Observations 8/8/10

shelltree (Shelley) · #1 09-08-2010, 08:07 PM

Did a bit more observing last night with my friend through her 10" Dob. It was heaps of fun and I managed to find quite a few things after figuring out whereabouts in the sky they were so I was really excited about that!

We first had a look at Venus and my friend taught me how to align the scope then we had a peak at Saturn and Mercury which also seemed to be going through a phase similar to Venus. My friend and I were really keen to find the blue planetary nebula NGC 3918 (fondly dubbed as "the gumball nebula") so we spent quite some time narrowing down its vicinity and star hopping from there.

We were still having issues finding it so my friend ducked back inside to grab more detailed star maps. As she did a car came rocketing up the cul-de-sac so of course I stepped in front of the scope so they could see me and not run over the precious Dob which we had positioned on one side of the road. They turned around and came back so I faced away from them and again stood in front of the telescope and the next thing I know they're flying passed and something hits my back and when I turn back around I see an egg splattered on the road! Luckily it hadn't broken til it hit the road so I didn't end up with gooey yoke all over me but my back hurt for a good 10-15 minutes afterwards, I was so annoyed! A few loud profanities escaped my lips and I told my friend what had happened and she couldn't believe it! Maybe they thought we had a cannon...?

Anyway, we finally found The Gumball Nebula, it was fantastic! I also managed to find "the coathanger", omega centauri (finally!!), 47 Tuc (

it was incredible!), M6, M7, M13 and M4. I also managed to get the ring nebula in my field of view but my friend guided me the rest of the way through the eyepiece but still it was very exciting

I am really happy that finding objects in the night sky is starting to make a whole lot more sense and is becoming easier with practise

Hope you all enjoy my little rant

Robh (Rob) · #2 09-08-2010, 09:46 PM

Yes, I did enjoy your "rant".
Sounds like an exciting evening of discovery. Always nice to share it with someone.
Pity about the intellectually challenged individuals in the car. Get the number plate next time.

Regards, Rob.

Sylvain (Jon) · #3 09-08-2010, 11:14 PM

It's great to witness your enthusiasm!

Good on ya mate

Sylvain (Jon) · #4 09-08-2010, 11:15 PM

oh and yeah the "intellectually challenged" as accurately described by Rob are such an annoyance...lucky it didn't go further...

shelltree (Shelley) · #5 10-08-2010, 07:41 AM

Thanks Rob and Sylvain! It was definitely a fantastic night

And I'm very glad things didn't go further with the "intellectually challenged" individuals in the car. I'm rather glad that in my moment of anger that I didn't end up yelling at them too loud (didn't want to wake up the neighbours) because who knows, they may have decided to come back. I'm just glad I was facing away from the car, shielding the scope otherwise I might have got an eye full of egg shell, which could have been really bad.

All the same we still went back to what we were doing and found a heap of amazing things so all in all it was an interesting night!

Paddy (Patrick) · #6 10-08-2010, 01:59 PM

What a shame that such a beautiful experience was intruded on. At least the DSOs you found after would have soothed the soul.

Thanks for your "rant". More of them would be very welcome!

Jeeps (Sam) · #7 10-08-2010, 03:00 PM

I had images of egg dripping all down the inside of the tube and ending up on the primary!

Good to hear you had a great night otherwise. I was out most of sunday night and found a few new fuzzies to add to my list too! We've had a great couple of nights with very clear seeing but it's back to clouds and rain tonight

cheers

cheers

shelltree (Shelley) · #8 10-08-2010, 07:21 PM

Patrick I will be sure to rant as often as possible about my observing adventures! Although I hope next time they don't involve egg. And Sam, I am very very glad I was standing in front of the scope, I would have preferred it to hit me than the scope or my car! The weather has been kind but it's absolutely pouring now, no fun at all

Esseth (Alan) · #9 10-08-2010, 08:18 PM

Some people you just have to laugh at (not to there face, that just makes them mad) and while your night was exploring the galaxy, theres would have been killing more of the few brain cells that are stil around. lol.

I have to say there is nothing quite like that feeling on pinning an object after star hopping around for ages, i got the ring nebular last week for the first time, however the light pollution made it only visible via averted vision.

shelltree (Shelley) · #10 10-08-2010, 08:50 PM

Lol I'm surprised some people have any brain cells left with some of the things they say and do

and throwing eggs at people is one of them!

It certainly was a fantastic feeling Alan. Especially since I was still finding it hard to track down Omega Centauri last time and this time I managed to find it about 5-6 times and a few times by accident whilst trying to find The Gumball Nebula plus a handful of other clusters and the coathanger which I couldn't find last time. I felt really good about it, can't wait to get out there again. Now please go away rain!

Rex · #11 11-08-2010, 04:20 PM

Now there's a woman you gotta love, throws herself in the line of fire to save the scope and the car

. Man if I wasn't already taken I would climb the the tallest mountain around to gain the affections of such a lass. Great Job Shell

Glad you had a wonderful night finding your way around the sky, pitty it was interupted by rif-raf. Keep those rants coming please.

shelltree (Shelley) · #12 11-08-2010, 06:20 PM

Hahahaha, thanks Rex! It seems to be an observing night ritual to throw ourselves in front of the scope when a car drives up the street. Probably not the smartest idea in the world but I'm certain people are more likely to stop if they see a person than a telescope that doesn't really look like a telescope

Suzy · #13 11-08-2010, 06:36 PM

Woah

Shell, I'm wondering if you got hit with tough part of the egg (the pointy bit) which maybe is why it didn't break on you, now that'd hurt extra more.

Great to hear your stories and having such a great time. You don't seem to live far from me, the idiots probably go past my place.

shelltree (Shelley) · #14 11-08-2010, 07:08 PM

It's definitely possible Suzy and it still feels slightly sore to the touch but I haven't really noticed. It could have been a lot worse though! I'm just surprised that my friend's quiet street turned into such a crowded place to be that night! We also had to deal with fools shining there headlights straight toward the telescope, making it impossible to see anything. Grr, they just don't understand!

astro_south (Andrew) · #15 14-08-2010, 12:41 AM

Thanks for a great report Shelley - love the feeling of hunting down and finding that elusive DSO.

Sorry to read about the egging. Do you have a backyard to observe from?

shelltree (Shelley) · #16 21-08-2010, 10:17 PM

Hi Andrew, yes I've got four acres to observe from but until I get a telescope of my own I've been going to my friend's home in suburbia to observe and sometimes to see certain objects we move into the middle of the street. It's a dead end so it's usually extremely quiet, just not that night!

I think we are just jinxed every time we're both together doing anything astronomy related. We went and saw Professor Fred Watson's public lecture at QUT on Thursday night and I found myself the victim of some pretty bad road rage on the way home even though I honestly didn't do anything to anger them. And tonight we went to the Mt. Coot-tha public night and got stuck in ridiculous roadworks! All a part of the experience though I guess, eh?