March 3, 2013: Of galaxies, nebulae, a planet and a pup

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yesterday was really clear, and for the first time in ages I was able to set up the scope in the garden. After letting it cool, my first target Sirius B, but inspection of the out-of-focus image revealed it was still behind some branches of trees, but I new it would clear them shortly, so I turned to Rigel, which for some reason I had never looked at properly (me not being a great double star buff). Rigel B was quite easy at at 203x in the XW10, and 270x with the XW7, and the seeing seemed to be quite good. The scope was fully stable thermally, so I checked out Jupiter, which showed some nice detail in the NEB, and a strikingly dark NTB, especially compared to the much weaker STB.

By then Sirius had cleared the trees, and I set out to find the pup. The seeing was much worse lower down, and atmospheric refraction was turning Sirius into a rainbow. I had the UHC filter in one of the slots of the filter-switch, so tried it, but that resulted in groups of blue-green and a red dots twinkling away merrily. The O-III filtering eliminated the red, but seeing was not good. I then inserted my 1.25" filter wheel for LRGB imaging in the optical path, and with the red filter in place the seeing improved and the atmospheric refraction was eliminated. Sirius showed as a bright dot, with clear diffraction rings, which wobbled and twinkled in the seeing. At each point in time, the central dot was surrounded by a series of arc segments. To the east and a bit north, one feature twinkled away in the seeing which was not an arc segment, but a single dot. It was the only single dot to be seen repeatedly, apart from the central star. After getting a useful chart from John, this was verified as the correct position of the pup: Sirius B spotted; my first white dwarf!

I turned my attention to other stuff after that. M42/M43 was nearby, and always worth a quick look. The view in the 31T5 with UHC filter was stunning. Moving to NGC 2244 (cluster in the Rosette), I could not make out much nebulosity due to a slight haze, but to the south and west I spotted Collinder 96, not a very inspiring, quite small and sparse open cluster, but another one bagged. Collinder 107 to the east of NGC 2244 was much bigger, but the wide scatter of stars could be made out. I moved to nearby NGC 2392 (the Eskimo nebula) in part to admire it with the XW10 and UHC filter, but more as a staging post towards NGC 2339, the brightest galaxy within Gemini. This showed up in averted vision as a faint fuzzy oval, best seen with the 17T4. In Lynx, Nearby, NGC 2415 was found as a small circular patch which showed up with some difficulty in averted vision in between two stars. It is faint at mag 12.4, but quite compact, which means its surface brightness is not too bad.

On a star hop towards the next target of decent brightness I passed by NGC 2493, but could find only the faintest suggestions of fuzziness, but nothing sure. NGC 2537 was hard, but definitely there in averted vision. I tried to find nearby IC 2233, but failed. I later found it was mag 13, which is probably beyond reach in my scope in these conditions (other sources list it as 12.6). It should be a thin line next to a star, but I had no luck. I also only got some vague hints, just begging for another visit under better conditions on NGC 2541 and NGC 2500. Even near zenith, the increasing haze was having an effect.

Finally, I had a look at NGC 2713 and NGC 2716 in Hydra. The former could be made out as a quite elongated bit of fuzz, but the latter only gave some very faint hints. Another scheduled for a revisit under darker skies.

I subsequently packed the scope in and went to bed, very pleased at my getting 8 new objects, and visiting a couple of old friends. The odd failure could not dampen the pleasure at finally getting out there again! To crown it all: it looks like another 2 clear nights ahead. Such luxury!

[Double Kick Drum]

Consecutive night's viewing..... what's going on?

Some tough finds there and the 'Pup' is beyond my scope's resolution. Well done on picking it.

Clear skies!

[cotterless45]

Lovely report, tonight looks crystal and frosty hopefully will be checking these out,

Nick.

[Damo636]

Nice report Michael & a decent haul of new objects.

[KevUU]

I was trying to work out which of us made a mistake - I reported Cr97 and Cr106 last week, and you reported Cr96 and Cr107 today. But it looks like we could both have been right - all 4 of them are given in MON in my guide. Ohhh my brain hurts...

You seem to have had a good run of nights lately Michael, good to see. I've been tied up with bid work at work and just don't have the energy once I'm home, starting to feel a bit cheesed off with it all! Nice to read about it if I can't do it though, so thanks

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I was trying to work out which of us made a mistake - I reported Cr97 and Cr106 last week, and you reported Cr96 and Cr107 today. But it looks like we could both have been right - all 4 of them are given in MON in my guide. Ohhh my brain hurts...

You seem to have had a good run of nights lately Michael, good to see. I've been tied up with bid work at work and just don't have the energy once I'm home, starting to feel a bit cheesed off with it all! Nice to read about it if I can't do it though, so thanks

Cheers, Kev. I got Cr 106 and Cr 97 previously. There are many more Collinders in Monoceros, but most hace NGC designations

[Special K]

Great detailed report and I only wish I could see the Eskimo with my gear like you obviously can! I have definitely landed on it but can't make it out.

I think we had 4 consecutive nights in the UK: spoiled for choice!!