Bino Observations from Herefordshire - 9th October 2013

[TakMan]

Notes typed up for my local astro group.

Observations from Herefordshire

9th October 2013,  8.00 - 22.30pm

Revelation 15x70 Binoculars

Manfrrotto 58B Triaut tripod

William Optics EZTouch Alt/Az

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas - some page numbers referenced

Sony digital MP3 dictaphone for taking notes this time as I refuse to loose my night vision (like Andy does) to take notes - first time again I have really used this!

'Observing Jacket, hat, gloves, snow boots and an assortment of red lights...   ;-)

Left work a bit earlier to get set up in a farmers field, high-up(ish) out of Leominster on the way to my B&B. As predicted, the rain and clouds are clearing (although a tad later than than expected) and the cold front that was predicted is coming in - a very chill wind.

Tonight will be a first 'proper chance' to use this new (old gear of mine) set-up that I've sorted primarily for use with the binoculars. To sort this I swapped out the plastic binocular bracket that came with the 15x70's for a £10 all metal version via Amazon - to reduce flex and vibrations. This will attach to another purchase - a £23, metal Skywatcher 'L' bracket.

Also along for the ride is my trusty padded observing stool - taken from my mum's old caravan and then 'heightened' with wooden blocks by my wife's dad, Mr T!

The sky overhead is becoming crystal clear as this stiff wind clears away the moisture. Further down it isn't quite the case. A lovely crescent moon is shimmering low-down and looks slightly 'creamy-yellow'. There is a small amount of light pollution 'beneath' my location (I'm on higher ground), and this is being made worse by the misty/moisture still lingering in the atmosphere… the glow from the moon is not helping, but it is setting fast and I'm hoping the moisture will clear also.

The Plough is near horizontal, the bins happen to be facing towards it so my first target is M101. I know where this is (between the last two stars in the 'handle'), Alkaid and Mizar - it's up "in the middle somewhere"! Actually, if you look between the two stars there is a small grouping of bright stars, above them stretch out another line of bright stars that forms a 'T' shape - I see them as an outstretched hand… or perhaps a mushroom. Just above the horizontal 'T' bit sits M101.

M101 - very faint…. hardy seen with direct vision and perhaps not much better even with averted. Come back to this when moon sets I feel.

Instead, a drop down from Alkaid and Mizar (but staying more over to Alkaid/left) and drop down to M51 the famous Whirlpool Galaxy. Faint but circular in shape - slightly oval. I can easily see the core of the 'main' galaxy component with direct vision. With the smaller one just above it to the right, only with some lingering observations and flicking to averted vision.

Continue to drop down to Canes Venatici. To the left and above Cor Caroli I can see 4/5 bright stars (lop-sided T shape), with another single bright star to the upper right within my FOV. Between these is another very - not quite horizontal - faint smudge with what I recorded on the dictaphone as a "faint, hazy, star-like pin [removed word] of a core!" I've never seen (in bins) M63 The Sunflower Galaxy before due to my local LP and this being about Mag 8.5 gets swamped in that at home in Lichfield.

Next a 'gentle' star hop to M94 The Blackeye Galaxy… I focused back onto the lop-sided T above Cor Caroli. beneath it is another loose grouping of brighter stars with 2 leading off to the right… one up a bit and the other below a bit. Following horizontally from this second star is another smudge - sitting centrally above Cor Caroli and Chara (P43 of atlas), M94. No detail but visible via direct vision - perhaps with a 10 - 5 o'clock tilt…

Swept back up to M51 - both cores now easily visible - too close to each other (low mag) to even think about trying to observe 'the bridge' between them!

Through the handle of The Plough… back to..

M101. Yes, now more 'visible'. Big, easily seen, large yet very faint 'core' that sort of 'spills out' into the surroundings - 1/3 the FOV, "much bigger than I think anyone realises". The problem is that the core is a similar brightness as the outer regions so I find it difficult to latch onto. Averted vision allows even more 'observation' - this thing is hefty… no detail as such… still the crescent moon spilling light out into this region and still some misty-moisture to hamper things….

Took a break, now typing as I listen to my notes… standing away from the bins and just looking up at the Milky Way overhead. Fantastic! Down into Perseus and beyond (below Cassiopeia). "I can see the Double Cluster embedded as a brighter region within". Through Cassiopeia and then it seams to "it just widens and splits". I noted on the dictaphone there also appeared to be a 'finger' stretching out towards the left… checking Starry Night Pro now as I type, that is the case - there is an area heading at right angles into 'the house' of Cepheus. It continues though to The Swan with all sorts of mottling and rifts...

"There is a huge dark region just before Deneb", (the tail of Cygnus) that I noted. Stretches right through Cygnus to Altair in Aquila and then down more to the right hand side of 'The Eagle' and below.. before being swallowed-up in the moisture/murk of the Crescent Moon - a glorious sight, one of the best I have seen to date.

Perseus (below Cassiopeia), centered upon main star, Mirfak. This sits above a "fantastic open cluster" of blight stars that just about fills the field of view! Looks like a 'messed-up' Pleiades! Scan right… keep going… you come to a small (but bright) 'compact' open cluster of stars - M34. A good 25/30 stars + a satellite passing through! If you keep going you can see The Triangulum on it's side - get to that in a bit and M33 hopefully!

Back to Mirfak and find the 'upper star' in Perseus - Eta Persei. Head up and slightly right…. don't get drawn straight to the Double Cluster right away. Sitting between that and Eta Persei is a messy open cluster of bright stars called Trumpler2 (Tr2) that is a pretty sight in it's own right (Page13). Tr2 and the Double can be observed within the same FOV. Also NGC957 with is above left of Tr2 and at about 7 o'clock below the Double Cluster.

The Double Cluster is ammmazzzing (Brian Cox there!), it looks so much brighter and bigger than at home - say, 40% bigger? From the top cluster (NGC869) follow the distinctive 'line' of stars off at 10 o'clock - this includes the stars 7 and 8 Persei (very similar to the line of stars in The Pleiades). This takes you to a huge mass of stars that I noted in the dictaphone as "this whole area is awash with the Milky Way and various 'groupings' of stars, and background stars) - turns out this grouping is known as 'Stock2'.

Cassiopeia, concentrating first on the area left of Segin (last star on the left), sparse open cluster of a dozen or so stars - known as 'Stock5'.

Centering on the the last two stars in Cass, Segin and Ruchbah - within the same field of Ruchbah is M103 (actually rather small and not particularly interesting at this mag, especially compared to NGC663). NGC663 takes pride of place - it is big enough to resolve into a multitude of individual stars, but there are enough non-resolveable to give it 'nebulosity'. To the right is the smaller and dimmer NGC659.

What I found far more interesting tonight was that I could finally identify the third and small NGC cluster in this area - 654. This is to the left and above the bigger 663 and is centered upon a bright star. At home that star has always washed out the surrounding stars that make up the cluster but NOT tonight. I noted that it's 'fan shape' above the star resembled 'bad coma' that I've seen in some of Andy's scopes when not using the Paracoor (just to see if he is still reading this!)   ;-)

Moving right past Ruchbah - a favorite that puts a smile onto the coldest of faces, The Owl/ET open cluster NGC457- crikey the wind chill is biting now…. I've had to put my silk gloves on underneath my thin observing gloves! The 'man figure' is upside down, but so many more stars are observable - I can see his body, there is even a brighter area in the chest region. I can observe both legs down to two slightly brighter stars that give him feet. The outstretched arms are obvious. Less so is his football (NGC436)- I can easily see it with direct vision hovering 'above' his feet tonight, but it is not as obvious as with the 10" dob at home.

Page 1 of the atlas. Third star in Cassiopeia - 'Gamma'. Head at a right angle Northwards and within about 2 degree sits another smallish open cluster NGC225. Within the same field can be captured the a bright star in Cassiopeia; Gamma Cass and K (Kappa) Cass. NGC225 I noted looked "delta wing shaped" with the point heading back towards 4th star Schedar (about 4/5 o'clock).

For some reason my next target was back towards The Double Cluster. This time heading left then into Camelopardalis. Kemble's Cascade tonight was a vertical drop of brightly coloured stars that ends in a very small open cluster NGC1502 - I recall this is known as the 'Jolly Roger' cluster but for the life of me I can't make that out!

OK, back to Cassiopeia and the last two stars on the right, Schedar and Caph. Extend the line about the same distance and there appeared 'nebulosity'. Upon extended observation I realised that this was not (the close-by Bubble Nebula!) but open cluster M52. It did indeed look 'nebulous' but with continued work and flicking in a and out of direct/averted vision did reveal pin pricks of starlight - all in all, very pretty… sort of clover leaf shaped or what the Cocoon Nebula looks like in (B&W) photos.

OK, the Triangulum from earlier… M33, my note taking via dictaphone "my word, you would not believe it, it's ****** unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable - huge rugby ball shaped, orientation 9.30-3.30 on a clock face. A central mass… massive - I don't think I have ever seen it so clear!"

Spent some time studying it. A stream of stars coming out of the bottom left - like a tail! One above at the back and another bright star (HIP7123) at the upper front right that defines the outer region of this object for me tonight. "Faintest hint of perhaps a spiral arm to the left"…

What was evident is M31 The Andromeda Galaxy sitting virtually straight above it… naked eye direct vision… straight onto it with the bins. Fills 2/3rds of the FOV, perhaps more. Easily see M110 with direct vision and it has 'shape'. "Can't see the 'other galaxy' (M32), Andy will be cussing me - I need you here matey", I can hear myself saying on the recording! I  recorded that I turned around to check my atlas and noted that at 9.15 and the moon had set without me even viewing it! "Well that should make things easier… The Milky Way is now right past Altair".

Back to M31…. The galaxy is HUGE. M110 above is only just separated from the outer faint regions from M31, but not by much. M32 is EMBEDDED within the outer nebulosity of Andromeda - at about 5 o'clock. This may be partly due to the lowish mag, but I have never witnessed that before. The galaxy looks bigger at the bottom and to the right.

Cygnus is flying high. Beneath (+left) of Alberio I can see something faint naked eye - point bins, view the upside-down Coathanger + satellite passing also.

Over to Lyra to check something…. the cheap binoculars are performing better than ever - this mount is far better than my previous versions to support the bins. Can I identify The Ring Nebula (M57) sitting between Sulafat and Sheliak. The answer is yes. Very, very small, like a unfocussed faint star with a halo - has a 'circular' form despite being so small.

Somehow I'm at the bottom of Aquila. My usual horizontal 4 star star-hop is now a diagonal drop down to…. M11 appears quite small, compact with a brighter inner region. Not overly impressive to be honest - better in a scope!

Back into the centre of Aquila - Star 'Delta Aquilae' - Right to the double star Alya in Serpens Cauda. Continue over to my 'map of the world', made up of large (but faint) open cluster IC4756 and the brighter, more compact in a sort of 'slanted column', NGC6633. Both just fit within the same field.

Cygnus. Left and a tad below Deneb - naked eye 'nebulosity' interspersed with dark regions, almost certainly a mix of hydrogen gas and unresolved starlight.

Star-hop from Deneb to 57 Cyg (same field) and then to orange star Xi Cyg (so that 57 and Xi Cyg are in the same field of view). Xi sits in a 'no-mans land' - a dark region devoid of stars between two dense 'fields' of brightness. Xi is a great help. It sits at the top of a "bright finger of light… this is the 'Gulf of Mexico' region", of the North America Neb NGC7000.

Now you have to be careful because (after some research) many observations of the 'North America Neb' (especially in 10x50 bins), are probably the dense star field embedded within the nebulosity (and not the hydrogen gas field beloved by imagers), that is quite faint but gives off that 'nebulous effect'. Not tonight, above the 'finger', yet still within the expanding grey region (the America bit), IS without doubt the "huge" star field mentioned - I can easily identify/separate the two quite comfortably I can hear myself record. To the right of this nebulosity is a fainter region that stretches back towards Deneb. This could be The Pelican Nebula region…. not sure… need to keep Deneb out of the field or that screws up the view!

Now in the centre of Cygnus centred upon Sadr. Sadr is positioned at the top of the binocular field. M29 is a compact, bright, yet an unimpressive open cluster at about 9 o'clock. Not certain if I can identify/separate open cluster Berk86 to the right of M29, from the immense starfield… Trying desperately to view the Crescent Nebula that is centred upon a bright star also within the same field just below half way... I did note to the dictaphone what looked like "a backwards 'C', or perhaps the lower half of a C extending below the star (HIP99546), well cuts beneath it, but to be honest I'm not be sure and need to check later". Now, whilst typing up these notes and looking at a '15x70 bino view' in Starry Night Pro, I can see that backwards C… but I'm still not confident that I really saw it!

Dictaphone: "Well, Hallelujah, I can definitely - definitely see the Veil Nebula… part of the 'Cygnus Loop' (NGC6992/6995), again it's massive - it fills at least half the FOV. It's a very slow (what does that mean - shallow probably?!), open 'C' with the 'open part' facing to the right. I wouldn't say there was 'definition' as such, but it undulates as it comes down. If you put the star that sits on the Witches Broom Neb (52 Cyg) which at the moment I can't see, then it's right at the left hand side - so it's BIG. It widens towards the centre and appears to stretch outwards…. I can see a dark 'mouth like area' in the lower third".  This is the best view of this for me - ever!

Because I could not believe it I did my usual star hop test from 52 Cyg to 41 Cyg (see Page 62) and down to the large open cluster NGC6940 - very large and tonight (due to the sublime conditions) and bright. As bright as I have ever viewed in the 10" Dob and perhaps even bigger - more extensive, even at such a low mag!

Back to the veil… "there is definitely a dark indent where the 'mouth' would be", so that at least collaborates the first observation. It's bitterly cold too I can hear myself mutter!

Horizontally to the left of Albireo, at the head of an upright 'Swan', sits the indistinct constellation of Vulpecula. Only the 3 main stars are obvious to me; 13 Vul, Alpha Vul and 1 Vul - the bit that is supposed to represent the mouth of the fox holding his prey. A horizontal hop from Albireo takes you to 13 Vul. With 13 Vul at about 3 o'clock the Dumbbell Neb (M27) is just about centred. Small, compact, yet again very bright… "I can't make out the 'dumbbell shape'", I can hear myself saying, "but it's certainly rugby ball sort of shaped - oval…. it even looks like it's got a hint of green to it".

Drop down into Sagitta and in the centre (between Gamma and Zeta Sagitta) is sitting the elusive globular M71 "again, this is perhaps the brightest I have ever seen this, very small though! Let's see if we can find M56", that's between Albireo and Sulafat in Lyra.

Crikey, it's faint, even tonight - how Messier even found it is beyond me! His skies can't have been any better than this and the optics at his disposal no better than even todays cheap Chinese made stuff…. scary! "Almost lost within the star field, so faint and small… I'm amazed we can even find it at home", although it is on a straight line between Albireo and Sulafat so you only need to hover around the midpoint to pick it up - "how anyone would know that is a globular cluster is beyond me!"

Back to Andromeda - naked eye with direct vision and straight on it with the binoculars, "virtually across the entire field…" what's that, about 4 degrees so 8x the size of the full moon! "M110 is a defined 'smudge' and M32 is only just visible *within* the outer region of the main galaxy, literally, only just visible! I don't think I have seen it quite so massive in my entire life".

M33, no better than previous… "it doesn't have that bright central core as M31, but I'm looking at a defined galaxy shape that's as bright as the outer regions of Andromeda - so easy… no averted vision required but then that makes it even bigger… wow!"

I must have spent five minutes trying to tease out detail - thankfully I was facing out of the freezing wind… "I'm looking at a definite oval shape with an orientation of about a quarter to 10 and 4 o'clock" Starry Night Pro would suggest that was accurate as I type this… "perhaps the bottom right is a tad brighter".

Looking above the Plough, I was sure I could make out a brighter region… or perhaps I was remembering our last observing session with Nick… whatever the case, I pointed the bins in that direction and landed straight on the galaxy grouping of M81/M82, perhaps just a lucky hit though? M82 was, "a defined cigar shape facing 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock", M81 brighter and an oval "in a position of 10 to 6".

I was thinking I could see M33 naked eye. I certainly landed straight back on it… but was that because I now knew roughly where it was…?

I can't feel my hands anymore and I think I've done enough for one night… problem with being in a field is that there is:

1) no mate to take the mikey out of  ;-0

2) no mate to deliver hot drinks and whiskey   ;-)

3) no cover from the biting cold   ;-(

4) no promise of cheese and tomatoes on toast as 'a reward' - what we normally have!!!   :-{

Quick look at the slowly rising (but low lying) Pleiades… pack up and off to the B&B!

Well done for reading this far - clear skies!

Damian

[Astro Imp]

Hi Damian, that's a terrific report and a great idea to use the dictaphone.

Thanks for a great read.