A night with the archer

[Mr Flibble]

I had a real cracker last night. The conditions were suberb with inky black skies, a bright milky way and no troublesome dew. The southern horizon was looking pretty good so I made my first attempt at sagittarius.

After sitting and studying the constellation against my charts for a good ten minutes to get my bearings I decided to go after the nebulae first. The Lagoon nebula M8 was easy to find because it was so bright and huge, I played around with my UHC and OIII filters and I settled with the OIII because it seemed to make the dust lane much more prominent and stand out just that little bit more. Next up was the Trifid nebula M20 and because it's so close to the Lagoon, rather than try to find it with the Telrad I decided to try nudging the dob in the general direction and sure enough it popped into view Its much smaller than the Lagoon so I upped the magnification and tried out the filters but with this one I preferred the UHC. The three lobes were clearly visible which were divided by the three dust lanes and the double star at the centre was very prominent. Bit of a jump next up to the Swan nebula M17 which again was easy to find due to its size and brightness. Now this one is a real beauty, I spent ages studying it and taking in the swan shape, at first I thought it looked more like a train tunnel but then once it clicks and you get the orientation right the swan really does jump out at you - that's if swans can jump of course! Best with the OIII with this one as it really brought out much more of the outlaying nebula regions.

With most of the brighter nebulae now done I went after a few more Messiers and took in the huge vista of the Sagittarius star cloud M24, and again by nudging back and forth between the star cloud and the Swan I came across the small but bright open cluster M18 which happened to be sitting nicely halfway between! Next I bagged the open cluster M25 which was large and well detached and scattered throughout with some lovely bright orange stars. The globular M22 was bagged next which was pretty large and full of detail with plenty of stars resolved towards the core.

Sagittarius was now sinking below the horizon so I spent the next part of the evening doing some quick hopping around some of the old favourites which I won't go into other than a quick mention of M31 where I clearly made out two prominent dust lanes, firstly with averted vision and then after a few minutes at the eyepiece they became visible with direct vision; and also the Double Cluster in perseus which looked absolutely stunning against an inky black sky, without a doubt the best view I've ever had.

The moon had now popped its head above the horizon so before finishing I decided to bag one more Messier, the Little Dumbbell nebula M76. This was pretty easy to find due to its location which is close to a fairly prominent star in perseus. For a planetary nebula this one is fairly large but still small compared to most other types of nebulae so I ramped up the magnification and made out the fuzzy dumbbell shape. The UHC and OIII made it pop out more against the background but I couldn't make out much more detail compared to the unfiltered view.

So there we are, a superb night especially as I got the chance to take my first look at sagittarius and make a start on getting to know it a little better

[swamp thing]

Nice report again David. Surprised you didn't seek out the Eagle nebula (M16) right next to the Swan. It responds well to an O-III filter too. Like the triffid no need to refer to the Telrad just nudge the Dob over a bit and hey presto!

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing that piece about my favourite area of the sky. Fantastic star clouds, the third brightest glob in the sky and a triumvirate of great nebulae. Sagittarius has got the lot.

....and then in a flash it's gone.

[Mr Flibble]

Nice report again David. Surprised you didn't seek out the Eagle nebula (M16) right next to the Swan. It responds well to an O-III filter too. Like the triffid no need to refer to the Telrad just nudge the Dob over a bit and hey presto!

This part of the sky is new territory for me so it'll take me while to get to grips with it all, but yes looking now I can see how close the Eagle nebula is to the Swan! By jove I shall get it next time

[Mr Flibble]

Thanks for sharing that piece about my favourite area of the sky. Fantastic star clouds, the third brightest glob in the sky and a triumvirate of great nebulae. Sagittarius has got the lot.

....and then in a flash it's gone.

I'm gonna join you and say that it's now my favourite part of the sky as well. I always thought Orion was the best but Sagittarius is on another level all together and I've only just started to discover the gems in this part of the sky!

[rory]

This part of the sky is new territory for me so it'll take me while to get to grips with it all, but yes looking now I can see how close the Eagle nebula is to the Swan! By jove I shall get it next time

snap. i was like a dog in a butchers shop with no plan of action at all. cant wait to see more of this area, but i feel it might well be next year now.

[swamp thing]

I must admit it does seem strange to me that so many amateurs can't wait for Orion to rise, yet so many put their scopes away when possibly the finest collection of nebulae is on show.

Dont get me wrong Orion is very nice but for sheer number of quality objects the archer well and truly kicks his butt.

[Jove]

Hi, nice report - thanks for posting.

I notice you give your location as 'LP Central' - did this make your observations much harder? From where I am Saggitarius only gets to about 30 degrees altitude, and that is well within the general orange murk of city lights and pollution - so much so that I've never even thought of looking hard at Sag. (or Scorpius).

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report. I spent three weeks in France this last summer, and got tons of stuff in this area with my 8" SCT. I would love to have a go with a 12" dob.

[Mr Flibble]

Hi, nice report - thanks for posting.

I notice you give your location as 'LP Central' - did this make your observations much harder? From where I am Saggitarius only gets to about 30 degrees altitude, and that is well within the general orange murk of city lights and pollution - so much so that I've never even thought of looking hard at Sag. (or Scorpius).

I take an hour's drive out to a dark sky site to observe because my garden is too light polluted. But yes the archer tends to stay pretty low and seems to get lost in the murky skies near the horizon so when one of those good nights come along and its on show then dive straight in, its a stunning part of the night sky to observe.

[Jove]

I take an hour's drive out to a dark sky site to observe because my garden is too light polluted. But yes the archer tends to stay pretty low and seems to get lost in the murky skies near the horizon so when one of those good nights come along and its on show then dive straight in, its a stunning part of the night sky to observe.

Ahh, makes sense. Finding a dark site within reasonable travelling distance (and people to go there with) needs to be something I seriously look into soon.

[rory]

Ahh, makes sense. Finding a dark site within reasonable travelling distance (and people to go there with) needs to be something I seriously look into soon.

well ive onlt traveled out once intending to get some sort of view of sagittarius, but that alone was enough to say its my favourite piece of sky without doubt. only my opinion of course i cant wait to see more of the elusive archer .

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I drove all the way to France to get a good view of Sagittarius. Oh, and the wife and kids also came on that vacation .