Mike JW

Thanks Callum for the info. Mike

I have waited for five months to get crater Peary as lies very close to the Lunar North Pole. I had to wait for a clear spell and a decent libration. It was well worth the wait. Apparently some of its well worn mountain peaks are in permanent daylight. (Peary was a polar explorer). This sketch completes my Lunar 100 tour - all objects sketched. Do I now work my way through the Lunar 200? Probably not as I have so many other astro journeys that I wish to pursue. This may well be my 'swan song' - I shall see............ Scoresby is the bottom crater, then Challis/Main, chunky Byrd and finally Peary which blends into Florey on the right. Proportions/perspective not quite right. Mike

Always like a group of galaxies = plenty to enjoy and find out about. Mike

Nice one Bill, there are a few more faint comets that could be chased! Mike

In the same session as the Neptune/Uranus observation I thought I would try for Comet 29P in Aries - at mag 16.0. It took me a few minutes this evening to identify the fuzz that should not be there - see red line. Mike

The moon was blazing away and not far from Neptune but I just fancied playing with the STF/camera having had a visual look at the moon (sketched my final lunar 100 crater), nice visual on Mars, a double as well. Uranus: - love to see the dance of the five moons. Miranda was lost in the glare of Uranus. Neptune: - with Triton near by. One day I must track down Nereid (it was just out of shot). A tawny owl was hooting for much of the session. Mike

Hoping to re-visit this Arp some time soon. Weather and now moon not helping. Mike

Hind's is on my list to visit. Thanks for posting and the extra detail. I use the Celestron f6.3 reducer as it matched to the Celestron scopes. As to Gyulbudaghain's Neb, I visited it with the 15" Dob earlier this year. See below. Mike

Hi Callum, Always enjoy a visit to this galaxy. Some nice detail picked up. Mike

This type 1A SN appears to be about mag 15 (my estimate). It was picked up when about mag 18 in early August, brightened to around mag 12 and is now fading; so pleased to have picked this one up before it fades much more. The interesting aspect to going for this SN is it took me to a galaxy which I might now normally visit. UGC 6930 is a face on spiral but not exactly a bright one so it took quite a lot of subs to get some sort of worthwhile view of the galaxy (though still nothing to get excited about). The SN is the star to the right of the nucleus. Mike

As well as the Hubble Variable I took a peak at M 78. This reflection nebula is being illuminated be blue type stars embedded within the gas cloud. This area contains several star forming regions which illuminate the area - about 4 lyrs across. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M98udfgd7g4 - enjoy the link for a spot of awe and wonder. Mike

26/10/20 - Hubble Variable Nebula - NGC 2261. This reflection nebula is the gas and dust coming from R Monoceros. It is about 1 lyr across and varies in time. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1966AJ.....71..224J provides some interesting reading. Close ups below are different settings to try to tease out some more detail. Right hand image begins to show the longer tail that extends out at the top of the nebula. Pleased to pick up some of the darker (dusty?) regions. Mike

This comet is low down in Lepus so a tricky one for me to 'see'. Small nucleus, large-ish diffuse halo which is asymmetrical. Mike

A good haul of Arps, showing the variety of galaxies in the Arp catalogue. Mike

Hi Bill, Glad you have had a clear slot to track down this SN and get some galaxy detail as well. It makes for a worthwhile outing. I kept meaning to remind myself what a type 1a is - thanks for the info. As to 514 - intermediate spiral, with a bar and apparently there is plenty of star formation within the nucleus - classed as having a H11 nucleus. Mike

Worth having another look sometime to see if it brightening or fading. Mike

I shall look forward to viewing SHK 10 at some point, with the challenge of locating all its members. Mike

Much to learn and observe in M31 - hours of pleasure on just this one DSO. Mike

I tried Ha filter once - as you say it ups the integration time (not keen on that) and also I found I had to re-focus in the middle of a session, as well as remove camera to add the filter. Gave it up as a bad idea. Re pelican - once again the benefit of the wide fov, low f-ratio. Lovely to see what you achieved. Mike

Martin - agree distinguishing plume from outer regions of M31 is nigh on impossible? but see https://images.mantrapskies.com/catalog/ARP-GALAXIES/ARP168-M032/ARP168M32L4X10RGB4X10X3ID.jpg Mike

ARP 168 (M32) - 22/10/20 If it wasn't for my tour of the Arps I would have no idea that M32 was in his catalogue. So why did he include it? It has a counter tail - diffuse tidal stream because of its interaction with M31, so he classified it as not S or E with a counter-tail. However it is classed as E2. I never even thought to look for a tail when I had a big Dob. No idea what size Dob would even reveal the tail. First image below - the 'noise' above M 32 is of course not noise but M 31 stars. Look below M 32 and the grey fuzz could well be the counter-tail. Whilst the subs were coming in, I was looking up info re M32 when I came across info on the Andromeda Globular Clusters - there are three in this image. A wonderful bonus. See the next image with red lines indicating them. Below is a close of two of the Andromeda Globular Clusters A really worthwhile observation and much pleasure. I wonder how many more Andromeda Globulars I could locate? Mike

Hi Ken, The simple answer is any scope. EEVA works well the shorter the focal ratio (f6 to f4) is a good range. SCT scopes are good because they are versatile and can be used from their native f10 (better suited to planets), used at f6.3 with a reducer or if the camera can take a 0.5 reducer then they are used at f5.0. (Hyperstar compatible versions are used at even shorter focal lengths - that is another story and expensive). Personally I see little value to using the EEVA technique for planets - give me visual any day with the appropriate scope. Mike

22/10/20 - ARP 200 in Aries. Arp classified this galaxy as 'not S or E with material ejected from the nucleus'. To me it looks like a spiral (disrupted) with a small bar? Officially classified as Sb. Off to the left is a sneaky little galaxy hiding behind the pair of stars - Leda 1420905, mag 16.3. To the right is VV 606, which is two galaxies muddled up - mag 16 and classes as an irregular. Arp spotted a faint plume heading off from the top end and going right-ish. I picked up (just) a star forming region (detached bit of grey) on the right near the top which marks where the plume should be. Really need to re-vist this when conditions allow 10 sec subs. The windy conditions meant I had to do 120, 3 sec subs to be able to use the best 42. Mike

Hi folks, At last I managed to get a clear spell to get a look at SN 2020 uxz in NGC 514. Desperation astronomy as I had to take many short subs and dump the wind rocked subs. My casual estimation is that the SN is now at about mag 13, maybe a touch brighter. Pleased also that I picked up star forming regions in 514 and other details. At times I was looking through light cloud. Mike

Hi Martin - the cseligman site is a favourite of mine. Satellites!!!! - progress at any price I suggest. I still await a clear spell - more rain. Mike