Ciaran Meier

I see that two Moderators here on SGL Have seen fit to "like" a post in which the OP has directly  defamed another individual.  Surely this is inappropriate.  Remember folks, this is a public facing forum, in which all content is in the Public Domain. 

1 hour ago, cotterless45 said:

Oh and the idiot Elon Musk got a mention.

Mr Musk  certainly has an odd way of expressing himself and his "Tesla in Space" PR stunt maybe not to all tastes. However, credit where credit is due. On 17th May SpaceX will be launching two astronauts to the ISS. This will be the first US crewed spaceflight in nearly a decade. He may be many things, and not appeal to all, but I do not believe that he is an "idiot".

Lovely. 

Here's my obs report on it a few nights ago....

"Galaxy: NGC2903 at 9.0 mag.  Very difficult to spot, just a slight signal from the background noise."

I think I prefer your result 😆. 

Thanks for the effort putting this together,  a "mini TED".  No luck yet spotting it yet in my 8 inch newt but will persevere. 

Thanks John, great article.  A submission in the comments below the piece (currently the last comment) suggestions that the most favourable conditions are to be had just after sunset and just before sunrise.  I suppose this reduces the background contrast somewhat similar when Observing Venus.   

I've plugged in the numbers and come up with WDS 03289+3115 in Perseus.

Aa Ba  0.0m / 0.0m at 1.5" sep. (2005)

So, 1.5" is over twice the seperation achievable at zero delta m for an 8 inch scope.  Will be an interesting experiment for next session. 

Feel free to correct the numbers if necessary 😜. 

6 hours ago, BiggarDigger said:

3C-273!  Only 2.4 Billion light years away!  You may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's nothing to Space! (With apologies to Douglas Adams).

Eddie's in the Space Time Continuum...

Good call on 3C-273, will have to get my eye onto it. 

Have this one on me 😁.

On 14/04/2020 at 13:02, Mark at Beaufort said:

In saying that I did start with 'Tegmine' in Cancer to see if I could split the Primary. I used the 6mm Ethos + 2.25x Baader barlow - (mag281x). I watched the system drift across the FOV and from time to time I could see that the Primary was a double.

Hi Mark

Just want to check with you what was split here.  Was it the A B pair at 1.1" sep.  I've an 8 inch OOUK newt and I reckon 4" is about the best I'm getting with good collimation.  Doubles folk on here seem to go for the frac for this job.  What secret magic are you using to get down to 1" with the 150P 😁.

Ciaran. 

Had a bit of a "binge" last night, got into the flow and couldn't quit.  Two scopes on the go, both un-driven, 8 inch/F6 OOUK Newt and a 102mm/F10 frac: 6mm. 12mm and 25mm Vixen EP's 

The frac on Venus as soon a visible in twilight.  Lovely, lovely, lovely in the 12mm EP. 

All further observations with the Newt.

Auriga:

Double: Capella.  A F  0.1m/10.2m  @ 106" sep.  Faint companion following along.  Seeing blue in the secondary.

Double: Epsilon Aur (7 Aur).  A E  3.0m/9.6m  @  206 sep.  AF  3.0m/11.0m @ 221".  Nice arrangement in the 6mm EP.

Double: Beta Aur  (34 Aur). Menkalinan.  AB 1.9m/10.9m  @ 187" sep.  Pi Aur. (35 Aur) Caught my eye in the finder, nice punchy red.  Checked out some data and discovered a very interesting fact regarding Theta, Beta and Delta Aur also.  Pi Aur is in alignment along the "solstitial colure" along with Theta, Beta and Delta Aur.  I'll need to read up on this later.

Double: STF653 (14 Aur).  A B  5.0m/10.9m @ 10.1" sep.  Seeing a hint of blue in the secondary. 

Double: STF698.  A B  6.7m/8.3m @ 31" sep.  Lovely colours in this pair.

Double: STF872.  A B 6.9m/7.4m @ 11.8" sep. Really pretty matched colours, kind of an "orangey" yellow.

Open Cluster: NGC1893, (COL63, MEL33). Tick.

Open Cluster: NGC2281, (COLL116, MEL51).  A nice sparse spattering of stars.  Best in the 12mm.  In 6mm can see two sets of doubles at approx 5" sep mag 10/11.  Better sight than M38 earlier this evening.

Leo:

Galaxy: NGC2903 at 9.0 mag.  Very difficult to spot, just a slight signal from the background noise.

Galaxy: M94 at 8.0 mag.  Best in the 12mm. Bright central smudge with some outer smudging swimming in and out of view.

Canes Venatici:

Double:  Cor Caroli (12 CVn).  2.9m 5.5m @ 19.2" sep.   First time seeing this.  Yep, lives up to the hype.  Two white diamonds, this is what it's about.

Double. 15/17 Cvn.  Wide double.  A B  6.0m/6.3m @ 275".  Third unassociated 8 mag star forms nice triange.

Galaxy. M63 at 9.0 mag.  No detail, no apparent brightening. Just a homogenous smudge.

Galaxy. M106 at 8.2 mag.  Smudge.

Galaxy. M51 at 8.5 mag. Two faint smudges with barely discernible central concentrations.

Bootes:

Double. Theta Boo (23 Boo).  4.1m/11.5m @ 70" sep.

Double. Iota Boo (21 Boo).  A B  4.8m/7.4m  @ 32" sep.  Nice one.

Double. Kappa Boo (17 Boo).  A B 4.5m/6.6m @ 13.5" sep.  Another lovely double.  Iota and Kappa can be seen as together in the 25mm EP, very nice indeed.

Coma Berenices:

Globular Cluster.  M53 at 7.7mag.  Just a fuzzy, no break down to stars.

Galaxy: M64 at 8.4 mag. Fuzzy smudge.

Hercules:

Globular Cluster: M13 at 5.8 mag.  Finish on high note.

Called it quits at 4:30am. 

Had a lot of fun and satisfaction manually tracking these down from my Bortle 7/8 sky.  I know a lot of observers are using GOTO these days but for me a lot of the enjoyment is working with the 15x70 bins in tandem with the finder to track these down.  It can get a bit frustrating when almost on target then lose bearings and back to the last known reference point. All good fun in the end however,😀.

Keep safe and enjoy this run of clear skies.

Ciaran 

Was in and around same area last night splitting doubles. The narrowest gap you've logged, 1.5" on A567 would probably be beyond the optics in the 8" OOUK, F6 newt I was using.  I think four to five seconds is the limit on this scope.  What setup were you using on this list ?

Ciaran. 

Hehe,  I've  just come in from an unintended "all nighter", 4:30' ish AM.  Had the 8 inch newt and 102 frac on the go.  

Glad I'm not the only mad one on here 😜.  

Hope you enjoyed that breakfast. !!

Ciaran. 

23 minutes ago, Silent Running said:

Starting with the gorgeous crescent Venus at dusk

Had the 102 frac on Venus at the same time, yep, was gorgeous. Called the wife out to take a look and was glad to hear some appreciation 😁

Nice report. 

Ciaran. 

Out with the Stellar II  15x70's. Absolutely love these bins, great optics and nicely balanced in the hand(s) if need be. Used them tonight with my DIY monopod, which I would humbly say does the job perfectly.  Anyway, enough boasting and down to porridge. 

Mainly on the doubles as suits best in Bortle 8'ish sky. 

Gemini 

WDS 07510+3137.  6.8/7.7m Sep 77" Very distinct in a barren patch of stars. There's a lovely chain of five stars above this double running across the FOV. Left most HR3040 to 70 Gem.  Second from left, 80 Gem is a nice 5.1mag red supergiant. 

There"s also a really nice starfield lying between 69 Gem and 60 Gem, like they're herding them up. 69 Gem is a lovely red. 

WDS 07096+2544 (STTA83) A C,  7.2m/7.8m Sep 122"  There's an 8.1mag star at 5.5' (minutes) which forms a pleasing triangle asterism. 

43 gem. A C, 4.1m/7.7m Sep 101"

WDS 06341+2207.  7.2m / 7.4m Sep 53.3"  nice evenly matched colours. 

Puting Alhena, 24 Gem to the right of the FOV forms a lovely circle of stars around the circumference of the FOV, nice effect. 

Cancer

Over to the Beehive,  say no more !!  then a brief appraisal of M67 OC. Just a faint smudge with no stars resolved. 

Up a wee bit  above the Beehive to doubles 48 Cnc and 53 Cnc. Both in the same FOV. 

Ursa Major 

Dubhe. Double, a real cracker in the bins.  A lovely warm primary with the faint blue companion. 

Last double, STF1831. A C,  7.2m/6.7m Sep 109"  M101 would be in the same FOV but no luck tonight. 

Quick look at Mizar, Alcor and friend. 

Some of these doubles maybe weren't the prettiest but half the fun is tracking them down. 

All done !!

Ciaran. 

That's a great list of doubles, it's a pity about the dew cutting short your session.  I was out last night too with the 102mm frac but a high hazy cloud came in and closed down the session. 

Tonight is looking good however. Fingers crossed. 

Ciaran. 

7 minutes ago, Anthony1979 said:

Its stressed me out all day been at it since 1 this afternoon trying to get it perfect

Yup,  know what you mean 😐, been there and done that.  Next time you need to collimate it'll be a lot quicker and less stressful now that you've been through the process already. 

Looks good to me and better lined up than my newt.  The real test is how it performs under the stars. My own test is to get onto a nice close double of similar mag,  about 3 to 4 arcseconds seperation and if I'm happy with that I leave it.  It's possible to get a bit carried away with collimation and chase perfection until the cows come home.  That's my opinion anyway 😀.

11 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Nice report Ciaran.....let’s see the sketch then....... 😀

Ha ha,  that sketch  will never see the light of day 😁,  was just to slow down to get the detail.   The sky last night was fantastic,  stayed out from 9'ish till 4am.   Best seeing I've had here in a long time.  

Cheers

Ciaran. 

Out with the 102mm refractor and the 15x70 bins.  Sky was lovely tonight,  even from my Belfast Bortle 8/9 home. 

Caught Tau 118, double, just before it slipped under the rooftops. Mags 5.8/6.7 with 4.7" separation. Lovely in the frac. 

STF872 in Auriga, double. Mags 6.9/7.4 with 11.8 seperation.  Again, lovely in the scope. 

NGC2281 OC in Auriga. A gorgeous open cluster.  First time seeing this one. At first glance looks like a mini Pleiades. Liked it so much I made a quick sketch. 

Had a go at comet C/2019 Y4.  Not too sure if I got it. There was definitely something there. Very faint in the scope and I thought I could momentarily discern two distinct concentrations. Probably spent an hour getting on target. 

With the bins

M81/82, nice distinct patches. 

M51, not too bad but you need to know it's there or you'll miss it. Put the scope on it briefly and made out the two dim cores

Finally M94 with the bins also. Barely on the verge of visibility.

A cold but enjoyable session. 

Ciaran. 

I've put together a CSV file listing a few hundred objects for general viewing.  Galaxies, Clusters, Doubles, etc.  Just a bit of general sightseeing.  I use DSO Planner,  import the file into an observation list using the "Sky Tools" option.  Sky Safari,  not sure how that works but feel free to try. 

Happy viewing all.  

Ciaran

AstroCSV.csv

Found this Struve catalogue.

https://mainsequence.org/html/obs/STF_Doubles.html

2 hours ago, cotterless45 said:

Leo.

Caught both Σ 1472 and ΣΣ 1477 in a widefield view.

These sound wonderful and the sketch looks great.  However, they are the only two listed that I cannot  find on DSO Planner 😐.  Are they listed under another catalogue? 

Upper case sigma indicates Struve?

Great list.

Ciaran. 

OK,  Installed Sky Safari and its got them.  Hopefully get onto them tonight. 

Download works.  Great list. 

4 hours ago, Ags said:

8 Boo - Muphrid - Either this one is very wide or I didn't split it

DSO Planner gives the secondary at mag 10 with 113" of seperation.  Probably lost this one in the Bottle 8 sky. 

Hope that back of yours gets sorted. I have back problems and I find a bit of gentle stretching can help.  

Ciaran. 

Here's  a few in Bootes...

17 Boo: Double Star. A B 4.5m 6.6m 13.5”

21 Boo: Double Star. A B 4.8m 7.4m 38.8”

51 Boo: Triple Star. Aa Ab 4.3m 0.0m 0.1” / A B 4.3 7.1 108.0”

36 Boo: Double Star. A B 2.6m 4.8m 3.4”

37 boo: Double Star. A B 4.8m 7.0m 6.7”

49 Boo: Double Star. A B 3.6m 7.9m 104.6”

Enjoy !!!

Here's an obs list I've been putting together this past few years. There's a few doubles listed, generally the showcase examples of each constellation. 

1586517859116_Astro Targets V12.pdf