Viewing conditions: Good transparency magnitude 7 skies; Telescope 6" Synta Catadioptric Newtonian (1400mm f/l), 10x50mm binocs and on occasion a 10" DOB and 16" Truss
Observing notes:
My second visit to Leyburn and boy was I in a rush. Have not been to a dark sky site since November due to the southern summer weather (i.e. more cloud cover and rains). I had been planning this trip for about two months now. Anyway, the weather did not look great from Brisbane. The forecast was for fine hot weather but fine does not necessarily mean clear skies! As we got nearer, it still did not look promising but we went anyway. Friday night reports filtering through sounded positive though. We got there at about 6pm, just enough time to set the scopes up and let it cool (or warm up..it was warmer outdoors than in the car with the air con running). Astronomical twilight only descended on us at about 8.30pm (when it got really dark). There was still some clouds in the sky but the southern sky was clear...first up...the LMC and SMC's.
The LMC and SMC was higher up in the sky early in the night than the last time we were here. Wanted to see M32 and M33 but the skies over there were clouded over. Would not have gotten a very good look anyway as they were pretty low in the sky. Warmed up with 47 Tuc with the new 12.5mm Plossl. Looking great with stars resolved across its face. Spent several minutes on this object...brilliant from a dark sky with chains of stars radiating outwards (this effect is invisible from my mag 5 suburban skies)! Will get a chance to compare it with Omega Centauri later tonight :). The Tarantula also looked brilliant with the 12.5mm. Heaps of faint tendrils seen.
And now the highlight of the night! I was invited over to look through a 16" truss owned by a member of the society, Kevin. WOW was all I could say...47 Tuc was resolved all the way to the core (you could change the focus and resolve stars at different level's giving it a much more 3D view than in the 10"). All the stars looked golden! Also looked at the Tarantula...more nebulosity and knots than you could possibly imagine...much better looking than those burned out photo's. Also caught a glimpse of the Eight Burst Nebula in Vela (NGC 3132). It looked plain in my 6" but I could see why it was called the Eight Burst in this monster scope. The greenish planetary was huge with about 8 outer shells in the 16". He put in an O III but that seemed to hurt the image (but more core details were seen). Next was Eta Carina...superb in the 16" with the homunculus clearly visible at high power with two shells visible...will have to look and see if I can see that in my 6" later. Also caught Linear...nice bright nucleus and short dust tail in the 16" and M42 the great nebula in Orion (did look great for a while before the high altitude clouds hit)....Time to get back down to earth!
At about 12am, the clouds started to roll in and we decided to have a break. The break lasted till about 1.30am when we were getting ready for bed...the skies cleared up and the transparency became excellent!. Whew the milky way stretched all the way from the south to the north. Seeing how Orion was getting lower, decided to catch a quick glimpse of its wonders. M42 was looking superb now with its wings fully stretched...heaps of nebulosity around M42 as well. Looked at M78...much brighter than from home and resembling a comet with a short tail more than anything. Tried for the Flame Nebula but did not see it. Now onto Eta Carina which was very high in the sky!
Hmmmm..in the 6", even the clumps and knots are visible. This is a brilliant nebula stretching over a very large area of the sky. Only the central portion was visible in my scope operating at 56x (will have to get a lower mag ep...say 32mm or 40mm). I could make out the keyhole...and wait a minute....the homunculus does look non stellar. Bumped up the mag and though I could make out the shells. Now I am not crazy or anything but the 6" view actually looked quite good even after looking at it through a 16"! And hey Centaurus was quite high too..time for Omega Centauri. This was the first time I would look upon Omega with my 6". It is a brilliant and huge glob..much bigger and brighter than 47 Tuc...a distant second now. At 56x Omega was pretty much resolved to the core with its chains of stars resembling skeletal arms stretch as far as the eye could see (the 10" view was something else altogether). The glob looked very flat (probably due to its fast spinning speed) without a condensed core. It looked distinctly yellowish. Very different looking from 47 Tuc and most of the other "common" globs.
Bumping the scope north, I caught a glimpse of NGC 5128 a rather peculiar looking galaxy also known as Centaurus A, a radio source. I have seen this through binocs from a dark sky site but nothing could prepare me for the view. The dark dust lane was barely visible with direct vision but stood out like a sore thumb with averted vision. I also had the impression that I was looking at a smaller and unresolved Omega...cool. Also caught the edge on galaxy (NGC 4945?) in Centaurus...another brilliant first for me appearing like a very delicate fat streak at 56x. No mottling was seen (will have to confirm this with a second view).
As dawn was fast approaching, I had to start my hunt for all those galaxies I had planned to see. Leo, Virgo and Coma was up as was Corvus. First stop was M83 in Hydra...never found it in my scope for some peculiar reason but saw three spiral arms in the 10". Looked like a miniature version of M33 in Triangulum. Next stop Leo and M65/M66 and M95/M96. As a kid, I grew up dreaming of seeing these rather bright galaxies in my Cometron scope...no luck. But my luck was about to change! M65/M66 was easy in the 6" at 56x with a smaller and fainter streak north of them. Thought I had seen M95/M96 in the ep but I was wrong after checking "The Messier Object's" by O'Meara when home. Saw three rather faint galaxies in the field forming a small triangle (I had a nagging suspicion that these were not M95/M96 as they were quite faint!). Turned out that they were some NGC's north of M95/M96. Oh well will have to hunt these ones down on my next trip I guess.
Next stop...Virgo, Coma and Corvus. M104, the Sombrero looked brilliant in the 6". I have seen this from home (mag 5 skies) in my 3" but the 6" at 56x under dark skies showed something else. It was really bright and the dark lanes was hinted at that mag. At 112x the dust lane was easy (in the 10" it was thick enough to drive a dump truck through). Then onto the Black Eye in Coma. Also a very easy galaxy, I did not see the dark dust "eye" on first glance. Andrew, one of my observing buddies commented that he saw it by scanning the outer fringes of the galaxy. I tried that trick and saw it in the 6" though it was easier in the 10". The rest of the night (or day as the sun would rise soon) was spent looking at some ellipticals in Virgo (M49 was brilliant in the 6") and Coma. Did not get a chance to draw that many galaxies in Virgo as there were to many...well will have to dedicate more time to them on my next trip...
Overall it was a very fruitful trip. Its hard to get exceptionally clear skies in summer but we were rewarded for our patience. The next trip, I plan to hunt down all the galaxies in Virgo and Coma and maybe try for M95/M96 again as well as spend some quality time with Omega Centauri!
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