Stories from the City (None from the sea...)

[dick_dangerous]

Hi All,

I thought after the run of clear to clear-ish nights, I might make a little observing report for anyone who's interested in what can be seen from an urban park with a very small telescope.

Although the day time temperatures seems hot enough to melt tarmac / fuse carbon nuclei, the nights have been pleasant to go outside with a telescope and while away an hour doing some observing. When coupled with a bottle of wine it's almost civilised... Unfortunately the seeing has been a little on the hazy side, especially given London's ever present cloud of pollution that seems to gather over the city in hot weather. But for a couple of nights the airs have moved and the skies have been crystal clear (Although the moon has made things a little tricky when it comes to the Deep Sky Objects).

So back at the start of the heatwave I'd managed to bag M10 and M12, split the double-double and observe Ras-Algethi. This week the moon was up in the sky which made things a little bit trickier but not impossible. My philosophy is that if the moon is above the horizon you might as well look at the moon - no point in trying to fight it. My lunar geography is terrible, but at 80x I could pick out the prominent lunar features quite easily - Copernicus, Tycho, the Sea of Tranquility and Sinus Iridium, always a favourite lunar landmark. Last night with the moon a mere 24 hours from full the terminator was covered in numerous craters - very nice indeed. Here's a picture taken with my wife's iPhone. The moon is her favourite astronomical body, although every time the flash went when she was taking pictures of me we had to have the little chat about dark adaption...

Pretty much every night I look at Saturn at the moment - it's how I gauge the seeing. It's going to disappear below the horizon soon and it's already floating in a sea of murk. Thursday was crystal clear and gave us the best views with the ring system clearly visible. I must buy a longer focal length scope so I can go looking for that elusive Cassini Division. Of course it's a tiny disk even at 80x, but we have to make do with what we have. Here's another rudimentary bit of imaging...

With the bright skies, moon and haze I've been trying my hand at a few double stars, something my 15 year old self could never quite get excited by. Now I find them endlessly fascinating. I showed Mrs Dangerous Alberio on Thursday; she'd seen it before, but it never grows old. I tried Polaris from the doorstep on Friday but... it wasn't happening... And finally I looked at Gamma Delphini, a lovely double with an orange primary and lime gree secondary. Lime green my skinny white bottom.

Finally the Deep Sky Count. I've been working through Messiers and with my ST80 have managed to rack up 22 since April. Quite a lot of them were in Pembrokeshire of course, but Bushy has yielded plenty. After the success of M10 and M12 (Under really bad skies), I turned my attentions to M11 on Thursday. It was a great night to try it because clarity was good and I finally managed to find it where the haze had thwarted me before. In the ST80's wide field it shows a lovely smear of light and at 40x it starts to sparkle with a slightly grainy texture. When the moon's gone away, clouds permitting, I'll chance another look. On Friday I went to visit an old friend, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), from the front step. Amazingly (And they were very clear skies after all), in spite of it being July, the object being low to the horizon and there being a sodium light right opposite me, I managed to find it and see it quite well as an elongated blur of light with a bright core. Come autumn I think this will be an ST80 highlight, especially when we get down to the New Forest in October. Finally, last night, I had a go at finding some globular clusters. M13 was showing really well, even with the moon blaring out, but I thought I'd really push the boat out and have a peek at M15 in Pegasus. This was one that I found pretty easily with the TAL, and after locating Enif and aiming in vaguely the right direction I found it first time. It didn't look more than a fuzzy star with some extra fuzziness around it, so it's another one for autumn, but I was just impressed to have found it.

So that's what we've been getting up to under the pollution in London. And now... it's going to rain!

DD

[cotterless45]

Lovely report, I share your enthusiasm for achievable targets under poor conditions. Keep at it , hopefully under clear skies,Nick.

[Lorne]

Good to see the early season reports coming in..... not quite dark enough here at 55N. Another couple of weeks and I'll probably be looking to get a meet set up with our group at one of our dark sites.. possibly tie it in with the Perseids.

[Scooot]

I enjoyed reading that. I also had look last night, it seemed as if it was fairly clear but I could barely make out Polaris, so also looked at the moon and some doubles. Oh, and the cat nebula which wasn't too bad being very high at the time.

[dick_dangerous]

Thanks for the comments. I want to try and organise my friends to do a bit of observing when the Perseids come round. It'll be hard to motivate them, but Mrs Dangerous put her photos on Facebook and generated a lot of interest. If people are impressed by our rudimentary attempts at Astrophotography, they'd be blown away if they look through the actual telescope! We'll have to see about the weather. I'm hoping for some clear skies next week when the moon shoves off below the horizon - I want to look for M27, M71 and M56, but I think they'd be too washed out for the ST80 while the moon's in the sky. Of course I'm really looking forward to autumn and darker skies, especially when we get down to the New Forest and I can use the telescope for what it excels at - those widefield views.

Fingers crossed for some more good nights!

DD

[cotterless45]

Bravo ! Try Turf Hill in the New Forest, you'll be astounded by the views under

clear skies,

Nick.

[Stu]

Really nice report DD. Always good to see what is achievable from city skies with a small scope. I'm a few miles from Heathrow and do a lot of observing with small refractors. It's challenging but rewarding in its own way as you know :-).

The New Forest should be fabulous if you get some clear skies. Been there a number of times and the difference is amazing. I shall be back to Dorset soon for similar skies, with a little frac :-).

Thanks again for a lovely report.

Stu

[dick_dangerous]

Yeah, I'd like to go up to Turf Hill - we used to use Dead Man's Hill which is across the valley and slightly closer to my parent's house. I notice the difference even from their back garden...

DD

[jason.p]

Nice report [removed word]. It brought back many happy memories. I was born and grew up in Teddington and spent much of my early childhood in Bushy Park. I've still got a few contacts and whenever I go back I am amazed by the ammount of light pollution. I can't imagine how anyone can see anything in the night sky. Thank goodness for sanctuaries like the park, and what a blessing it hasn't been built on.

(having said that, when I was a kid there was a big American Air Force base there. You can imagine the LP there was then .)

[jason.p]

Sorry, didn't realise your name was an expletive. I really must watch my language

[dick_dangerous]

Nice report [removed word]. It brought back many happy memories. I was born and grew up in Teddington and spent much of my early childhood in Bushy Park. I've still got a few contacts and whenever I go back I am amazed by the ammount of light pollution. I can't imagine how anyone can see anything in the night sky. Thank goodness for sanctuaries like the park, and what a blessing it hasn't been built on.

(having said that, when I was a kid there was a big American Air Force base there. You can imagine the LP there was then .)

I was recently shown the old foundations of the AAF base on Google Earth - quite amazing, you'd never know it was there. The light pollution is pretty bad on the main streets but on a crisp night you can see a fair old bit, especially if you get into the park. Not quite sure what I'll do in September and November when they start culling the deer... I'll be seeking santuary in Iceland and the New Forest for September at least!

Sorry, didn't realise your name was an expletive. I really must watch my language

Yeah... I've used the same web handle for over ten years ( ), but the content filter's pretty stringent here. Whoops! At least it stops us warping the minds of young impressionable astronomers, although knowing what children are like it's probably to protect us from their language !

DD