Quick report from 10/12/12 -11/12/12

[Tom2012]

Good morning everyone!

Had about an hour out last night with my sights set upon M42!

Set the scope up at about 19:50 just to give it a good few hours to cool down (I shouldn't have really because later on it was a little bit wet!)

Anyway, instead of boring you with what I did before I actually went out, I'll just get straight to the action!!

23:30 - equipped used with 25mm stock EP and the vixen 8mm EP (nice EP if anyone is looking for get one. Nice bit of weight to it) positioned myself in front of the finder scope and focused upon Jupiter. As a lot of people were saying it was dropping in and out of focus but when it was in focus.. Wow! I viewed it for that long I'm sure I could see it rotating! Haha The amount of detail on it was spectacular! After about 10-15 minutes of observing the beast, I could make out actual detail on the bands!! Something I've not seen before. Instead of them being just solid bands they had texture and looked unbelievable! My main reason for spending most of the time on Jupiter (up until 00:05) was to try and see if the GRS would come round, it didn't and I had to leave the beast because I had 1 more object to try and bag, a nebula, a diffuse nebula, M42, goes by the name of Orions Nebula!

BOOM! There it was. Situation almost in the middle of the 3 stars that up Orions sword. It's something I'd never seen at all. Not through binoculars, not through anything and there it was. It was quite faint, not as faint as andromeda, had 4 pins harp stars in the middle and had a whisp of greeny looking cloud covering the stars on 3 sides. I equipped the 25mm EP to see if I could get a better view. It got swamped out by all the other stars, was just barely visible so I put the standard 10mm EP in and that looked brilliant! Nice share of stars and the nebula itself. What was weird is after a while it got hauntingly mesmerising. It wasn't rotating like Jupiter, there wasn't detail to find like on the moon, it was just a cloud around stars but was completely mesmerising. It was a good night! If seeing was better I'd have loved there to be a bit more detail within M42!

Overall it was a good enjoyable and detailed night. Spent about an hour and 20 minutes out there. Would've loved to have spent more time out there but have work

I did have a look on star walk for M42 and after I did notice there's a NGC 1999 there that looked green!! Had a look on sky safari and it doesn't seem to have the magnitude to be visible from my area. If anyone could correct me on this, that's be great!

Thank you for reading everyone!

Tom!

[Double Kick Drum]

Nice report.

Welcome to the world of finding very distant fuzzy DSOs. They may not be bright or show as much detail but they are much much much further away.

There's a lot out there.

Were you able to see M43? It is called De Mairan's nebula but is actually part of the same gas and dust cloud as its more illustrious neighbour M42.

Clear skies!

[Tom2012]

Nice report.

Welcome to the world of finding very distant fuzzy DSOs. They may not be bright or show as much detail but they are much much much further away.

There's a lot out there.

Were you able to see M43? It is called De Mairan's nebula but is actually part of the same gas and dust cloud as its more illustrious neighbour M42.

Clear skies!

Hello mate.

I didn't check for M43. Is it just above M42? I was in that much awe looking at M42 that I didn't really concentrate on much else! Haha

I'll definitely have a go next it's available!

Thank you for the recommendation and the reply.

Tom.

[rory]

great going tom. m42 is a stunner eh. the four stars you speak of are known as the trapezium. at high power there are a few more stars hidden within, although ive not attempted them as yet.

m43 will be in the same field of view (f.o.v) on lowish power.

see my incredible and accurate sketch here . the seperate blob you see to the right of the lower wing is m43.

so you probably did see it without realising....result !

[Tom2012]

great going tom. m42 is a stunner eh. the four stars you speak of are known as the trapezium. at high power there are a few more stars hidden within, although ive not attempted them as yet.

m43 will be in the same field of view (f.o.v) on lowish power.

see my incredible and accurate sketch here . the seperate blob you see to the right of the lower wing is m43.

so you probably did see it without realising....result !

Thanks for the reply! Yes!!! I did see M43 I did see that lower wing. Thought to myself it looked a bit like a octopus and the trapezium was the eye! (What a strange person that makes me sound! Haha

M42 is a stunner! I was mesmerised by the sheer sight of it. Knowing it's that far away and we can still see it from a LP city! Amazing stuff

Good sketch Rory!

Thank you for the reply.

Tom.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report, Tom. M42/43 is a stunner, isn't it. The description of Jupiter dropping in and out of focus is probably just a matter of fluctuating seeing. Quite common. As you say, wait for the moments of stable air and,... WOW!!

I spotted NGC 1999 with my 8" SCT from my back garden (which has some LP). Not the easiest of targets, but an 8" will do.

[KevUU]

Jupiter and M42, sounds like a good night thanks for the report

[Tom2012]

Nice report, Tom. M42/43 is a stunner, isn't it. The description of Jupiter dropping in and out of focus is probably just a matter of fluctuating seeing. Quite common. As you say, wait for the moments of stable air and,... WOW!!

I spotted NGC 1999 with my 8" SCT from my back garden (which has some LP). Not the easiest of targets, but an 8" will do.

It's the worst I've seen it up to now regarding the focus fluctuating so much. It was well worth the few seconds of out of focus seeing to that moment when all that detail appears.

Thank you for reading and replying.

Tom.

[Tom2012]

Nice report, Tom. M42/43 is a stunner, isn't it. The description of Jupiter dropping in and out of focus is probably just a matter of fluctuating seeing. Quite common. As you say, wait for the moments of stable air and,... WOW!!

I spotted NGC 1999 with my 8" SCT from my back garden (which has some LP). Not the easiest of targets, but an 8" will do.

It's the worst I've seen it up to now regarding the focus fluctuating so much. It was well worth the few seconds of out of focus seeing to that moment when all that detail appears.

Thank you for reading and replying.

Tom.

[Tom2012]

Jupiter and M42, sounds like a good night thanks for the report

It was a brilliant night. Second only to seeing the transit of Ganymede and the GRS at the same time a few weeks ago!

Thank you for taking your time to reply.

Tom.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing it. Jupiter and M42 are really looking beautiful at the minute