17th Nov, bit of a mixture

[KevUU]

I headed out into joyous cloudlessness last night, with a few goals in mind. I wanted to have a stab at Hergenrother, go for Uranus, and pick up M2 and M15 which have long been on the list but never quite make it to the top... After a quick bit of prep I had a few "while I'm there" targets scribbled down too, and off I went.

---

2115 - 0000. Clear, reasonably dark but still a bit grey through the eyepiece. Forgot to note the NELM.

Started with a try at comet 168P/Hergenrother, currently in Andromeda and still supposed to be around mag 10. Definitely found the right place, but couldn't see it. As I gave up I realised I still had the main cap on the scope with just the small cap in the middle removed! Fixing that made the faint stars brighter but still no sign of the comet.

Next to NGC 7662, the Blue Snowball nebula. A fairly easy find although at x13 it looks pretty much stellar; at x50 it's less stellar but still very small. I think I could make out a light blue colour.

Then nearby NGC 7686, an easy OC of bright stars. Not that interesting.

Done with Andromeda, now for Uranus in Pisces. I got to where I'd marked it on my PSA okay, but something wasn't right. When I checked the iPad I found I'd marked it in the wrong place! By now I was tiring and my feet were getting cold, so I figured I'd leave it for now.

Before I went in I noticed Orion's sword was up, and couldn't resist a first look in the scope. The central part of the nebulosity in M42 is obvious, although there's not much by way of structure or definition to be seen in my scope. Took me a while to get the scale sorted between PSA and x50 EP and my brain: the trapezium is much smaller than I expected. There's quite a bit here, so it was nice just browsing around at x50 for a while.

Tried to figure out what I was and wasn't seeing: No sign of the nebulosity of M43, ditto for NGC 1975. At top and bottom of the group, OCs NGC 1980 and 1981 are both obvious.

Last, despite increasingly cold toes, I couldn't resist a hit of Jupiter. Tried the moon filter as well as using the mask cap on the lens, which did seem to make it easier to make out the bands etc. The 4 moons were dotted around, different sides and distances from Jupiter so nice variation on my last view which was more uniform.

---

Then it was back inside, a little later than I'd really intended, to warm up.

So, none of my original targets managed! Hergenrother is obviously a no-go for my scope, Uranus I will have to try again next time, and I still didn't make it to M2 and M15.

Nonetheless an enjoyable evening: I enjoyed tracking down the right place for Hergenrother and confirming I was in the right place, even if it wasn't visible. And I still got a couple of new things in Andromeda and of course my first look at the Orion's Sword area through a scope, which was pretty interesting - although I have to say that from other people's reports I was expecting more.

[andrew63]

Plenty of time to observe with the dark winter nights ahead. I think the comet might be fainter than mag 10? I saw it a few months ago and it was quite star like at low power. Good luck in your search for Uranus - always nice to find new things.

andrew

[rory]

always good to have jupiter as a finale eh . i found it hard to define m43 through my 90mm refractor (from my l/p location) but its more obvious to me now. i like the snowball, i was chuffed when i first bagged that one ,again with my old refractor.

nice going kev.

[KevUU]

Thanks for your comments

i found it hard to define m43 through my 90mm refractor (from my l/p location) but its more obvious to me now.

Through your 8"? I bet it is!

i like the snowball, i was chuffed when i first bagged that one ,again with my old refractor.

I struggled to see much more than a bloated near-stellar object, although I could make out the blue tinge. I couldn't usefully go over x50 though, as it's just too hard to find good focus with my 8mm barlowed most of the time. Maybe I should try the old SW 10mm barlowed for x80, although I remember finding the Vixen NPL much easier to use once I got it. Maybe worth a try anyway.

[Double Kick Drum]

Some great new finds there and the DSO half century is up!

M42 is one that is always worth going back to. I'm sure when you get a good night, M43 will come through too as it is not too diffuse. NGC 1975 (and the other two bits of the Running man NGC 1973 and NGC 1977 - I think) are feinter but can be teased out in less than perfect skies. I found it difficult to distinguish between them, however.

Thanks for sharing.

[KevUU]

Some great new finds there and the DSO half century is up!

M42 is one that is always worth going back to. I'm sure when you get a good night, M43 will come through too as it is not too diffuse. NGC 1975 (and the other two bits of the Running man NGC 1973 and NGC 1977 - I think) are feinter but can be teased out in less than perfect skies. I found it difficult to distinguish between them, however.

Cheers DKD. I hadn't even noticed the 50, I usually just update it incrementally but yesterday I did a recount and realised I have two without NGC numbers I'd been forgetting (Pleiades and Hyades, one an M and one a C, although both dubious claimants to the DSO label perhaps) so bumped it from 48 to 50.

I'll definitely be back to M42 - but I suspect the difference between my 3" and your 5" means I shouldn't get too hopeful... You're pulling in 250% of the light that I am, after all. (The aperture fever is getting stronger, but I can't decide how to sate it and whether to wait for SGL8 to try things out, or dive in now and make the most of the winter!)

[KevUU]

Plenty of time to observe with the dark winter nights ahead

Just flicking back through my last few session reports and found this comment. Can't decide whether to laugh or cry! Oh, the optimism. What did we ever do to deserve this miserable maelstrom?

(I'm still inexplicably optimistic for Feb and March though... )

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yeah, it has been pretty dismal!