The Globular Hunt: Observing session 22 July 2012

[webboid]

I must admit I'm really getting the bug now & the sky was clear last night but stars twinkling (poor seeing?)

So I set up my scope quite early around 10.30pm, just a few stars visible. I checked collimation & just needed a small tweak.

My plan was to search for some more globular clusters this time in a more southerly direction. This was to prove a little bit of a challenge as it is over the roof of my house & has effectively reduced my view to about -8deg dec due south I now know.

Added to this I am not familiar with the constellation Ophiuchus. Eventually I located my starting point of Yed Prior & commenced to star hop across the sky until I was able to locate M12. I seem to be getting better at map reading & star hopping now so I was very pleased that I found it fairly quickly. As my reference globular is M13 my viewing of a new one was exciting but obviously not as impressive. However I could discern a few stars in the blob. Next I moved a few degrees left to locate M10. This to me seemed a little brighter. I wish I had better higher power eyepieces but would they dim the object too much? From here about two finderscopes further along I found M14. Now this was much dimmer & looked more like a little fuzzy ball. I then continued with my star hopping to try to get to M9 only to find the roof now obscuring the view. Could not even see Sabik. I guess I was just a bit too optimistic that I would be able to see that low to the horizon with the house in the way.

After a small break & a trip to stellarium I discovered that many Messiers reside in this part of the sky just out of my view. Oh well lets hope the dark site of my astronomy club has reasonable southerly views?!

Undeterred I moved on the Albireo, what a beautiful sight, & just a short hop northward I find M56. Once again quite dim but definitely there. I think now my eyes are getting better trained at noticing these dim objects. As I was in the vicinity I paid a quick visit to the ring nebular, which I had seen before. Very small, again need better high power eyepiece.

Well pleased as I had seen nearly all I had set out to see plus learned the limit of my southern view.

To close off my session I revisited M31, as another member(Double Kick Drum) in my previous report here http://stargazerslou...n-15-july-2012/ had suggested I should be able to see M32 also. I offset the Andromeda core in the eyepiece & sure enough I saw a slightly elliptical object. However I am not sure whether I was seeing M32 or M110. I will have another look tonight as the sky is looking good for the next few days.

All in all I am most satisfied with my scope & progress I am making at learning what is out there & of course to the help & encouragement from you members.

Paul

[Beulah]

Albireo is a fantastic target, isn't it? I find the colours show more with a smaller aperture. You are right, your observational skills will improve with practice as you revisit each object time and time again.

[JamesF]

Sounds like a good night. You should be able to see both M32 and M110 with the 200P. If I recall correctly the view in a newt is inverted top-to-bottom, but correct left-to-right, so if you know which side of M31 you were then you should be able to work it out from Stellarium. If you can find both M32 and M110 then it's easy, as M32 is much closer to M31.

James

[swamp thing]

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Sounds like a good night. You should be able to see both M32 and M110 with the 200P. If I recall correctly the view in a newt is inverted top-to-bottom, but correct left-to-right, so if you know which side of M31 you were then you should be able to work it out from Stellarium. If you can find both M32 and M110 then it's easy, as M32 is much closer to M31.

James

As James said. M32 is the closer, smaller and brighter of the two companions. M110 is pretty tough from skies with any LP as its surface brightness is lower than M32. Not only is it dimmer but from any sort of LP skies it appears quite a distance from M31.

Good hunting and clear skies

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice haul. I hope to travel to southern skies shortly to have a bash at globular hunting in Ophiuchus as well.

Clear skies!

[webboid]

Sounds like a good night. You should be able to see both M32 and M110 with the 200P. If I recall correctly the view in a newt is inverted top-to-bottom, but correct left-to-right, so if you know which side of M31 you were then you should be able to work it out from Stellarium. If you can find both M32 and M110 then it's easy, as M32 is much closer to M31.

James

James

I revisited Andromeda last night & I can confirm that what I saw was M32 the night before. As it was close to 2am last night & Andromeda was higher I had a peek around the edges & was convince I found a hint of M110. It was barely visible, averted vision & slightly moving scope seemed to make it better. What I thought I saw was very thin & on the opposite side of M32. Also from my urban back garden I could see M31 in my bins & a hint of the Milky way with the naked eye.

[Double Kick Drum]

Congratulations on some more new finds.

M32 has a much higher surface brightness than M110 and is much more likely the companion galaxy you saw. Always nice when you get more than one object in one field of view. Wait until the spring when you get many multi-galaxy fields of view in Leo and Virgo amongst others.

Clear skies!