Hadrians Wall & First Light 28/9/13

[scarp15]

I'd first visited Hadrians Wall soon after starting at the then, Newcastle Poly. Boarding the train to Haltwhistle, I mountain biked my way across, as far as Corbridge. I would of course not endorse doing that now! 

Countless years later and I was back, this time with a 14" solid tube dob. Eagerly setting up, I paid little attention to the woman who was anxiously looking for her missing pet duck. "The foxes have probably got it" she said, "yes, they probably have" I replied casually. 

My first target was to be Vega. Yet - we have a problem, I could not achieve focus, swapping e.p's made no difference, everything appeared a blown up concentric circle. Feeling a bit distraught, I switched off the fan and meddled blindly with the secondary. Then I loosened the eyepiece away from the 2" extension tube and with immense relief focused. At least I did not have to conduct the session using the finderscope alone.

As darkness set in, I greedily soaked up the targets and they just flowed - M13, M92, M11 exquisitely peppered the field of view. Then on with the filter M57 Ring, M18 Omega, NGC 6781, M27 Dumbell. The Veil both segments, the vast North American.

Following this I removed the filter and went on a galaxy hunt, M33, NGC 7814, the Andromeda group, NGC 891, NGC 3077 and M81, M82. Finally a look at M15 and Uranus.

Familiar objects appeared bright, M31/M32/M110 for example, was majestic and simply put, 'in your face'. Though it was the Milky Way that held and captivated my attention the longest (who needs a scope). By 1am the sky was at its best, yet I was not. Feeling tired I knew it was time to pack up (the one downside to travelling to places like this).

On the journey home, the crescent moon hung sharply, appearing like a nicotine stained finger nail (in the nicest possible way). I thought for a moment I could see the face, as in the Cat and the Fiddle (hence I was tired). Miles Davies piped out of the radio and Jupiter shone suspended commanding and above.

[Lorne]

Good report Iain, a big Dob under dark skies is hard to beat

PS... you could have shown her the Wild Duck Cluster......... or Vulpecula perhaps 

[scarp15]

Ah ha, yes thats a good point Lorne, I did remark that I would look out for it (not that I knew where she lived, even if I could identify it amongst the wild fowl in the vicinity). The Wild Duck Cluster could have been a consoling metaphor.

I have just noticed that I had referred to the Omega (swan Nebula) as M18, which is of course M17, I had a glance at M18 after looking at the Wild Duck Cluster and before heading to the Swan.

Since this session took place, I am looking at how best to resolve my back focus travel issue.

[kerrylewis]

Nice report.......and Rothko and Miles Davies. Someone after my own heart!

Kerry

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report. A big scope at a dark location is bliss

[Reeny]

We are looking forward to the Northumberland Astro meetinmg at Meldon Park Cafe on Saturday.

Can't wait to show Mrs R why we need to have a large Dobsonian.

Hoping the skies will be clear and play the game.

[Lorne]

Iain,

How far back are you having to pull the eyepiece out of the extension? You can get a parfocalising ring to fit onto the 2" extension to space it out further from the focuser.

[Astro Imp]

Great report, always good to hear of folks enjoying their new goodies.

[scarp15]

Nice report.......and Rothko and Miles Davies. Someone after my own heart!

Kerry

That's correct, Mark Rothko, it was actually Fine Art that I was studying at Newcastle Poly  .

Great report. A big scope at a dark location is bliss

Yes, and very peacful, tranquil, being in a place in which the darkening landscape and sky felt connected and unified.

We are looking forward to the Northumberland Astro meetinmg at Meldon Park Cafe on Saturday.

Can't wait to show Mrs R why we need to have a large Dobsonian.

Hoping the skies will be clear and play the game.

I would like to look up this group sometime

Iain,

How far back are you having to pull the eyepiece out of the extension? You can get a parfocalising ring to fit onto the 2" extension to space it out further from the focuser.

Hi Lorne, the outward focus on my 2" e.p's is only slightly out using a 5cm (2") extension. During the session I got around this by lifting out slghtly the eyepiece barrel, away from the extension tube. My 1.25" e'ps did settle down, so perhaps I had not entirely permitted the scope to fully cool regarding these. My current extender is a bit course anyhow, I am also considering a 6cm extension tube  (only Moonlite do these), so the parfocalising ring could be another option. Shane (Moonshane) had also brought to my attention the baader finetunning ring, which might be the same thing

Great report, always good to hear of folks enjoying their new goodies.

Definitely, as this was first light I needed to head to somewhere that was a bit special.

[kerrylewis]

Rothko is one of my favourite artists - probably THE favourite of recent times.

But back to astronomy - loved the report. I am determined to find some local dark sites in the near future so I can see for myself what difference it makes.

Kerry

[m.tweedy]

sounds like you had a worthwhile night. Well worth the effort. Workshop meeting at Sunderland Astro this coming Sunday if you can make it. Might see the new 18 inch truss dob some of our members are making.

[scarp15]

Cheers Michael, the 18" truss dob sounds interesting, certainly something I would like to see.