Given a little latitude...

[Dunkster]

Readers of my panic buying thread in the Whole Scopes section will recall an expansion of my astro collection to accommodate some winter Sun. SWMBO was determined to briefly escape the dreary British winter and top up the tan, with my feature requests being "clear, south, warm a bonus". After much research, we booked a trip to Cabo (Cape) Verde. CV is located a few hundred miles off the west African coast and being still northern hemisphere (14-16 degrees N) the flights are between 5 and 6 hours from the UK. The latitude means the Sun peaks at a little over 50 degrees altitude at this time of year, so still feels strong on the skin, and daytime temperatures have been 26 or 27C dropping to 19 or 20C at night. The nation is gearing up for increased tourism in the coming years and as such is still developing its infrastructure, but the people are friendly and welcoming and (for now) it's reasonably priced here for a decent standard of accommodation and facilities.

Anyhow, for all things astro... the latitude potentially opens up some interesting southern hemisphere viewing, although this is mediated by what scope you bring, the season and the local conditions...

I packed a (panic-buy) William Optics Zenithstar 71 for the journey for a few reasons... the wide FOV (f/5.9), portability (on the mini Porta with 1.25" diagonal and EP it tips the scales at 6kg total), and fear of what happen to my beloved SCT I also saw it as a challenge...would I be able to find anything without my trusty GOTO and no experience of star hopping? The OTA and accessories were carried-on the aircraft. I brought a Hyperion Zoom and matching 2.25x Barlow, my ES82 11mm and 32mm plossl. Santa had apparently been listening to my rantings about how the ES68 24mm is impossible to find and instead surprised me with the green-lettered analogue (apparently Santa finds the TV in my collection more pleasing to look at than my ES family...)

The season... it's technically winter here, but see above for weather however there has been varying amounts of wind each day with gusts up to 20mph, so late afternoon on the beach can feel a little cool. The wind obviously has implications on stargazing and there's a fair amount of twinkle below about 35-40 degrees altitude. One of the locals I was talking to says the wind eases off in spring and summer.

Also, the portion of sky under the celestial equator west of Orion until about Capricorn is a bit barren for a small scope at this time of year, but Vela, Carina and Centaurus roll in the big guns in the early/pre-dawn hours. April would probably be a more restful time

Local conditions... playing holiday roulette my 'luck' normally works against me, but to make a refreshing change we've got a balcony (?open but with a roof) with an unobstructed view from South through the West to NNE in Az and from about 5 to 60 degrees in Alt with little in the way of direct light cast. This is where I was viewing from last night, but I will have to grab-and-walk for about 10 minutes to find a secluded (hopefully) dark spot to view horizon peepers from. TBC

Every night that we've been here so far it has been clear. Windy, but clear, with the occasional fluffy cloud moving swiftly by. You can't have everything!

From the point of view of naked eye viewing, we've watched the Moon move east night by night using Jupiter as a point of reference, and I've pointed out stars not visible from home such as Canopus and Achernar, finger pointed at how Sirius almost looks like a dog from down here, Orion laying on his back, his fuzzy sword (followed by a lesson on star forming regions!) and his bow. Last night I got "you can see a lot of stars here!"... my response being that we'd be able to see a whole lot more if it wasn't full Moon. With regards to light pollution, we managed to see Upsilon Pegasi (mag 4.4) just after astronomical darkness while sitting at a table in front of a (over-lit) beachside bar on our first night here. Needless to say, I used it to illustrate how bad our LP is at home since we can only see that on the best of nights...and that we should move (I'd been earning multiple brownie points for my astronomy lessons up until then...)

For telescopic viewing, I have a makeshift target list (follows) and welcome any suggestions of what might be visible with a small 'frac, realistically with Dec of -60 or more northerly...

1. Omega Centauri
   
2. Centaurus A (pushing my luck maybe!)
   
3. Eta Carinae nebula (low)
   
4. Gem cluster
   
5. Jewel cluster (low)
   
6. Omicron Velorum cluster
   

I've been surveying for a suitable viewing site for these and the beach looks like the obvious choice with low light (or bust!)

So after all the rambling so far, on to practical session 1...

[Dunkster]

Last night the wind worked out to be less gusty than previous nights, so with the spirit of nothing to lose I took the scope out and got started. If the wind held off I figured it'd be good practice with the scope and mount for when I go off-piste. I also stuck to northern objects given there were more interesting ones visible with the balcony view. I am determined to get in some southern objects soon though!

I setup about half an hour after sunset, and watched some of the brighter stars pop into view... Vega was very low, then Deneb, Sadr and Epsilon Cygni. Altair and Mars were also readily visible, but at between 12 and 15 degrees above the horizon, I had no expectations. I aligned the RDF using Altair, which was twinkling a rainbow of colours.

Moving southwards with the Panoptic it was easy to locate Mars, a distinct orangey dot of light, becoming only slightly larger at higher magnification and unsurprisingly giving up no detail.

Once darkness descended, I pushed off to Cygnus, remember still with the training wheels Used the finder to Epsilon Cygni then to the left a bit to get 52 Cygni in the FOV as well. Even with the Panoptic yielding only 17x magnification but about 3.7 degrees TFOV in this scope, I could see many many stars in the FOV. Also unsurprisingly given the full Moon already being up, I wasn't able to see any nebulously that suggested I was seeing the Veil. Someday.

From Cygus I headed south to nearby Pegasus, putting Enif in the finder and then down one complete FOV and north about the same to find globular cluster M15 (first view for me). Using the Panoptic it was clearly not a star, and with a little more magnification its fuzzy character became much more apparent (ES82, 38x). Pushing the aperture of the scope, I added the Barlow to the ES82 (85x or thereabouts) and I could still see the area of fuzziness although significantly fainter. I was unable to resolve any individual stars at any magnification

Heading south again and into Aquarius, I put Beta Aquarii in the finder and using the Panoptic again wound about half a FOV north and more or less the same up to find another fuzzy glob in the view, M2, another first view for me. Especially when the ES82 was swapped in, M2 seemed noticeably fainter than M15, even though their visual magnitude stats (Sky Safari) both in the 6s. Consequently, M2 didn't like the Barlow all that much and I struggled to discern it was there in combination with the ES82.

After an intermission for dinner, I was back at the controls... running wild in Andromeda with a Panoptic, starting off with Mirach in the finder and slowly twisting the knobs to reach Mu Andromedae, as much by chance as measured movements from there I bumbled in the same direction and the unmistakable core of M31 danced into view. I could discern faintness over about 1/3 of the view, and easily spotted M32. A little tougher to spot however was M110, but I was happy as this was a new object for me. I then tried the ES82 but that essentially added more darkness not more faintness in the core, and M32 and M110 remained star-like in the Zenithstar.

Unfortunately not so much luck with the mother constellation, Cassiopeia. From Caph barely a Panoptic FOV south to catch Rho Cass in view, hoping to see Caroline's Rose NGC 7789. I had seen this beautiful cluster before in my bigger scope and tried my luck, but after repeated tracing of my steps (and logic) from Caph, I couldn't see anything where I expected it to be. Subsequent delving into SkySafari claims it's a mag 6.7 object with brightest stars of 11th and 12th magnitude, so given my experience with M2 maybe this was to be expected.

Next stop was along Cass and following a line traced between Gamma and Delta Cass for a couple of Panoptics until the unmistakeable speckles of the Double Cluster entered the FOV. Having added a little more oomph with the ES82, I found I preferred this scale as it gave more detail of the clusters (I could recognise patterns I had seen before) yet keeping both well centred in the view without diluting the image too much. Obviously not as splendid as in a larger scope with much larger aperture and about 100x, it was still a really nice view.

How time flies when your having fun... well, the Earth had turned some since I'd started the evening almost 6 hours previously, and M45 was sinking below the roofline into view. Being a bit of a sucker for the classics and having enjoyed the Pleiades many times in bins, I felt it was necessary Easily seen with the naked eye, hanging over the ocean like a bunch of grapes, I put the ES82 to work...and it just eeked all the edges in! Guessing, I'd say there were a hundred o more stars in view, I started counting and then lost count a little way in instead, I decided to see which faint member of the cluster I could see. Hunting in the area of Alcyone, the obvious stars were in the mid-9th magnitude range. I then found I could see a few more with averted vision, after which I was able to see them directly. I stopped inspecting at HD 282970, which according to SkySafari is mag. 10.5. Not bad for a scope listed with an 11.0 limit with a full Moon?

The last object before hitting the hay was Jupiter, now chasing the Pleiades to the horizon. Starting off with the Panoptic, the nice crisp little disc (without surface details) was flanked by two pinprick moons on either side, almost evenly space - what a chance sighting! Moving up to the ES82, I could now see the equatorial bands quite clearly on a beautifully crisp disc. I figured it was good time to whip out the Zoom+Barlow. This is quite a chunky, heavy combination compared to what I'd been using the rest of the session. Starting off at the long end (about 10.5mm), the image was comparable to that of the ES82 for the purpose of planetary viewing. One by one I travelled through the clicks to 3.5mm. To be honest, I'm not sure I could tell much difference between the last two click FLs, only a bigger image in the last, and maybe the purple ring around the planet's disc (CA?) was a little more pronounced, but still not objectionable. However, Jupiter was giving up more detail with increased magnification, with the slither of the southern temperate belt being crisp and obvious, and the polar regions also visible, the north faint but distinguishable and the south fainter still but just about discernible. I couldn't see any other surface detail, GRS, barges or storms, but the wind was starting to pick up again with random buffeting of the scope causing the planet to dance in the EP and present more of a challenge than my tired eyes could cope with!

One final observation, after I had taken the scope back inside, was a bright star above the adjoining roof to the south. I initially thought this was Sirius, but leaning my head out a bit I could see Sirius further up... so I was really looking at Canopus. Despite my tiredness, this filled me with hope again for another clear night, preferably with a little less Moon pollution, as pre-dawn in more or less the same position should be Omega Centauri....

Well, if any of you made it this far, you must be sleepy Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks again to those who advised me on my portable setup, I'm really glad I have it with me. All in all I'm really pleased with my impulse buy, the Zenithstar has been a lot of fun so far and I look forward to the next clear night here.. maybe even with some southern objects in play but not tonight...there's high cloud here just as the Sun is setting, so it looks like tonight is just dinner and a stroll on the beach

[Dunkster]

Been suffering some high cloud and stiff breezes the past couple of days that have kept the scope sulking Forecast for later in the week is looking better, hopefully it'll follow through. It is the middle of winter after all. The moon should also have dimmed and moved a fair bit by weekend too.

Talking to one of the local guys, the wind is a bit of a feature here being sand dunes/rocks in the Atlantic, but apparently it backs off some in the Spring. Plenty of wind and kite surfing going on, and it'd take the edge off the heat when the sun gets higher. It's clear blue sky and sunny most of the time, so can't complain. Should have brought a solar filter with me though

Also going to aim for M41, M46 and M47 given half a chance as LP interferes with my south at home.

[VigdisVZ]

You made me wish I was there aswell. Would love to be south to see some new things than the same old up here in the north Thanks for sharing!

[KevUU]

Thanks for these Dunkster, really enjoying them so far

You're reminding me of my time in Keffalonia earlier in the year with my ST80, rather a distant memory with the miserable weather at the moment...

Sounds like you're having a nice time too. Good luck for more sessions while you're there.

[Dunkster]

Hoping to bag some proper southern objects before I leave, so watch this space

Time to start getting ready for the evening's festivities - there'll be no stargazing tonight unfortunately.

Happy New Year and clear skies to all

[Astro Imp]

Thanks for taking the trouble to give us all a feeling of being out in warm conditions observing. Really enjoyed your reports so far, good luck and Happy New Year.

[Dunkster]

Not wanting to intentionally upset you guys up there with the cloud and rain, but I've had two successive sessions the past couple of nights

Mostly northern celestial hemisphere objects I'm sad to say, as my 'comfort zone' doesn't point in the optimal direction. It's OK though, I'm actually getting some time out under the stars, learning those star hopping ways (with my trusty SkySafari assistant!), and getting to see a number of objects that I'm flagging for return viewing from home with a bigger scope

NGC 752 for example, was really a lovely open cluster up there on the Andromeda/Triangulum border, with arcs or swirls of stars sweeping out from the centre.

M42 of course is obligatory at this time of year, though I had to take the scope down to ground level in between units to see it. Unfortunately the twitching curtains syndrome prevented an extended session there but the nebula looked quite extended with the aid of the UHC-S filter, filling up about half of the FOV of the ES82/11. With averted vision, the Sail swept eastwards, and I could see the equivalent sweeping westwards (only shorter). The Trapezium was quite cleanly resolved even at this magnification. M43 was also much more conspicuous than I had noticed from home, but I'm not sure if that's because of the larger FOV I'm taking in or the better sky. With all the resort lighting, it's probably limiting naked eye to around magnitude 5.

NGC 457 the Owl cluster looked great in the small frac, with red star V466 Cass being noticeably red!

I've tried a bunch of fainter objects with limited success. My attempt at seeing the Sculptor galaxy (probably the most southerly object so far!) was hampered by the lighting from the beachside bar and its large illuminated sign beaming light into outer space. I should have tried right after astronomical dusk when it was higher. However, I do believe I could see a faint streak only in averted vision, when tapping the EP.

I'm trying to keep optimistic about a session with true Southern Hemisphere objects, but the best vantage point I can find is on the beach, blighted by the above beam. I'm going to talk to the bar manager on duty to ask them if it's remotely possible to switch it off when the bar closes...nothing ventured nothing gained!

Still pretty windy, seems to be the overriding theme at this time of year

[KevUU]

Still going well then? Nice to be transported to somewhere warmer and clearer

[Dunkster]

Hoping for one more decent session, but it'll need to be an hour or so before sunrise to catch my targets then it's home time

[Dunkster]

Gutted and double gutted... beautiful blue sky day yesterday only to be blighted by low 'mist' after sunset, affecting around 20 degrees and below, where several of my targets are so I stayed in bed last night, and this morning have a bit of a head cold

I'll be setting the alarm tonight regardless ... time is running out

[KevUU]

Hah! I recognise that feeling of impending end-of-hols doom!

Good luck

[Dunkster]

Yeah bit of a panic session!

I'm sad to say that the mist/murk has persisted through the night and I went out to a reasonable vantage point (by the well lit pool, as it happens, but it's all ankle lighting... could see the Orion's sword from there easily in the evenings) and while the Moon was making it through, Saturn was struggling albeit enough to clap it in the finder then the eyepiece first Saturn of the season. Could not really make out any detail besides the planet and the majestic rings at 85x (ES 11mm+barlow). The wind was doing its very best to buffet the scope and stop me from seeing any more detail. The Moon of course looked great with the full globe, much of it darkened fitting comfortably into the view, but some very nice shadow detail.

Hunting for eta Carinae was tough with the murk and I'm sure I saw it when I blinked a couple of times, but I couldn't get anything in that area in the finder. I panned around the general area for a couple of minutes with the Panoptic, but all I could see was orange I needed one of those nights without murk! I'm sure t mag 1 it would have jumped out at me then!

I've just retired back to the balcony, the devil I know. I can make out one of the feet of Gemini but not the other, that's how bad it is Tried to have a look for M41, should have been an easy one and I think I got the brightest star but no cluster, it's getting too low and the illuminated murk is interfering too much. I'm not holding out much hope for my last major target Omega Centauri, as it should be at a similar altitude, and since my south east view is obscured until about 20 degrees in Alt, I'll be lacking the 'Pointers' alpha and beta Centauri. Scope is still out getting sand blasted, I should probably get back out there!

[Dunkster]

I got it!!!!

After leaving the hunt until after the previous post for the object to gain as much altitude (and a little azimuth too) as it could so it had a chance of clearing the building obstructing my low south view, I pulled out Sky Safari to point me in the ballpark of where I should start looking.

I pointed the scope and set about hunting for some stars that I could use as markers and after a little slewing stumbled across a little ramp shape of stars. These turned out to be C1 C2 and C3 Centauri, 5th magnitude stars but decidedly dim. Plotting my path I headed east, luckily there was a trail of 6th and 7th magnitude stars to follow....E Cen, Tau Cen, then to Gamma Cen. Getting closer, SS showed a couple of 4th magnitude e and f Cen, leading me to the doorstep... and lo and behold, there was something faint and fuzzy there...pretty faint actually, that I've put down to a few things....not really light adapted, there were too many light intrusions for good observing really, not least my electronic star atlas, that I used once more to confirm the pattern of stars I could see around the fuzzy patch meant I was looking at what I had intended. Then there was the murkiness making the LP situation worse than I'd seen it the entire rest of the stay.

I must have spent 30 minutes or so looking at the fuzzy blob until the twilight meant it was becoming impossible to discern any longer, and it was time to pack up and crawl back into bed. It's hard to judge in an 82 degree FOV, but I'd say the fuzzy patch was about 1/8 the diameter of the FOV with no particular concentration of density like other globs. I couldn't resolve any/many stars... although there were moments where - just maybe - the murkiness in the atmosphere cleared and I glimpsed some glistening of stars, but it didn't last long. If I hadn't felt it had happened multiple times during the session I'd be convinced I'd imagined it

So not an entirely successful trip but still a very enjoyable one (for all aspects of the hol), I missed out on a bunch of my targets but at least I started to learn to star hop (just need to do it with a paper map/atlas next!) and I wasn't completely lost even if some objects took a little thinking to get to them.

What next?

1. further south! These objects are really only peeping over the horizon here and unpredictable conditions like today make it really tricky. Looks like I'll have to look into a proper southern hemisphere trip, but at least this has been a useful dry run
   
2. somewhere more sheltered! The wind here has been a real pest at times. I shouldn't complain at 4 half decent sessions in little more than a week, but it has been clear here almost every night except for a few with high clouds, some nights with some higher up twinkle, but for the most part it's been a surface problem
   
3. bigger scope! The Zenithstar has been a great little companion and shown me some lovely views, but you can't beat aperture. Maybe I should bite the bullet and get a travel case for the C8, but that significantly increases my luggage when you factor in a capable mount too
   

Thanks for reading!

[KevUU]

Glad it turned out alright. And, no need to dispair, it'll be its usual clear self when you get back here

[Dunkster]

Clear, in the UK, in January is exactly what I'm afraid of amazing how you get used to 27C daytime, and wrap up when it's only 18 in the evening

Anyhow, what's the likelihood of it getting clear in the UK?

[KevUU]

Anyhow, what's the likelihood of it getting clear in the UK?

Right now? Tending towards zero, I fear

....

pfffffffff

[Dunkster]

Phew! Just for once I'm ok with that... my thermals are at home and not in my suitcase

[KevUU]

Humph. You might be okay with it, mister swanky warm holiday, but those of us stuck over here are going absolutely crazy with the boredom