A superb night despite the light(s).

[Moonshane]

Observing Report 26th June 2011

Location Cheshire, England Latitude: (53°N) Longitude: (2°W) Bortle 8 LVM 4.31

Equipment – f11 150mm Orion Optics UK Dobsonian, Televue and Baader Genuine Ortho eyepieces

Main Target: Summer stunners!

A cracking night's observing, despite the light(s). Many bemoan the conditions at this time of year and even pack away their scopes until the autumn. It is of course a great time to undertake modifications to your main scope if this is designed to catch those faint fuzzies but thankfully many of us have a smaller scope too and it really is worthwhile having a go when the conditions are good.

Last night was such a night. Seeing was average but the transparency was excellent. I could even detect a hint of the Milky Way through Cygnus and over to Cassiopeia with averted vision. I could not believe this at first as this is something I have never seen from home and it was most obvious when I was moving my line of sight quickly across Cygnus to move to another constellation. Living in between Manchester and Stockport, the light pollution is really quite bad so this was quite a surprise. That said, houses near to me are arranged so the gardens are back to back and therefore streetlights do not pose an immediate problem. Light from neighbours’ windows though can be a major issue.

As the conditions seemed so good, I took the opportunity for a later than usual observing session and made a list earlier in the evening of the constellations on view. For this initial constellation list I used Ant’s excellent mini guide – Beginners (sic) Guide to the Night Sky 2011 www.ant.emberson.org/skyguide This allowed me to establish quickly and easily which constellations would be visible during the night’s observing. Once I had this list, I used Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders (I love this book) to establish some targets for the evening. This gave me more than enough to have a go at and I picked up a few more during the evening which were not listed as the sky shifted.

At this time of the year Saturn is just visible as darkness falls and it rapidly disappears behind my house so I spent a little time with this observing the Cassini division and at least three moons. Some banding on the planet was also obvious although the seeing conditions were not great given it was by now over the rooftop of my neighbours. After such a hot day, thermals were inevitable. That said, I still managed a clean split of Porrima at about 267x before moving on.

I then panned around a little as the sky was still really quite light (even for June) and I could hardly see any stars from which to hop. In Bootes I looked at Izar which just split at about 100x and with the Nagler 6-3mm zoom I managed good magnifications to around 400x. I think this double star even outshines Albireo for me as my favourite double. With its golden yellow primary and much smaller greenish blue secondary, it’s a lovely sight with high magnification and with perfectly colour matched airy rings, it’s truly stunning. Reading the above book, and having observed this ‘double’ many times, I was a little surprised to see that this is in fact a triple system! The main pair are split by just 2.8” and the m13.0 tertiary star is much further out, separated by 2.9’. I looked for this and think that with averted vision it was just glimpsed intermittently. This seems reasonable given this star would presumably be right on the edge of the limiting magnitude of a 6” scope?

Vega was extremely obvious of course and with that brightest of blue stars centred in the finder, the Double Double was readily found. Again this split cleanly at around 100x and at around 400-500x magnification was an extremely wide and clean split with airy rings around each component. As I was in the area I moved over to another easily located double star, Delta Cygni. This is quite a close double at 2.5” separation and made more challenging by the massive difference between the primary and secondary; it reminded me of Rigel in Orion, a little in terms of the proportions.

A look into Ursa Major for the main double star system, Alcor and Mizar. This always looks so beautiful in the scope, especially at lower powers as this provides some context to the view.

It was now starting to get quite dark and therefore most of the guiding stars were visible. I started to work through the double star systems in Bootes. This constellation has a number of interesting and attractive doubles, including Izar as mentioned above. I could not resist another look at this but also looked at four more, all in Bootes.

Alkalurops is a fine triple system This has a bright primary and at lower powers, a dimmer, yellowish secondary. At higher power, this secondary splits into two dull yellowish stars. They seemed more in a straight line than I recall previously but this is probably my memory failing!

Next was Kappa Bootis, a rather nice and wide pair with a bright white primary and a slightly dimmer bluer secondary which seemed to be in a very sparse area for stars in this scope. I feel sometimes that a smaller scope is better in some ways for double stars than a larger scope as there are usually a lot less background stars to worry about. That said, the contrast of this (now flocked) f11 scope is truly outstanding. Within the same wide field (using the 26mm Nagler at about 1.3 degrees) was Iota Bootis. Another wide double star which was almost the opposite pattern of Kappa Bootis and they really complimented each other when seen like this.

Finally, another really attractive double star Xi Bootis. At least I thought it was a double! Again, the book used states this is a quadruple system with two other stars not seen. I think they are a little too faint for this small scope but I will try again in the future to see these stars in due course. What I did see was the yellowish white primary and coppery pink secondary which made a really excellent image.

After the round up of double stars in Bootes, we (I was observing with my neighbour Phil) then moved over to Lyra. A superb constellation and containing many treats. One of these was of course the Double Double and again we had a further look at this first. Then we moved down to M57, the Ring Nebula. It really does not matter how many times you look at this, it’s always an intriguing object at any power and with or without a filter. Even in the 26mm eyepiece, this was a very obvious disc shaped object with a darker centre, especially with averted vision. It takes power well and more detail becomes apparent when seeing is good.

One object in Lyra which may be overlooked is M56. This is a relatively faint globular cluster but worthy of observing. Initially located with the 26mm eyepiece, this was very faint in that wide field. Increasing the magnification allowed stars to be resolved cleanly, especially with averted vision.

Still in Lyra, we decided it would be rude not to look at the main double stars other than Epsilon. Most of them were relatively ‘standard’ doubles and we found them easily. Zeta Lyra is the upper star in the parallelogram and Beta Lyrae or Sheliak is the one above M57. Finally SHJ 282AC was located. One double star in Lyra that’s not really a double star, is Delta Lyrae. If you look at Delta with a low power eyepiece you’ll see something that is in my eyes, as lovely as Albireo and broadly the same colours, but with more background stars, making a superb picture. Have a look, you may be surprised. My wife takes credit for this as she found it first while scanning with a 35mm Panoptic in the past.

The natural progression after seeing the wonders of Lyra is of course to move down to Vulpecula and find M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. This is always a favourite object and is obvious in a 6” scope with or without a filter. At home I tend to use my widest eyepiece and an Oiii filter. This makes it really pop and if you have it in the field, you cannot miss the apple core in space!

As the Oiii filter was in and we were feeling a bit pleased with ourselves so far, we decided to be all reckless and have a look for the Veil Nebula. Given that we were hounded by house lights, in a light polluted area and using a 6” scope in late June, I did not hold out much hope. However, the Oiii filter and wide field eyepiece really did their jobs! We easily located the Bridal Veil which showed as a wide sweeping arc across the field of view. A bit later in the evening we returned to this and after initially failing to see the Witch’s Broom we finally detected it and the detail on the Bridal Veil was also a little more enhanced. Stupidly I then felt invincible and went across to where the Crescent Nebula is to be found and guess what??!!……no chance. Taking out the filter, we then had a look at the two main Messier clusters in Cygnus, M29 and M39. M29 is also known as the Cooling Tower cluster as it does bear a vague resemblance to such an object (if you squint!). M39 in my opinion rivals M45, the Pleiades cluster as one of the most lovely clusters. Really bright blue stars against a velvety background, especially with limited aperture.

After looking through Cygnus, we remembered that we had not had a look at the Coathanger cluster, Collinder 399 in Vulpecula. We quickly found this and as with many objects of this size, it looked more attractively framed in the finder than in the eyepiece. Moving down from this object we found Sagitta and it’s really rare to be able to see a whole constellation in a standard finder scope! We placed the finder in the position where the globular cluster M71 should be found and again there it was in the 26mm eyepiece, quite faint but obvious. As always with globular clusters, magnification enhanced the numbers of stars resolved.

You cannot have a night of observing at this time of year without visiting Hercules. The standard fayre of M13 and M92 produced stunning views of these globulars. M13 never disappoints and M92 is truly a challenge to M13’s status as the best globular in the northern skies in my view. Also within Hercules was the lesser known planetary nebula NGC 6210, a bright bluish disc which responds well to magnification but shows no further detail.

The next thing we looked at was M11 the Wild Duck Cluster in Scutum. We viewed this after realising that Scorpio has dipped below the fence and we could not see any of the globulars present in that constellation. If you have never seen this object you should seriously make the effort and find it. For me it’s one of the most incredible open clusters in the sky; it will take your breath away. I spent some time on this and really enjoyed what were the best views I have had of the cluster.

It was getting late now (about 1.30am) but as Perseus and Andromeda has risen a little I could not resist a quick peek at the Double Cluster in Perseus and the galaxy M31. The Double Cluster in the wide field of the 26mm was really fabulous considering the low altitude. Like all the old favourites, this will be revisited again and again.

M31 was also very obvious and I managed to detect M32 with direct vision. It always surprises me how far out the satellite galaxies are with this group. It just shows the massive scale of the images we see of this fine galaxy system.

With bleary eyes and a satisfied hunger for some astronomy I went to bed at about 2am.

What a great night!

Cheers

Shane

[bish]

Nice report shane. I was out last night and covered some of the stuff you mention, but not all. Funny as I didn't realise that Izar was a triple and thought I had imagined a third star. I had also misread something in my book and was expecting 2 orange stars so was quite surprised that one was a blue/green colour. Ras Agelthi in Hercules is another good orange/green pair (to my eyes). Spent a while looking at the blinking planetary nebula too. The veil eluded me even in the 10" - but I have terrible light pollution and no oiii filter so not really surprising.

[Moonshane]

cheers Bish, yeah Izar surprised me two being a triple! I'll get it eventually.

Ras Agelthi - doh - forgot about that one and yes I have seen it and it's a corker.

The Veil is definitely impossible from my site with no Oiii but even with relatively small aperture seems doable from most sites I reckon with a filter and dark adapted eyes.

[russ]

Great report Shane. And you nailed stacks.

I used the Castell OIII filter you recommended for the first time last night. Superb! Couldn't see that the Skywatcher or even the Lumicon offerings were any better.

We had the Veil in the 10" with the OIII from New Forest (we decided the limiting mag was just under 6) and it looked superb! Almost photographic like. That Castell filter is a bargain.

[Moonshane]

cheers Russ!

It's amazing what we saw in about two and a half hours. I suppose this is a lesson to myself (again) to plan a little better in the future

I am well chuffed you are happy with the Castell filter. I really rate them especially for the money, you can' go wrong.

It's always a bit worrying when you recommend something like that but I was sure it worked for me so others would appreciate it.

I was shocked at seeing even a hint of the Milky Way last night. Shows how transparent it was, and thankfully it seems across the UK.

cheers

Shane

[spaceboy]

Great write up Shane. Glad to see someone has the motivation to get out under the stars at such a late hr. It's funny as I can stand shivering my danglies off from 19:00 till 07:30 in the winter but can't get the drive required to set up at 23:00 for a couple of hr in the pleasantly warm summer months .

I feel last night will go down as one of my missed opportunities given how clear the sky was.

SPACEBOY

[Moonshane]

it is weird I suppose. maybe it's perceived reward? honestly though I was really happy with last night, just wanted more aperture and it would have been completely awesome.

[RikM]

Great write up Shane.

I looked at many of the objects you mention too last night but I spent quite a bit of time on globulars, M13, M5, M12, M10, M14, and M71. I will have to put some time into the planetaries too. I saw M57 and M27 last night but I haven't had a go at any of the NGC listed ones yet.

[F15Rules]

Great report, Shane, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, thanks:)..

You are right, it was a lovely night..I'd been looking at those deep blue skies all day, thinking, WHY is it a Sunday, WHY have I got to get up early tomorrow morning??

As it was, I just had to literally grab the Lomo 6" Mak for 5 minutes and turn it to Delta Cygni...I'd managed to split this with the Evo 6" Frac 2 weeks ago, so wanted to try the Lomo..it was a piece of cake!! I centred the star with a 25mm plossl then banged straight in an Ultima 7.5m..at F14 this gives over x300 (didn't have time to mess around!..the seeing here must have been very steady but I saw the faint companion immediately, clearly, with direct vision sitting on the primary's faint diffraction ring. Awesome.

I had to force myself to put the scope away, cursing my luck..it was 11.15 and the sky was still not all all properly dark.

You had a great night Shane, well done you!

Dave

[Doc]

Aperture fever is an evil menace isn't it.

Great report and expertly written, Shane I loved reading it.

[Moonshane]

Great write up Shane.

I looked at many of the objects you mention too last night but I spent quite a bit of time on globulars, M13, M5, M12, M10, M14, and M71. I will have to put some time into the planetaries too. I saw M57 and M27 last night but I haven't had a go at any of the NGC listed ones yet.

cheers Rik

I agree globs are spectacular at this time of year - oh to be at a darker site......

the variety of targets if really one of the great things about the main book I use.

Great report, Shane, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, thanks:)..

You are right, it was a lovely night..I'd been looking at those deep blue skies all day, thinking, WHY is it a Sunday, WHY have I got to get up early tomorrow morning??

As it was, I just had to literally grab the Lomo 6" Mak for 5 minutes and turn it to Delta Cygni...I'd managed to split this with the Evo 6" Frac 2 weeks ago, so wanted to try the Lomo..it was a piece of cake!! I centred the star with a 25mm plossl then banged straight in an Ultima 7.5m..at F14 this gives over x300 (didn't have time to mess around!..the seeing here must have been very steady but I saw the faint companion immediately, clearly, with direct vision sitting on the primary's faint diffraction ring. Awesome.

I had to force myself to put the scope away, cursing my luck..it was 11.15 and the sky was still not all all properly dark.

You had a great night Shane, well done you!

Dave

cheers Dave

I hope the enthusiasm I have never leaves. It's so great to see such variety of objects and all over the sky (literally!). I like Delta Cygni myself and have been impressed with the magnifications you can use with a slow focal ratio scope. maybe one day we'll be able t compare notes in person and compare the performance of two great double / planetary scopes! (or even three)

Aperture fever is an evil menace isn't it.

Great report and expertly written, Shane I loved reading it.

wow, thanks Mick, what a nice thing to say. Although I write these for my own purposes mainly (to eventually look back and realise how naive I was etc in the early days () I hope others can use them and enjoy them and it seems to have hit the spot.

It's also good practice to keep my hand in for when I return to work in Sept (made redundant recently - but got a new job )

hope you are fareing well.

cheers

Shane

[F15Rules]

Good news on the job front Shane, congratulations.

Actually, the reason I couldn't have a proper session last night was that I had a job interview this morning!

I wasn't made redundant but have been forced out by a new MD so much the same situation..but I just want to move on now and have just been told I've got to second interview stage later this week...

fingers crossed...

thanks again for a great report:-)..and good luck with the new job!

Dave

[Moonshane]

Nice one Dave re the 2nd interview - fab!

It's such a shame when willing and hard workers are forced out for whatever reason. often things work out for the best. I will be on about a third of my previous salary (no more Ethoi for me!) but I'll be a lot happier and have term time only to work so not all bad!

good luck with your 2nd interview I wish you every success