faulksy

On 01/03/2022 at 23:36, Captain Scarlet said:

After a fortnight of either howling winds or heavy cloud and rain, or both, the weather conspired last night to be clear and not too windy. So I set up my OO/Helmerichs 12” Newt in the South-East facing area behind my house, intending to scour The Plough of Messier objects and move West from there through Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices to Virgo and Leo. My immediate topology precludes Orion from now on unfortunately, unless I hoik my stuff (5-6 awkward-load trips) an extra 50 metres further up the boreen.

In the end, if you caught my brief “what did you see tonight” report, you’ll have seen that I collected quite a big haul, in fact the biggest bag I can recall from any session so far, so I was very well pleased. It may appear that I simply raced through a list going “tick! tick! tick!”, it wasn’t like that at all. I was actually doing quite a lot of staring.

My last dark-sky-Moon-down 12” session 3-4 weeks ago started off similarly, “doing” Ursa Major and the Leo Triplet amongst others. This time I built on that and filled in some gaps, although the transparency wasn’t quite as good as then, I think. My SQM-L gave me 21.76 at the end of the session, but there was a slight milky sheen to everything which seemed to extinguish anything fuzzy below about mag 12-13. Certainly M108 and 109 for example were still obvious, but not quite as stark as I recall before. Beggars and choosers, though.

Anyway, what did I see? Until towards the end, I, once again, couldn’t move beyond my Ethos 13 giving me 141x and 0.71 degrees (with Paracorr2). At the end, I revisited some objects with the Nagler 31 for 1.4 degrees FoV, but no other eyepieces or filters were harmed during this shoot.

M51 was first up, and this was the exception of the evening. If anything, I could see MORE detail than my best-ever-by-miles view three weeks ago. Not only could I see spiral detail, but I fancied I could catch the “linking arm” between the cores as well. I can’t find the superlatives. When I finally get around to dobbing-up my currently unhitched 20” mirror, I can only imagine what M51 will look like.

M101 was next, and although it was obvious when it came into view, it wasn’t as surprisingly bright as I recalled from last time. Tick and move on. M102 was a galaxy I’d never looked for before, or seen. It was a small tight and bright streak, very nice. Apparently M102’s identity is controversial. What I looked at was in fact NGC 5866 which it seems the majority think is what Messier observed as M102. It has a highly-defined sharp dust lane, which I’ll have to look out for next time with more magnification.

I moved across to M63, which as a nearly face-on was a bright patch, much the same as I saw before.

M94, though, was startlingly bright and very round! Last time I think I ticked it off and moved on, but it’s worth a stare. I looked it up and noticed it’s called the “Croc’s Eye Galaxy”. Although I couldn’t make out any “rings”, it is nonetheless strikingly circularly symmetric (i.e. round 😉 )

Whilst in the close neighborhood I quickly took in Cor Caroli, a lovely double.

My next target should have been M106, also not seen before by me, but for some reason I overlooked it and selected instead M109: a face-on smudge. Tick. M108 next, not quite as mottled as I remember before but still obvious. M97 Owl nebula very nearby seemed also actually to be a better view than before: I could just make out the owl-eyes.

Finally in that Ursa Major/Canes Venatici region I selected NGC 4036, a quite bright galaxy just “above” the open top of Uma’s saucepan, right where the steam would be if there were baked beans cooking. I should also have gone for NGC 4041 quite close by, but next time. I also skipped M81/82 as they were too high up for me to risk tripod-strike with the back of my tube.

Time for Leo: I started off with the Leo triplet, again all very clear and bright. M65 and M66 I could get in the same field in the Ethos 13 but I had to pan away a little to find NGC 3628. Later I returned to them with the Nagler 31 and the Triplet all together in the same field at 59x magnification and 5mm exit pupil (my max) was something else!

The “Other Leo Triplet”, M105, M95 and M96 were next: new I think, to me. Dimmer and a bit wider-spaced than the bigger cousin but none the less entrancing, especially in the Nagler 31.

My plan was next to start at M98, a bright galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, and head South-East picking off galaxies and looking them up as I went along. I soon got lost of course, but managed to identify (using Nexus DSC’s “what’s here?” facility) NGC 4216: Silver Streak Galaxy, a rather bright, er, streak; NGC 4212 a dim mag 12 blob not very distinct; NGC 4237 not dissimilar to 4212; NGC 4262 even dimmer (12.5 lenticular). I saw others but didn’t try to look them up. They were being swallowed up by a background milkiness more than I was expecting and more than I’ve seen before in better transparency (in Markarian’s Chain for example where I recall multiple light patches on a dark background). I think there was a thin sheen of high cloud. Nonetheless, I was pleased.

I shifted West now, with the Nagler 31, and quickly took in Auriga’s M36, M37 and M38. All lovely of course. Bright red star right at the centre of M38. A few times I’ve mentioned M38 one of you good readers (can’t recall who now, sorry! But thanks) has suggested I also look for a small but very cute oc quite close to M38 called NGC 1907. This time I remembered, and it was worth it! Very nice small collection of stars, at the scale I was viewing almost like a glob. I’ll have a look next time with more magnification.

To finish off, I looked at one of our commonest targets of all but one which for some reason I almost always think “ach next time”. The Double Cluster. What a beauty. Obviously I have observed it many times but almost always through binoculars. Now, at 59x with the wide wide N31 and getting both clusters in the FoV, at this level of darkness it was simply exquisite. I shall return to it. What have I been missing?

And finally to finish finish finish off, I looked at a rather nondescript yellowish star called Mebsuta, for a strange reason. I have a group of (Donegal and Northern Irish) friends who for a bit of a laugh (or whatever) will occasionally announce “don’t kick me in the Mebs!” or “I need to go and wash my Mebs” or similar, you get the picture. I leave to your imagination what “Mebs” refer to. These people are in their 50s and 60s, I feel I need to add. Naturally, I and others often ask where the term originates, but nobody has the slightest clue, they just know what Mebs are. Well I was perusing a star chart recently and came across this:

Problem solved! Perhaps. They’re convinced and impressed, anyway. It would’ve been the crowning glory if Mebsuta had been an equal-brightness double star 😊 😊, alas no.

Anyway, Thanks for reading,

Cheers, Magnus.

 

great report magnus

m51 and m101 will blow your socks off in a 20"

owl is great with and without a 0iii filter. some nice finds there mate

i also use nexus with my 20"

wow, what a first scope to buy. i had one hence buying a 20" orion mirror brilliant scope. as said above just remove the mirror cell with the mirror and use a blower. this would annoy me as well.

look foward to your first light report

depending on budget an your requirements , you wont go wrong with apm xwa 100*

21,13 and 8 awsome eps or 4x that buget and get tv ethoses

https://www.apm-telescopes.net/en/apm-hdc-xwa-20-mm-100-eyepiece

15 hours ago, neil phillips said:

just found it. its a beast. 19.5 kg fairly heavy. 

my primary mirror weighs more than that 🤣

lovely scope michael 👍

have you tried putting a light under your primary mirror and view it from the mirror side. this will show you how thin your coatings are.

john will re coat your primary for around £150. might be worth getting your secondary done as well.

stiction in the azy motion is greatly reduced by applying car polish to the base then polishing by hand. you can do it on the alt bearings as well 😄

Go on then

9 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Found a way to store a larger scope and move it around. So, I have a StellaLyra 12" on the way 

already in your signature 🤣

On 23/01/2022 at 18:43, Mr Spock said:

So practically, a larger scope is too big to be manageable. So it will have to be a 10".

OO with bells and whistles, £1200
StellaLyra as standard, £600

Is the OO really worth twice the SL?

The only other difference is due to weight the SL will need a larger EQ platform with the OO light enough to fit on a small one.

so what did you decide in the end michael ?

wow ace report magnus. 00 do make great mirrors 😄

hi michael.

seriously 00 dobs are amazing. my little 14" dob was well light to move and had amazing optics, hence my 20"

well worth the wait 👍

hi roy. welcome to sgl

hows hayley 🤣

14 hours ago, cajen2 said:

I'd have thought you were planning your upgrade by now, Faulksy! A 30 incher? 😉😁

Seriously, I'm a relative newcomer on here so didn't know about this thread and build....but I've just spent hours reading it from start to finish. What a wonderful job you did!

It is a long read. But I'm glad you like it 😁

1 hour ago, UKDiver said:

Wow Mike, what a story. Lows, highs and a early relationship temporary parting. A (labour of) love with a happy ending... I can only imaging what the 3.5 XW may do for it - and I'm probably wrong.

Hopefully I might see it one day and night.

Adrian

You can always come out to Spain and have a look through it next year 😅

your phone might be to old ?

3 hours ago, niallk said:

Congrats - would be interested to hear how you get on with the autocol, and how you find it in the dark.  I've flirted with the idea of getting one many times!  I use a barlowed laser.

Hi nial. 

Had one before but sold it. Got the glatter kit so it will be interesting to compare. 

Quite a difficult piece of kit to use but the best really .

Let you know 😌 

Santa brought me a 2" cateye autocolimator and a pentax xw 3.5 mm

On 24/12/2021 at 18:13, Paz said:

The only scope I would want to own that I don't already is probably a 4" Takahashi one day.My 14" dobsonian is my dream scope and I've seen nothing since I got that which I would want to swap that for. I would not want to go bigger unless I lived somewhere where I could leave the scope set up and ready to go all the time. I still feel lucky and appreciate it when I set that scope up.

it is a great scope chris 😁

21 hours ago, jetstream said:

Maybe I'll paddle over in the mirror box of my 24"

you would be more than welcome . bring your wife of course 😁

didnt think anybody had read that bit

4 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Mike are you going to set up an Astro holiday arrangement?

hi mark. yes with accommodation. 2 scopes. a 10 dob for personel use and my 20" with my tour  😁

but didnt want to talk about it on here

39 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Looks pretty good Mike, lake Negratin reservoir; a kind of Kielder in the sun. Looks like there is quite a lot of recreational stuff around there as well, cycling etc. A potential good location for your 20" dob. Do you plan on using your 90 day visa to live out there whilst looking for a property? 

maybe iain. i will message you about it. like you say kielder in the  sun. this will be our astrotours 😁. will need volunteers of course

anyone interested in looking through a 20" dob with 21.7 average skys ?

6 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Great, since UK citizens have lost their entitlement, that would be interesting to follow your progress Mike. Qualia used to do some interesting reports from the Barcelona area, what part of Spain are you anticipating locating to?

hi iain. we are thinking around lake negratin (granada) this area is the most sensible with local amenities and great skys for our astrotourism

29 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

How did you get on if applying for citizenship Mike?

 

Darker skies and just occasionally good weather around a new moon phase.

Then a simple 16" F4 dob.

you apply for that after you have lived there, got a good law man (not clint eastwood) who will sort it all out when we are ready😄

On 14/12/2021 at 23:39, Robindonne said:

Here a short list of mine to start off this probably ever growing thread.

EdgeHd14

any 20” dobson

and indeed a very nice high quality refractor, the one you mentioned fits that category.  

although this hobby has only attracted me for 3 years, I have already decided that I will not wait until my 70th birthday to buy my dream instruments.  Save, save and save and ensure that the wish list is completed within 2 years. 
Im too young to know which beauties were made and stopped being produced, but im sure this post is going to be a encyclopedia filled with the worlds best astronomy instruments.

 

i have your dream here

i think i seriously have my dream scope. but would love a 28" when i go to spain to live 😁

1 hour ago, John said:

A surprise clearing of the skies pursuaded me to pop my 8 inch newtonian out. The DIY ventilation I've performed on the mirror cell worked and the scope cooled down quite quickly.

I'm still getting used to this scope (Orion Optics F/6) which I use on the Skytee II mount so I stuck to the "usual suspects", mostly.

My tour included:

Messier 81 and 82 - quite bright and very nicely framed with the 24mm Panoptic eyepiece.

Messier 97 (Owl nebula) - I could just about detect this without a filter but a UHC made it pop out and the O-III made it pop out even more !.

Orion cleared the roof tops so Messier 42 and 43 were obligatory. Stunning views of these and I had fun playing with UHC, O-III and H-Beta filters seeing how different parts of the nebula were enhanced with each filter vs no filter. As well as the sprawling mass of M42, M43 next door was sporting it's dark rift cutting the nebulosity into two unequal portions. Also picked out the E & F Trapezium stars by applying a little more magnification.

The Flame Nebula was very indistinct plus the neighbours security light was popping on occasionally so I didn't bother trying to see the Horsehead. The reflection nebula Messier 78 above Orions Belt was fairly easy to pick out as a misty patch with those 2 dim stars staring out of it. Filters not really much use on that one.

Then up to Taurus to have a look at Messier 1 (Crab nebula). Quite decently bright with the 8 inch aperture and the UHC and O-III's added some contrast and a touch of texture to this famous super nova remnant.

From the birthplace of stars to the scene of a stars violent death with one sweep of the alt-azimuth mount !

Over to Gemini now and the great open cluster of Messier 35 with the much fainter, much older and much more distant cluster NGC 2158 glowing softly through the outer reaches of the extensive M35.

Cloud cover was starting to creep across my clear sky but I remembered that Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas was in the next door constellation Lynx so I checked it's position in Stellarium and had a look for that. It was actually brighter than I expected and quite easy to find as a fuzzy spot with a much brighter core. And finally I moved the scope just a degree and a half to have a look at the faint and very distant globular cluster NGC 2419, AKA, the "Intergalactic Tramp". I'm fascinated by these very distant and ancient star clusters - NGC 2419 is further from our galactic core than the Magellanic Clouds are - around 250,000 light years away !

Clouded over now so the scope is back in. Great little session though and I'm enjoying the balance of aperture and ease of setup and use that the 8 inch F/6 newtonian has brought to my scope "fleet". I'm intending to use it for outreach sessions with the Bristol AS when we can next run one so it's good to get to know the setup better

Oh, and I just used 2 eyepieces this evening - the 24mm Panoptic and the 7.2mm - 21.5mm zoom. They seemed to cover all the bases that I needed to tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

what a lovely report john. 8" is were it happens

what dob  are you looking through on your avatar john ?

or you could add nexus from astro devices

https://www.astrodevices.com/Products/NexusII/index.html