Kon

ISS was predicted to fly over me tonight and I have always been impressed that details can be captured with a telescope. With my wife on the trigger and me tracking with my 8" Dob using the finder scope I managed to get a few shots. I think that's on my top WOW moments of having my telescope. Nikon D3200, iso 800, 1/1000s exposure on prime focus. As a first attempt I am super happy!!!

Nicely captured. One of my favourite visual targets.

I had an early afternoon session today after the wet weather and took a few photos with my ancient Samsung mini S5 and my 8" Dob (handheld). Lovely details at the eye piece.

Very crisp for a smartphone!

Nice capture of the Veil and how that rich star area is coming through.

Great image! Nice and sharp with a lot of details.

It sounds a great night with your daughter. She probably felt very lucky to be able to see things through the telescope rather than just on a piece of paper. I love when my 6 year old joins me to see things and asks all sort of questions.

Thank you. I am not sure it is my eyes or the fact I have fairly good skies (bortle 4 edging to bortle 3). Do you have much light pollution where you are? M13 is a fuzzy ball at low magnification on my 8" but with 8mm and averted vision i can make some individual stars near the core.

The skies were predicted clear last night and I thought to have a final push for some nebulas before we lose the astro darkness. As a beginner I wanted to see M27 (Dumbbell). It was still low at my NE-E horizon at 1040pm so I started with M57 the is now becoming an old favourite. Easy to spot with my 25mm EP and it took the zoom of the 8mm EP. I could easily make the ring structure with the bright outside and more faint inside. I managed to spot the mag13 star next to it and I could also see quite a few of the mag14 stars around it with averted vision; no sign of the central star. I told myself to try sketch it since I had plenty of time for things to come into view. Being unprepared I tried to do a quick sketch but using a small green light (I said unprepared so no red light) it completely ruined my night vision. I felt it was hopeless and i just enjoyed the visual aspect. I then moved to NGC 6826 a blinking planetary nebula. I was using my 25mm EP and i got in the area. With direct vision I could not see anything butI had read that with averted vision it should be obvious, and indeed it was there; thus the term blinking nebula. I felt silly and start talking to myself 'now you see me now you do not'. I quite enjoyed this. Popping in my 8mm the nebula was visible with direct vision and not blinking any longer. At that point some high haze came in and I thought to have a look at Veil since it was getting higher in the sky; with the OIII filter it was there but it was not as impressive as in my last report. It will have to wait until later in the summer. At this point M27 should be obvious; I moved in the area and I could see a nice nebula with two dense poles and fainter edges; i had the OIII filter still on and i think it gave it a nice contrast. Upon removing it more of the nebula was apparent (larger size) but less features. I quite liked how the filter brought some of the inner details but to the expense of the outer edges. The haze was still lingering and my last observation was IC 4592 (Blue Horse Nebula) in Scorpius. I could see a diffuse disk-shaped nebula with averted vision (having a bluish hue) expanding around the central star. Seeing was getting worst and I tried the IC 4604 but nothing was visible. I told myself it is time to stop. I had a look at the Antares since it looked so orange even without my telescope. In my 8mm EP it looked gold/dark orange. I took a swing to the M4 and it was just a smudge on my 25mm but I could resolve individual stars with my 8mm all the way to the core. At 130am I decided to move everything back in since the haze was getting worst. It is funny as I am writing this report it is [removed word] down with rain 🌧️ so I am glad i got out last night. This is probably my last fuzzy nebula report until later in the summer. In reflection, it has been an amazing experience with my telescope since it arrived in December 2020 and I have been mesmerised finding and seeing all these fuzzies in this short period; I did not expect when I got my telescope my interest would develop hunting these fuzzies. I will start planning for the late summer/autumn nebulas now. I loved writing these reports as well.

Excellent report and well done on finding all these galaxies before we lose the darkness.

Congratulations to the winners, amazing skills!

Nice report and targets. I have not seen M27 yet. I saw M57 the other night again and like you no central star. Did you use a filter?

Nice light-hearted report and some nice targets there!

@Johnand @Stu when I observe nebulas with or without filter it is rarely just grey (the very large diffuse ones seem to my light grey); in my eyes i feel there is a predominant grey but with some shade of very very very light greenish or bluish . Eg M42, M57 or M1 as grey/greenish. Veil or Cat's eye as grey/blueish. Or is it the way i am interpreting the different shades of grey?

@jetstreamThanks for sharing your expertise and advise. I have a feeling I need to have a word with the banker (aka wife) 🤑 every time I read your suggestions 😉. I only had my telescope for less than 6 months and it has been amazing experience.

Thanks. My Dob does not have GoTo but I was doing a similar thing manually to see the whole Veil from West to East.

Thanks. I saw more greyish (maybe with hints of blueish at the denser parts) but the Veil was low on my horizon. I will wait for later in the summer to revisit when it is higher. My NE-E horizon has a bit of light glow from far away. Very excited to see the Crescent as well.

I got the 1.25" due to the cost; as a beginner i found hard to justify ~£200 for a filter when my Dob was around £300. So far I am loving it but i feel i may need to upgrade later on just to get the bigger picture. As we discussed the filter should have a fairly good resale value if i decide to move on in the future. For now I am happy with what I am getting, and I may need to invest on a 1.25 EP with wider FOV.

I agree that the North America filled my FOV and I could make its edges when moving the Dob to a darker part of the sky, so i could not enjoy it in its full glory, still beautiful. I agree that the filaments of the Veil did stand out much better in the dark background. I had a similar experience with the Rosette that I could make the inner darker part of the nebula but the outer i had to pan around against the darker sky. I wonder if using an EP with bigger FOV would reveal the large diffuse nebulas better.

Excellent choice. I have the same in my 200P Dob. The 15mm one is my favourite one for DSOs. Enjoy the views!

I would highly recommend a Dob. I have an 8" Dob and I have managed to see several nebulas, galaxies and other DSOs. If storage space is not an issue you could also go for a larger one. With your $1500 budget you should be able to get some nice EPs as well. I am not using GoTo or anything like that since i enjoy the searching part, and that will save you quite a bit of money. A Dob is not suitable for AP since you will be limited on your exposures; you can do it for fun but nothing spectacular. I have managed to get some nice shots to share with my kids of M42 and M57 using a DSLR mounted on my Dob.

I have personally found if the humidity outside is high then the EPs will condensate much quicker if they are left exposed outside so i tend to cap them and put them back in my pocket. In cold frosty nights, i have found that I can easily leave them out in the cold without condensation or at least minimal condensation when i place my eye that goes away within secs. I tend to leave mine without caps overnight including my Dob. In winter, i run my dehumidifier in the same room as the EPs and Dob o/n (both without covers); it also helps on frosty nights when the OTA is covered with ice to remove all the condensation.

I do a similar approach to @AlexK but instead of using my palm I hold the filter with three or four fingers around its edges and then screw the EP to it and the reverse for removing it. I like the palm idea for cold nights.

You will be for a treat if you have not seen it before.

@jetstream I will try see a few more things in the coming days if the weather stays ok. You recommendation was spot on on the things that came into view with the OIII. @Stu Like you said, I could make the narrow part corresponding to the Golf of Mexico in my FOV but the North America just was a great smudge in my EP. As I said I may need new EPs 🤫. @RobertIThanks for the heads up on what to expect to see.