Cone Nebula LDN613 and OC NGC2264 sparkled in the black sky background.
We viewed the Flame Nebula NGC2024 through Peter's 16" which he recently named Enterprise-E while managing to keep Alnitak out of the FOV. Then onto the glorious Orion Nebula M42/ NGC1967 which was now at a decent height in the East. Peter's 16" had the FOV for a wonderful experience taking in the majority of this exceptional nebula . I pointed out Open Cluster NGC1980 OC and the vicinity of the Orion Waterfall HH222 which I am yet to image successfully.
Peter pumped up the mag and had a good look at the Trapezium giving 6 stars .
I had a look through Zamar and had no problem doing the same so deduced that the seeing had improved.
The usual green dark maroon colours were observed .
Perseus . Double Open Cluster NGC 884 and NGC869 was no problem in Zamar however as the altitude was so Low I suggested Peter move his Car which he did to get a nice view of these Far Northern wonders.
M34 . Large bright Open Cluster .
Jupiter had climbed close to the meridian by this time.
Some improvement was seen but not GSR and the Northern equatorial band had returned to its samilair Copper colour and tightly so.
NGC Face on Spiral had a tight core but no detail in the arms were seen.
NGC247. Introduced by Pater the bright star in the end was a giveaway with photo realistic views.
Back to the Tarantula Nebula and this time boated around the LMC with Peter's wider field . It's just stunning the nebula surrounding the Tarantula NGC2040. This time though when centering in on the central brightest feature , like the JWST recently published photo, that very tight and small circlet of star was seen through the 9mm Nagler. A really nice view.
3 am had rolled by now as we mutually brought the night to a close. I packed away "Zamar" so I didn't have to do it in the morning.
Bed around 4 with my head full of stars......and then up at 8:30 . Not enough sleep but and joys of deep sky observing far outweighed the the effort and lack of sleep.
Awe and Wonder folks.
Good night .
Wes Smith 27th sept 2022.