Kon

Thanks for the heads up, will get the Dob out

@Nik271I am pleased to hear that you managed to see it. I agree that this has been a challenging object considering that is shouldn't 🧐. I bet if it was higher up it would have been a magnificent object.

The only one I managed last night were the Mag 13 with averted vision. The 14.7 kind of showed but very very faint even with averted.

It has been the best seeing tonight despite the wind. I did not expect to be observing tonight considering it was really coming down with rain today. I am getting spoiled having another moonless night for observing. Jupiter and Saturn showed some nice details, but I was after the Saturn nebula that I had not observed before. Easy star hope from Jupiter and there it was, a small fuzzy disk with some elongated or squashed edges. Seeing was good since it took magnification easily. I revisited the M57 with the hope to try see the central star but no lack, but the nebula looked great even at high magnification. I glanced at Veil without any filter and it was visible although not as detailed as in my last report. Another new one for me tonight was Uranus. I got this OMG moment; a small blue disk that was distinguishable from the sharp stars around. It is still low in my E horizon so i could not make any of its moons (not sure if they would be visible with an 8" Dob). Andromeda showed greater details tonight and i feel it was more 'expanded'; maybe better seeing. Pleiades looked like a gem in the sky. Final object was M34 and it looked great in my ES 68 degrees 24mm EP. Stars were expanding all the way to the edges with nice clarity. Overall despite the wind, I feel it was the most stable seeing in a very long time.

I can feel your excitement, well done! Ganymede looks fuzzy at best under our seeing conditions at the moment. Jupiter must have shown some amazing details if your Ganymede was that good.

Excellent report. Welcome to the visual side🤩. Your 16" must bring some amazing details on the DSOs.

I found x50 magnification was the best. I tried x86 but it did not bring more details, it was actually worst.

Worth a try, looking forward to hearing if you manage it (assuming the clouds move). The main issue I had is that we had that horrible evening haze in the past few months and being such a low object it made things worst. I tried at least 5-6 times this summer and in the end I had memorised the star hoping to get there🤣

I knew I framed Andromeda at the edge of Milky Way, but after stacking I realised that M33 is at the top of the image as well.. I stacked 27 frames, iso 3200, f3.5, exposure 20s.

Yes very pleased with that. It should be higher up for you,shouldn't it? I think the filter helped a lot.

As the title says, I was after my nemesis, the Helix nebula, that evaded me all summer. Being low in my S horizon I struggled several times to see it. I had been in the right place but I suppose the combination of light haze and thicker atmosphere to look through had proven really hard to get any glimpse over the summer. Tonight it has been the darkest without moon and seeing was pretty good. I finally saw it with averted vision, on and off. I read somewhere that an OIII or UHC filter can bring up the details and since I only have an OIII, I gave it a try. There it was, finally! A nice round outer ring and a fainter inner. It kind of felt the big brother of the Ring nebula but more diffuse. Seeing was coming in and out even with the filter but at last the nemesis has been conquered! I also had a go at the Wizard nebula based on another discussion and it looked like a diffuse nebula around the star cluster with my OIII filter. I had a look at M31/32/33. Andromeda showed some nice structure. M33 still low on my E horizon, that has some light pollution, showed some structure. Looking forward to seeing later in the year. Pleiades were also coming into view but clouds ruined the fun. My summer list of targets has successfully been accomplished. I noticed that it is getting cooler to observe.

So I had a go at the Wizard tonight. I managed to get some of the nebulosity in the central part of the cluster of stars but nothing really extended beyond that. I was using my OIII and I wonder if that was my limitation to get more details out of it. It was nice trying it and worth revisiting when it is not right above me; really hard to move the Dob and observe at the same time in that position.

Great image and composition. It gives a nice perspective on how things would look with naked eye.🤩 Keep them coming please.

Amazing! On full zoom i thought i was flying over the moon. Great work!

Nice amount of details and I really like the subtle colours!

I think it helped that it was at zenith this time of the year and it had rained earlier that night, so transparency was really good. Looking forward to your report. You probably already know, but dark adaption is key as well; i spent a good 40min outside just looking at the Milky Way arch.

I have an 8" Dob (Skywatcher 200P). My skies are bortle 3/4 (my East horizon has some light pollution). Good luck with the swan, it is a great seeing with and without a filter.

I will give that a try next time. Thanks for the tips!

I can see it without my filter when it is dark (mostly the western and eastern) but as a newbie can you elaborate on 'shimmer' please, ie what I am expected t see? Is that for the whole nebula or specific parts of it?

Yes greyish.

Good to know, it makes me feel better; looking back to my observation I spent a good amount of time trying to bring it out. Now I know what it takes, a BIG 🔭!

Last night I managed 1hrs observation before the moon rose. I was inspired by @jetstreamreport on the Veil and I decided to stick with one target and try take it all in. Cygnus was almost at zenith and having the Dob does not allow for much manoeuvre. I observed with my ES 68 degree 24mm and the OIII filter. I had seen the Veil several times over the summer and I have always been drawn to the Western and Eastern filaments ignoring the rest. Last night I thought I will go through the whole area carefully and try observe more of the other nebulosity around. I started at the Western. Seeing was excellent last night and I could make intricate filaments of nebulosity almost twisting around like a ribbon. Following it down (Dob view) it became thinner and thinner almost like a piece of string; averted vision brought more of the thin part at the end. Moving upwards, the ribbon like structure opened up and became a more diffuse nebulosity with delicate features. I then moved to the Eastern Veil, and again bright complex structure could be observed; I could make the NGC6995 and IC1340 with nice fine features as in the pic below (credit to Wikipedia). I took a look at Pickering's triangle and Fleming Wisp; the nebulosity was well defined and I could make very defined filaments as others have described running from bottom to top. Finally, I found the NGC6979/6974 and some weak/diffuse nebulosity running along as well . Overall I loved this session since I was glued to my EP without worrying to hope on more targets. What I found fascinating is that in previous viewing much of these nebula felt diffuse but taking the time to observe it revealed dinner structures; it could be that seeing was very good last night (we had rain a few hours earlier). It was a very enjoyable 1hr. I would love to have another go at it on the next new moon.

Thank you very much for taking the time to revisit and report back on the Wizard nebula. Your visual description is great! I will definitely give a try next time it's dark. I observed the Bubble earlier in the summer and it felt underwhelming with my 8" Dob and OIII; I could make diffuse nebulosity but I could not make the 'bubble', not even a hint.

Seeing tonight is the best I had in long time. The best GRS I have seen in my limited viewing experience. SEB and NEB also showing better features than just diffuse brown/orange colours.

Great report and the amount of details with your big Dob must be amazing. Did you see much structure to it? From your experience, would it be visible with an 8" Dob (with the OIII filter)? Your Veil observation sounds amazing. I have not managed to be out in a while due to the weather but last time I could see really nice features on the Veil filaments almost twisting around (and for the first time I saw it without the OIII, although not enough details but faint nebulosity). I do not think i have spent much time at all on the Wisp since I am always drawn to the filaments but your report is given me some inspiration to try.