Observing lastnight through a 16" f4.9

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Hi all,

I went up to Stockport last night to have a look through Tims' (tnott) 16" f4.9 scope, all I can say to sum it up is "WOW!" the amount of detail that came out of the small number of objects we observed it was fantastic. The downside was the sky was quite bright and a little hazy later on. I would put seeing at 5/10

Ring Nebula, was small but very bright, the inner part of the planetary was also as bright. Very nice through a 13mm Nagler.

Helix Nebula, WOW what a sight, we looked at this through the 13mm nagler with OIII and UHC filters and it was awesome. The UHC filtered view was the best view I had ever seen of this object. It was very bright, the outer nebulosity was very easily detected and I guess if we spent more time on it it would show us more.

Dumbell Nebula, yep it was mainly a night of planetaries, but who cares, the dumbell was simply breath taking, the detail in the nebula with faint dark lanes and structure only seen in photographs. The Nebula itself was vry bright and with both types of filters it was awesome. The central star at 14.1 mag was easily seen.

We had a chance to look at some glossy's aswell, TUC47 was amazing to look at and its the first time I have noticed a small notch in the side of the centre core. The lagoon was awesome aswell,amazing looking at these objects in so much detail and brightness. The darker lanes of the lagoon will stick in mymind for quite sometime. The triffid was also really nice to look at, once we zoomed in a bit the darklanes POPPED out and was almost photographic in the view.

The swan, well what can I say, this was one hell of a view, something you can go back again and again. The fine structure of the nebula was very easily seen and the detail around the neck of the swan made it very enjoyable to view. We also had a look at M4 and a few other little objects through the couple of hours I was there.

A light high cloud moved in so I left them to it. I had promised the wife I wouldn't be late.

I now have a severe case of apature fever

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Sounds like you had a great night Andrew. Glad the cloud kept away long enough for you.

I now have a severe case of apature fever

Yep it gets like that after looking through some aperture. That's why I never look through anything I can't afford

"There can be only one cure"

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by Astroman

I now have a severe case of apature fever

Me too, and the cure is expensive