I started observing with my 12" Dobsonian at 3:35am this morning.
It was warm and windy, 20C with a NW wind to keep the dew away. The observatory walls helped protect me from the wind.
I mainly used an 8mm Hyperion eyepiece (190X, 25' field) but used a 13mm Hyperion (115X, 40' field) and UHC filter (*) for some nebulae.
These are the objects seen in order. They were found with a 50mm finder without a star atlas.
M83, N5139, N4945 - N4976, N5128, N5189, I4406 - N5643, N6101, N5286 - N5307, N5824, N5927 - N5946, N5882, N6067 - Mz2, N6165, N6153, N6300, N6231, N6302, N6357, N6337, M5 (an excellent GC), M12 - M10, M4 - M80, M107, N6369, M19 - M62, M57 - M56, M71 - M27, N6357* (again) - N6334*, N6188*-93, N6164*-65* (only 6165 seen with 8mm EP, 6164 seen with UHC), I4628*, M20* - M8* - N6559*, M16* - N6604 neb*, M17*, N6590-95, N6723 - N6726-27-29, M11, M22 - N6638 - M28, N6960*-92*-95*, N7000*, Io-Jupiter-E-G-C, Neptune, Mars, Uranus, Venus - a brilliant arc.
I had trouble with cloud blowing in from the west at the end and twilight (started 4:50am) so I quit at 5:05 am.
I should have started earlier, 1.5 hours was not enough time. The list above contains 4 open clusters, 20 globular clusters, 20 nebulae, 11 planetary nebulae, 6 galaxies and 5 planets.
Don't suppose you took obs on each one? That's some pretty quick targeting. Must be good to know where everything is. Just curious, what is the apparent field of view on those EP?
Thanks Glen,
Just struggling to work out what I need, as my targeting is also getting better. I'm kinds still at the stage of having to get to know each of them as I find them. My enthusiasim is just starting to take off again as I find each of them...especially the elusive ones (for me).
I'm even having fun with my little ED80. Sometime I will even find very faint ones in it...mostly looking for the star pattern---matching my uranometria 2000.0 atlas etc...yadda yadda.....soz
Just excited...I really have gotten back to a point where I tounge out till night fall...mostly because I am starting to find where things are at
Last night I observed with the 12" scope from 12:40am to 1:40am.
It was 14C and calm. Most objects were seen with a 21 mm EP (70X, 65' field). Starting from rho Vir I looked at M60, M59, M58, M89, M90, M87, M86, M84, N4438, M88 and the associated galaxies. (See the attached SkyMapPro map.) Then I looked at M104, M68, N4361, N4038-39, M3, M13, M69, M70, M54, M55, N6752, N6744, N6397, N6388, N6541, N6496, N3293, N3372, N3532, N3766, N4755, N6025, N6087, N6067, M7, M6, M23, M24, N6603, M25, N6522-28, N6520, B86, N5986, N6822 and finished with N6818 at 190 times. The nights list contains 14 open clusters, 15 globular clusters, 2 nebulae, 2 planetary nebulae and 15 galaxies.
I tried to make up for the lack of OC and galaxies the previous night.
This image shows N6520 and B86. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020722.html
That was a great session Glen. I envy you your northern sky outlook. My house blocks off everything north of Saturn's declination. Very frustrating!!! Galaxies are my favourite DSO and most of the best ones are hidden. My weekend was taken up with helping the wife with her Certificate 4 project, so I haven't had the chance to observe lately.
Last night I observed from 20:20 to 21:55 with the 12". I started with the UHC filter and looked at 15 nebulae and 8 planetary nebulae.
Then I used 190X to look at 45 galaxies including 34 galaxies from the image in post #6. (Virgo gxy)
That's some pretty quick targeting. Must be good to know where everything is. Just curious, what is the apparent field of view on those EP?
