Observing Report 5/4/2013-6/4/2013 - Globs and Galaxies

[Moonshane]

I have not had a good session for so long that I decided last night to have an impromptu observing session, as it was quite clear and finally calm (I hate windy conditions when observing). Although impromptu, it did take a while to go dark so I had time to plan a bit and add little post-its to my star map to remind me what I was going for.

Mainly I wanted to do a mini Messier marathon of what was available and as far as conditions and time allowed. In the end I had a great night but this was curtailed by some cloud in the middle of the night and eventually the sky turned quite milky with high thin cloud I presume making galaxy hunting increasingly difficult. I don't really have time to put full details of all objects but suffice it to say that I used my 16" dob and my 12" dob (for those wider vistas required for e.g. M44) and my 26mm Nagler stayed in the eyepiece almost all night.

The highlight of the night was Globular Cluster in Serpens M5 which I have seen before but had completely forgotten how stunning it really is; better than M13 to my eyes. There may seem some obvious emissions from this list (e.g. M36 and M38) but some of them I just could not get to due to the position of my scopes and the house etc. Also, I had to throw in the odd double star as there was intermittent cloud covering large portions of the sky at times.

Here's the list (GC = Globular cluster, OC = Open cluster, PN = Planetary Nebula, Gx= Galaxy, DS - double star, EN = Emission nebula):

M42 EN Orion (Orion Nebula)

M37 OC Auriga

M35 OC Gemini

Cr 89 - OC Gemini

NGC2392 PN Gemini (Eskimo)

M44 OC Gemini (Beehive)

M67 OC Gemini

Izar DS Bootes - lovely yellowish and blue/green small tight secondary

Zeta Cancri DS Cancer - easy double and tight triple system, all yellow

Algeiba DS Leo - beautiful golden pair (golden balls)

54 Leonis DS Leo - easy double star with whitish and blue/white secondary

M81 Gx Ursa Major (Bodes)

M82 Gx Ursa Major (Cigar)

M51 Gx Canes Venatici (Whirlpool)

NGC5195 Gx Canes Venatici

M63 Gx Canes Venatici (Sunflower)

M94 Gx Canes Venatici

M106 Gx Canes Venatici

M65 Gx Leo

M66 Gx Leo

M97 PN Ursa Major (Owl)

M108 Gx Ursa Major

M95 Gx Leo

M96 Gx Leo

M105 Gx Leo

NGC3384 Gx Leo

M3 GC Canes Venatici

M53 GC Coma Berenices

NGC4565 Gx Coma Berenices

NGC4494 Gx Coma Berenices

M64 Gx Coma Berenices (Black-Eye)

M13 GC Hercules

M92 GC Hercules

M85 Gx Coma Berenices

NGC4394 Gx Coma Berenices

M101 Gx Ursa Major

M57 PN Lyra (Ring)

M100 Gx Coma Berenices

M99 Gx Coma Berenices

M98 Gx Coma Berenices

M5 GC Serpens

NGC6543 PN Draco (Cat's Eye)

NGC6826 PN Cygnus (Blinking Planetary)

Finished off with lovely views of Saturn rising and with good detail on the disk and Cassini very obvious, I retired quite cold but well satisfied.

I am sure I possibly missed a few but for about three hours' observing I was quite happy. Normally I take more time over objects but tonight the target was as many Messiers as I could muster given the time and conditions. You really need good conditions to find your way through the many galaxies in Coma and Virgo and I was quite pleased with the ones I found as it was certainly not ideal.

Now I just need to establish which of the objects seen were new so I can update my observing lists! (I am rubbish at record keeping).

Hopefully this will help others in terms of the types of objects that can be seen at the moment. My sky is best in the East and poor in the north and west (blocked by my house) so your own circumstances might be different of course.

[MadAlbert]

Lovely - what a great haul in three hours!

[KevUU]

30 Messiers, 9 others and 4 doubles, in 3 hours, wow. Sounds like a good fun night moonshane, thanks for the tips

[Moonshane]

cheers guys. to be honest if I'd stayed around Coma/Virgo I could have doubled the tally but I wanted a good mix of objects. from a dark site my scope would be scary at this time of year.

[John]

Thats a great 3 hours work Shane

My normal tally is about half a dozen objects, sometimes less

I'm just not putting the effort in !

[Moonshane]

hi mate

to be honest that's normally my sort of tally too. I felt like a change last night though and it was good to have the 'pressure' of finding as many Messiers as I could in the time I had. I think doing something a bit different keeps it very fresh and 'interesting' (not that observing is not interesting in itself but you know what I mean I hope).

I really wish I had darker skies for these sort of sessions at home but we have to deal with what we have I suppose. I cannot complain really.

[Special K]

Wow, you made short work of all that, Moonshane, thats a fantastic tour of the sky! I'm interested by your comment on M5 in relation to M13, as someone else has recently posted the same opinion. I meant to have a look last night but didn't have my maps in the field I was tired and cold and gave up. I was mistakenly hovering on Alpha Ser in the hopes of getting lucky but I was miles out. Looking at M5 on the chart right now, so no getting away from me next time! At 5.8 I'm thinking this will not be a naked eye object for me as I can barely make out Delta Ser.

[Stargazer_00]

Great haul mate. M5 is a beaut I agree. Im a glob fan so have been waiting for it for a while now. Got it last night for the first time this season

[alan potts]

Nice report Shane, it is a lot for three hours you did very well. I agree with the M5 Globlar, it's one of the best.

Alan

[Double Kick Drum]

What an enjoyable night!

A massive mix of objects.

I have missed out a bit this weekend with stag party duties. Remember looking upward last night in C London and the four stars you can see at such a location and thought "Typical of my luck!"

Glad you made the most of a good night.

[crashtestdummy]

Nice report,seems quite a few of us have outlived the drought and got back into pastures greener

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great night out under the star-studded skies, I would say

[scarp15]

Good account and terrific range of targets. I am also a little bit disorganised when it comes to keeping an account as to what I have and think I might have seen. I keep a diary which doubles as a scrap book and usually log an account of sessions in them to. I need to compile everything one day.

[Scott]

nice report shane. sounds like you had a great night. lucky boy

[SnakeyJ]

Thanks Moonshane for that excellent report and a fine list of targets - the globs are fantastic at the moment, but I'm dead jealous of all that aperture (especially with the 12" sat alongside it's bigger bro). I was imagining you breaking into a sweat despite the cold furiously working the sky for all it could give - definitely where the dobsonian mount excels (in experienced hands) - I think I'd wear a few cogs out on the HEQ5 if I slewed around to this many targets in a night

Lets hope we all get a few more nights like this over the coming month..

[Moonshane]

Wow, you made short work of all that, Moonshane, thats a fantastic tour of the sky! I'm interested by your comment on M5 in relation to M13, as someone else has recently posted the same opinion. I meant to have a look last night but didn't have my maps in the field I was tired and cold and gave up. I was mistakenly hovering on Alpha Ser in the hopes of getting lucky but I was miles out. Looking at M5 on the chart right now, so no getting away from me next time! At 5.8 I'm thinking this will not be a naked eye object for me as I can barely make out Delta Ser.

It's a beauty for sure. my skies are pretty poor at about 4 and a bit.I can make out Zeta Umi more often than not but cannot convince myself that I am seeing Eta or a combo of Eta and its neighbour. I think I am seeing both together with averted vision.

[Moonshane]

I do consider myself very lucky indeed to have such a great main scope and my 12" tiddler too. the Pleiades or M44 filling and just squeezing into the field is a great thing to see.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I think M13 and M5 are roughly on a par (in my 8" scope at least). The size is about the same, but M13 is the brighter, by nearly a full magnitude. Messier 22 is the greatest Messier globular, I find, but hard to spot from here. All are blown away by 47 Tuc and Omega Cen, however (and these are even harder from here, of course).

[Scott]

47 Tuc and Omega Cen are definately gob smackers and M22 is pretty special but ALL the globular clusters are mind blowing, which brings me to my somewhat ignorant question. I know that if you lived on a planet revolving around a double star you'd have 2 sunrises etc, but how close are these stars in globular clusters? If you lived in one of these systems then how far apart are these stars? would they look like stars, distant suns, what? sorry for the somewhat silly question but it does make me curious.

[Moonshane]

not a daft question at all, it's commonly asked. here's a good summary

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4653409/Main/4613805

[Scott]

not a daft question at all, it's commonly asked. here's a good summary

http://www.cloudynig...09/Main/4613805

thanks for the link Shane. very interesting stuff