josefk

43 minutes ago, RobertI said:

I can’t see your post as I think it’s white text on my white background - might be worth changing the text colour to black? 

i copied it in from docs and didn't strip off the formatting - but possibly corrected now to plain text? I can't tell my end 🙂

5 hours ago, Davesellars said:

Nice!  Glad to see you also took advantage (no time off for me unfortunately, but not doing too mad this morning... ) The transparency increased considerably during the morning (at the start it was pretty bad).  By the time I got to Orion around 3am it was crystal clear and the stars in the sky were much brighter.

Orion was just fabulous last night wasn't it - sharp and dramatic!

An absolute cracker in Northamptonshire last night - 8.5hrs of satisfying "in-the-moment" joy. I’d had my eye on this Monday night for a few days as all observing conditions except dew point temperature looked good in the forecast and so it transpired. It was a lovely clear steady night; not super transparent but very steady, it was easy to get steady diffraction rings at silly magnifications as the session went on. As a bonus the moon came up later than i had realised and Orion came up much earlier and i'm not at work today (the day after) - happy days.

Per transparency I had some early failures on low surface brightness objects so i think transparency wasn’t the best but even straight out of the car while setting up i could see Milky Way quite extensively overhead and M45 showing maybe three stars naked eye and plenty of nebulosity - so plenty dark.

The notional plan was to target October Herschels from the Steve O’Meara H400 observing guide. Since September i’m trying to work through these methodically. I’m fascinated by this era of scientific progress and William and Caroline Herschel’s own observations and the way they went about them (and the kit they used) have captured my imagination.

This started me off in Cepheus and four open clusters NGC 6939 (H VI-42), NGC 7142 (H VII-66), NGC 7129 (H IV-75 but not an H400-1 object), and NGC 7160 (H VIII-67). Three of these are quite lovely but NGC 7142 is described as “rich and sparkling”. Mmmmh. It definitely wasn’t - it was “dim and hard to discern” so here i think again transparency wasn’t great. I also had a go at nearby NGC 6939 the Fireworks Galaxy but could not pick it up even using a hood. On paper this didn’t ought to be that difficult but i couldn’t detect a thing. Later i did see the fainter NGC 6217 spiral galaxy but its smaller so presumably has higher surface brightness or transparency had improved.

The next little group of Open Clusters (all in Cassiopeia) were NGC 7790, Berkeley 58, NGC 7788, Frolov 1, & Harvard 21. I find it quite interesting seeing such closely grouped objects.  I could get the two NGC’s and Frolov 1 into the same 1 degree FOV. The best two to view out of the three were always the two i wasn’t looking at directly - a very strange optical dance. These are obviously not Herschel's but they're in the neighbourhood and i don't follow lists too slavishly.

I quite like that group effect so the next group were nearby and had similar qualities - NGC 133, NGC 146 and King 14. Again they fit in a one degree FOV. NGC has a sort of bow tie outline element to it and at one end there were a pair of dim stars i noted as interesting. This morning i realise that they are a double star system and discovered by William Herschel (Herschel 1033) so possibly i have inadvertently set off on another list programme after all.

i’m going to return to this idea of clusters of clusters on another night as it definitely adds interest - i can sometimes run out of enthusiasm for too many open clusters in one sitting. 

Orion was well up by now and i haven’t pointed any of my current kit at Orion so far - in fact i've never pointed this much aperture at Orion before (i topped out before at 120mm and more recently at 95mm or bino's).  I swung round using  the RDF to line up but i had a 1 degree eyepiece with UHC filter fitted (i’d been unsuccessfully trying to see nebulosity behind the open cluster IC 1805 in Cassiopeia ) so when i did bend over to look through the scope i was nearly knocked off my stool. Wow. I was bang on the trapezium (i didn't creep up on it) and it was blazing. M42 and M43 were huge and bright. I was mesmerised and I ran through the full toolbox here - 2.4mm exit pupil w/ and w/o UHC, 1.8mm exit pupil w/ and w/o O-III, 1.3mm exit pupil for 140x and even a silly sub 1mm exit pupil for 300x (unsuccessfully looking for E and F in the trap). Everything added value and gave a different dimension. I even used Binoviewers (150x and 1mm exit pupil with O-III in one side only). All the approaches revealed different extents of shape and detail of the nebular so well worth the faffing about. I was here well over an hour. My experience with binoviewers with lopsided filtering were positive - i will do this again. I swear it added a sensation of cloudy 3D (some parts of the nebular protruding and other parts receding) and i know that optical effect isn’t even possible in reality. Ultimately after all the different combo's the wider brighter viewpoints were superior on this night and UHC probably the ideal filter for edge contrast without losing that beam of light blazing effect.

I swept through a few lowish southern Messier ’s then and then finally moved to wrap up with three stellar or nearly stellar PNe - another interest at the moment.

The Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 (PK 096+29.1 and a Herschel in fact H IV-37) this is actually bigger than stellar and showed some "apple-white" (green) at low magnification (100x)). Easy to see and responded well to both magnification and O-III (not applying both simultaneously). 

IC 2003 (PK 161-14.1) a devil to ID and O-III not helping. Identified finally by field position and because i could reliably and consistently blink it in and out with averted and direct vision. 

NGC 1514 (PK 165-15.1). This latter one is interesting because as i observed it i thought i could see a bubble of haze (~2’ or so) but then as i looked more directly at it the "glow" disappeared. It wasn’t as consistent as averted/direct blinking so i wrote it off as an optical artefact (it had been a long session and using a hood makes it a struggle to keep dry eyepiece glass). As i read up on it today seems this is a real observation!

Phew. If you made it this far - thanks for reading. Keep warm and dry!

...and get those BV onto Orion! 🙂 

Like @Davesellars i went for a big one last night. I have the week  off work and the overnight forecasts are not great so banked a full 8.5hrs last night (till 06:00 this morning). 1x flask of coffee (8x expressos eqv.), 1x packet of flapjack, 1x packet of ginger liquorice jellies, >40x observations. Does it get any better?

Writing up my notes will take the rest of the week  - counting everything i have over 45 observations but that isn't as greedy as it sounds - there are plenty of grouped observations in there and the pace was leisurely throughout. Absolutely swimming in condensation toward the end. It was an eyepiece in the diagonal and an eyepiece in my hand or my pocket all night. Nothing left out uncovered. Transparency was poor i think looking at what i couldn't see but seeing was steady.

Binoviewers on Orion are the absolute bees knees!!! The 3D myth has legs. Easily over an hour in this area trying BV, UHC, O-III, higher and lower mono mags and enjoying everything for the different perspectives. Fantastic

3 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Fingers crossed. 

10 hours ago, RobertI said:

Not me either, the best my wallet could stand was a manual filter wheel and a bottle of Baader Wonder Fluid! 😆 Very enjoyable time at the IAS though. I also attended the insightful Galaxy Groups lecture - lots of concentration required! Then some nice conversations with the Rowan brothers and a play with the  AZ75 and AZ100. Chris at FLO gave me a guided tour of their dobs, the superb looking new parallelogram mount and the live observatory images. Had a very informative chat with Simon at Widescreen about binoviewers and got some expert advice. Stopped off at the SVBony stand - very friendly people and some nice kit. A very impressive exhibition by RVO with Patrick Moore’s old Ford Prefect with 3/4 million miles on the clock (seriously). Finally bought a couple of books from the Webb Society which I hope will contain some nice objects for EAA, although I think some of the PNs might be a challenge even for my EAA kit!

I also got that Abell guide Rob but definitely out of curiosity rather than ambition. 16” recommended and most obs in it using 22”. Good luck!

A good day out today at IAS. The first lecture on Galaxy groups was a very interesting way to kick off. I even managed to keep up with some of it 😵.

The Webb Deep Sky Society are there so I picked up Kent Wallace's "life's work" more or less; the pretty definitive "Visual Observation of Planetary Nebula". There are over a 1000 PNe catalogued and described in this reference work and a good bunch of them observed in an 8" scope and with notes for magnification and filters etc in Kent's observing notes. That should keep me going. Hah. 

Lots of lovely kit from the usual suspects. i think someone pounced early on a TSA-120 on the RVO stand. One on display at 09:45 and gone by 11:30. Also TOE, TAO and LE EP's on the RVO stand!!! 

Have a good day anyone going tomorrow and be a aware if you need to use it; the Coventry Eastern bypass has roadworks on it - traffic was pretty slow and heavy coming and going on this last little stretch.

Cheers

i have to say i don't know why the "dioptrx" style corrector approach isn't more widespread seeing as you can't correct for it with the focuser and nearly everyone over 50 will have a level of this in their vision. Possibly it's a niche of a niche but credit to TV for pioneering it TBH. I feel they definitely take a holistic system view and understand their market - short fl petzvals for wide vista views combined with a big emphasis on (and range of) wide AFOV eyepieces also for wide vista views - the only drawback to their system vision (literally) being that a decent portion of their core market are likely challenged by astigmatism with the big exit pupils that result so they correct that too. Gets my vote.

21 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Thanks! Amazingly helpful. So I should not encounter a problem with my astigmatism below an exit pupil of 2mm.

I have just ordered a Dioptrx from FLO. They had one on special offer.

Looks like I will need and adapter from my longer FL Nagler T6s, but Ethos should be fine. And with the Mewlon the exit pupil conditions should be even better 

I will be very keen to hear how you get on because i think after my next eye test i will be doing the same (it's also one of the reasons i'm buying into TV EPs - future proofing!).

Astigmatism is supposed to only develop (progress) slowly but i don't know exactly what that means in diopters. TV very helpfully have a chart for how much astigmatism should be visible (or rather not visible) at different exit pupils. https://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=54&Tab=_Choose 

That's bad news Jeremy. 😟

Is it possibly worth an experiment with a TV dioptrx at your new astigmatism prescription? It may not be universal across eyepieces but worth a punt? How much has your prescription changed if you don't mind me asking?

i'm putting off the inevitable for an eye test. One year ago my astigmatism was -0.25 which i shouldn't be able to see at most normal exit pupils but i can see it so know its gotten worse...

Kafka did write amusing short stories too in case that is a bit strong.

AND very very sorry to derail your observation report. Not intended!

Read this and you'll regret you ever asked! its pretty dark Alice in wonderland for adults without a wonderland or funny characters or a happy ending. LOL. TBF and a bit more serious its actually a very prescient allegory for alienation and random cruelty in the the 20th century. Highly recommended reading. 

1 minute ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi Josef, thanks, yeah it was a very nice tour. Actually I had a jumper on while observing, some spring nights can get rather chilly here! My full name is Josef too 🙂

haha. Sorry to disappoint - i'm a common ph Joseph (to my mother and the passport office) and a Joe to everyone else. josefk is an unhealthy Kafka reference because sometimes i empathise with him (the character). 🤪

Sounds like a nice tour Joe. Looking at your location (and being a bit jealous) possibly a t-shirt session too? Nice.

Also just booked for Friday and booked for the starting lecture on galaxy clusters. Looking forward to this. I have dew management on the primary shopping list but also looking forward to see what books i can pick up (maybe on the Webb Deep Sky Society stand). oooh and maybe a look at the two piers from Rowan. 😓

1 hour ago, quaoar said:

Quit your job. Buy a removal truck with a tail lift. Become a furniture mover and get paid to work out. Sleep in your truck on the furniture blankets after an all nighter.

Work life balance achieved. 🤣

Outrageous. I am green with envy!

Somebody left the lights on in Northamptonshire last night!

A very bright grey night here last night in Northamptonshire - battleship grey sky all around (i think a lot of moisture in the high atmosphere) and a glowing beige/grey haze in the direction of the Moon so not promising. Nevertheless possibly the only "clear" night of the week this week so worth grabbing.

Mars and Jupiter very bright and hazy so little point trying. There were only two moons showing for Jupiter though and i'm not sure i've ever seen that before - three often but i'm not sure for two.

Pointing higher up i revisited NGC 7026 first observed last Friday - its a Planetary Nebula mistakenly catalogued in a multiple star system with BUP 9010 and there are four stars overall. I couldn't see the C and D companions and NGC 7026 was "less fat" than Friday so i think the brighter sky was diminishing what could be observed. 

A second Planetary Nebula for the night was IC 5217 in Lacerta. This was never anything other than stellar and needed careful star counting and star hopping within the FOV to be sure. It is in a kind of sideways question mark "asterism" and is the corner star. Quite dim versus the others in the arrangement but with O-III it is more prominent while its companions recede.

Then two Herschels - a slow start on October:

H VIII-75 (NGC 7243/Caldwell 16); an aesthetic open cluster in Lacerta. No real sparkle against this bright sky. 

H VII-44 (NGC 7510); an open cluster in Cepheus. Needed a bit of magnification to create contrast (140x) but also quite pretty. Near this object is the tiny Open Cluster Markarian 50. Really really subtle. Could be identified easily enough by half a dozen stars with direct vision but only really opened up with averted vision but even then not fully. SSP has this cluster as 2' across!.

Not bad for a school night and with the big light switched on!

Interesting (for me) addendum following some reading yesterday - NGC 7026 and BUP 9010 was mistakenly catalogued as a 4 element multiple star system by SW Burnham (not Robert Jr) in 1879 so my observation at the eyepiece wasn't complete nonsense. The PN NGC 7026 is listed as the primary. There are two other components to go back for! 🙂

I was trying out a new O-III filter last night on small PN in Cygnus. A longer report here:

Amongst the overall "haul" it was very satisfying to find three very small (and one of these very faint) PN using a mixture of techniques and tools. NGC 6881 / PK 074+02.1 very tiny and dim indeed. Great fun.

The postman brought an Astronomik O-III Nebular filter yesterday so this was a "getting to know you" session deliberately looking for small and possibly marginal Planetary Nebula to see what it added. I thought PN with a filter would be a not too bad way of using an evening where the moon was up and very bright being nearly full. The location was Fineshade woods Northamptonshire. Notionally Bortle 4 not that that meant anything last night. I thought seeing was "ok" - when i had a quick look at Mars and Jupiter to end the session there was glare in the damp air and some light boiling. The scope used was my 7.3" Cassegrain.

First up - not PN. I had a few "September" Herschel objects to catch up; four in fact. I managed three; H VII-51, H VI-32, and H VI-40. All three are Open Clusters in Cygnus and pretty faint against this moonlit night. Only H VI-32 (NGC 7086) really appeared as a cluster (Mag 8/12') - my notes "a light dusting of castor sugar with a few grains of granular sugar". The other two are Mag 8 or 9 and 4' or 5'. I couldn't see nearby NGC 7044 so that remains to be found another night. This was all at 80x/1 degree/2.4 exit pupil.

My kit was cooled now so on to the Planetary's. The grand plan with the new O-III was to use it on one side of a binoviewer and "wink" rather than "blink" the unfiltered side in and out to try and identify/isolate any small PN in it's respective star field. mmmmh. The jury is still out after one moonlit night but i think the jury will return a split decision.

I hadn't really found any success stories/positive experiences of using a filter like this - only plans and proposals to try it. i think now i know why. I found the ergonomics a bit tricky - maybe its just me - but when closing one eye at the Binoviewer i was finding the open eye left with the O-III under it was seeing either nothing or EP reflections (a hood helped). A very slight move of my head or eye then "re-found" the now dimmed star field but only a second or two later. For a "big" PN like NGC 7027 (0.3' x 0.2') the slight delay didn't matter - the big PN was clear and definite in the O-III side and therefore obvious one or both eyes open. The snag is that NGC 7027 doesn't need to be blinked to find it - it's big. :-).

For a small PN like NGC 6884 or NGC 6881 (each 0.1') the technique (at these exit pupils) didn't work - the ergonomics got in the way but much more significantly at Mag 11 and Mag 13.6 respectively for these small PN using the BV was just giving away too much light (in the one eyed view) and i didn't faff about trying to get a bigger exit pupil than through the BV than the 1.2mm i was set up for - i just switched to mono. 

Using 2x TV Panoptic 24mm eye pieces, one fitted with with an O-III filter and one not and using them alternately in a regular cyclops diagonal at nearer 2mm exit pupil was much more successful and will be very useful in this kind of session for me with one massive caveat. Being still pretty inexperienced i expected the O-III to work like welding goggles - blocking everything except O-III. It doesn't; bright stars get through and quite strongly. They also glow a little bit - just like a small PN!!!. Basically it means for me with the very small PN identifying their position visible or not from the field stars in the FOV is critical - only then does the O-III help in confirming the observation. it would be very easy  for me to make an ID mistake on a bright star beating the O-III.

So with the process tuned last night i observed these Planetary Nebula in Cygnus:

1. NGC 7027 (Mag 8.5/0.3' x 0.2') Easy with O-III but also didn't need it. Nice at an unfiltered 200x with a hint of blue showing at this magnification.
2. NGC 6833 (Mag 12.1/0.0') Identified by location. O-III helped confirmation but could be seen without.
3. NGC 6884 (Mag 11/0.1') Identified by location. O-III helped confirmation but more magnification (unfiltered 200x) equally helpful to "fatten the PN up" and increase contrast.
4. NGC 6881 (Mag 13.6/0.1') Identified only by precise location. Not visible without O-III. Even with O-III needed averted vision but when it appeared it could be held and position was precise every time. This was a needle fine micro dot - possibly the most marginal observation this year so perversely very satisfying.
5. NGC 7026 (Mag 10.89/0.5' x 0.2'). Could be seen with averted vision without O-III by looking at nearby f2 Cygni. Once it popped in it could be held for a short while. With O-III it could be seen easily with direct vision and looked like a fat double with the star BUP 9010 just a few arc-seconds away.
6. IC 5117 / Aro 112 (Mag 11.5 / 0.0'). Very tricky. Confirmed with O-III but again only when already sure of location. 

...and that was that. Lessons learned. Food for thought. etc. A very satisfying session overall and a good start to the weekend.

Mars still horrible to finish with big diffraction beams - my DIY off aperture mask wasn't successful :-(. Jupiter with maybe 5 or 6 bands but a bit soft and it's moons a bit soft too.

Have good weekends all. 

Joe

2 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Having just been outbid for a 17.5 Morph on the bay, I think there should be a law that no-one can own two until everyone else gets to have one.

Morphi’s law?

I may live to regret getting this O-III filter as a 1.25" - time will tell. Rationale for the 1.25" is to try and use this in one side of a binoviewer to "wink" small star like PN. Searching here and Cloudy Nights i see a few posts where this way to "blink" a nebula filter is proposed but i haven't really found any success stories from actually doing it. I didn't want to get into a filter slide and i don't want to hold a filter in my hand so we'll see. If its too dim in one side of a BV i can use it mono at 1.55 degrees and 3mm exit pupil later this year so will get two goes at getting use from it.

This link posted by Dan Pensack in another thread on here has a group review of 10mm wide angles including the Tak UW. It may mitigate disappointment at their (i think) non availability in the UK @MalcolmM

https://web.archive.org/web/20130829052725/http://www.cieletespace.fr:80/files/InstrumentTest/201306__6_oculaires_10mm.pdf

Cheers 

Joe