erick
15-10-2007, 09:33 PM
Seeing this afternoon’s clouds and wind and recalling last week’s storms, I can only smile when I think of last night.
Looking out the window from Sunday afternoon’s commitment, the weather looked good. Though I had been planning on going out Monday night, on arriving home with my wife at 7pm, I asked and was granted permission to have an evening’s observing up the mountains. The sunset had been beautiful, the air was still, only a little cloud on the horizon, warm compared with recent days – this was it! And so it turned out to be – one of my best nights in my short observing career (still short of a year).
Objectives:-
1. Quiet time
2. Locate and observe NGC 253
3. First light for my Televue 20mm plossl
4. Test my new longer lead for the Accufocusser (Thanks Cristian for the use of the tool)
5. See if the flocking added to the OTA wall behind the secondary mirror had any effect (Thanks Scott for the spare piece)
The following probably explains the evening. I figured I’d been out for 2 hours when I packed up. I looked at the phone quickly and said: “Ooh, 11:30 – 3 hours”. I got in the car and looked at the clock “Woops, 1:30am, I misread they phone!” Five hours that seemed like 2 hours!
I was set up by 8:30. Not a cloud to be seen all night. A small flurry of wind went by later, but I muttered a few words and nothing further was seen all night. A little moisture settled in the last 30 minutes but nothing to trouble me. Temperature probably didn’t drop below 5 deg C. The Astronomy Gods were smiling last night!
My location had excellent views to east, south and west. North horizon was an embankment, with some trees on top. West is Melbourne skyglow – enough last night to cast my shadow on the telescope! It was LMC, SMC naked eye, but not quite M31 naked eye, nor Coal sack.
Collimate my little scope, and make a start with the rapidly setting waxing crescent Moon. First light for the Televue 20mm plossl. Seeing was pretty average and it stayed much the same all evening, but loved the detail I saw through that eyepiece and the retention of focus across the FOV. Moved to a quick look at Jupiter – enough to see some surface detail and the moons; then a quick look at NGC 4755, The Jewel Box - always a favourite, but low to the southern horizon these evenings.
I seldom got to the 6mm eyepiece last night, except into the heart of a couple of the globulars. Generally 120x (10mm) seemed all the seeing would permit.
I made good use of my 12x60 binoculars, handheld, to locate targets and get my star bearings. I have also perfected the use of my green laser pointer as a finder (after watching Ken use his in this way). A wedge of wood, glued to some fridge magnet pieces, sits between my finder bracket and the focusser base. I have adjusted the finder bracket to be completely parallel with the focusser base. I can place my pointer neatly between the focuser base and the wood, and the projected beam clears the scope body and “spots” the sky almost in the middle of my 30mm eyepiece (suggesting my optical and mechanical axes are well aligned?). Move the scope until the end of beam is in vicinity of target and check in the eyepiece that I have it. Then pointer goes back into my top pocket to keep it warm and functioning for the next target.
Sculptor NGC 253 was almost too easy to find and a great thrill to observe. I could see the shape very well, but no detail, as would be expected, I guess, with my modest aperture. Globular NGC 288 was the next stop. Then on to try and pickup NGC 55. Spotted it almost immediately and was able to make out the asymmetric nature with the brightest part clearly off centre.
Pegasus I love Pegasus, leaping up from the horizon. M15 was readily found. I did try for some galaxies, but couldn’t see NGC 7479 and the others were too low for my partly restricted horizon.
Andromeda I had to wait for M31 to position itself in a gap between trees to observe it. It’s bright, the general shape is there, but I have to admit I’m disappointed. Maybe I’m expecting more of this big neighbour of ours than is reasonable. Perhaps I really need to observe it from much further north. I now realise that I was seeing M110 as well, but it was so far separated from the bright core of M31 that I was a little confused. I’ve seen too many photographs showing the full extent of M31, I guess.
Triangulum I went in search of M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy. This was a greater challenge than I expected. Again I had to wait for it to locate itself between trees, but I had to go back and forth over the area with my 12x60s before I convinced myself that there was a “ghostly” shape present. So I brought the scope into action and was soon confident that I had a large smudge in the right location. Sadly, no hint of shape to be seen.
Corona Australis I swung around to search this constellation before it sunk too much further into the Western skyglow. Globular NGC 6541 was easily located with my laser “point and observe” approach. Easy with the maps in my copy of “Atlas of the Southern Night Sky”. I never had to break out anything more detailed all evening. Then I swung up to the NGC 6727/27 area, picking up globular NGC 6723 from neighbouring Sagittarius. I could make out some details of the reflection nebula, but not the dark nebula – sky was too light, I guess.
Tucana The SMC and the treasured “47 Tuc”, NGC 104, were now riding high and awaiting my attention. I also picked out the small globular NGC 362, an old binocular friend from last summer. I have to say that NGC 104 was simply stunning last night. Here I was able to use the 6mm and bring 200x to bear on the heart of the cluster. It really is a magic moment, delving deep into this magnificent wonder of the southern skies. All I need now is an EQ platform so I can just sit, hands-free and watch. (and I’m working on that, thanks to Martin).
Taurus To the northeast, Taurus is rising. I turn my attention to M45, the Pleiades, that bright sparkling cluster, then to the Hyades. Is M1 a possibility? I’ve only ever caught a hint of a smudge in my 30x100s. No, not tonight, my high Northern horizon doesn’t look like it will let me.
Orion Chasing Taurus into the sky is Orion. I spent a while on M42/43 – even starting with binoculars, this area is a marvellous sight. I tried hard to make out the shape of “Running Man”, but only caught glimpses. I move to Zeta Orionis and, as is recommended, moved it out of the FOV of view and strained my eyes trying to see the Flame Nebula part of NGC 2024, but in vain. I did try adding my DGM Optics narrow pass band nebula filter, but it didn’t improve either this region, nor M42/43.
Dorado Turning back to the south, the LMC had risen sufficiently out of the mush. I looked at the various structures in the LMC I hadn’t seen for many months now. Then turned my attention to NGC 2070 (30 Doradus) – the Tarantula Nebula. This was simply engrossing with the Televue 20mm plossl. And when I added my nebula filter – even more WOW! So much structure to be seen.
Carina By the time I finished looking at the Tarantula, NGC 3372 had also risen sufficiently above the southern horizon. I finished the evening studying this great Carina nebula. Again, my nebula filter was a valuable aid. Eta Carina itself becomes a bright purple/violet dot using this filter.
Sadly, I was yawning, coffee had run out, work was waiting in the morning, so I packed up.
Checking back on my objectives:-
1. Quiet time? - Achieved, excellent!
2. Locate and observe NGC 253? - Done, easily and with a great result.
3. First light for my Televue 20mm plossl ? - Very impressive.
4. Test my new longer lead for the Accufocusser? - Just what I wanted.
5. See if the flocking added to the OTA wall behind the secondary mirror had any effect ? - Don’t know, but let me suppose that it is helping then I’ll feel better for the small amount of time I spent doing the job.
And I felt happy and contented all day, today. Eric :)
Looking out the window from Sunday afternoon’s commitment, the weather looked good. Though I had been planning on going out Monday night, on arriving home with my wife at 7pm, I asked and was granted permission to have an evening’s observing up the mountains. The sunset had been beautiful, the air was still, only a little cloud on the horizon, warm compared with recent days – this was it! And so it turned out to be – one of my best nights in my short observing career (still short of a year).
Objectives:-
1. Quiet time
2. Locate and observe NGC 253
3. First light for my Televue 20mm plossl
4. Test my new longer lead for the Accufocusser (Thanks Cristian for the use of the tool)
5. See if the flocking added to the OTA wall behind the secondary mirror had any effect (Thanks Scott for the spare piece)
The following probably explains the evening. I figured I’d been out for 2 hours when I packed up. I looked at the phone quickly and said: “Ooh, 11:30 – 3 hours”. I got in the car and looked at the clock “Woops, 1:30am, I misread they phone!” Five hours that seemed like 2 hours!
I was set up by 8:30. Not a cloud to be seen all night. A small flurry of wind went by later, but I muttered a few words and nothing further was seen all night. A little moisture settled in the last 30 minutes but nothing to trouble me. Temperature probably didn’t drop below 5 deg C. The Astronomy Gods were smiling last night!
My location had excellent views to east, south and west. North horizon was an embankment, with some trees on top. West is Melbourne skyglow – enough last night to cast my shadow on the telescope! It was LMC, SMC naked eye, but not quite M31 naked eye, nor Coal sack.
Collimate my little scope, and make a start with the rapidly setting waxing crescent Moon. First light for the Televue 20mm plossl. Seeing was pretty average and it stayed much the same all evening, but loved the detail I saw through that eyepiece and the retention of focus across the FOV. Moved to a quick look at Jupiter – enough to see some surface detail and the moons; then a quick look at NGC 4755, The Jewel Box - always a favourite, but low to the southern horizon these evenings.
I seldom got to the 6mm eyepiece last night, except into the heart of a couple of the globulars. Generally 120x (10mm) seemed all the seeing would permit.
I made good use of my 12x60 binoculars, handheld, to locate targets and get my star bearings. I have also perfected the use of my green laser pointer as a finder (after watching Ken use his in this way). A wedge of wood, glued to some fridge magnet pieces, sits between my finder bracket and the focusser base. I have adjusted the finder bracket to be completely parallel with the focusser base. I can place my pointer neatly between the focuser base and the wood, and the projected beam clears the scope body and “spots” the sky almost in the middle of my 30mm eyepiece (suggesting my optical and mechanical axes are well aligned?). Move the scope until the end of beam is in vicinity of target and check in the eyepiece that I have it. Then pointer goes back into my top pocket to keep it warm and functioning for the next target.
Sculptor NGC 253 was almost too easy to find and a great thrill to observe. I could see the shape very well, but no detail, as would be expected, I guess, with my modest aperture. Globular NGC 288 was the next stop. Then on to try and pickup NGC 55. Spotted it almost immediately and was able to make out the asymmetric nature with the brightest part clearly off centre.
Pegasus I love Pegasus, leaping up from the horizon. M15 was readily found. I did try for some galaxies, but couldn’t see NGC 7479 and the others were too low for my partly restricted horizon.
Andromeda I had to wait for M31 to position itself in a gap between trees to observe it. It’s bright, the general shape is there, but I have to admit I’m disappointed. Maybe I’m expecting more of this big neighbour of ours than is reasonable. Perhaps I really need to observe it from much further north. I now realise that I was seeing M110 as well, but it was so far separated from the bright core of M31 that I was a little confused. I’ve seen too many photographs showing the full extent of M31, I guess.
Triangulum I went in search of M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy. This was a greater challenge than I expected. Again I had to wait for it to locate itself between trees, but I had to go back and forth over the area with my 12x60s before I convinced myself that there was a “ghostly” shape present. So I brought the scope into action and was soon confident that I had a large smudge in the right location. Sadly, no hint of shape to be seen.
Corona Australis I swung around to search this constellation before it sunk too much further into the Western skyglow. Globular NGC 6541 was easily located with my laser “point and observe” approach. Easy with the maps in my copy of “Atlas of the Southern Night Sky”. I never had to break out anything more detailed all evening. Then I swung up to the NGC 6727/27 area, picking up globular NGC 6723 from neighbouring Sagittarius. I could make out some details of the reflection nebula, but not the dark nebula – sky was too light, I guess.
Tucana The SMC and the treasured “47 Tuc”, NGC 104, were now riding high and awaiting my attention. I also picked out the small globular NGC 362, an old binocular friend from last summer. I have to say that NGC 104 was simply stunning last night. Here I was able to use the 6mm and bring 200x to bear on the heart of the cluster. It really is a magic moment, delving deep into this magnificent wonder of the southern skies. All I need now is an EQ platform so I can just sit, hands-free and watch. (and I’m working on that, thanks to Martin).
Taurus To the northeast, Taurus is rising. I turn my attention to M45, the Pleiades, that bright sparkling cluster, then to the Hyades. Is M1 a possibility? I’ve only ever caught a hint of a smudge in my 30x100s. No, not tonight, my high Northern horizon doesn’t look like it will let me.
Orion Chasing Taurus into the sky is Orion. I spent a while on M42/43 – even starting with binoculars, this area is a marvellous sight. I tried hard to make out the shape of “Running Man”, but only caught glimpses. I move to Zeta Orionis and, as is recommended, moved it out of the FOV of view and strained my eyes trying to see the Flame Nebula part of NGC 2024, but in vain. I did try adding my DGM Optics narrow pass band nebula filter, but it didn’t improve either this region, nor M42/43.
Dorado Turning back to the south, the LMC had risen sufficiently out of the mush. I looked at the various structures in the LMC I hadn’t seen for many months now. Then turned my attention to NGC 2070 (30 Doradus) – the Tarantula Nebula. This was simply engrossing with the Televue 20mm plossl. And when I added my nebula filter – even more WOW! So much structure to be seen.
Carina By the time I finished looking at the Tarantula, NGC 3372 had also risen sufficiently above the southern horizon. I finished the evening studying this great Carina nebula. Again, my nebula filter was a valuable aid. Eta Carina itself becomes a bright purple/violet dot using this filter.
Sadly, I was yawning, coffee had run out, work was waiting in the morning, so I packed up.
Checking back on my objectives:-
1. Quiet time? - Achieved, excellent!
2. Locate and observe NGC 253? - Done, easily and with a great result.
3. First light for my Televue 20mm plossl ? - Very impressive.
4. Test my new longer lead for the Accufocusser? - Just what I wanted.
5. See if the flocking added to the OTA wall behind the secondary mirror had any effect ? - Don’t know, but let me suppose that it is helping then I’ll feel better for the small amount of time I spent doing the job.
And I felt happy and contented all day, today. Eric :)