Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)

[John]

100% Moon last night and once it rose above my neighbours rooftop the summer sky was flooded with it's light. It caught me in it's spotlight alright.....

Earlier though I took my 12" dobsonian for a "waltz" and thats how it might have looked as I grappled with the scope that is more or less as large as I am trying to pick out some DSO's at the zenith

I should have been looking for tight doubles with my refractors of course but for some reason, inspired perhaps by this post by Nick / cotterless45:http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/249248-treasure-under-the-low-moon/#entry2714440, I wanted to see what DSO's would have the nerve to show themselves under the encroaching moonlight.

In Ophiuchus I managed to re-find Barnards Star which I'd observed for the 1st time the previous evening with my 4" refractor. It's magnitude 9 so no trouble with the 12" dob despite the lunar light pollution. I could pick out stars down to magnitude 12 or so around it. I felt it had a pale orange hue. Cool to see because it's the nearest star to us in the Northern Hemisphere, the 4th closest star of all, it's small, apparently not a huge amount larger than Jupiter, it's proper motion is noticeable year to year and it gets a mention in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" as an interstellar version of the Basingstoke roundabout

In Lyra I used 265x and a DGM NBP filter to put some form into a washed out Ring Nebula, M57. UHC filters like this really help pull nebulae out of a light polluted sky. Also in Lyra I used the stars that M57 lies between as pointers down to the faint (under these conditions) globular cluster M56. Some resolution starting to show on this one despite the moonglow. No filter of course for globulars.

In Vulpecula the NBP filter again did a nice job of making the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) worth a linger. You don't need high magnifications with this one though - it's a whopper compared to the rather titchy Ring

Gliding across the sky (sort of !) to Andromeda I hunted down the small, compact but lovely Blue Snowball Neblua, NGC 7662. Didn't need a filter to bring out the ice blue tone of this one. At low power it reminded me of Nepture or Uranus but at 265x I could see some of this objects structure with a brighter internal hoop of nebulosity appearing to be encapsulated in a fainter "shell".   A rather entrancing object and well worth seeking out even under Summer skies as Nick pointed out in his piece above.

As the Moon started to peek out above the rooflines with it's glow spreading further across the sky I made a last stand for this session in Pegasus. Messier 34 is a nice open cluster with around 30 stars showing this evening. A number of stars appear as pairs. My last target for this session was the planetary nebula M76, the "Little Dumbbell" which I'd first picked up the previous evening during my session with my 4" Vixen refractor. With more moonlight invading the sky now this was quite challenging to find even with 12" of aperture. The NPB filter helped a lot and I found 200x gave me some fine views of this little object which to me looks rather like a ghostly bow tie hanging in space. The 12" scope with the filter showed this object pretty well in the circumstances and I can't wait to view it again under dark skies

And then the moon was fully in the open sky and DSO's scurried for cover. I put my scope inside and had a chilled beer before bed

For old times sake here are Thin Lizzy back in the 1980's with "Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)"

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate, i really enjoyed reading it.thanks for sharing.  charl.ps thin lizzy that bring back memorys thanks for vid..

[chiltonstar]

Well - at least you didn't get a visit from a police Armed Response Unit and helicopter for "dancing in the moonlight" (I did recently!).

Nice to see as well that DSOs aren't entirely banished by the Moon.......

Chris

[John]

Well - at least you didn't get a visit from a police Armed Response Unit and helicopter for "dancing in the moonlight" (I did recently!).

Wow !! - that must have been a bit alarming Chris

There is a massive Police HQ just down the road from me with plenty of helecopter visits to and from but they have, thus far at least, left me in peace in my back yard.

[cotterless45]

A can't remember another clear night when I gave up. The super blue Moon just swamped the lot. Reduced to trying a few doubles.just itching to get on Pegasus and Cassiopeia.

Well done to all you stragglers, strugglers and hangers oners.

It's definitely getting there, all fully aligned at 9.20 ! Hurrah,

Nick.

[swamp thing]

Thin Lizzy  

Oh nice report too BTW

[JamesF]

Sounds like you had an excellent night.  I was tempted to get out myself too, but I'm trying to get back into swimming after a month off due to one thing and another and by the time I got home I was shattered.

Good to see Thin Lizzy too.  Always been a fan.  I was listening to Jailbreak only the other day.  We lost Phil Lynott far too early.

James

[Tzitzis]

Great report John! I find it inspiring the very least with plenty of new targets to hunt down.

Cotterless45 of course is another great astronomer here in the SGL with plenty of new bagged doubles every night.

I like the music you listen to. Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple...Add "planet caravan" by Black Sabbath and some UFO you got it!

I am waiting for another report John!

Cheers from Greece

Tzitzis

[Special K]

Great courage in the face of a full moon! I was out for a bit on Thursday night and it seemed almost like day. However it just goes to show how robust the Ring and the Dumbell can be.

[Piero]

Great report John! Nice list of targets even with full moon. 

Looking at the Barnard star was a strange/positive feeling for me. This little dim star, substantially insignificant when compared to all the stars in the sky, is just 6 light years from us... Considering the distances for basically all the targets out there, 6 light years seems like behind the corner! 

Looking forward to see M76! 

Well - at least you didn't get a visit from a police Armed Response Unit and helicopter for "dancing in the moonlight" (I did recently!).

When I observed in Newcastle, there was often a police helicopter flying around with a big torch. There were times I was 'pointed' and thankfully I wasn't pointing my binoculars (first) / tv60 (later) in their direction!

Tough times.. I don't know whether it was worse that light or the strong freezing wind blowing on that field in the winter!

Besides.. a lot of rewarding targets visible with just a 50 quid binoculars 15x70!