17th of November 2001
Viewing conditions: Good transparency magnitude 7 skies; Telescope 6" Synta Catadioptric Newtonian (1400mm f/l), 10x50mm binocs and on occasion a 10" DOB
Observing notes:
My first trip to the Southern Astronomical Society's dark sky site with my newly acquired 6" scope. I had an agenda for this trip, to see all the objects with low surface brightness that are invisible from my suburban observing site, plus to revisit some old favourites. As the sky darkened, the first thing that caught my eye was the "clouds" towards the south. Those were not clouds, they were the LMC and the SMC! Boy were they bright! I have glimpsed with difficulty the LMC from my suburban site but the SMC has continued to elude me until now. Not much detail with the naked eye but excellent objects to scan with binocs!
Waited till the sky was much darker and started to hunt down the faint fuzzies. First up were my two faves, NGC 55 and NGC 253, the Sculptor galaxies (both visible from my mag 5 skies back in Brisbane). Under dark skies, these two bright galaxies were excellent. Mottling was seen in 253 with a hint of the dark lane. 55 looked distinctly clumpy, showing its distinct asymmetry with one end clearly brighter than the other!
The extremely large but low surface brightness Helix nebula in Aquarius was next. I have never been able to spot this from my balcony from suburbia. The planetary was an easy catch showing up as a featureless blob in my binocs. No hint of the central hole so visible in photographs. On to my scope. The scope showed little extra detail with the central hole revealing itself at the edge of perception and only with tapping and averted vision. Rather disappointing object but at least I can say that I have seen it!
Another large but low surface brightness object? Yup M33 in Triangulum! Many have said that this galaxy is a good indicator of the quality of the observing site. If it is visible to the naked eye, you have got yourself a great site. Well, the galaxy was definitely visible with the naked eye this night! Through the binocs, it was an oval haze covering a much larger area than the Helix nebula. The views through the 6" were breathtaking (before I looked at it through Dave's 10" DOB that is...5 spiral arms were visible in the 10"). Traced two distinct spiral arms. One radiating to the north and another to the south. Cool!
Also had a look at M31, the great galaxy in Andromeda. Visible to the naked eye, this galaxy was awesome in the scope. Covering a ridiculously large extent of the FOV, I spotted for the first time its dark lane. But it was not totally obvious...rather at the edge of detectibility. The nucleus looked distinctly greenish and both M32 and M110 were visible (M32 visible in the same FOV). Another great object to look at!
Finally...my perennial faves 47 Tucana (boy...good resolution all across the glob...but overshadowed by the 10".....looking spectacular like photographs with stars resolved all the way to the core!!!!); the Tarantula (again spectacular in the 10" with all its knots and clumps); Eta Carina nebula; M42, the great Orion Nebula (large greenish wings visible in all its glory!) with the sword of Orion (patches of nebulosity everywhere!), M78 (a first for me too..have to try from home! Looks like the head of a comet!!!!); M1, the Crab Nebula (much larger than it appeared from home...spectacular in the 10" with the crab structures observed with averted vision!). Last on the list was NGC 3132, the eight burst nebula. Expected more out of it but was disappointed....looked a little more like a bright out of focus star than anything else....oh well..till next time..
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