This weeks observing

[Casus belli]

These past few days have been exceptionly clear and the strong breeze has abated so I've been living in the garden, only pausing in my observations for tea brought down to me by the Mrs (bless her!) and to go inside to answer the call of nature.

Its very cold but Im dressed for it in an all in one deck suit woolie gloves and silly hat.

Sunday 16th dec. Crystal clear sky but spoiled by strong breeze. However I've finally sussed out how to coliminate properly and I want to see what this lightbridge can really do. Mars shows real detail using my pentax XL14 (an early xmas prezzie) before a gust of wind moves the lightbridge. I try an orange filter and add a 2X barlow. Ooh, what I thought was a band crossing the entire face of Mars resolves into an area that looks vaguely like a butterfly. Next using same set-up minus the filter I go for M42. This is stunning showing the trapezium and dust clouds. However the breeze is getting worse so I call it a night.

Monday 17th I finish setting up just as low clouds roll in. I wait an hour and with no improvement I put the scope to bed and drink beer and a hell of a nice malt whisky until I can see stars.

Tuesday 18th. Transperancy 9.5/10 Seeing 6/10 (Curse that moon!) Cats 2/2.

What a night! I was a little disappointed at first as I really wanted to see some fuzzies. Im not a great fan of the moon, never have been, and tonight its spoiling my galaxy hunt. Obvious first target is Mars. Its clearer and its staying in focus almost constantly. Orange filter doesnt work so well tonight, better off without it. M45 next with my 2" 26mm ep. I spy a hint of blue nebulosity (Wishful thinking?) and the stars are perfect pinpricks of blue light. I use this ep just to see what I can see, picking out some lovely binaries. Despite the moon the colours of the stars are easily discernable.

M42 again looks fantastic. I hunt for m78 and spy a faint reddish glow. Im not sure if it was m78 or perhaps barnards loop?

I glance at the moon. And I realize that it might be an interesting target after all. Through a barlowed Xl14 its unbelievable. Im seeing the tops of mountains beyond the terminator, rilles, craters, and its crystal clear. Im now a moon fan. Mrs arrives with yet another cuppa so as she has a look I sit back in my fold up chair with a contented smile on my face. Unfortunetly it all goes wrong here as my cat jumped up on my knee a deposited a live rodent of some description in my lap. Cat goes south, rodent west, tea east, me North and my Mrs went vertical (she obviously has a fear of mice or possibly spilt tea). Mayhem ensues as I avoid mice and cats while balancing a panic stricken wife on my head and try and check that my scope is ok.

After some time (and no more cups of tea, thanks a bunch moggie!) I get my first glimpse of saturn and 4 moons low on the horizon. I look for the Leo triplet but no joy. I had to be up at 6am so I called it a night.

Its still dark here until 7am. At 6:10am Im out back, freezing, wondering if I can set up my telescope have a quick look around and still make that bus. Its stunningly clear. Venus is low but bright, Mars and Saturn look tempting so I make my plans for tonight After the moon sets Im taking the lightbridge out and going on a fuzzy hunt. Watch this space!

[Astroman]

Sounds like a great few nights! (Except for the rodent incident, of course.)

Barnard's Loop is large. It basically encircles the east side of Orion from the armpit to his knee. Draw a circle using M42 as the center and begin south of Saiph and you'll see how large.

The Moon with a large scope at very high magnification can take on a mystical quality. I highly encourage this wonderful, yet somehow overlooked target(S). A variable polarizing filter helps a lot, as does "stopping down" or "masking off" your large scope.

Cheers!

("the Mrs went vertical" )

[Andrew*]

Extremely entertaining report!

Sounds like a lot of fun. I've too been enjoying the moon while it's up. It's a target, not a nuisance and I really enjoy exploring the terminator.

As for the detail on mars. Ya lucky thing. Yet to get more than one white cap and one dark patch

Good luck with the galaxies!

Cheers

Andrew

[Casus belli]

5:50 am and Im in. My feet are solid lumps of ice, I think I may have lost the odd ear due to frostbite but Im a very happy chappie. I've seen more Galaxies tonight than I have in my entire life. Globular clusters abounded and Mars and Saturn are fast becoming old friends. I'll post details later after Ive thawed out and had a kip.

Btw the scream you'll all have heard at approx 6:15 am was my wife when I put my feet on her back to thaw out

[Jamie]

Nasty man....

[Azelfafage]

Our cat almost always turns live rodents into dead ones but living or dead, it's something else to contend with that the astronomy books never mention somehow.

A

[Casus belli]

Nasty man.... :clouds1:

Not at all I've heard that the secret to a successful marrage is to share in your partners interests and hobbies. I was merely sharing.

Right wedensdays little session. Clear and very cold with no wind. My cats safely locked in the house, however next doors cats love me too. (are all cats astronomers?)

During the early evening I took out the meade etx90 for a moon and Mars session. The moon was excellent again. Im going to have to learn some of the features on our nearest neighbour before I do another report. Mars just showed a disc with no surface features visible. So I spent the next hour having a good look at the moon before my scope completely fogged/froze up.

3:15 am I set up the lightbridge as the moon is setting over the moray firth. As I finish I glance at the moon and its green. Really green and there are clouds boiling around it. A quick investigation shows that a local fish curing firms air outlet is causing this phenomena.

Mars is a great start. With a properly coliminated scope and its closeness Im now seeing constant detail on its disc. Im really pleased with this as I know Mars isnt an easy target for newbies.

Suturn is a lot higher and much clearer. I can spy faint banding and a ring shadow on the disc. The rings are wonderful if a little too closed to spot any gaps other than the cassini division. There are 3 easily spotted moons and the whole ensemble looks like a 3d model hanging in the sky.

Now my reason for being out, freezing my botty off at this un-godly hour, is fuzzies. I use my 26mm 2" ep and start with my old favorates in auriga M36, m 37 and m38. They really do benefit from a dark sky and really stand out in the ep.

Ok now for galaxies. All I've seen before are m31 m32 and m110 and I have tried m81 before with no joy on numerous occasions. Alas nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. M81 was almost directly above my head so I tried for an easier target m101. Again nothing. By now Im realizing that recent building around me has severly added to light pollution.

I grabbed a star chart and a cuppa and while my eyes get re-ajusted I used the binos to track down Holmes. Its a lot bigger and more defuse and its fairly getting about a bit now isnt it. A few nice shooting stars with greenish trails add nicely to the show.

I try to track down m51 and to my delight and mystification I can see not one but two fuzzy blobs. The xl14 shows more detail a kind of cosmic train wreck. One little dance of joy later and Im ready for more. Leo is in the darkest part of the sky for me so I aimed just to the left and up a bit from saturn and Im rewarded by not one but two fuzzies. A brief play around with the scope and I spy another. I thought this was the leo triplet but a later check up on stellarium confirmed these as m105, m96, m95.

A further shuffti around leo's nether regions reward me with another 2 fuzzies which stellarium later tentitively suggested as m66 and m65. By now Im tripping over galaxies (and next doors cats) and Im having the best night viewing I've ever had. This beats my first view of saturn and my first view of m57 combined.

I move further over towards Coma Bernice which is suffering from some errent street lighting but I do spot another fuzzy which might have been m64.

By now the wind has picked up and Im suffering from the cold but I find two globular clusters in m44 and m3. Time to pack up I take my filters, chair, binos and empty tea mugs inside but cant resist one last look at mars and saturn.....and find myself searching for m82 again. Still nothing but I do track down m 101. And thats it. Im too cold and tired for any more but this has been one of the best nights of my life.

I pick up the last piece of telescope and glance upwards to see an iridum satalite flaring. (iridium 10)

What a night!

Im now planning a proper dark sky viewing. M82 I'll get you yet!

[asteria]

Hi - thanks for the great reports. Good work on the DSOs. Keep it up.

Ed

[Sam]

Excellent observing report! You've given me some inspiration to see if I can track down some of those "fuzzies".

[Astroman]

Sounds a lot like one of my sessions. "Hmm, getting late. Better go in. Well, can't go without seeing Saturn again. Ooh look! M67's right there, too. Jeez, it's cold, but hey, I haven't seen M95 & 96 in a while..."

I call it, "Just one more until my toes fall off."