Observation Session 11/10/2010

Birkrigg Common – Cumbria.

Arrived at my observing site at 19:27, Conditions already look very good, a few stars were already visible and Jupiter was already high about the horizon, seeing was going to be good, a cold, crisp night.

Started to set up the telescope, polar aligned and balanced scope, set up the Synscan unit and got ready for alignment tests. Once alignment reported successful I swung the scope to the first test object to make sure it was located in the FOV. M31 Andromeda galaxy is always a great target and being nearly a naked eye object or at very least a binocular object it is a nice easy test for the scope. Scope slewed to Andromeda and the view using the 32mm EP was stunning as always. The bright central core and wispy arms stretching right across the EP, makes a truly great test object, also M32 in the same FOV makes this a really spectacular object with a 200mm scope.

The next object was the Double Cluster, which is one of my favourite objects to view in any size scope. As this was another successful alignment it was time to check the progress of the comet.

At 21:07 the sky was dark enough to start looking for the comet and with the chart from http://www.astronomia.org/servlet/cometeph?lang=en&pdesign=0103P, (Thanks Mike) the data was inputted into the handset and the telescope slewed to the position, with a slight adjustment to centre the comet in the 32,, EP. The RA 03:17,8 and Dec 54:29, the information was stored in my user object settings of the Synscan unit for later recall if needed.

Comet Harley 2 at 21:10 was still quite weak, but with dark adapted eyes and using averted vision it’s still an impressive site, small central core but very diffuse and definitely getting brighter than on previous observation sessions. Still no tail visible though. I was using the 32mm Wide field FOV Eye Piece. I tried the new zoom EP 7mm-21mm, also my 10mm and 25mm, but the 32mm still gives the best view, at 10mm there is no detail really just really fuzzy/diffuse blob.

My next object was M34 in Perseus, since I was in that area. An open Cluster of about 80 stars. (roughly 5 light years across and 1,500 light years away from us). Another interesting cluster, containing some very nice stars and best viewed in a 32mm wide field EP.

Onto M39 another open cluster that blends into the Milky Way. M13 the Great Globular cluster in Hercules was the next target, always an impressive site, a tight cluster in a 32mm EP but higher power shows the true size of this cluster.

I decided at this point 22:04 to take some pictures of Jupiter and slewed the scope and centred the planet in the FOV. Then I saw something unexpected, what I first thought was the planet Uranus, but then was gone? Managed to get 2 pictures, but this object was either passing in-between Jupiter and it’s Moons or was much closer to me and just happened to be in my FOV.

The next object on my list was M33 The Triangulum galaxy, this needs a really dark site to bring the best view, very large and using averted vision you can make out the shape of the galaxy but not a lot else. Tried various eye pieces ranging from 32mm – 10mm, and the best view came from the zoom EP set at about 14mm.

M27 the Dumbbell Nebula was next on my observing list and this just blew me away, this is now in my top 5 objects as Must Views. Located 1,000 light years away and extends more that 2 light years in diameter and is expanding at 20 miles per second.

Truly a breathtaking site in a 32mm wide field EP. Just hangs in space and is more pronounced then M57 the smoke ring in Lyra.

I am wondering if a nebular filter may bring out more detail in the future?

Time was passing by very quickly so I slewed the scope back to the comet and viewed this again, inputting the new co-ordinates into the handset. You really need dark adapted eyes and use averted vision to get the best from this comet and I’m hoping it will still pick up in brightness and form a tail later in the month.

23:30 I decided that I was cold enough and my feet were like blocks of ice, so I packed all the gear up, also noticed that by this time everything was suffering with dew, except the scope, which had the extended dew shield fitted.

Arrived back home about 00:00 and unpacked the gear and processed the pictures.

Ray - :eek: