A successful night

[Vega]

Hi, I haven't really posted an observation report in here yet, so here goes..

After all the murk the last couple of weeks, I noticed for the first time that I could see the hills very clearly by day yesterday. "So this is the night", I thought to myself as I have planned to bag M65/M66 this spring (two objects I have not looked at through my scope yet). As twilight approached, that annoying high altitude whispy cloud refused to go away. This hindered my attempts to eyeball Venus to align my finderscope with. I continued to search for it (bins an all) for about 20 minutes as my scope was cooling for the night's viewing. I knew in my head that I was probably setup a bit too early (always too eager lol). It seemed I had time to kill before polar aligning, I checked when the ISS was passing. 9:09pm... "will it be dark enough for a photo? Oh well I'll have a go!". Even at this time I could only see stars above mag 0! It blazed across the sky and I took two snaps which both were not very impressive. A combination of lingering twilight and that whispy cloud was my guess.

By about 9:20 things started to look up as magnitude 1+ stars finally started to reveal themselves. I began drift alignment with the webcam. I'll skip the next 40 minutes... as my drift alignment experience is still in it's infancy but I'm getting there . I dropped in the 2" 32mm ep and pointed the scope to where I thought M65/66 are. No joy so I ran in and got the Trusty Turn Left book. "Aaa, I wasn't far off" I said to myself... All was revealed allbeit two very faint smudges indeed. I dropped in the 25mm ep to see if there was improvement.... too dim in comparison. However a real joy to finally see them and it still excited me. By now it was about 10:15 so I knew M81/M82 would be out of the 'zenith blind spot' for my refractor. Using the corner stars of the bowl of the big dipper as a guide I found them straight away. A wonderful sight, lovely bright pair in comparison to the Leo counterparts. I couldn't resist getting the DSLR out to attempt some snaps at them, even though I knew that this bold decision meant no more viewing and a very late night for a work day next morning! Again I wasted a bit of time getting the focus right using ImagesPlus. I set her up for 10x90 second exposures at ISO 800. Any longer would mean the orange sky of death (as this time I decided not to use the skyglow filter due to false star colouring in previous snaps). I reviewed the first exposure and was delighted with what I saw... most especially the cigar shape of M82. Wasn't finished until 11:30 so processing will have to be done tonight

A good night in the end once the high clouds cleared off. First time I've not looked at Saturn all night but Spring will be over soon.. and I seriously need to bag some more galaxies. My next quest will be the Sombero!

Matt

[Andrew]

Nice report Matt,

I was busy last night so I didn't get out, but I noticed at midnight that the sky looked clearer than it has for some time. Hopefully it will be good again tonight

[James]

Hi Vega,

Nice report. I looked out the window last night and couldn't see much due to the haze you've mentioned. I'm glad it cleared for you but the Quantocks must have held it over Taunton because its only just cleared away this morning. Will you be posting the results on your website?

Its looking nice and clear now so I'm hopeful for tonight!

[Vega]

Hi Maccers

Prospects for tonight possibly look better with regard to the high/thin cloud (cant see any this morning). Looking out the window Quantocks look clear again so not too much haze I would of thought. I have other comitments on wednesday evenings.. typical

Yes, my results will be in the deep sky section of my gallery. If good enough I might pop it on my homepage :?. Will be a couple days I would have thought as I haven't touched them yet.. I just have a bunch of RAW images on my laptop at the moment.

Matt

[dazza1639]

Nice report Matt, looking forward to seeing the images.

Darren

[proflight2000]

was very clear here last night and actually qite dark for a change, it was the first time I had been able to see so much just with my eyes. I also followed something screaming across the sky from the plough all the way past leo and beyond. But unlike a satellite this thing never lost any clarity in light, it was constant until I lost it below the horizon, wooooooo

[dogfish]

Hi Matt

Looks like the clear skies eventually made it all the way down to you. I look forward to seeing your images as I've been looking at M81/82 a lot recently.

Cheers, Martin

[Vega]

was very clear here last night and actually qite dark for a change, it was the first time I had been able to see so much just with my eyes. I also followed something screaming across the sky from the plough all the way past leo and beyond. But unlike a satellite this thing never lost any clarity in light, it was constant until I lost it below the horizon, wooooooo

I saw a satellite go from North to South direction too.. about mag 3? Looking at heavens-above it could have been Genises-1 which went from NW to SE direction at 9:30? Going in the opposite direction half an hour later was Envisat at mag 3.

[proflight2000]

this must have been about 23.50, no doubt it is a satelite, but i have searched my TLE files and could not find any mathematics for that particular time in that location. It was the brightness that got me as it was not really bright to the naked eye but ok in my scope, yet the brightness never faded as satellites normally do when the reach there peak and then start to fall. Anyways, fun to watch.

[The Warthog]

Wonderfully enthusiastic report, Vega! Thanks.