Observations September 5 (with sketches)

[§AB]

telescope: 4.5" reflector
seeing: 6/10



started off trying to observe jupiter but I became somewhat paranoid about my collimation and spent half an hour tinkering ith that. That's it, when I graduate from uni and get a job, I'm getting a refractor for planetary viewing!

Well, despite predictions of great seeing by various weather maps, the usual crud persisted. Those maps are dirty old LIES! Seeing was only so-so and thus Jupiter was blurry most of the time. Dissapointed and having seen enough of a fuzzy tennis ball, I decided it was time for some DSO hunting.

Hunted down the M57 ring and was not dissapointed. Despite being only 15º above the horizon, at 121x with a Narrowband Nebula Filter I could clearly make it out as a ring and its northern edge was slightly brighter then its southern edge.

I then looked for the dumbell but with the lack of a proper star chart it took me forever to find it. Then I found it. Using 75x with a narrowband filter I could make out the dumbell shape. It's SW region was noticably brighter than the rest of the cloud.

sketches
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/1752/stuffwu4.jpg

btw, is there a way of displaying the image on these forums?

[NQLD_Newby]

Nice work SAB.

Sounds like you have more experience at it than me, but I'll tell you just in case, whenever i look at Jupiter I always use my moon filter as this cuts the glare down and allows me to see some detail. I have only been able to see anything other than a white disk since i got my 5mm LVW, before that even with the moon filter there was no detail to be had.

M57 is, and has been since I found it the first time, by far my favourite object. On a clear night I can easily make out the ring (without diverted vision), and I don't have any filters, (apart from the moon one previously mentioned). It's much higher in the sky for me, and once again just highlights all the valuable lessons I have learned on this forum regarding, seeing etc etc etc. Can't wait to see it when I finally get a neb filter, (quite a while away as I have a few other things that are higher up on the list).

Once again nice report and thanks for sharing

[erick]

Yes, I agree. Around 8-9pm last night and 5-6am this morning, seeing was pretty poor.

Go down below the message box (and smilies) into "Additional Options" and look for the button "Manage Attachments"

[Rob_K]

Nice report, and great to see your sketches attached :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[DougAdams]

Nice work! You're sketches are great. Lovely detail. I've got to get my scope in the car and somewhere dark!

[iceman]

Nice report Sab and great sketches. To attach images, scroll down to "Manage Attachments" and browse to the image file on your computer. It has to be under 200k, jpeg is best.

You might also be interested in the IIS Observing Log Template, you can download from here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/download.php?8cc5c730c4c6652ce403b1 1fe2e4a221).

I was also interested in this comment:

Why do you think a refractor would be better for planetary viewing? A refractor just won't give you the magnification and detail you need/want for planetary viewing. It just doesn't have the aperture.

Reflectors give absolutely magnificent views of the planets when:
1) Collimated correctly
2) At ambient temperature
3) In very good seeing.

A large aperture reflector will give brilliant views. You just have to persist.

If collimation is frustrating you, have you considering meeting up with some other amateurs near you to get help with it? It shouldn't need to be a scary or frustrating thing - once you've done it properly once, and know how to do it properly, it should require very little adjustments each time you go out to observe.