Swithin StCleeve

Celestron PowerTank Glow 5000 | Wex Photo Video Yea, expensive, but I reckon it'd last forever if it's also a power bank. Very interesting!

It's hand-held torch I'm after.

Now that's interesting!

Very simple question. Is there such a thing as a variable brightness red light torch that can be recharged via a USB connection? Because if there is, I need it to make my life complete, basically.

I’m ashamed to say it’s been five months since my last proper observation session. I’ve had the odd binocular tour, but circumstances regarding work have meant I’ve been getting home at 9pm each evening, so travelling to dark skies isn’t so easy, but last night I was determined to get back on-track. The forecast wasn’t great for my site in rural Shropshire. 'Clear spells between showers' they said, and they were right. Twice I had to put the scope back in the van due to downpours. The plus side was, the rain cleared the air and some of the seeing tonight, though sporadic, was crystal clear. One day I’m going to time how long it takes from putting the handbrake on the van after pulling up, to when I get to look at my first deep-sky object through the scope. I’m reckoning less than three minutes, (hence my title ‘pop up astronomy’). If you don’t like the faff of a protracted setup time, a dob is definitely the way to go. I’ve used EQ mounts, go-to systems and other set ups, but I think for instant deep-sky gratification, the dob in the back of the van is where it’s at. Pull up, plonk the mount on the grass, stick the scope on top, align the telrad and I’m in business. And what a changeable night weather-wise! The strong wind meant a 100% cloudy sky would be completely clear five minutes later. So I made the most of the clear spells by getting re-acquainted with some old deep-sky favourites, and even when there was light cloud cover, the 10” managed to grab enough light for me to see everything I searched for tonight. I started with the pretty ring nebula (M57) in Lyra, and was pleased to see it was very bright indeed: testament to the clear skies and good seeing. Quite small with my 28mm eyepiece but very well defined. Next stop was Sagitta, and the strange globular cluster M71. I’m a little fascinated by this one, as I’ve read its closeness (only 13,000 light years), is why it appears more like an open cluster. A very pretty deep sky object that I think needs a true dark sky to really enjoy. I’ve been underwhelmed by it before, but tonight it was bright and very pleasing. My Tirion Sky Atlas tells me there’s an open cluster H20 near M71, but it evaded me on this night. The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) was also bright and easily findable. Again, this can be underwhelming in the town, but it showed structure and nebulosity extending beyond the dumbbell shape tonight. Continuing with the ‘greatest hits’, I could see M31 with the naked eye, and through the 10” mirror it was a real treat, and both M31 and M110 (one of my favourite galaxies these days) easily found. M110 under a dark sky, is M31 near the town lights, if you know what I mean. I tried for M33 in the scope, but as usual, I had no luck. The lovely 10X50 Opticrom bins found it though, and once again I’m reminded what a test M33 is for telescopes. I have observation notes from the early 90’s saying I saw M33 with the naked eye in rural Wiltshire. I do wonder if this wasn’t a mistaken sighting of nearby open cluster NGC 752. Keeping with the bins, I’m pretty sure I caught M101 over in Ursa Major, even though the constellation was low and a little caught in the lights of Bishop’s Castle about fifteen miles away. I’ve seen this quite evasive Messier galaxy easily with the 10X50’s when the constellation is higher. I wonder if anyone at our latitude has ever had a practical observation session without stopping at the Perseus Double Cluster? I know I haven’t. And tonight, they were simply stunning. Perhaps I’d been fortunate to look at them through a pocket of suddenly steady air, but it made me exclaim “wow!”. You know, one of those moments where you think to yourself ‘this is what it’s all about’. I had a similar reaction the last time I saw this through the 10” mirror at our society’s star-camp last April. A true show-piece of the northern sky. I have unfinished business with emission nebula NGC7023 (Caldwell 4) in Cephus. I thought I’d found it last year but when writing up my notes after, there were discrepancies. So it isn’t ticked off, (I’m such an honest observer!). But tonight wasn’t the night to go chasing fainter emission nebulas, the moon would soon be up, and patches of the sky were disappearing behind clouds, and if I’m honest, I never seem to be able to recognise Cephus easily anyway. It’s like it’s there, then it’s gone again. I toyed with the idea of looking for it, but I should have done more map research earlier in the day. Instead, I went for the easy option and toured open clusters of Cassiopeia. The triangle of M103 being a particular favourite. Clouds rolled in again, but with the sky towards the south still clear, I went on a whistle-stop tour of globular clusters. M13, M92 in Hercules, and M15 (which I think of as in Delphinus, but it’s actually in Andromeda). I really enjoyed comparing the three, and I like James O’Meara’s description of M15 ‘suddenly getting brighter’ at the center. It really does. It’s almost like a fried egg, with a small, bright yolk in the centre. Later that evening, I kicked myself for not visiting a fourth globular, M56, en route. Heck, I’d looked at the Ring Nebula, which is virtually next door. Jupiter was playing hide and seek behind clouds most of the evening, but even through the 28mm eyepiece I could see the north and south equatorial belts easily. All four observable moons could be seen. Had the weather been kinder, I’d have spent time consulting maps to find which star was actually Neptune, to the right of Jupiter. But it was pretty windy and getting cold. Saturn was less successful, and somehow, I couldn’t quite get a well-defined view of it tonight. It could have been my eyes, which were watering with the wind which was getting sharper. The Pleiades made an appearance just before the Moon rose, and a very welcome sight it was, especially through the 10x50 Opticroms. I also spent some time with the Perseus open cluster, (Alpha Persei Cluster/Mellote 20) which I’ll always argue is a great overlooked binocular object. Later I also took in the Hyades through the bins, which meant I'd enjoyed a very pleasant trio of close open clusters, (later the Moon was too close to the Beehive (M44) for it to be a desirable bino target). It was just after 9pm when the ¾ Moon started rising behind the trees, and the milky way suddenly disappeared. This signalled an end to my deep sky tour of the ‘greatest hits of October’, but I did enjoy seeing the constellations of Taurus, Orion, Gemini, and even Leo for the first time in months, and although my observing time was only about an hour in total, I was really pleased to have re-visited so many old favourites after a shameful five-month fallow period.

I started observing in the early 90's, and I've tried a lot of scopes, but for me there's no amateur astronomical instrument to beat a 10" mirror reflector on a dobsonian mount, if you're into simple observing. It's portable, it's easy to set up, and it gathers light like a demon. I can stick it in the back of my van, drive out to the countryside, and set up in five minutes or less. Like you, SuburbanMak, I have a Telrad mounted next to a finderscope, and it works a treat. I sense from your post that you may be thinking you've bought something a little too cumbersome, but stick with it bud. Dobs are amazing, and are easily the most fun I've had with any telescope. I plan to take it to the Elan Valley in Wales this summer. These photos were taken last weekend...

I find 'tube-tapping' helps when you're in the situation of thinking you can see something, but you're not sure if it's your imagination telling you that you can see it. Glad you enjoyed the weekend Robin. I'm already looking forward to the nest, warmer, one.

I went with my Dad to get mine funnily enough. I don't even know why he came, he has zero interest in astronomy. I remember there was a signed Patrick Moore picture on the wall, and a colour photo of the Andromeda Galaxy that the guy selling the scopes had taken. I'd used a 4.5 inch Tasco reflector for the previous 18 months, and had pretty much exhausted the targets from my parent's back yard, and the Dark Star dobs were the cheapest decent scopes with the biggest aperture. I've fitted a Telrad finder and a 'right way up' 10X optical finder, and it's still a corker of a scope.

Sorry, I missed this. Yes, it's a Dark Star, bought in the early 90's. It's still the best telescope I've ever had. David Hinds optics if I remember right. I don't know if Dark Star are still trading, but I remember picking it up from somewhere north of Newport Shropshire in 1991 or 1992. I've had the secondary re-coated since then.

It was underwhelming on Saturday, but I have enjoyed some really nice 10x50 bino views of it over the summer months from a similar dark sky site. But if I find an object, I'm rarely 'disappointed' in the view. I'm always happy I've found the object, to be honest. And I think this is something the go-to users might not experience. When you're using a dob, or star-hopping with any scope, there's a certain thrill in locating the object, which can blunt any disappointing feeling. Does that make sense? It's almost like, "Yay!! I've found it, now let's have a good look and see what I can see".

Yes! Thanks, I'll edit. I did make a half-hearted attempt to find the other Leo galaxies but it was so half-hearted it wasn't worth mentioning as a true 'failure', if that makes sense.

Waiting for darkness... The Wolverhampton Astronomical Society held a small star party in the Shropshire Hills this weekend, and I was there Saturday night. Luckily, we got a few hours of wonderful clear sky, but by golly it was cold! I arrived about 4pm, and on reflection, I’d have been better arriving at twilight, as waiting around for five hours for darkness meant I was quite cold even before I began observing. The last time I attended this event I took my little caravan, and that was ideal as I had somewhere to get warm and map-check between observing spells. But it was good to meet old friends and new, as everyone set up their equipment and chatted about things astronomy related. I was using my 10” mirror dob, with a 32 Plossl eyepiece. I don’t know the focal length of my scope, (I was asked twice on this evening, “about five foot” I say, I really must measure it). But the double cluster fits in the field of view well enough to see both clusters almost in their entirety, to give you some idea of my field of view. Around 8.30 the stars appeared. Sirius first, (“there’s Arcturus” I said, completely confused as to which direction I was looking). Then, Capella, the real Arcturus, then the twins. Seeing was very good, and I found the trapezium in Orion easily, with the sky too bright to show any nebulosity. When the sky did darken, I was treated to a superb view of the Orion nebula M42 and nearby M43, and even before astronomical darkness (at around 10pm), the nebula easily showed its ‘wings’ extending outward, (if you've looked at this nebula under dark skies you'll know what I mean by 'wings' I hope). I’d cleaned my mirror two days before, and was very pleased with the contrast and clarity, with detailed structure in the nebula popping out the more I looked. The next target was M35, quite high in Gemini. The large open cluster looked splendid, and with no real plan for the observing session, (it was simply too cold to sit in comfort perusing maps beforehand), I decided on a whistle-stop tour of nebulae and galaxies. Next up was the refection nebulae M78 in Orion. Even in these dark skies, it was quite underwhelming, but unmistakable. An astro-photographer who was a newcomer to the society asked to see some galaxies, so I found M81 and M82, and the brightness of these two galaxies, as they came into view, made my gasp out loud. I’ve rarely seen them so bright! Obviously, the high altitude of Ursa Major, coupled with the crisp dark sky, was very advantageous. I was pleased that the new member got to see this pair under such fine conditions. The dark matter across M82 easily seen, and in retrospect, this pair were probably the highlight of the evening for me, so bright were they against the velvet black sky. A reminder why we travel to these dark skies. The new member asked to see M1 also, which was easily found. It appeared quite ghostly and – I thought – quite faint. One friend said they could see a red hue, which I couldn’t. It’s always interesting hearing other people’s thoughts and observations. With Leo quite high, I found the triplet quite easily. M65, M66 and NGC 3628. These just about fit into the same field of view in the 32mm eyepiece, and although NGC3628 was quite faint, it was unmistakable. The two Messier galaxies pointing the same direction, with the fainter companion stretching the other way. I returned to these a few times during my session. After astro darkness at 10pm, the sky was pleasingly dark, with M44 (the Beehive), and Mellote 111 (the Coma star cluster) easily visible with the naked eye. I was also surprised to see The Pleiades (M45) still in the sky at 11pm. With Ursa Major so high, I tried for a few galaxies there. M51 showed some very pleasing structure, with a very visible ‘arm’ extending out to NGC5195. Damn this cold! I’d have loved to have done a sketch, (looking at photographs of M51 this morning, I see the ‘arm’ I saw isn’t so well defined as I imagined, so a sketch would have been most interesting. Next time, then). Galaxy M109 was also easily found, and I had expected to see the planetary nebulae M97 in the same field of view. But it wasn’t, and my memory of seeing both in the same field of view must have been from a binocular session with my 10x50 Opticroms. But the nebulae was easily found by just hopping into the next field of view from M109. Quite a few of us looked at this object. The last target I looked for in Ursa Major was M101, and it was quite dim with no bright nucleus visible. The magnitude of this galaxy in my O’Meara Messier book gives it 7.9, which in comparison to M108’s mag 10, would have you believing this galaxy would be a far more pleasing sight, yet tonight the opposite was true. The seeing had been deteriorating for a while, and at around 11pm the clouds rolled in. It was hard to believe we’d only had an hour of true astronomical darkness. There was ice on my telescope and case where I keep my books, so with one last look at the Perseus double cluster (NGC 896 and 884 in the west, I packed up my gear. Driving home I was pleased to see the clouds had dispersed and I pulled over to make some binocular observations of the clusters M36, M37 and M38. So all in all, a successful night of Spring's 'greatest hits, if you know what I mean. I'd found no objects new to me, but had the night been warmer, I’d have stuck around and waited for the clouds to disperse. But it was quite uncomfortable to observe, and my hands were too cold to leaf through my map books without gloves. The van temperature gauge showed -2 as I left. A few of the people imaging at the star party were camping in tents, I didn’t know whether to admire them or pity them. But I’m certainly looking forward to seeing their images; I bet they get some belters! ---- As a postscript, during the time when I was waiting for darkness, I noted that most of the people at the star party were imaging. I think I was the only person there without a laptop at the time., and I felt quite antiquated with my notebook and star maps. One friend turned up before darkness (wise move!) with a nice pair of binos and a monopod, and had a good comfortable observing session, but I think he was the only person there other than me, not using a digital camera and a laptop. It does seem like the hobby has taken two distinct, different paths over the past twenty years. I made this point on the evening whilst talking to someone. I mentioned how imaging enabled people to share their experience, they have something 'showable'. When I look at something through my telescope, I can't show anyone else the next day. There's nothing of that experience to share with others, only words. These days, an imager can share the result of his hobby with a hundred friends at the flick of a switch. And they can record much more of the night sky than my eye ever will. Amateur astronomy has moved on.

You guys are just making your own rules up!

But if you could only choose new objects or old favorites, which would you choose?

I'm inclined to agree. With the darkest sky, surely the brightest objects would afford us the best views? That said, I do like to make new entries in my observing log. Hmmmm...

Thanks guys. It's a daft imaginary scenario where you can only do one or the other. I know we'd all do both, so it's not really about what we'd do in real life. We can use our naked eye looking at whatever we want, but for scope (or bins), it's got be be either previously unseen objects, or previously seen. Not a mixture of both.

That's cheating!

Imagine yourself in this scenario. You've travelled a long way to get to a dark sky site. It's just getting dark and the daytime's heavy rainfall has left the sky crystal clear and you have the whole evening ahead of you with your favourite telescope. You normally do your observing from a partially light polluted site, but now you're under a beautiful velvet black sky with excellent seeing and even before astronomical darkness you can see M31 as an easy naked eye object. It's going to be one of those rare nights of perfect conditions for astronomy, and the Milky Way is stretching from horizon to horizon, wow! this is going to be amazing! And you have a choice, and here's the thing. You can do one or the other, but not both. Which of these two options would you choose? 1) You look for only new deep space objects. At last you have the chance to see objects you've never found. Really faint galaxies that have eluded you from light polluted sites, nebulae that you've never seen before. Now at last you have the opportunity to see those elusive objects, perhaps you can see the Horsehead at last? Your observation book should be bulging with new observations after the night is over, what a wonderful opportunity! OR 2) You visit only old favourites. Now you have the chance to try and see the spiral arms of M51, the dust lanes of M31. And is there any sight better than the double cluster under dark crisp skies? Now is your chance to see the greatest sights of the night sky under perfect conditions. All those objects you've visited for years will now be accessible with brightness and clarity you've never before seen. It's going to be amazing! The choice is yours. New objects or old favourites? One or the other, but you can't do both.

I was really lucky. I put a post in the 'Wanted' secion on SGL, and someone answered a day later. They sold it for almost the price of a new in print O'Meara book, which was far less than I saw it for on-line. Good luck! The book is amazing and the most in-depth of all the O'Meara four Northern Hemisphere books. It's 600 pages!!!

You're doing really well Fozzy. If I'd have seen it for £13.00 I'd have bought it as a 'field' copy, even though I have one. There are four O'Meara Northern Hemisphere Deep-Sky companions. Messier: Caldwell: Secret Deep and Hidden Treasures. I bet you'll not rest till you have all four!

Work commitments in the morning mean this night-time write up of observation notes will be brisk and mostly ramble-free, which is surely a blessing for the reader! Two weeks ago I had a decent binocular session at the society observatory, which I regretfully didn’t write up my notes on-line. This followed a successful session with my Dob the same week, (which was my last observation report on here). Anyway, during my bino session two weeks ago I used the society’s newly donated Orion Optics binos (picture above) and my own Opticrom 10x50’s . I catalogued a few open clusters I’d not seen before, all mostly in the rather shy constellation of Monoceros, and all to the left of the now westward-setting constellation of Orion, (hence the post title). The ‘new to me’ open clusters I noted during my bino session were: NGC2186 NGC2244 NGC2236 NGC2251 NGC2264 All of them quite easy to find under a crisp sky with 10x50 bins and patience. I noted NGC2244 and particularly NGC2264 were bright, relatively large and ‘Messier-like’. Well worth re-visiting with the 10” mirror, and at last I had chance tonight. But first, after I arrived around 7.30, and set the dob up (thirty seconds tops, with one minute added to align the telrad… cheers!) ,and with astronomical darkness an hour away, I visited some easy Messier objects and other ‘greatest hits’. First M42, which I didn’t spend too much time on. Then M78, the reflection nebula above, (hello ghostly face thing!). I swung round to see the pleasingly bright and contrasty double cluster in Perseus, and naively tried to find some galaxies in Ursa Major when it was heading towards the Wolverhampton sky glow. Why do I bother? A quite faint Crab Nebula told me the seeing wasn’t especially great tonight, but M35 was really pleasing, and I followed the trail of stars to NGC5128. Near the Beehive (M44) is a galaxy NGC 2672, which (unsurprisingly) eluded me tonight, but it’s on my hit list for our society observation weekend next weekend. I don’t know the mag of this galaxy, I suppose I could google. The Beehive was a faint naked eye object tonight, so the seeing definitely wasn’t so good. However, I did get a lovely view of M67, the irregular open cluster underneath M44. This was quite a treat tonight, (I think I was using a 28mm eyepiece tonight). And so to NGC2264, also known as the Xmas tree cluster I see. It’s number 38 in James O’Meara’s Secret Deep list. Quite easy to find with the dob by star-hopping, and a very pretty sight in the eyepiece, with one bright star I assume isn’t related to the cluster shining twice as bright and gold to my eyes tonight. The actual cluster is only 2,500 light years away. Underneath, and still in Monoceros, is 2244, designated Caldwell 50 by the great monocled man himself. Looking at diagrams and pictures of it here in my warm flat now, I can see that the cluster I observed tonight was just the brighter stars, as I noted the stars were ‘few and uniform’. I suppose I could file under ‘unmistakable but unremarkable’ tonight. O’Meara talks about nebulosity in both NGC2264 and NGC2244, but seven miles from the city, I wasn’t rewarded with cosmic plumes tonight, and I didn’t expect to be. I also expect these targets are rather more well known for the astro-photographers than observers. It got cold, I was hungry and constantly reminded that the seeing wasn’t great. I felt tonight was successful mostly in my visiting a little-visited constellation (Monoceros), and giving me a few ideas of things to visit next weekend under the Shropshire dark sky at our society’s first observation weekend of 2022. Which is next weekend. I haven't looked at the forecast, I daren't!

Wow! That's a bargain, well done! Mine was £30 from an astro show. It's a lovely book, you'll be very pleased, I'm sure.

Honesty is the best policy! I actually think one of the most useful things about these observation reports on here, is people listing what they couldn't see. We've all been there, and it's quite comforting to read other people have the same frustrations sometimes.

I got a little excited on the way to the observing site last night, as I thought the night looked quite crisp and clear. Unfortunately, the seeing wasn’t that great. These days I use M110 as a guideline to seeing, and it was barely visible through the 10” mirror. Hmmm. I started with a new object. NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula on the border of three constellations, though it is actually in Perseus. it’s right by Aries and Taurus too. I found it tonight and though I’m happy to add it to my observation list, it is quite underwhelming in the eyepiece. I have noted it as a star in a triangle with stars of a similar magnitude; however the one star displays a haze, which is obviously the nebula. Not as rewarding as emission nebula M78 which I also visited tonight, and M78 could be said to be underwhelming also tonight. Staying with reflection nebula, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and spent some time on the Pleiades looking for the nebulosity. I’ve never paid much attention to it before, preferring to view M45 in binos, but around the stars Alcyone and Atlas, it was very obvious they were lighting up clouds of cosmic gas. I should spend more telescopic time on this cluster, it’s wonderful. On my ‘new to me’ hitlist was also ‘Mirach’s Ghost’, an apparently small galaxy that is right by the bright star in Andromeda. I couldn’t see it tonight but suspect a higher power eyepiece might be better. As usual I was lazily using the same 28mm eyepiece for the whole session. I also spent some time around Alnitak to try and see the ‘Flame’ nebula, (or ‘The Ghost of Alnitak’ if you prefer, another ghost!). I could tell myself, at times, that I could see it. But that’s not good enough, and on a night when M110 is barely visible, I think my chances of honestly seeing this faint nebula is slim. So it doesn’t get an entry in my ‘observed’ list. M35 was superb tonight though, and the neighboring NGC 2158 cluster is so easily recognisable now, I wonder how I ever got confused by it. I visited the ‘Poor Man’s Double Cluster’ again, and found M1 just to prove to myself how easy it is when you’re looking from the right star. It appeared quite dim, which is testament to the somewhat bright skies tonight. NGC1907 looked smashing tonight though. This little cluster ‘underneath’ M38, and I’ve been meaning to re-visit it for some time. I did image it successfully, but it looked poor compared to the telescope view. I also visited the open cluster NGC 1981 (above the Orion Nebula), which often gets overlooked because of its close proximity to the nebula. Very pretty tonight, and I noted NGC 1977 in my log book also, as the nebulosity was easily observable. What an amazing part of the sky this is for the observer. I visited some old favourites; The Double Cluster, M103 (open cluster in Cassiopeia), The galaxies M81 and M82 (pleasingly bright tonight), caught a very vague glimpse of galaxy M108, (no sign at all of M97 nearby). The Beehive cluster was lovely in the bins, and it’d rude not to visit the little beehive (M41) with Canis Major so high at the moment. Leo is visible, but caught in the horrible Wolverhampton skyglow seven miles away. I was wondering if it would move away from the glow for me to start galaxy searching, but the clouds started rolling over, which signaled the end for this short but most enjoyable session.

Thanks to a kind SGL member I've managed to get O'Meara's Hidden Treasures at a good price, so I now have all the O'Meara Northern Hemisphere observation guides. I was surprised how thick Hidden Treasures is - 600 pages! Chance of a bit of clear sky tonight, I'm just making a list of possible targets from my new book.