I'm finally catching up on observing reports, thanks in part to inspiration from a fellow observer. Robert Nielsen, a friend, fellow observer, and fellow CHAOS member, has started his own observing blog and written about MASP. That means I'm two star parties behind in my reports!
Almost Heaven happens up in the mountains of West Virginia, in the National Radio Quiet Zone. This year it was September 18-22. I drove up the day before and stayed the night in Staunton, VA. I tried to stay up late to get into an observing schedule, and checked out just under the 11am deadline the next day. I grabbed lunch in Harrisonburg, then headed into the mountains. From Harrisonburg, I lost cell phone reception quickly, which I wouldn't regain for days. It was a little over two hours through winding mountain roads to get to the star party. The last few miles were pretty rough terrain for my Fit, especially being so loaded down. We made it fine though.
Upon arriving, it was apparent that there was a ton of open space, although most of it was fairly hilly. I camped in the area where you can drive in to load/unload, but must park elsewhere. As I drove around that area, my car was dragging a bit through the grass. Not the sound you want to hear! I found a relatively flat area and got everything setup.
Attendance seemed to be mostly people from Virginia and West Virginia, with a smaller number of people from elsewhere. There must have been well over a hundred people. My area never got very crowded, but the camper area with cars and tents was packed.
The facilities were adequate. It was nice to have hot meals served, but perhaps not worth $30/day, especially if you sleep in and miss breakfast. I'll probably bring my own food next time.
For observing, I'll cut right to the most exciting part: we saw the Zodiacal Light! It looked like a small, thin band of clouds extending from the great square up toward the zenith, intersecting the Milky Way at perhaps a 40 degree angle. However, it didn't move, and we saw an airplane pass through it without disappearing, so it was almost certainly not a cloud. Through my telescope, that part of the sky looked completely normal.
The evening was fairly clear, despite some early clouds. The humidity got very high, and dew was the worst I've ever experienced. My secondary dewed over despite having its heater on! This was my first outing with an 8x10 canopy, which made a huge difference. I put my table, chair, and associated equipment (eyepieces, books, filters, etc) under the canopy. They stayed completely dry, because dew seems to fall vertically onto surfaces.
And now some selected observations:
M13 and M92 both looked spectacular as you would expect.
NGC 6702/3 is a small galaxy pair that seemed to be hiding among the stars.
M56, a fairly small globular cluster in Lyra looked very nice, while subtle. I resolved about 15-20 stars in the core at 293x.
NGC 7448- moderately bright galaxy with a long elliptical shape.
NGC 7463-5 is a galaxy trio. 5 was clearly the brightest, while the other two were just barely detectable.
NGC 7479- Another long, elliptical galaxy. I could see a bit of swirl on the southern side.
Pegasus 1 Cluster- I could only see 2-3 members, probably because the humidity was getting bad.
M15- spectacular globular cluster, resolving hundreds of stars all the way to the core at 293x.
M2- big, bright globular cluster. Slightly blue, with what seems like a dark lane on the south side.
Andromeda Galaxy- I viewed this primarily with my Canon 15x45 IS binoculars, and it was stunning! It filled nearly the entire field of view, and both companions were plainly visible.
NGC 7814- a galaxy with a bright ball of a nucleus, and a long thin ellipse which is brighter to the south.
M33- beautiful. The spiral arms are very obvious.
Dumbell- bright! the full ellipse is visible. The south end was a bit brighter, while the north end was a bit wider. It looked best at 205x with an OIII filter.
Little Dumbell- small, bright, and its namesake shape was clearly defined.
I went to bed around 2am, because I was just too tired to continue.
The next day, the weather was beautiful. I read, met some neighbors, and ate a couple of times. Sadly, the clouds started rolling in around 6pm. As it got dark, I got in about 20 minutes of star cluster observing before the clouds completely shut us down, but this all happened before astronomical twilight. The clouds would remain for the rest of the star party. I stayed up talking with neighbors a bit, but hit the sack by 11. It was spooky when I got up to use the bathroom around 2:30. The clouds eliminated light from the sky, so it was even darker than usual. Plus, everyone was in bed, which meant there were no lights at all or other activity.
The next morning I packed up and headed home. I wanted to stay to at least go on the Green Bank Radio Telescope tour, but I was concerned that the impending rain might make it difficult for my car to get off the mountain. This is another good reason to bring your own food- if you leave early due to bad weather, you don't have to forfeit $30/day worth of food!
It was a short trip, but a good one. It was only my second star party, and it felt good to just get out there and relax for a bit. The skies were very dark, although I'm not sure they were substantially darker than Pettigrew. Perhaps on a less humid night it would be better.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Kure Beach 8/26/09
This past week, I spent three nights at Kure Beach, which is on the outer banks of North Carolina just south on Wilmington. We rented a house on the beach with some friends, and the first evening proved great for observing. I brought my 10x50 binoculars and Celestron 4" f/9.8 refractor.
The back of the house faced directly east. As it was getting dark, I brought out the binoculars to show my friends the moons of Jupiter and our own moon. Once it was dark, I found M13 quite easily right overhead. After showing some friends how to find it, I noticed that Sagittarius was in an ideal positing in the south, and we had a great view. I started making my way up the Milky Way.
The giant open cluster M7 was a great target since everyone could see it naked-eye. Seeing was surprisingly good, so we had good contrast in the binoculars despite the light pollution.
The globular cluster M22 was spectacular. It looks so large and is pretty easy to spot even for a complete newbie. From there, I started panning up and hit M8, M20, M16, Swan Nebula, and Wild Ducks with lots of other little gems mixed in. This was now officially the most fun I've ever had with binoculars.
Quite pleased, I looked around for other targets and went searching for the Dumbell Nebula. Despite the neck contortion, it was easy to find and looked quite ghostly among such a dense star field. At this point, I decided to get the telescope out.
I setup the 4" refractor on the second-floor balcony facing the beach. The extra height gave us an even better view of Sagittarius. We hit all of the same targets with the telescope, plus the Ring Nebula. Seeing was very good, and in still moments I could resolve a lot of stars in M13. On Jupiter at 200x, I could see three bands and easily see that the middle one was split by a white stripe in the center.
By about midnight, I looked out over the water and realized that the Andromeda Galaxy was in a nice position and easily visible naked-eye. It looked beautiful in the binoculars and the telescope as well.
We ended the observing there, and everyone had a blast. It was really refreshing to have a ton of fun with a simple set of binoculars and a modest refractor. I also enjoyed the tracking feature on the equatorial mount, especially since I am so used to re-adjusting dobs between each guest viewer.
I am eagerly anticipating next week's arrival of 15x45 Image-Stabilized binoculars made by Canon. As much fun as the 10x50s were, I'm sure the IS and extra reach would have taken things to a new level.
The back of the house faced directly east. As it was getting dark, I brought out the binoculars to show my friends the moons of Jupiter and our own moon. Once it was dark, I found M13 quite easily right overhead. After showing some friends how to find it, I noticed that Sagittarius was in an ideal positing in the south, and we had a great view. I started making my way up the Milky Way.
The giant open cluster M7 was a great target since everyone could see it naked-eye. Seeing was surprisingly good, so we had good contrast in the binoculars despite the light pollution.
The globular cluster M22 was spectacular. It looks so large and is pretty easy to spot even for a complete newbie. From there, I started panning up and hit M8, M20, M16, Swan Nebula, and Wild Ducks with lots of other little gems mixed in. This was now officially the most fun I've ever had with binoculars.
Quite pleased, I looked around for other targets and went searching for the Dumbell Nebula. Despite the neck contortion, it was easy to find and looked quite ghostly among such a dense star field. At this point, I decided to get the telescope out.
I setup the 4" refractor on the second-floor balcony facing the beach. The extra height gave us an even better view of Sagittarius. We hit all of the same targets with the telescope, plus the Ring Nebula. Seeing was very good, and in still moments I could resolve a lot of stars in M13. On Jupiter at 200x, I could see three bands and easily see that the middle one was split by a white stripe in the center.
By about midnight, I looked out over the water and realized that the Andromeda Galaxy was in a nice position and easily visible naked-eye. It looked beautiful in the binoculars and the telescope as well.
We ended the observing there, and everyone had a blast. It was really refreshing to have a ton of fun with a simple set of binoculars and a modest refractor. I also enjoyed the tracking feature on the equatorial mount, especially since I am so used to re-adjusting dobs between each guest viewer.
I am eagerly anticipating next week's arrival of 15x45 Image-Stabilized binoculars made by Canon. As much fun as the 10x50s were, I'm sure the IS and extra reach would have taken things to a new level.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Morehead Viewing Session
On Saturday, July 25, I went out to the Ebeneezer Church Recreation Area for the Morehead Planetarium's skywatching session. I brought the heavy artillery, plus my 4" refractor. I arrived an hour early so I could get a good spot and get everything setup.
Upon arriving at 8pm, there was a bit of weather looming. Some small rain clouds were slowly approaching, so I held off on setup. By 8:30, they still hadn't passed. A look at the radar showed two small green specs headed our way, with nothing else for hundreds of miles. What luck! We got a few minutes of drizzle, but then it began to clear.
It seemed pretty safe by 9pm, so I setup the refractor. I went right to M13 and showed that to quite a few people. I couldn't get any stars to resolve in it yet, but it still wasn't fully dark. This was my first chance to test the tracking motors and home-brew power adapter, which worked very well. By 9:20 the sky was clearing, so I started setting up the 18" dob.
I finished by about 9:35, at which point it completely clouded over. Figures! I spent the next hour picking things out through holes in the clouds. There seemed to be lots of holes forming around the Ring Nebula, so lots of people got to see that. At times there just weren't any showcase objects visible, so I branched out with the help of Starmap Pro on my iPhone. I went to M12 at one point as the best I could find, which went over ok, but didn't evoke the "wow!" reaction.
Around 10:40, the sky cleared. I went right to M13, and people of course went nuts over it. Then we hit the Swan Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, and Wild Ducks. The crowd ate it up. 11pm came quick, so I had to pack it up and leave after a quick view of Jupiter. The sky was fairly unstable all night, so none of the views were particularly crisp.
One group of "civilians" brought a dob that looked to be about 10", and they seemed to find at least a couple of things. As I was packing up, they asked me to come identify a nebula they'd found which turned out to be the Swan. It was a nice view, so hopefully they'll continue to use that scope.
It was a good crowd of mostly youngish families and lots of children. There were many good questions, plus the typical "how much does that cost?" sorts of questions. The other Mike and I were the only CHAOS members present. Between our scopes and the scopes that the Morehead folks brought, there seemed to be enough to keep the crowd entertained. Of those people who stayed until the end, I think most were quite satisfied. Many people left during the cloudy portion though, but I think a lot of them got to at least see something early on.
It is worth noting that the clear sky chart predicted no clouds at all for 12 hours before and after this event. Sometimes it can be spot-on, and other times it's just flat wrong.
Upon arriving at 8pm, there was a bit of weather looming. Some small rain clouds were slowly approaching, so I held off on setup. By 8:30, they still hadn't passed. A look at the radar showed two small green specs headed our way, with nothing else for hundreds of miles. What luck! We got a few minutes of drizzle, but then it began to clear.
It seemed pretty safe by 9pm, so I setup the refractor. I went right to M13 and showed that to quite a few people. I couldn't get any stars to resolve in it yet, but it still wasn't fully dark. This was my first chance to test the tracking motors and home-brew power adapter, which worked very well. By 9:20 the sky was clearing, so I started setting up the 18" dob.
I finished by about 9:35, at which point it completely clouded over. Figures! I spent the next hour picking things out through holes in the clouds. There seemed to be lots of holes forming around the Ring Nebula, so lots of people got to see that. At times there just weren't any showcase objects visible, so I branched out with the help of Starmap Pro on my iPhone. I went to M12 at one point as the best I could find, which went over ok, but didn't evoke the "wow!" reaction.
Around 10:40, the sky cleared. I went right to M13, and people of course went nuts over it. Then we hit the Swan Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, and Wild Ducks. The crowd ate it up. 11pm came quick, so I had to pack it up and leave after a quick view of Jupiter. The sky was fairly unstable all night, so none of the views were particularly crisp.
One group of "civilians" brought a dob that looked to be about 10", and they seemed to find at least a couple of things. As I was packing up, they asked me to come identify a nebula they'd found which turned out to be the Swan. It was a nice view, so hopefully they'll continue to use that scope.
It was a good crowd of mostly youngish families and lots of children. There were many good questions, plus the typical "how much does that cost?" sorts of questions. The other Mike and I were the only CHAOS members present. Between our scopes and the scopes that the Morehead folks brought, there seemed to be enough to keep the crowd entertained. Of those people who stayed until the end, I think most were quite satisfied. Many people left during the cloudy portion though, but I think a lot of them got to at least see something early on.
It is worth noting that the clear sky chart predicted no clouds at all for 12 hours before and after this event. Sometimes it can be spot-on, and other times it's just flat wrong.
Medoc July 24
I was glued to the sky chart until the afternoon update, which showed an unusually clear summer evening. Within an hour, I had plans to meet Allen Davis at Medoc! This was my first trip to Medoc after having heard so much.
I arrived at 8pm. Allen was there with his friend Don, and Sims Roy was also there. The sky was clear all night, but it was quite humid. Very early on, things got wet. None the less, the observing was great fun. All night long, the views were consistently much better than we expected given the humidity. The sky got darker as the night went on, with midnight being much darker than 10-11pm. By 3am it was a bit darker still. Our limiting magnitude was at least 5.2.
We had quite a few people from the campground stop by. We showed them the usual tourist traps, which were well-received. Two boys in high school ended up staying out with us very late (1 or 2 am) and had a great time. They got to see what observing is really about and look at lots of different objects.
I started with some usual suspects:
M13- high overhead, and looking beautiful! A young boy described it as "fireworks that were frozen".
M5- also spectacular. Lots of stars resolving nicely.
Ring Nebula- Wonderful as always. This was a big hit.
Whirlpool Galaxy- this is where the humidity began to show. The two galaxy cores were very bright and obvious. The arms were easy to spot, but the view wasn't terribly clear.
Pinwheel Galaxy- more challenging. The arms were difficult to spot without moving the scope back and forth a bit.
Veil Nebula- Decent, but not nearly as much detail as I saw at MASP. The middle section was unusually hard to find given how dark it was.
Swan Nebula- Very good with lots of detail, especially around the bottom of the check. The OIII filter didn't help as much as I am used to. At 205x with the OIII, I couldn't see a lot of the peripheral nebulosity that I know is there.
Wild Ducks- Pristine! The star field looked really sharp. This is one of my favorites.
Dumbbell Nebula- Very bright, with the outer ellipse well-defined. Beautiful, ghostly look. This one appeared a bit more orange than other nebulas.
NGC 6217- small, faint galaxy with a round disk and relatively bright core.
M56- Understated globular cluster in Lyra, only a few stars resolving near the core at 293x.
NGC 7331- Brightest galaxy in Pegasus, but very faint on this evening. I couldn't make out any companions.
Andromeda Galaxy- Very nice with its companions. I could see just the one major dust lane as a hard edge on one side.
Jupiter- Pushed this all the way up to 584x, and the image stayed ok. It had moments of clarity that came and went. Probably the best view was around 410x. We could see a lot of detail in the cloud bands. Try as we may, we could not make out the impact point that was spotted recently. We had enough clarity that I think we would have seen it if it were still visible.
At one point, I heard Allen and the two boys talking about how great the Andromeda Galaxy looked through binoculars. I went over, and Allen handed me a smallish pair that he said were 12x36. Then he said "when you get it in view, just push this button on top". Huh? It turns out that these were image-stabilized binoculars made by Canon. I got Andromeda into the field of view with the usual shakes from hand-holding, and then I pushed the magic button. WHOA! The whole image went from quite jittery to just slowly floating around.
This really felt like magic, and it takes binocular astronomy to a completely different level. You can just walk outside, point your binoculars up, and enjoy the kind of stability that you would expect out of a quality mount. Amazing! I'm sure this is perfect for travel, or for a cold night when you just want to step outside to see something and then dart right back in. This technology adds tremendous value to the experience of binocular astronomy. Too bad they are so expensive! (currently $550 on Amazon, or $900 for 15x50s).
Oh, and Andromeda looked stunning through the binos. I also picked out M13, the Swan Nebula, and the Lagoon Nebula. For someone who does binocular astronomy a fair amount, I think the IS feature would be well worth the price. It also seems to be a fair trade-off to go down in aperture a bit in exchange for having a stable image.
Allen and I decided to pack up around 4am. The observing was still good, but it was getting very wet, and we were both starting to feel tired. It was a very fun evening, and the conditions were about as good as one can expect for July.
I arrived at 8pm. Allen was there with his friend Don, and Sims Roy was also there. The sky was clear all night, but it was quite humid. Very early on, things got wet. None the less, the observing was great fun. All night long, the views were consistently much better than we expected given the humidity. The sky got darker as the night went on, with midnight being much darker than 10-11pm. By 3am it was a bit darker still. Our limiting magnitude was at least 5.2.
We had quite a few people from the campground stop by. We showed them the usual tourist traps, which were well-received. Two boys in high school ended up staying out with us very late (1 or 2 am) and had a great time. They got to see what observing is really about and look at lots of different objects.
I started with some usual suspects:
M13- high overhead, and looking beautiful! A young boy described it as "fireworks that were frozen".
M5- also spectacular. Lots of stars resolving nicely.
Ring Nebula- Wonderful as always. This was a big hit.
Whirlpool Galaxy- this is where the humidity began to show. The two galaxy cores were very bright and obvious. The arms were easy to spot, but the view wasn't terribly clear.
Pinwheel Galaxy- more challenging. The arms were difficult to spot without moving the scope back and forth a bit.
Veil Nebula- Decent, but not nearly as much detail as I saw at MASP. The middle section was unusually hard to find given how dark it was.
Swan Nebula- Very good with lots of detail, especially around the bottom of the check. The OIII filter didn't help as much as I am used to. At 205x with the OIII, I couldn't see a lot of the peripheral nebulosity that I know is there.
Wild Ducks- Pristine! The star field looked really sharp. This is one of my favorites.
Dumbbell Nebula- Very bright, with the outer ellipse well-defined. Beautiful, ghostly look. This one appeared a bit more orange than other nebulas.
NGC 6217- small, faint galaxy with a round disk and relatively bright core.
M56- Understated globular cluster in Lyra, only a few stars resolving near the core at 293x.
NGC 7331- Brightest galaxy in Pegasus, but very faint on this evening. I couldn't make out any companions.
Andromeda Galaxy- Very nice with its companions. I could see just the one major dust lane as a hard edge on one side.
Jupiter- Pushed this all the way up to 584x, and the image stayed ok. It had moments of clarity that came and went. Probably the best view was around 410x. We could see a lot of detail in the cloud bands. Try as we may, we could not make out the impact point that was spotted recently. We had enough clarity that I think we would have seen it if it were still visible.
At one point, I heard Allen and the two boys talking about how great the Andromeda Galaxy looked through binoculars. I went over, and Allen handed me a smallish pair that he said were 12x36. Then he said "when you get it in view, just push this button on top". Huh? It turns out that these were image-stabilized binoculars made by Canon. I got Andromeda into the field of view with the usual shakes from hand-holding, and then I pushed the magic button. WHOA! The whole image went from quite jittery to just slowly floating around.
This really felt like magic, and it takes binocular astronomy to a completely different level. You can just walk outside, point your binoculars up, and enjoy the kind of stability that you would expect out of a quality mount. Amazing! I'm sure this is perfect for travel, or for a cold night when you just want to step outside to see something and then dart right back in. This technology adds tremendous value to the experience of binocular astronomy. Too bad they are so expensive! (currently $550 on Amazon, or $900 for 15x50s).
Oh, and Andromeda looked stunning through the binos. I also picked out M13, the Swan Nebula, and the Lagoon Nebula. For someone who does binocular astronomy a fair amount, I think the IS feature would be well worth the price. It also seems to be a fair trade-off to go down in aperture a bit in exchange for having a stable image.
Allen and I decided to pack up around 4am. The observing was still good, but it was getting very wet, and we were both starting to feel tired. It was a very fun evening, and the conditions were about as good as one can expect for July.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Pettigrew Day 2
Pettigrew State Park has been wonderful. The rangers and staff have made us feel like we own the place. They recognize that dark sky is one of their most valuable natural resources, and they are specifically interested in supporting astronomy and making a name for their park as an astronomy destination.
In the afternoon, Robert and I went in search of carnivorous plants on the south side of Lake Phelps. We managed to find the underwater type, but none of the "Sundew" plants that are so popular. The land south of the lake is incredibly devoid of anything man-made. In places, you can see for what seems like miles. Check here for pictures of the park and our setup.
As it was getting dark, some campers and a local who lives across the street joined us to look through the scopes. We gave a tour of the Moon, Orion Nebula, Saturn, M46, etc. At about 8:50, we spotted the International Space Station. Robert followed it with his binoculars, and I tracked it in my scope. I used a Panoptic 35mm, giving me 59x. I had no problem following it, but it seemed like a fair amount of time went by without much structural detail being visible. Eventually I saw the solar panels on each side, which seemed to be almost edge-on. I suppose that makes sense if they wanted the panels aimed at the Sun. I could also at that point distinguish at least one cylindrical module in the center.
The Moon did not set until around midnight, and although it was only three days past new, it was incredibly bright. While we waited, Robert got his portable coffee machine setup. The forecast was for a low in the upper 30s, so it was great to have some warmth and extra energy.
9:40pm We can hear red wolves howling. The rangers said there is a den about a mile and a half down the shore to the West. Most of the howling comes from that direction, but some is further North.
Once the moon set, the sky was incredible. Everything was very still and very dark. Note that nearly all of my galaxy observing was done at either 121x or 205x. Here comes the observing list:
54 Leonis: very nice double star- a bright yellow one with a much smaller blue companion
M105: Part of a beautiful galaxy trio including NGC 3384 and the fainter NGC 3389
NGC 3377: Bright, distinct core with a glowing halo. Makes a nice view at 121x with NGC 3367, which did not have an obvious core
Leo Triplet: Stunning trio of galaxies! M65 appears mostly edge-on with a dust lane above the core. M66 appears more face-on with a bright bar across its core. NGC 3628 appears edge-on with a serious dust lane like the Sombrero.
NGC 3607/3608: Two small galaxies that have obvious cores and seem face-on. Like two eyes looking back at you from space! 3607 is slightly brighter and larger.
NGC 3507: very faint edge-on galaxy with a dust lane on the South side
NGC 3226/3227: These interacting galaxies are beautiful, like a pair of breasts in the sky. 3227 is slightly brighter overall but has a smaller core. NGC 3222 is also visible, but faint.
NGC 3245: bright core and halo, very faint extremities at 205x.
NGC 3414/3418: Nice pair of galaxies that apparently didn't merit further description in my notes.
NGC 3504: Great framing of this galaxy inside a triangle of fairly bright stars. A very dull circle was visible around the galaxy, which I now know are two giant spiral arms.
NGC 3432: This is a bright edge-on galaxy that seemed thicker on the West end. I pushed this one to 293x.
NGC 3319: extremely faint galaxy
NGC 3198: large, even halo with a subtle core
NGC 3079: Edge-on galaxy with two dust lanes visible near the core. They seem to form a V shape with the core in the center.
NGC 3184: very faint and expansive galaxy with an obvious core
NGC 3198: faint and long galaxy, mostly edge-on, with no obvious core.
NGC 3726: small core, not quite face-on, with spiral structure evident.
NGC 3877: edge-on galaxy with a big core
NGC 3394/3396: bright pair of interacting galaxies, but I cannot see actual contact. NGC 3424 also appears in the view.
M104 (Sombrero): freakishly good, even at 410x!
Copeland's Septet: This is a very small collection, but at 205x, all seven were plainly visible.
It is now nearing 4am, and I've had two cups of coffee. I almost never drink coffee, but when I do, it has quite an effect!
M13: as incredible as last night. I went to 293x and lost no detail or sharpness.
M92: the other beautiful globular in Hercules, smaller than M13, but still stunning
M5: a spectacular globular which I've always thought is very blue. This globular has less density once you get outside the core than M13 or M92.
M11 (Wild Ducks): Wow! The star field is so dense, it's incredible. It was difficult at first to see where the triangular shape was amid so many other stars.
It is now about 4:30am. I am enjoying another cup of coffee and have committed to observing the rest of the night. Robert is shutting down and preparing for sleep. The rest of my observing session can only be described as a glorious victory march through great Summer objects. I had my Pocket Sky Atlas in hand, a crazy grin on my face, and just browsed the charts for my favorite clusters and nebulae. I was too loopy to plan the rest of my session, due to being tired, really excited, and highly caffeinated.
M17 (Swan): WHOA!!! I saw as much detail in my 8x50 finder as I sometimes see in my scope. I am not exaggerating! Then I put an OIII filter on it (the scope, not the finder), and it was mind-blowing. This is at 121x. I then tried a UHC filter, and I was surprised to see it improve some aspects of the view. Until now, I've always preferred the OIII to UHC in side-by-side comparisons. Some of the detail under the swan's wing was less prominent with the UHC, but everything else was brighter.
M8 (Lagoon): All I wrote in my notes was "Life changing."
M20 (Trifid): Insane! The dark veins on the inside were very clear. The nebulosity outside the main disk was also very prominent and bright. If you have the Night Sky Observer's Guide Volume 2, the view was much better than the picture on p. 316. I'd say it looked about 90% as good as this.
M27 (Dumbbell): All I wrote was "Perfect." You could not ask for more detail.
Jupiter: I caught this planet rising in the east, still very low. Its leading edge looked very blue, and the trailing edge very orange.
M28: A smallish globular in Sagittarius.
5:40am "Is the sky to the East a touch brighter than it was a few minutes ago?"
M22: Wow! This globular rivals M3 and M5.
5:46am - Game Over.
As with the first night, there were numerous objects (mostly faint galaxies) that I did not make notes on because they didn't distinguish themselves from the crowd.
Can you tell I had fun? These two nights were really a blast, and I can't wait for my next chance to get to Pettigrew. It's a beautiful place, the facilities cover all of the basic needs, the rangers and staff were very good to us, and of course the dark sky is just incredible.
In the afternoon, Robert and I went in search of carnivorous plants on the south side of Lake Phelps. We managed to find the underwater type, but none of the "Sundew" plants that are so popular. The land south of the lake is incredibly devoid of anything man-made. In places, you can see for what seems like miles. Check here for pictures of the park and our setup.
As it was getting dark, some campers and a local who lives across the street joined us to look through the scopes. We gave a tour of the Moon, Orion Nebula, Saturn, M46, etc. At about 8:50, we spotted the International Space Station. Robert followed it with his binoculars, and I tracked it in my scope. I used a Panoptic 35mm, giving me 59x. I had no problem following it, but it seemed like a fair amount of time went by without much structural detail being visible. Eventually I saw the solar panels on each side, which seemed to be almost edge-on. I suppose that makes sense if they wanted the panels aimed at the Sun. I could also at that point distinguish at least one cylindrical module in the center.
The Moon did not set until around midnight, and although it was only three days past new, it was incredibly bright. While we waited, Robert got his portable coffee machine setup. The forecast was for a low in the upper 30s, so it was great to have some warmth and extra energy.
9:40pm We can hear red wolves howling. The rangers said there is a den about a mile and a half down the shore to the West. Most of the howling comes from that direction, but some is further North.
Once the moon set, the sky was incredible. Everything was very still and very dark. Note that nearly all of my galaxy observing was done at either 121x or 205x. Here comes the observing list:
54 Leonis: very nice double star- a bright yellow one with a much smaller blue companion
M105: Part of a beautiful galaxy trio including NGC 3384 and the fainter NGC 3389
NGC 3377: Bright, distinct core with a glowing halo. Makes a nice view at 121x with NGC 3367, which did not have an obvious core
Leo Triplet: Stunning trio of galaxies! M65 appears mostly edge-on with a dust lane above the core. M66 appears more face-on with a bright bar across its core. NGC 3628 appears edge-on with a serious dust lane like the Sombrero.
NGC 3607/3608: Two small galaxies that have obvious cores and seem face-on. Like two eyes looking back at you from space! 3607 is slightly brighter and larger.
NGC 3507: very faint edge-on galaxy with a dust lane on the South side
NGC 3226/3227: These interacting galaxies are beautiful, like a pair of breasts in the sky. 3227 is slightly brighter overall but has a smaller core. NGC 3222 is also visible, but faint.
NGC 3245: bright core and halo, very faint extremities at 205x.
NGC 3414/3418: Nice pair of galaxies that apparently didn't merit further description in my notes.
NGC 3504: Great framing of this galaxy inside a triangle of fairly bright stars. A very dull circle was visible around the galaxy, which I now know are two giant spiral arms.
NGC 3432: This is a bright edge-on galaxy that seemed thicker on the West end. I pushed this one to 293x.
NGC 3319: extremely faint galaxy
NGC 3198: large, even halo with a subtle core
NGC 3079: Edge-on galaxy with two dust lanes visible near the core. They seem to form a V shape with the core in the center.
NGC 3184: very faint and expansive galaxy with an obvious core
NGC 3198: faint and long galaxy, mostly edge-on, with no obvious core.
NGC 3726: small core, not quite face-on, with spiral structure evident.
NGC 3877: edge-on galaxy with a big core
NGC 3394/3396: bright pair of interacting galaxies, but I cannot see actual contact. NGC 3424 also appears in the view.
M104 (Sombrero): freakishly good, even at 410x!
Copeland's Septet: This is a very small collection, but at 205x, all seven were plainly visible.
It is now nearing 4am, and I've had two cups of coffee. I almost never drink coffee, but when I do, it has quite an effect!
M13: as incredible as last night. I went to 293x and lost no detail or sharpness.
M92: the other beautiful globular in Hercules, smaller than M13, but still stunning
M5: a spectacular globular which I've always thought is very blue. This globular has less density once you get outside the core than M13 or M92.
M11 (Wild Ducks): Wow! The star field is so dense, it's incredible. It was difficult at first to see where the triangular shape was amid so many other stars.
It is now about 4:30am. I am enjoying another cup of coffee and have committed to observing the rest of the night. Robert is shutting down and preparing for sleep. The rest of my observing session can only be described as a glorious victory march through great Summer objects. I had my Pocket Sky Atlas in hand, a crazy grin on my face, and just browsed the charts for my favorite clusters and nebulae. I was too loopy to plan the rest of my session, due to being tired, really excited, and highly caffeinated.
M17 (Swan): WHOA!!! I saw as much detail in my 8x50 finder as I sometimes see in my scope. I am not exaggerating! Then I put an OIII filter on it (the scope, not the finder), and it was mind-blowing. This is at 121x. I then tried a UHC filter, and I was surprised to see it improve some aspects of the view. Until now, I've always preferred the OIII to UHC in side-by-side comparisons. Some of the detail under the swan's wing was less prominent with the UHC, but everything else was brighter.
M8 (Lagoon): All I wrote in my notes was "Life changing."
M20 (Trifid): Insane! The dark veins on the inside were very clear. The nebulosity outside the main disk was also very prominent and bright. If you have the Night Sky Observer's Guide Volume 2, the view was much better than the picture on p. 316. I'd say it looked about 90% as good as this.
M27 (Dumbbell): All I wrote was "Perfect." You could not ask for more detail.
Jupiter: I caught this planet rising in the east, still very low. Its leading edge looked very blue, and the trailing edge very orange.
M28: A smallish globular in Sagittarius.
5:40am "Is the sky to the East a touch brighter than it was a few minutes ago?"
M22: Wow! This globular rivals M3 and M5.
5:46am - Game Over.
As with the first night, there were numerous objects (mostly faint galaxies) that I did not make notes on because they didn't distinguish themselves from the crowd.
Can you tell I had fun? These two nights were really a blast, and I can't wait for my next chance to get to Pettigrew. It's a beautiful place, the facilities cover all of the basic needs, the rangers and staff were very good to us, and of course the dark sky is just incredible.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pettigrew Day 1
On Sunday, March 29, Robert Nielsen and I drove out to Pettigrew State Park three days later than planned, due to rain. The park is in eastern North Carolina surrounded by farmland and swamps, so it is extremely dark. There are 13 camp sites, a boat launch area with a great southern horizon, a bath house with a battery charging station, and the ranger office. The ideal location for observing is the boat launch area, but it can get very windy. The camp sites do not have electricity, but the boat launch area has an electrical outlet on the side of a light post. The battery charging station consists of a set of shelves on the outside of the bath house with 6 or 8 standard AC electrical outlets.
Pettigrew has very dark sky. I could see several magnitude 6 stars, but no magnitude 7s. The next two nights were the best observing I've had to date! The rangers and other staff were all very friendly and extremely accommodating. They are very interested in supporting and promoting astronomy at their facility, and they recognize that the dark sky is one of their most valuable natural resources.
We setup after dinner by the boat ramps on faith that the wind would die down as predicted. Around 7:30, the wind had calmed enough that we could do some lunar observing. By 8pm the wind was roaring again, and by 9pm, it was up to about 20mph sustained. By 9:30 it was nearing 25mph, and we decided to move inland to the parking area. It was a giant pain, but ultimately necessary since the wind howled for the rest of the night.
The first objects I went for were M81 and M82. The first words in my notes are "Good Lord!!!". The detail was incredible, and both were big and bright. In M81, I could see certain spots that were much brighter than others.
M108: Long, bright edge-on galaxy. I noticed a dense knot on the north end.
M97: Big ball of a nebula, and quite bright. The central star was obvious.
M51: Whirlpool! Wow, this was a show-stopper! The spiral structure was clear as day. No averted vision necessary!
M109: Galaxy with a dense core. It is faint, but the extremities are large.
NGC 3953: Brighter galaxy than M109.
M106: Large, bright galaxy with two fainter edge-on galaxies in the same field of view to the west.
NGC 4051: Two spiral arms are obvious.
M94: Bright inner disk for the nucleus with a large, softer outer disc.
M101: This is the Pinwheel, and I can see why! I am still fairly new to astronomy, so I didn't know that M101 was the Pinwheel. But as soon as I saw it in the eyepiece, there was no doubt! The level of detail was incredible.
M63: Very bright galaxy with a clear dust lane under the nucleus.
M3: This is a huge globular cluster. The core is of course very dense, but even well outside the core, the area is completely saturated. To me, it looked like a silver frost had formed between the brightest stars around the core. Spectacular!
M53: Small globular cluster that is bright and dense, with lots of starts resolving in and around the core. NGC 5053 is a much fainter globular in the same field of view, but none of its stars would resolve.
M64: This is the Black Eye Galaxy. I laughed out loud when I saw it, because that's exactly how it looks! There is a black void on one side of the nucleus. It was well-defined, and the galaxy was very bright.
At this point, I moved down to some objects closer to the horizon.
NGC 3621: This is a beautiful face-on galaxy. It is fairly bright, and it fits snugly inside four prominent stars which are shaped like a kite. It makes for a nicely-framed view.
NGC 3242: The Ghost of Jupiter. It looked like a bulls-eye with its concentric circles, and the central star was very obvious. It looked best at 293x.
Now I did some wandering in Virgo, Coma Berenices, and Leo. With my Nagler 17, I get 121x and the usual Nagler wide field. Wandering with this eyepiece, I came across dozens upon dozens of galaxies, most of which looked fairly small and faint. At one point, I think I had about 15 in one field of view. It is mind-blowing to see how many entire galaxies there are up there.
It was now 2am, which was the ideal time to observe Omega Centauri. Robert and I grabbed our binoculars and headed back to the boat launch area. The wind was still howling out there. After consulting a star chart, we were able to locate this huge globular cluster immediately with the naked eye, just a few degrees above the horizon. Through the binoculars, it was obvious that this thing is a beast! Its sheer size it just incredible. I can't wait to get a telescope on it. I did a direct comparison by observing M3, M13, and then Omega Centauri each in a row with my binoculars, and Omega Centauri made the others look like a joke.
Back to my telescope, I toured some summer objects, hit a couple more in Coma Berenices, and then turned in for the night.
M13: Looked amazing. I saw the same frost-like structure as I saw in M3 earlier. Even at 293x, stars were resolving exceptionally well, even right at the core.
Ring Nebula: Amazing! Despite a lot of trying, I could not see the central star. However, at certain places along the ring, I could see a color difference from the inside to the outside. I couldn't quite pin down what the colors were, but the difference was very interesting.
NGC 4565: This is an edge-on galaxy in Coma Berenices that looks a lot like the Sombrero, but thinner. Very impressive image and highly recommended!
Coma Galaxy Cluster: I saw a good 30 galaxies in a very small area, and at least 12-15 in one field of view. Incredible!
There were a number of galaxies that I observed throughout the evening but did not make notes on. The simple truth is that after a while, a fuzzy blob is a fuzzy blob. Many of them were very nice to look at, but did not really stand out from the crowd. Here is a partial list of NGC numbers: 3277, 3077, 3610, 3445, 3448, 3310, 4088, 4248, 4231, 4232.
Around 4am, we were both losing concentration and gave in. It was pretty cold at this point, which made the retreat into a sleeping bag very appealing. We covered our scopes and left them in the parking area. The scopes took up two adjacent parking spots, flanked on either side by our cars. The park had very little traffic (it was a Sunday night after all), so we felt pretty secure that the scopes would be undisturbed. They were also within 100 ft of the ranger office and in plain view of the office windows.
Pettigrew has very dark sky. I could see several magnitude 6 stars, but no magnitude 7s. The next two nights were the best observing I've had to date! The rangers and other staff were all very friendly and extremely accommodating. They are very interested in supporting and promoting astronomy at their facility, and they recognize that the dark sky is one of their most valuable natural resources.
We setup after dinner by the boat ramps on faith that the wind would die down as predicted. Around 7:30, the wind had calmed enough that we could do some lunar observing. By 8pm the wind was roaring again, and by 9pm, it was up to about 20mph sustained. By 9:30 it was nearing 25mph, and we decided to move inland to the parking area. It was a giant pain, but ultimately necessary since the wind howled for the rest of the night.
The first objects I went for were M81 and M82. The first words in my notes are "Good Lord!!!". The detail was incredible, and both were big and bright. In M81, I could see certain spots that were much brighter than others.
M108: Long, bright edge-on galaxy. I noticed a dense knot on the north end.
M97: Big ball of a nebula, and quite bright. The central star was obvious.
M51: Whirlpool! Wow, this was a show-stopper! The spiral structure was clear as day. No averted vision necessary!
M109: Galaxy with a dense core. It is faint, but the extremities are large.
NGC 3953: Brighter galaxy than M109.
M106: Large, bright galaxy with two fainter edge-on galaxies in the same field of view to the west.
NGC 4051: Two spiral arms are obvious.
M94: Bright inner disk for the nucleus with a large, softer outer disc.
M101: This is the Pinwheel, and I can see why! I am still fairly new to astronomy, so I didn't know that M101 was the Pinwheel. But as soon as I saw it in the eyepiece, there was no doubt! The level of detail was incredible.
M63: Very bright galaxy with a clear dust lane under the nucleus.
M3: This is a huge globular cluster. The core is of course very dense, but even well outside the core, the area is completely saturated. To me, it looked like a silver frost had formed between the brightest stars around the core. Spectacular!
M53: Small globular cluster that is bright and dense, with lots of starts resolving in and around the core. NGC 5053 is a much fainter globular in the same field of view, but none of its stars would resolve.
M64: This is the Black Eye Galaxy. I laughed out loud when I saw it, because that's exactly how it looks! There is a black void on one side of the nucleus. It was well-defined, and the galaxy was very bright.
At this point, I moved down to some objects closer to the horizon.
NGC 3621: This is a beautiful face-on galaxy. It is fairly bright, and it fits snugly inside four prominent stars which are shaped like a kite. It makes for a nicely-framed view.
NGC 3242: The Ghost of Jupiter. It looked like a bulls-eye with its concentric circles, and the central star was very obvious. It looked best at 293x.
Now I did some wandering in Virgo, Coma Berenices, and Leo. With my Nagler 17, I get 121x and the usual Nagler wide field. Wandering with this eyepiece, I came across dozens upon dozens of galaxies, most of which looked fairly small and faint. At one point, I think I had about 15 in one field of view. It is mind-blowing to see how many entire galaxies there are up there.
It was now 2am, which was the ideal time to observe Omega Centauri. Robert and I grabbed our binoculars and headed back to the boat launch area. The wind was still howling out there. After consulting a star chart, we were able to locate this huge globular cluster immediately with the naked eye, just a few degrees above the horizon. Through the binoculars, it was obvious that this thing is a beast! Its sheer size it just incredible. I can't wait to get a telescope on it. I did a direct comparison by observing M3, M13, and then Omega Centauri each in a row with my binoculars, and Omega Centauri made the others look like a joke.
Back to my telescope, I toured some summer objects, hit a couple more in Coma Berenices, and then turned in for the night.
M13: Looked amazing. I saw the same frost-like structure as I saw in M3 earlier. Even at 293x, stars were resolving exceptionally well, even right at the core.
Ring Nebula: Amazing! Despite a lot of trying, I could not see the central star. However, at certain places along the ring, I could see a color difference from the inside to the outside. I couldn't quite pin down what the colors were, but the difference was very interesting.
NGC 4565: This is an edge-on galaxy in Coma Berenices that looks a lot like the Sombrero, but thinner. Very impressive image and highly recommended!
Coma Galaxy Cluster: I saw a good 30 galaxies in a very small area, and at least 12-15 in one field of view. Incredible!
There were a number of galaxies that I observed throughout the evening but did not make notes on. The simple truth is that after a while, a fuzzy blob is a fuzzy blob. Many of them were very nice to look at, but did not really stand out from the crowd. Here is a partial list of NGC numbers: 3277, 3077, 3610, 3445, 3448, 3310, 4088, 4248, 4231, 4232.
Around 4am, we were both losing concentration and gave in. It was pretty cold at this point, which made the retreat into a sleeping bag very appealing. We covered our scopes and left them in the parking area. The scopes took up two adjacent parking spots, flanked on either side by our cars. The park had very little traffic (it was a Sunday night after all), so we felt pretty secure that the scopes would be undisturbed. They were also within 100 ft of the ranger office and in plain view of the office windows.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Farrington report
Tonight was a good evening for observing. Walter Fowler and I were the only attendees.
Walter had a new GOTO mount to try with his televue refractor. We worked out some kinks and figured out how to get it working. Once the mount stopped "locating" objects in the mud and conceded that they were in the sky, it was quite a lot of fun to use. It will make an ideal public-observing-session setup.
Walter had another new toy: at WSP he picked up a used Televue Powermate 5X barlow. You heard me. That's 5, as in five. After I initially dismissed it as pure silliness, he talked me into trying it on Saturn with my scope. I dropped in my Pentax 10mm eyepiece, which put the magnification at a whopping 1027x! When you could get Saturn into the field of view, it was huge! All 5 visible moons were on the same side of the planet, and stretched nearly across the entire field of view. Despite the crapshoots that were focusing and aiming the scope, during brief moments as Saturn zipped across the field of view, there was a lot of detail. I saw the shadow of the rings on the planet surface and even saw empty space through the rings on either side of the planet.
I did a side-by-side comparison of my Pentax 10XW with Walter's Nagler 9. They show nearly identical fields of view, but the presentation is different. Despite more magnification, the Nagler actually caused objects to look smaller. The field of view, however, extended all around in typical Nagler form.
The Globe at Night project asked people to compare their view of Orion to charts on their website, submitting reports between March 16-28. I did this at Farrington, and the sky just slightly exceeded the magnitude 4 chart. Had it been less humid, it might have come about half-way to the magnitude 5 chart, but no better I think.
As for objects, I mostly cruised through the highlights of my last observing session. Early on, we spotted the remains of the Cosmos 1939 Rocket moving through Cancer at about 3.6 magnitude. The air was quite still, and I found lots of detail in some great objects while the dryness lasted. Walter left around 10:20pm. By 10:45, I noticed that the sky was glowing more than usual, and everything was very wet. A quick check with my iPhone revealed that the humidity in Pittsboro was 90% and rising! That's way above the forecast, which is a shame. I packed up at that point and headed home.
Walter had a new GOTO mount to try with his televue refractor. We worked out some kinks and figured out how to get it working. Once the mount stopped "locating" objects in the mud and conceded that they were in the sky, it was quite a lot of fun to use. It will make an ideal public-observing-session setup.
Walter had another new toy: at WSP he picked up a used Televue Powermate 5X barlow. You heard me. That's 5, as in five. After I initially dismissed it as pure silliness, he talked me into trying it on Saturn with my scope. I dropped in my Pentax 10mm eyepiece, which put the magnification at a whopping 1027x! When you could get Saturn into the field of view, it was huge! All 5 visible moons were on the same side of the planet, and stretched nearly across the entire field of view. Despite the crapshoots that were focusing and aiming the scope, during brief moments as Saturn zipped across the field of view, there was a lot of detail. I saw the shadow of the rings on the planet surface and even saw empty space through the rings on either side of the planet.
I did a side-by-side comparison of my Pentax 10XW with Walter's Nagler 9. They show nearly identical fields of view, but the presentation is different. Despite more magnification, the Nagler actually caused objects to look smaller. The field of view, however, extended all around in typical Nagler form.
The Globe at Night project asked people to compare their view of Orion to charts on their website, submitting reports between March 16-28. I did this at Farrington, and the sky just slightly exceeded the magnitude 4 chart. Had it been less humid, it might have come about half-way to the magnitude 5 chart, but no better I think.
As for objects, I mostly cruised through the highlights of my last observing session. Early on, we spotted the remains of the Cosmos 1939 Rocket moving through Cancer at about 3.6 magnitude. The air was quite still, and I found lots of detail in some great objects while the dryness lasted. Walter left around 10:20pm. By 10:45, I noticed that the sky was glowing more than usual, and everything was very wet. A quick check with my iPhone revealed that the humidity in Pittsboro was 90% and rising! That's way above the forecast, which is a shame. I packed up at that point and headed home.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Clear and Dry at Farrington
I arrived on 2/16 at about 5:30pm for a night of solo observing. It was cloudy most of the day, but the sky cleared out between 5-6pm. It was very cold, getting down to 27F by the time I left at 2:10am. It was also incredibly dry. At 2:10am, the humidity was only 57%! There was no dew at all. The only real problem with the weather was the wind, which would occasionally shake the scope a bit. It mostly wasn't a problem.
After getting setup (including very careful collimation), I snapped the attached picture and then started into the pizza I'd brought along. Soon it was dark enough to observe.
I went for the Orion Nebula right off the bat, and even while I was still focusing, I immediately saw 6 stars in the Trapezium. It wasn't even dark yet, and the air was incredibly still. I knew I was in for a great session.
About this time, a car passed by, turned around, and came back. A guy got out, and rather than give the typical "Hey, is that a canon?" question, this guy was also an amateur astronomer. "John" was a member of the Raleigh Astronomy Club apparently a long time ago, has some experience building scopes, and was very friendly. I encouraged him to get on our email list and come out for an observing session some time.
I had a LONG list of objects to find, so I didn't take detailed notes on everything. I tried to focus on whatever was high in the south - west quarter of the sky, since that seems to be the darkest area at Farrington. I tried to go with objects that the "Night Sky Observer's Guide" said would be visible in an 8" scope and had a rating of 3+ stars. It was amazing how many of those objects I couldn't detect at all in my 18" scope.
I started around Triangulum and worked my way up into Perseus and Taurus. Here we go:
Venus: incredibly bright, despite being maybe 40% illuminated. After dark, Venus was producing a lot of light pollution in its part of the sky. I stayed at least 20 degrees away from it until it set.
M31 Andromeda Galaxy: bright as always, with the major dust lane on the left side very visible.
NGC 672: very faint galaxy. I could only see the central bar. I could not see its companion IC 1727 at all.
Cr21: A very bright, nice cluster in the shape of an ear. I stumbled on this while star hopping my way to NGC 672.
NGC 925: another faint galaxy, no detail detected.
NGC 1023: small, but bright galaxy. Very nice!
M33 Triangulum Galaxy: no detail visible
M34: impressive open cluster. The clarity was amazing.
Double Cluster: wow! Again, the clarity was really impressive. I put a lot of effort into collimation, which combined with the exceptionally dry air to make this view incredible.
NGC 891: a relatively faint, but large edge-on galaxy. Interesting to see, but there was no inner detail to be had.
M76 Little Dumbbell: excellent! I pushed this up to 410x, and it still looked great! I could see the "dent" in the top of it and the nodes on the sides. If you have the "Night Sky Observer's Guide", my view looked just like the picture on p297 of volume 1, except obviously not as bright.
NGC 957: cute open cluster, but not very bright.
NGC 1245: faint, dense open cluster with lots of unresolvable stars. I had about 121x on it, so if I'd gone up to 200 or 300x, it probably would have cleaned the image up. I just didn't have the interest to bother on this object.
IC 2003: tiny reflection nebula in Perseus. At 121x, I couldn't distinguish it from a star. At 293x, it was obviously a bright disk.
NGC 1514: this planetary nebula in Taurus was stunning at 205x with an OIII filter. A central star was obvious with a ring of sense nebula around it.
NGC 1491: small emission nebula in Perseus that was faint, but obviously shaped like a triangle. Two sides were dense, with the area in between just a faint cloudiness.
NGC 1513: Small but bright open cluster. This was shaped like a backwards comma.
Now I jumped over to Orion and worked my way up into Gemini.
NGC 1528: large open cluster that is both bright and dense. It was shaped like a long wedge.
M78: this nebula was very nice at 205x, but an OIII filter actually made it worse.
NGC 2022: small, bright disk at 293x. This is a nice object in Orion that probably gets overlooked too often.
NGC 2261 Hubble's Variable Nebula: small, but very nice with great detail at 293x. The air was still very steady.
Σ953: a stunning double star in Monoceros. I stumbled on this while looking for NGC 2261 and needing a star to adjust focus on. This was the closest star in my finder of appropriate magnitude. These two are about even brightness, one being very yellow, and the other very blue. Quite a gem!
NGC 2264 X-mas Tree: Not much detail here. I couldn't see much nebulosity, but the star cluster was nice.
M35: huge open cluster that is very nice to observe. Bright with lots of stars, but not particularly dense.
NGC 2158: a companion to M35, this open cluster is much smaller and fainter, but very dense. I wrote in my notes that it must be much farther, and sure enough, it is about 5 times farther from us than M35.
M1 Crab Nebula: large, very imposing nebula. its non-circular shape seems somehow menacing. I spent a lot of time on this object at MASP, so on this evening I didn't linger.
NGC 2266: beautiful! This is a very dense open cluster that sits in an already very heavily-populated star field.
NGC 2392 Eskimo: very bright ball of nebulosity with a central star.
NGC 2420: Beautiful little open cluster that is very dense.
At this point I jumped to a group of objects that were in Puppis and Hydra, both low in the sky.
NGC 2467: this nebula was very low in the sky. I could have been kneeling while looking through the eyepiece. It was very interesting, but seeing a picture now, I missed a lot of it. I saw a fair amount of detail at 121x with an OIII filter. I sketched a donut-shaped nebula with an obvious hole in the middle, and a knob of some sort on the left side.
M93: very bright open cluster- spectacular!
M47: this open cluster was bright, but not particularly dense.
M46: this is the open cluster with a small ring-shaped nebula superimposed. At 121x with a UHC filter, this was breath-taking. The filter didn't dim the stars hardly at all, but really brought out the contrast and gave the nebula a bit more definition.
My final jump was to Cancer and Leo, which by now were high in the SW sky. Orion was setting!
NGC 2683: WOW! this is a very bright edge-on galaxy that looked great at 205x.
M44 Beehive: this open cluster is too big for my scope. I think binoculars would have been much better.
M67: big, dense open cluster that is very bright.
Abell 31: despite a recommendation from Sky & Telescope's March issue that this nebula was visible in a 10" scope in "semirural skies", I could not detect it at all, even with a UHC or OIII filter.
NGC 2775: this galaxy appeared small, but with a bright and dense core.
Saturn: By request, I paid special attention to Saturn. I saw four moons: Dione, Titan, Rhea, and Tethys. I knew where Enceladus was supposed to be, but I could not see it. I pushed the magnification up to 410x, and the view was still very clear! If I'd brought my barlow, I would have gone for 600x. The rings mostly looked like straight lines extending from the sides of the planet, but in moments of exceptionally still air, I could see dark space through the rings on either side of the planet! I doubted myself at first, but I was able to repeat the observation many times. In those moments when I could separate the near and far parts of the rings just before they crossed the planet, the rings themselves looked incredibly thin. There was a distinct band across the planet, about 25% of the way from the equator to the north pole. I felt like I was on the verge of seeing some detail in the southern hemisphere, but it never materialized. There was also a very distinct but thin shadow, which appeared to be immediately under the rings where they cross in front of the planet. The planet and rings appeared bright yellow.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Farrington Observing
I arrived a few minutes before 6pm and started setting up on soggy ground. There was a smattering of clouds, but it soon began to clear. Mark South, Robert Nielsen, and Kumar Pandya attended. Kumar actually just slowed down and pointed his telescope out the car window for a few seconds, setting a world record for the shortest observing session away from one's own residence.
Overall, the evening was quite clear, save about an hour. From about 9:30-10:30, the sky was completely clouded over. It got quite cold. Frost was accumulating by 9pm.
The list:
Venus- not quite half lit.
Moon- incredible. The air was very still, which is a treat especially so early in the evening. Long shadows on the surface made for great contrast and stunning terrain.
Andromeda Galaxy- very nice, but a bit of a let-down after the "religious experience" at MASP, as someone called it.
Orion Nebula- 6 stars in the trapezium easily visible, and lots of detail in the nebula.
Flame Nebula- barely visible with either UHC or OIII filter.
Triangulum Galaxy, M33- core and surrounding fuzziness, but no real structure.
NGC 604- a small companion to M33, with a brighter core than M33. (Robert, Mark, and Kumar- this is the smudge I saw below M33. Check this link out for details)
NGC 1360- Nice nebula with a fairly large disk of even brightness, but impossible to see without a filter (in this case, UHC).
NGC 2362- Nice open cluster with a small nebula around the bright central star. Beautiful!
M46- Gorgeous open cluster with a small ring-shaped nebula superimposed. Stunning, especially at 200x!
M36, 37, and 38
NGC 1907
Rosetta Nebula/ NGC 2244- Average open cluster, but a very nice ring of faint nebulosity around it. A UHC filter made it possible to see the nebula at all, but an OIII really brought out some detail. Even still, quite a bit of it was missing.
Crab Nebula- initially almost no detail. UHC filter brought out maybe 5%, and then an OIII about 20%.
Owl Nebula- Hindered by light pollution, but nice at 200x with an OIII filter. I could see the dumbell-shaped dark area in the center quite clearly.
M108- Bright edge-on galaxy with a relatively long body. This was in major light pollution, but held up well.
M109- Face-on galaxy with only the core visible.
I departed shortly before 1am. My new dew prevention system worked beautifully! (Dewbuster with home-made heating strips for finder and eyepiece, plus a secondary heater that finally has power). After over 6 hours of use, my 33Ah battery was still at 85%! I noticed that the heat put off by the eyepiece strap also warmed my nose while looking through the eyepiece.
Overall, the evening was quite clear, save about an hour. From about 9:30-10:30, the sky was completely clouded over. It got quite cold. Frost was accumulating by 9pm.
The list:
Venus- not quite half lit.
Moon- incredible. The air was very still, which is a treat especially so early in the evening. Long shadows on the surface made for great contrast and stunning terrain.
Andromeda Galaxy- very nice, but a bit of a let-down after the "religious experience" at MASP, as someone called it.
Orion Nebula- 6 stars in the trapezium easily visible, and lots of detail in the nebula.
Flame Nebula- barely visible with either UHC or OIII filter.
Triangulum Galaxy, M33- core and surrounding fuzziness, but no real structure.
NGC 604- a small companion to M33, with a brighter core than M33. (Robert, Mark, and Kumar- this is the smudge I saw below M33. Check this link out for details)
NGC 1360- Nice nebula with a fairly large disk of even brightness, but impossible to see without a filter (in this case, UHC).
NGC 2362- Nice open cluster with a small nebula around the bright central star. Beautiful!
M46- Gorgeous open cluster with a small ring-shaped nebula superimposed. Stunning, especially at 200x!
M36, 37, and 38
NGC 1907
Rosetta Nebula/ NGC 2244- Average open cluster, but a very nice ring of faint nebulosity around it. A UHC filter made it possible to see the nebula at all, but an OIII really brought out some detail. Even still, quite a bit of it was missing.
Crab Nebula- initially almost no detail. UHC filter brought out maybe 5%, and then an OIII about 20%.
Owl Nebula- Hindered by light pollution, but nice at 200x with an OIII filter. I could see the dumbell-shaped dark area in the center quite clearly.
M108- Bright edge-on galaxy with a relatively long body. This was in major light pollution, but held up well.
M109- Face-on galaxy with only the core visible.
I departed shortly before 1am. My new dew prevention system worked beautifully! (Dewbuster with home-made heating strips for finder and eyepiece, plus a secondary heater that finally has power). After over 6 hours of use, my 33Ah battery was still at 85%! I noticed that the heat put off by the eyepiece strap also warmed my nose while looking through the eyepiece.
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