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Short but sweet 6/6/13

Moonshane

By Moonshane
in Observing - Reports

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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The sky does not get dark properly until about 11pm here in the northwest of England and I was waiting for my daughter to return from a trip into Manchester to see her friend's band, so thought I'd have an hour or so at the scope before going off the collect her just before midnight. I did so and as it was so good had another hour when we got back.

What began as a quick look at Saturn turned into really quite a decent session as the scope equalised more and the sky turned pretty dark and clear.

Saturn is always great and my wife joined me briefly for that bit as she always likes a quick look at the ringed planet. She still thinks it looks like a photo of the planet hung on the end of the 'scope and I suppose it does really. The four brighter moons (Titan, Rhea, Tethys and Dione) were visible and by the time I got back from the station when it was darker the planet had moved around the house too much to try for the other two fainter ones (Enceladus and Mimas). I forgot to look for the more distant Iapetus.

The night started with some old favourites and the most common objects observed tonight were globular clusters (GC). Whilst the skies were not ideal initially, things did improve and eventually the views were really rewarding in my 12" f4 dob. M13 and M92 in Hercules were really superb as always and resolving many stars even to the core in the case of M13.

Close by was M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra and M27, the Dumbell Nebula in Vulpecula. I return to these items every single time I observe when they are visible and they never disappoint. Later in the night I returned to the relatively faint GC M56 in Lyra. This sits between Beta cygni (Albireo) and Gamma Lyrae (Sulafat) and set against the rich star fields in this area is really beautiful in a wide field.

By this time I could just see Scorpio peeping over the rooftops to the south (approx) and thought I'd try to locate a couple of new Messier objects, one in Scorpio and the other in Ophiuchus and both GCs.

The first was M80 which sits between Antares and Graffias. It was pretty easy to locate and I got a vague impression of 'something' even in the finder scope. It was pretty low in the murk but clearly visible and appeared to be a small and quite tightly packed GC. The next was M9 in Ophiuchus. Again, this was relatively straight forward to find, being just below Sabik. It was a little larger and looser than M80. This pair were pretty low down for my garden and I was looking between trees and rooftops and hence conditions were not ideal, but I am really happy to have located them.

After the above two were 'in the bag' I then look at the GC threesome in Ophuchus, M10, M12 and M14. I have not looked at them for a while and I recalled when I saw it that M10 was a favourite amongst these three.

Close to M27 are a further couple of items of interest and first was the really beautiful but again quite faint and rather delicate GC in Sagitta, M71. This is a favourite of mine and like M56, is set against a lovely rich field. This is a superb object from dark skies with a decent aperture. From M71 it's an easy hop in the finder to see open cluster Cr 399, Brocchi's Cluster, better known as the Coathanger Cluster. In the finder this really looks best I think, and certainly lives up to its name!

To round off the night I had two more targets. The first, another GC, M5 in Serpes Caput. From my perspective, this challenges M5 for the most impressive GC, visible easily from my house anyway. It's just a stunning object.

Finally, as Cygnus has finally risen high enough I thought I'd finish the night with the Veil Nebula. I put in my widest eyepiece and Oiii filter and this readily revealed the looping Bridal Veil and Witches Broom sections, the latter being easily located as it is centered (roughly) on 52 Cygni, a bright and for most people, naked eye star.

Despite being a short session I really worked out to be a nice outing!

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kerrylewis

kerrylewis

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Lovely report. I am frustrated at the moment as my new mount has a fault and is back with FLO. So I just have the bins and observing by proxy reading reports like this. Just my luck in missing all these clear nights. I may try the skywatcher 4" on my manual mount to ease the pain.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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cheers guys. Kerry, I'd definitely have a go with the 4" frac. OK you don't get the depth of a larger instrument but at least you'll see some of the current delights. I'd have thought the Veil in your frac with the 38mm would be pretty good? have you got an Oiii filter?

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Blimey - I have always called it Scorpio but I see you are spot on Peter (obviously) - must be my secret astrological ways surfacing! :grin: Scorpius it is from now on - have seen it so little that I have never noticed!

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dick_dangerous

dick_dangerous

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June 6th was a really nice evening, even down here in London Town. I took the 'scope and the wife down the park and took a look at Saturn, M13 and Cor Caroli. I think we found M4 as well, but it wasn't much more than a slightly out of focus star close to Antares.

I love how you all describe a 12'' dob as a "Grab and Go." I'm trying to imagine taking one to the park...

DD

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Mr Flibble

Mr Flibble

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Sounds like an excellent session.

I was out on the 8th of june and I spotted a few of your objects for the first time. Mostly the ophiuchus and scorpius messiers. M10 and M12 are stonkers. I'm gonna stick my neck out and say I actually prefer M12 to the universal favourite M13! IMO there's so much more going on with M12. Its got a bright core which is easily resolved and I love the way it throws off strings of stars from its centre in a catherine wheel fashion. I can't wait to see it a bit later in the season when the skies darken again.

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mdstuart

mdstuart

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Nice report. Lots of contrasting objects..

No galaxies though?

You love that 12 inch scope...I wish SGL weather had been kinder so that I could have experienced that high quality mirror which makes saturn look like a photo!

Mark

Sent from my BlackBerry 9320 using Tapatalk

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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it's certainly becoming my most often used scope, Mark although the 16" is still my preferred choice when practical.

galaxies from home are somewhat pathetic remnants of their real glory as neighbours insist on leaving lights on and the glow of Manchester and Stockport don't help meaning I rarely get truly dark adapted at home. on the best nights I do OK though.

for me at least Saturn and Jupiter as well as the moon do give photographic views, albeit small of course, virtually every time I am out. you just have to await the good seeing. to be honest I am surprised your scope doesn't?

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