CMS Observing report Sibbertoft Wednesday 3rd April 2013

[cyborg421]

Observing report Sibbertoft Wednesday 3rd April 2013

CentralMidlands Stargazers

http://www.centralmidlandsstargazers.com/

I arrived at the site about 8.30 and met Tich nearby and showed him to the site as he had never been before. It is always good to welcome new members.

Having set up my first target was Comet PanSTARRS. It is beginning to fade a little bit now as we saw it as a naked eye object on Monday only a couple of days ago, with its head but not tail visible. It did look remarkably similar through the telescope with my Radian 18mm giving the best view. It had a bright head and a stubby tail.

Up from PanSTARRS to my regular the Double Cluster in Perseus. Not at its best but still a good sight as normal. On to Jupiter with banding clear and a barge in both the main bands. It is interesting to see the variation in the bands as they never look the same twice.

David arrived next with his 10” Dob and a nifty water butt stand allowing him to raise the height of his scope to make it much easier to use. Dave had set a target of viewing M51 during the evening and it was that one we all went to next. I don’t remember M51 as being a particularly impressive sight as I am sure I have seen it before but I was pleased with the amount of structure that I could see with my 13mm Ultima. The band linking the 2 galaxies was very clear and a hint of spiral structure in the bigger galaxy was also visible.

Next was the Owl nebula M97. I have always found it hard before to locate but on the last 2 occasions I have found it immediately and wondered why I have struggled before. Dave and Tich also viewed M97 and it was interesting to compare the different scopes and different eyepieces. You are supposed to be able to see the Owl’s eyes but I can’t say I have ever managed that. Dave sawto spot a edge-on galaxy nearby to M97 and we couldn’t identify it, I thought it was probably a Messier object. On checking on Skysafari today it is in fact M108, so another one to chalk off Dave!

Following that I moved on to M101, even under darkish skies (for the Midlands!) it is still a faint wisp. It is something I would like to see under truly dark skies.

Bodes Nebula, M81 and M82 were next to be viewed. They were almost vertically upwards so the view was really good with a fair bit of structure to be seen in both galaxies.

The Eskimo nebula is a test for newer astronomers as is it little bigger than a large star although the fuzziness gives it away as a nebula.

When Saturn had risen a fair way above the horizon I turned my scope towards it. The ring system was clear but the wind did not allow me a stable enough image to see the Cassini division on this occasion. It’s good to see an old friend back and in a month or so it should be good viewing.

The clouds began to roll in and only Simon, Tich and Phil remained. We gave it half an hour or so and it seemed unlikely to clear so I packed away and, Lo and Behold!, the skies suddenly became perfectly clear. I then decided to stay on and we tried to identify as many constellations as we could. Some are very easy to pick out but some are much more difficult to see patterns in.

When the clouds rolled in for the second time I left at about 1.00am. A good session and good to see some new faces. I am sure I missed some things that we saw but I hope I have given you a flavour of the evening.

Simon

[Double Kick Drum]

Great report.

Never seen any M101 detail but what always strikes me is the size of it. A very large circular wisp.