Second light - 28/02/12

[SionR25]

Hi everyone,

Went out last night for my second viewing with the 200p. First thing first, I made sure my finder-scope was aligned and scope was collimated using Saturn. Then I spent quite a while looking at Saturn, changing between eyepieces to get the best view. My 7.5mm offered up the best with a couple of bands visible in good seeing but still no Cassini division for me yet.

Next I moved onto the moon as it was quickly disappearing over a neighbour's roof. Had a quick look at all the features through different eyepieces and couldn't decide which I liked most, a close detailed view or a nice wide view showing everything. Scanning up and down the terminator showed lots of detail, I really do enjoy looking at the moon .

By then I judged the sky was about as dark as it would get so moved onto some DSO finding. First thing I went to was the ring nebula, M57. Found it after a while, slotted my 10mm with UHC filter in and took a look. Very impressive again, Love the distinct shape you can make out.

Next up was Albireo. Went straight down from the ring and found it with my 25mm and slotted in the 10mm (couldn't be bothered unscrewing UHC from 7.5 as I wanted the dumbbell next ). This was a new sight for me and it was a bit of a surprise. I had heard of the colour difference but didn't expect such a clear difference. Loved seeing a large orange star with a smaller white/blue star just next to it, then taking a look without scope and just seeing one star no different to any others.

From Albireo I moved down again to the Dumbbell, M27. This is where I cant wait for my Telrad to arrive. While I find it OK moving to targets I know location of with magnifying finder-scope I found trying to locate a new one very difficult. Even with the best efforts of Stellarium and TLAO it took me a good half hour to an hour to find it. I'm glad I don't give up easily though. Once found it was very impressive, just as impressive as M57 to me. Love seeing the shape of it and the changing shades throughout it. Put in the 7.5mm with UHC but I found the view wasn't as good. It appears not to take magnification as well as the ring. I put the UHC in my 25mm and took another look. Much better, contrast increased from surrounding stars.

It was nearly 1:30am by now but I wanted to see one last object, M13. I always find this impressive. Swung the scope round, lined up with finder and took a look. As always it amazed me. Seeing all those stars bunched together and clearly making out individual ones with averted vision. Definitely one of my favourite views.

That's my first write up in this section, hope it was a good read .

Sion

[Ponoobersie]

Hi Sion

Nice write up thanks, it was a good read, I look forward to any more you will post up

Thanks

Steve

[Viv]

Nice night Sion

You never bore of looking at Saturn - always amazes.

[SionR25]

You never bore of looking at Saturn - always amazes.

Nope, definitely never bore of looking at it. Even if I can't stay up for a long session I will try and get a view of Saturn when it's clear .

[Double Kick Drum]

A good read, thanks for sharing.

If it's any encouragement, I promise finding new objects gets easier with practice. Preparation helps.

Happy hunting!

[rory]

thanks for the report sion. finding objects can be a real push sometimes. other times you put your scope in the general direction and boom, it's there !

i usually move on to a new object if after about 30 mins ive not located what i was after.

[paul schofield]

Great report Sion. Never seen M13 yet but will be looking for it now. Thanks for posting.