Tremendous Bonus at the end of the session 20 Aug 2012

[webboid]

I started off around 10.15pm last night hoping to do some hunting around Cepheus but decided to warm up on Cassiopeia looking at a few double stars eta, sigma which was only 3" separation & I was pleased that conditions allowed the split at about 230x. Then to Iota & a very pretty sight yellow with two blue stars one extremely close but seeing was brilliant.

I then decided to go on to Cepheus. Being overhead I knew this would be tricky with a straight through finder. Craning my neck for the next hour or so has made me decide to get a Right-Angled Erecting Image Finderscope. Using the 32mm panaview I hunted for Erakis (Garnet star) which stood out well in the wide field view & I had a closer look. More deep orange than red to me. I then looked at delta a wide pair yellow & blue about 2' separation. Then I wanted to check out some open clusters. Aided by star hoping & an awkward body position I lined up NGC's 7160, 7235 which had a nice reddish star in the cluster & maybe 7261. I tried NGC 7023 but no nebula even with UHC filter. I think I need a dark sky for that. Time for a neck break. It was quite late/early? by now & I could see a hint of a grey mist of the milkyway overhead with the naked eye despite local street light pollution around the horizon.

Whilst using the 2" skywatcher UHC filter I decided to revisit some nebulae I had already seen without it. Dumbbell & Ring. Both had improved views than without the filter. I could see the dumbbell shape more & the centre of the ring was darker. Perseus was somewhat higher to the east now so I tried to see the California nebula but nothing too much sky glow.

I had no idea what time it was but decided I would have a look at Andromeda as it was much higher than I am used to. Wow with the 32mm I could see much more of the oval around the core & also visible was both M32 & M110 with direct vision. Very pleasing.

So here comes the bonus bit. Just peeping over a large tree I glimpsed M45 The Pleiades. It was probably best through the finderscope but the 32mm looked nice too. This was the first time I had seen these bright stars. Beautiful! So I was packing up when just at my back door in a gap to the right of that big tree an unmistakably bright object. Could it be. I reset-up my scope by the backdoor & enjoyed Jupiter. The banding was clear & 4 maybe 5 moons very distinct. It was now actually 1.45am. I had lost all sense of time whilst being captivated by the heavens. What a great hobby.

A perfect end to a brilliant session

Paul

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report! Regarding the Iris Nebula (NGC 7023): it is a reflection nebula, so a UHC filter does not help. I did get it on one very clear night when it was overhead last year (using my C8, so your scope is big enough). It shows up mainly as a glare around stars, when other stars of similar brightness show no glare. The California Nebula is very hard indeed. I did bag it early this year, but again, only on an almost perfect night, when it was due overhead. UHC does help in this case. It is large, and showed up mainly because the area surrounding it was darker. Odd, I know, but that often works for me: look out for dark regions in the FOV, these can highlight the nebula better than the actual faint glow from the nebula itself, also works for the Flaming Star Nebula, and for the Cave.

Happy hunting

[swamp thing]

Nice report Paul. As Michael says forget you nebula fiter on NGC7023 they don't work on reflection nebulae unless they're reflecting emission line stars (this one isn't) so alas no improvement.

[KevUU]

Well done, sounds like a fun session

I still haven't managed Andromeda (my garden faces the wrong way) or Jupiter (haven't been staying up late enough), hoping to correct both in the next few months though...

"what a great hobby" yes indeed

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Nice on seeing M45, i have to wait till 3-4am for it to come into view from my garden, looking forward to seeing Orion nebula again too.

[Scott]

thanks for that report Paul, sounds like you had a great night.

wishing you many more.

Scott

[Hanuman]

Similar bonus at the end of my evening the other night. I'd been out to a gig so was back late and enjoying my kebab when I heard a crash outside. Car crash at the junction at the end of our road. Nobody badly hurt thankfully but a real mess - flattened traffic lights, broken cars, upset people. After calling the emergency services, I hung about, partly to see what was going on and also to see if I could help.

it would have been about 3:00am by this point. Whilst hanging about I noticed gaps in the clouds to the west and sure enough, there was Jupiter shining brightly. I hadn't expected to see it again for a month or two.

It was pointless getting the scope out though as I don't get that aspect of the sky from my garden at this time of year.