Managed to get out under the stars tonight and the session was super. Transparency seemed much better than last weekend (the nights have been colder and crisper so maybe that's why) and some of the showpiece objects looked even better. Pity Sagittarius was setting when I got out at about 10.30pm (had to wait for bubs to go to bed first) so I could only manage a sneaky peak at the Swan and the Eagle nebula. Did not manage to look at M8, M20 or M22. Then went on the view the usual suspects M11 (diamond dust on velvet effect tonight!), M57, M27, M13, M92. All were viewed at 150x in the 6mm Radian, with the exception of M27. Also got to see M15 in Pegasus tonight! Very nice with some resolution at 150x in the C6. At low magnification the core looked really starlike and concentrated and the views reminded me of a much dimmer 47 Tucana. Wanted to have a look at M31 but it was in the region of the sky close to the spotlights. Will have to give it another go. Finished off the night with a look at Jupiter.....hopefully I can get out tomorrow night as well! Also finally got to test out the new wooden legs for the EQ3. The whole setup is slightly heavier, but it was well worth it as the whole thing was much sturdier and the scope vibrated much less under high mag.
And now onto....BLAST FROM THE PAST.......
12/13th of April 2002
Viewing conditions: Medium transparency magnitude 7++ skies with heavy dew; Telescope 6" Synta Catadioptric Newtonian (1400mm f/l), 10x50mm binocs and on occasion a 6" Synta refractor, 10" DOB and 16" Truss
Observing notes:
This was my third trip to the dark sky site over at Leyburn and I had a huge list of objects to hunt down (namely galaxies in the Coma-Virgo). But I promised myself not to rush through the list so I could scrutinise each and every object to tease out the finer details. The weather was not the greatest. In fact when we got there the skies looked pretty angry to the north. There was even a slight drizzle which sent everyone scurrying for tarps to put over their scopes. But as always, Leyburn never fails to surprise. The skies did clear later at close to 8pm (starting from the south as usual. This time of the year the skies start getting dark at 6pm).
Some of the objects I had planned for the early part of the night were now too low. Even the sky seemed not to be of exceptional brilliance tonight. There seemed to be some sort of haze about. At this time of the year both the SMC and LMC together with the centre of our galaxy (i.e the milky way) is visible. Talk about the best of both worlds!!!! I can't remember which object I started out with but I was quite sure it was 47 Tucana in the SMC. Not too brilliant as it was rather low in the sky to start with. Still some resolution was visible. Just had to have a go at it! Next up was the Tarantula in the LMC. Its funny how the UHC filter (first time in Leyburn too!) did not visibly improve the view (same for M42 later). Tried it also in the 10" and got the same result. The Tarantula's extended arms were seen better minus the UHC. I then proceeded to my fave object, the Eta Carina Nebula. This one looked brilliant and I was surprised at how much more detail was visible when the UHC was in place in the 6". All the dark knots and mottling were visible (and did I mention that the keyhole was outstanding???). I later had a look through my buddy Dave's 6" Synta Refractor with the UHC and I was blown away. The contrast in the refractor with the UHC had to be seen to be believe (with much more detail and contrast then even the 10" Dob could muster). Talk about legendary refractor -like contrast. The dark regions were pitch black and the nebular regions looked………..well distinctly nebular!
Next up was the Orion nebula M42 which was by now pretty low in the sky. Like I mentioned before more outer nebulosity was seen without the UHC in then with the UHC in place (strange). Also had a go at the Christmas Tree/Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) near the horsehead. Did not look as good then when I last saw it. Probably also due to its low altitude. I did manage to catch it with some difficulty in the 6" though. Had to place the bright star just out of the field in order to see the nebula and its dark lanes. It was easier in the 10" so I made my sketch using Dave's 10". Also note that the UHC did not improve the view of this object! Tried to locate the horsehead with the UHC in place but to no avail. I will have to try for it again when Orion is high in the sky! Also spent some time with some old fave's like Omega Centauri (the resolution was just amazing even in a 6"), NGC 5128-Centaurus A galaxy dust lane clearly visible and NGC 4945 edge on all in Centaurus.
With the perennial fave's out of the way, the next target's were mostly faint and dim smudges….the galaxies. Remember how I, for some strange reason could not find M83 in Hydra in the 6" on my last outing? Realised that I was star hopping in the opposite direction. The star patterns on either side were pretty similar. Caught it this time. Nice face on spiral with two spiral arms visible in the 6" with difficulty (saw three in the 16" but more on that later J). Then it was on to Leo which was getting a little bit too low for my liking. Caught the usual M65/66 and their NGC companion. Much brighter than from home. Then moved on to the M95/96/105 cluster. Caught all of them excluding M95 (again could not find this one….for some strange reason that cannot yet be explained!). Will have to try again for that one. One thing to note was that I though I could make out some detail in M96 spiral arms in the 6". Then again maybe it was just my imagination running wild yet again….
Moved on to Coma after that and had a look at NGC 4565 (it appeared like a photograph in the 16"…but again for later) and by chance stumbled upon a much fainter NGC 4494. Thought I had 4565 but then again it could not have been so dim so I checked the map and whalla…another new galaxy in the books!!!! Also looked at some galaxies in the Ursa Major-Canes Venatici region. This region has several good galaxies of optimum brightness that will show detail in a 6" under good conditions. Unfortunately they are also located at a very low altitude from Brisbane. This did not deter me nevertheless. I did managed to bag the M94-Croc's eye from my mag 5 skies back home but just could not get M63-the sunflower galaxy, only a few degrees away from this galaxy. This time I managed to bag it. Could not see any of the mottling that O'Meara saw. Also caught the extremely faint glow of M51 in the 6". It was a extremely difficult catch for me as it was just a subtle brightening of the background. Did see what I though was a central starlike nucleus though and its smaller companion. This was really pushing the envelope as it was in a ridiculously low altitude from where we were. Did get a much better view of it through the 16" though.
Had planned to observe several other objects in the Sagittarius-Scorpius region but alas dew set in. It was just 1am but everything other than those powered ep's and scopes were drenched. That was when I called it a night.
p/s: The highlight of the night would have to be looking at stuff through a fellow member's (Kev's) 16" Truss Scope. We had a look at many…and I mean many, many objects. Had a look at Omega Centauri. Again the snaking chain of stars, the two dark eyes in the glob and the 3D effect were seen. 47 Tuc was brilliant (resolved right to the core) despite its low altitude as was NGC 3132 the Eight Burst Planetary Nebula in Vela (again the 8 shell's of nebulosity was seen). The dust lanes in M104 and NGC 5128 were so wide you could drive a dump truck through them (a sliver of nebulosity was noted in the dust lane of NGC 5128). Also there were some strange objects that we looked at that I could have sworn should have shown more structure in a 16" like the Ghost of Jupiter in Hydra, M64, the black eye galaxy in Coma and M83, the face on spiral in Hydra. I could not make out the CBS eye structure in the Ghost of Jupiter nor the dark lane in M64 which was visible the last time round in my 6". M83 too was not much better than in the 6" with the spiral arms looking only a little bit more pronounced (with three arms now visible). Was it the transparency of the skies which made the difference???? Its also amazing to note how globular's take on an identity of their own when viewed though larger apertures. There was this glob we looked at that resembled a starfish with its outstretched arms of stars. Can't put an NGC number to it but it was nicknamed the starfish glob by Kev. He also showed us a very strange looking planetary called the spiral planetary in Musca (his nickname was the "leafy sea dragon nebula" as its shape really resembled the leafy sea dragon seahorses found in South Australian waters…I think it was NGC 5189). Some objects really resembled photographs (excluding the glob's which looked better than in the overexposed photographs). The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius was one of them looking like a photograph minus the bright pastel color's (some rusty red's were visible though with the usual green's). The edge on spiral in Coma 4565 was also brilliant with the central bulge, its radiating arms and the dark, dark dust lane. Wow! Also managed to see the spiral arms in M51 connecting it to its smaller companion but the word here is visible rather than spectacular…well till next time.
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