MASP day 4

We saw the horsehead! With an OIII filter, it looked like a slight darkening in the area where we knew the horsehead should be. Upon borrowing a hydrogen-beta filter, the horsehead jumped out clearly.

The Dynascope was a lot of fun. Even with only so-so collimation, it performed beautifully on many objects. I was particularly impressed with the view if the Veil. The scope didn't draw as much attention as I expected, but perhaps that will change after people have more of a chance to see it during he day.

I went after a lot of obscure objects. Conditions were truly ideal, so what better time for some faint fuzzies? However, around 1:30, dew became a serious problem. Everything on the field got covered in a hefty layer of frost, which looked particularly wintry when I got up at 7:30 the next morning. I finally turned in when my secondary frosted over.

My list:

M13
Ring Nebula
NGC 6894
Crescent Nebula (saw the entire ellipse!)
Veil Nebula
NGC 6891 (small planetary nebula)
Blue Flash Nebula
NGC 6956 (small galaxy)
NGC 147 (large, faint galaxy with small but very dense nucleus)
NGC 185 (small but fairly bright galaxy)
NGC 252 (small galaxy)
NGC 404 (beautiful view of a galaxy next to mag 2.1 yellow star)
NCG 6939 (open cluster)
Triangulum Galaxy
Flame Nebula
Horsehead
Abel 262 Galaxy Group
NGC 759 (small galaxy)

Criterion Dynascope arrives

One of the CHAOS Dynascopes arrived this afternoon with Jayme. It
looks brand new, mirror included, after an extensive refurbish. I
can't wait to see what it can do tonight!

MASP day 3

This was another great night of observing. We checked out the Veil and North American nebulas through Mark's widefield refractor (102mm F/5), which was stunning. It's rare to see all three parts of the Veil in one field of view! When I put my scope on the Veil, it was exceptionally bright. I was able to follow a stream of nebulosity from the middle section all the way through the center area, up to the top of the fork! In addition, when I just scanned the area, I could find lots of small nebula pieces that aren't attached to the main three and usually go unnoticed.

Just after the Andromeda galaxy passed the zenith, I checked it out with my Nagler 17; unbelievable! Incredible contrast. The first dust lane practically beat me over the head with it's presence. The outer dust lane was also very prominent. The companion NGC 205 looked incredible by itself. The view of this group was described by one observer as a religious experience.

Now the really cool part: extra-galactic globulars! We found G73, G244, and G286; all members of the Andromeda group. Incredible!

My list:

NGC 7331
Stephen's Quintet
M2
M52
NGC 772
NGC 246
Andromeda galaxy with both comapions and globulars G73, G244, and G286.
NGC 1023, which showed a clear dust lane at almost 300X.

At about 1am, frost became a problem. My secondary frosted over around 1:15, so I called it a night.

MASP day 2

Clear skies all evening. The veil nebula was seriously mind-blowing! IIt far exceeded my expectations, even having seen it the night before. With my Panoptic 35, it was incredible, although you could still only get half of the claw section into one field of view. The triangular section in the middle, between the fork and claw, showed lots of detail.

I bumped up to my Nagler 17, and the details just popped out! Structures seem to go on forever. On the fork section, you could clearly see dense streams running along each side, with nebulosity in between. The claw was unbelievable. The middle section showed a distinctive knot region along the inward-facing wisp.

Robert and I spent a long time looking at the Cat's Eye with different eyepieces and filters, and comparing our two scopes. The central star is illusive, but once you start to detect it, it just pops out. Then you can hardly imagine how you could have missed it. Three of us had this experience.

My list:

M13
Cat's Eye
NGC 6503
Saturn Nebula (nodes clearly visible)
M77
NGC 1055
Little Dumbbell
Veil

MASP first morning

I got up early to play a couple of education concerts with the North Carolina Symphony. The guys got a real kick out of the suit and started taking pictures.

MASP day 1

We had a great first day and evening. Mark, Robert and I have a
reasonable plot with our scopes centrally located between our three
tents.

The sky was very clear, and some great observing was done. Here is my
list:

Blue snow ball
Veil nebula
Ring nebula
Helix nebula
Pegasus galaxy cluster
M15
Sculptor galaxy
NGC 246 (planetary nebula set on a beautiful star field)
NGC 210 (galaxy)
Crab nebula
Orion nebula
Double cluster
Pleiades (lots of nebulosity)
Triangulum galaxy
NGC 672 (galaxy)
Andromeda galaxy and friends
Stephen's Quintet

The Statmaster 18 is performing exceptionally well. This is my first
time taking it anywhere besides Farrington, and I couldn't be happier.

Robert's new scope is also amazing. The contrast is through the roof,
so it pulls in detail that larger reflectors struggle with. He worked
out some operational kinks last night, so tonight should be even more
fun!

There are about 50 people here I think, with some very impressive
equipment. No vendors yet. Also, there is no longer on-site food
service.

I am very excited to find some obscure gems tonight!

Up to Speed

I got into amateur astronomy in the summer of 2007 at my girlfriend's suggestion. I joined the Chapel Hill Astronomical Observation Society, did a lot of reading, and ended up buying a used Orion 8" Dobsonian made in the late 90s, when Orion was still outsourcing them to Discovery in the US. For me, it was the perfect first scope.

I had a blast right off the bat and got more involved. I learned a ton from other club members and became very inspired by what they were doing. A mere 9 months after getting started, I purchased a used Starmaster 18. I love this scope and have been blown away by what I've seen. Next week at MASP, I will have my first opportunity to use it from a good dark site, which should be very exciting.