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49˚


Mike73

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Last night I headed to west Cornwall and the Lizard Peninsula which has a latitude of just 49˚ and on paper looked like may be a contender for the darkest skies in the SW, well it was close but still didn't beat north Cornwalls SQ 21.79 skies.

I parked up at Kynance Cove about half an hour before sunset and took off on the coast path for a quick look around and the whole area is just stunning. I wished I took my camera because the light was really special but had to settle with taking some panos with my iPhone.

There was a stiff breeze gusting to around 20mph so the spot on the cliff top which was where I planned to set up was just too exposed so I had to settle for the corner of a very quiet car park, even there it was breezy but using the tailgate of my van as a wind break just gave me enough shelter to observe.

20 minutes later I was all set up, collimated and ready to go. I just had to wait for darkness which seems to take forever when you are on your own!

My main targets for the night were all on the RASC Finest NGC's list, most of those were fairly low down but as usual sky transparency wasn't great, maybe around 3/5 which was good enough to observe but wasn't going to be easy.

First target was the open cluster NGC 6520 which is a fairly small cluster which was almost swallowed up by the hundreds of background Milky Way stars, just to the N (I'm using a newt) there was a small blank area of stars so I guessed that was the dark nebula Barnard 86.

Screwing a DGM Optics NPB filter on I then picked out the very small PN NGC 6369, the filter really made it stand out at medium power but it still looked almost stellar. Something I learnt a while ago was these little PN's can take stupid amounts of power, I used x400 on this one which dimmed and made faint background stars disappear. The couple stars which were visible were also bloated but what you lose in sharpness you gain in contrast so I was able to make out the faint halo with a half moon shape 'shell' around it.

Moving on to NGC 6445 which was another PN in Sagittarius, again high power (x300) showed the halo with two blotchy lobes to the N and S.

The Little Gem Nebula glowed bright green and just to the south of that I reduced the mag and Barnards galaxy which could almost be mistaken for a fainter globular cluster.

Talking of globular clusters NGC 7612 which is a 8.1 mag glob in Scutum was a large bundle of fairly faint stars, it doesn't really compare to the bright Messier globulars but still a great sight.

I made sketches of all the objects mentioned above (apart from Barnards galaxy) but I'd now got to the point of just wanting to look at some real summer time eye candy........

I bounced around some Messier globulars in Sagittarius, not really spending much time on each just comparing them with each other. These included M22, M28, M69, M70 and M54. They were getting too low really so moving up to Hercules I got M13 in my sights and increased the mag until 80% of the FoV was just a ball of stars, the propeller was very obvious and I must have spent a go half hour just slowly zooming in and out with the Leica zoom which kinda made me feel like I was going through space at warp speed in Star Trek!  :grin:

My last object for the night was the Ring nebula, the DGM NPB filter went back on and the magnification was increased to around x400 again. No sign of the central star. I'm not going to get hung up on challenging objects like this but its something I'm going to keep in mind while its at a good position, I just need that night of really transparent skies...

So that was my first real serious session of the season, sky transparency varied from 3/5 to 4/5 and my best SQM reading was 21.61.

Next new moon I may aim for Exmoor or even Wales....Gotta get those dark skies!!!!! :)

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I'm not sure Gerry, I could easily see it in my 12" but never tried with my 10". I guess that as long as you can easily resolve M13 to the core you should be able to see the propeller.

I would have thought you'd be able to see it with your 10" under your skies.

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Nice report Mike :smiley:

I'm going to make my trip in the coming days for those low Messiers. At 57 deg lat, I'd be happy to get some high 20 SQM for 2 or 3 hours.

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well at least you got out mike. Im in work over the shutdown so no chance of me getting out until august :( sounds like you made the most of the conditions. I have a thing for hunting down those NGC PN'S ATM as you say they take mag very well. im still yet to see the star in the ring neb but maybe one day aye :)

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well at least you got out mike. Im in work over the shutdown so no chance of me getting out until august :( sounds like you made the most of the conditions. I have a thing for hunting down those NGC PN'S ATM as you say they take mag very well. im still yet to see the star in the ring neb but maybe one day aye :)

Yeah I'II keep checking for that central star but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, just a case of waiting for a really special night of transparency...

Just think of all the astro goodies you can get with that overtime Dan.....Or has Mrs K got her eyes on it for something else?  :grin:

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Yeah I'II keep checking for that central star but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, just a case of waiting for a really special night of transparency...

Just think of all the astro goodies you can get with that overtime Dan.....Or has Mrs K got her eyes on it for something else?  :grin:

just had to fork out for a new fridge freezer :( its our 5 year anniversary next month so that's going to cost me some astro goodies. my dob fund I had is getting smaller again. roll on next Thursday when I get my overtime pay so I can put it all back in the dob fund :D

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Kynance Cove? I was there in April. We hiked there from Lizard Point then went across the peninsula to Cadgwith. My wife fell in some quicksand which was hilarious! Happy memories; I'd wish I was there now but I know how crowded it gets this time of year!

Never got to the Lizard to observe but I had a great night at Carn Brea near Sennen. Wonderful skies. It's not looking too bad here in London - might just about be able to see some stars tonight!
 

DD

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Kynance Cove? I was there in April. We hiked there from Lizard Point then went across the peninsula to Cadgwith. My wife fell in some quicksand which was hilarious! Happy memories; I'd wish I was there now but I know how crowded it gets this time of year!

Never got to the Lizard to observe but I had a great night at Carn Brea near Sennen. Wonderful skies. It's not looking too bad here in London - might just about be able to see some stars tonight!

DD

Yeah its a great part of the county, I love it down there although like you say it is pretty busy this time of year, September is the best when the kids go back to school but its still pretty warm. :)

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Nice report Mike and a lovely observing spot  :smiley:

It took me quite a while to realise that the "propeller" in M13 is a dark rift type feature. For ages I was looking for something bright created from lines of stars  :rolleyes2:

I

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Due to be going to Cornwall in a couple of weeks and I hope to finally nail the likes of M7 down there. Where from Redruth westwards is there a dark site with a decent S horizon, preferably sea? Been thinking of Lizard point itself (is the lighthouse/village light a problem, if I go right down to the bottom of the slipway?) Or maybe somewhere in Helston area? Or those hills south of Redruth/Camborne?

If I can't get M7 from down there it'll have to wait till Mexico in a couple of years  :grin:

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Nice report Mike and a lovely observing spot  :smiley:

It took me quite a while to realise that the "propeller" in M13 is a dark rift type feature. For ages I was looking for something bright created from lines of stars  :rolleyes2:

I

I was the same John but when you do actually see it for the first time it makes you wonder why you've never seen it before! 

:)

Due to be going to Cornwall in a couple of weeks and I hope to finally nail the likes of M7 down there. Where from Redruth westwards is there a dark site with a decent S horizon, preferably sea? Been thinking of Lizard point itself (is the lighthouse/village light a problem, if I go right down to the bottom of the slipway?) Or maybe somewhere in Helston area? Or those hills south of Redruth/Camborne?

If I can't get M7 from down there it'll have to wait till Mexico in a couple of years  :grin:

I think your best bet is just to go to Kynance Cove really, its a great spot for your southerly views and very quiet (I didn't see anyone all night).

Failing that you could try somewhere at Lands End but I don't think you'll see darker skies there to be honest.

Just get as far away from Camborne/Redruth and Penzance as possible. Its very easy to get into + mag 6 skies anywhere in Cornwall it just depends on how far your willing to drive to get the best skies. :)

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Nice report Mike and a lovely observing spot  :smiley:

It took me quite a while to realise that the "propeller" in M13 is a dark rift type feature. For ages I was looking for something bright created from lines of stars  :rolleyes2:

I

Ummm, cough ^^^ its not a line of stars? :embarrassed:

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Great report Mike!Glad conditions co operated,transparency makes such a difference on DSO.Mike what is the min aperture for the propeller?I have tried the 10" under good conditions and can't pick it out.Awesome scenery there!

I could see it with averted vision in my 10" last Thursday. It was very clear in the corner of my eye - and much bigger than I'd expected - but if I tried to look at it directly it vanished. It was quite an interesting effect! So, definitely possible in the 10"

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Shhhh John don't talk about 6mm ethos when swampthings about ;)

Your safe it's the 8mm that starts me drooling.

It's all Mark at Beauforts fault you know, he just had to show me his 8mm :eek: what an eyepiece that is. I was quite happy looking through his 13mm Ethos, but no, he had to go and get the 8mm. Never been the same since.

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