11th September 2012 - Trying To Find Holes In The Cloud

[Double Kick Drum]

After feeling that I had given up too early last Saturday, I was more determined to spend some time at the eyepiece. To begin with, as the sky reached astronomical darkness around 9:20pm, it was clear.

I spent a little time looking for the signposts for the brightest part of the North American nebula (NGC 7000). The gulf of Mexico area is punctuated by a near perfect square of stars between Xi Cygni and Deneb. Sadly, clouds that seemed to come from nowhere began moving across Cygnus.

As a result, I moved onto NGC 404, the Ghost of Mirach. The galaxy is at magnitude 10.5 but has a reasonable surface brightness. The challenge is that there is the glare of Mirach to contend with. It should make an equilateral triangle with that and another nearby 8th magnitude star. Once again, before I managed to confirm a sighting, the clouds had followed me across the sky.

I moved onto Lacerta to hunt for NGC 7243 (Caldwell 16), a bright open cluster which should be more tolerant of any rogue clouds. Thankfully there was enough of a gap to confirm the cluster. Centered on a small equilateral triangle of stars, including one very close double, I managed to count between 30 and 40 members.

I then tried the same with the Casseopeia open cluster NGC 7789 but had no luck as the cloud started to thicken up.

.....and BBC weather said it would be clear!

__________________________________________________ ______

Observing Session: Tuesday 11th September 2012, 21:20 hrs to 22:05 hrs BST

VLM at Zenith: 4.9 - 5.0

New - Revisited - Failed

[rory]

i know where your coming from regarding weather reports ! my dob got a wash yesterday as a predicted clear evening turned wet. luckily the scope was at a 45 degree angle so the mirror remained dry. anyway i digress. was wandering do you use filters when going for the n.a nebula with your bresser ? ive tried briefly on a couple of sessions to try the the n.a neb but not a sausage.

[Double Kick Drum]

Yes, I had loaded my Baader UHC filter into my 25mm eyepiece. To be honest, the night was never transparent enough tp bag it but by getting a feel for the outlying stars, hopefully it will be easier to see in future.

[rory]

mmm, yeah im at the stage where i think a uhc filter is a must own now. especially with orion on its way back soon. ta.

[Double Kick Drum]

With M42 and M43, I could even see texture and plenty of detail using it. Well worth it.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thumbs up for tenacity! Caldwell 16 is a very nice cluster, which I somehow have only seen in my big bins. I must pay it a visit with the C8 soon.