Just a short session tonight

[John]

I got an hours observing in with my 12" dob tonight. Clouds have rolled across for now though.

As well as the usual fare before the Moon showed above the rooftops I got:

Cygnus:

NGC 6826 - the "Blinking Planetary". I took quite a time finding this as it's rather close to the zenith and moving my dob around that region using the Quikfinder and the RACI needed a bit of gymastics. The result was worth it though. Nice little planetary nebula with the central star prominent. Interestingly, using the DGM NBP filter brightened the central region of the nebula to the point where the central star blended in with the bright core of nebulosity. I prefered the unfiltered view of this one. Needed 200x - 265x to get this object a decent scale in the eyepiece but it was clearly visible a much lower powers, once I'd worked out just where it was in Cygnus !

The nebula did not "blink" on and off as such with 12" of aperture but brightened and dimmed noticably as I switched between averted and direct vision.

Cepheus:

Mu Cephei – Herschel’s “Garnet Star”. Lovely star that really does "glow" with an orange / red tint. Reminded me of the colour of Pomegranate juice for some reason

NGC 40 - Planetary Nebula. Quite hard to find tonight with a bright Moon lurking just below the rooflines. It's magnitude 10.7 with a nice central star of mag 11.7. At low power it was picked up as a small misty halo around a star. Higher powers did not show much more apart from a larger image scale. The NBP filter brightened the nebulosity but this time the central star still showed clearly even with the filter in place. Another planetary nebula added to my list

Cassiopeia

NGC 129 - open cluster. Rather loose but attractive 6th magnitude grouping of stars about halfway between Beta and Gamma Cassiopeia. Hardly jawdropping but it's a new one for me.

And then there were lots of clouds......

Nice while it lasted, though

[Piero]

It seems a nice hour apent outsider! Tonight it is clear here after ages, but I have fever.. In the summer! I'm really tempted to get some paracetamol and go out anyway, but have a flight on Tuesday..

[John]

It seems a nice hour apent outsider! Tonight it is clear here after ages, but I have fever.. In the summer! I'm really tempted to get some paracetamol and go out anyway, but have a flight on Tuesday..

Hope you are feeling better soon Piero

Clear again here now but the scope is inside and I'm feeling more like turning in than turning out again !

[Piero]

Hope you are feeling better soon Piero

Clear again here now but the scope is inside and I'm feeling more like turning in than turning out again !

Thanks!

Eventually I managed one hour observation too! 

From my bedroom (which looks at South), open window, two jumpers on, and a beautiful moon was there. Following Shaun (Pig)'s recent advise to look at the moon with low power eyepieces, I had a lovely time, using the Plossl 20mm (18x) + variable polarising filter for dimming the brightness.

Really gorgeous and still crisp image of our satellite.

Also glad I found a specific target for my plossl, which hasn't been much used recently. Competing with the 24 Pan on a full-ish Moon, it is a clear winner showing a fully flat and wholly focused image. For this target, the fov is not a problem either as the plossl 20 covers about 5 times the Moon diameter, which is enough for giving a feeling of observing a target floating on space. 

[cotterless45]

Good report John. Some old favourites there , the "blinking " thing blinks for me ! NGC 40 in Cepheus has been called a "bow tie, " something to look for !

Don't forget NGC 6543 up in Draco. Eltanin and Rastaban are not far from Vega , showing a Draco curling around the pole.

Just waiting for clear skies !

Nick.

[alan potts]

It was an even shorter session for me, I did get onto Saturn in daylight with the 18 inch with help from a GPS compass and a laptop. My what a sight that was,I pushed it to a shade over X380 and the sharpness of this mirror is stunning, it just goes to show it is conditions most of the time. Just as I  got a cumfy chair out the Spanish Inquisition showed up in the shape of clouds. It was very interesting as the cloud came on to Saturn though, there was a marked improvement of detail on the disc.

I tell you Ethos are very helpful at this power as at 5mm X458 is was flying by but still sharp, which takes some believing.

I then saw the Moon rising and assessed that was enough of that, stunning stability in the air for 30 minutes though.

Alan.   

[Pig]

Great report John,

I do like the blinking plan, for some reason it always tickles me when I see it and I cant help but chuckle out loud each time it blinks  what a simpleton I am. 

I went to bed early so I could wake up in the early hours to catch the forecasted clear skies. I did wake up as planned but unfortunately so did the clouds    There is always tonight.

On the plus side waking up early enabled me to wash & wax the car before 6am

[bejay1957]

Managed an hour with binocs before the moon rose above the houseline, the sky was particularly clear for mid summer