A beautiful satisfying night.

[kerrylewis]

Following earlier frustrations I think I've cracked the collimation and having roughly got it into shape indoors, I tweaked it with stars using the method for adjusting the Bob's Knobs that i picked up from a link on SGL. I actually set up my 100m refractor, as well as the SCT, on the mount as I wanted to try this configuration out but I only really used the SCT after some brief experimentation. I have also just acquired an eyepiece with illuminated crosshairs which was a big help in alignment although its build quality leaves a bit to be desired 

I started with Venus which just crept up in the SW between houses and trees after sunset. I could see the phase but given its altitude it was flaring a great deal.

Started off with  a few old favourites - Albireo, the Ring Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy and the Double Cluster. I find that these are a good indicator of conditions. They all looked good but the Dumbbell was the outstanding one - looking brighter and larger than I remembered it. 

Then on to some others: NGC 7331 clearly showed its galaxy shape and Alfirk is a lovely binary. 

I had a quick look at Uranus; its greeny-blue disc was clear but it is low down so seeing was not brilliant.

Having recently started a thread on here about the Pleiades nebulosity, I gave it a try. I am sure that I could detect some around a least one star, Alcyone which has three distinct identifying stars next to it. It was definitely enhanced by a UHC filter which convinced me that I was seeing nebulosity and not misted up optics!

Orion was now climbing and the Great Nebula was simply breathtaking and also enhanced by the UHC filter. Two swooping curved wings stretched each side of the brighter central region which showed lots of detail. Stunning.

M78 just above was barely visible. I always find this to be faint but identifiable by the two stars embedded in it (or in front of it?). At least one of my reference books calls it 'bright' but i don't find this.

M1 (the Crab) was clear and better defined than last time I saw it. Rigel's companion was also clearly visible but i didn't persevere with Sirius which was much lower down and flaring all over the place.

M48 is a fairly open cluster and also low, but M35 made me say 'Wow' out loud (good thing the bungalow next door is vacant at the moment!) - a stunning sight with the fainter NGC 2158 nearby.

By now I was on a roll and Jupiter was now higher so I turned to it. The seeing was not excellent but the GRS was visible and the bands had some detail but I could not see the moon, which was in transit at the time, even in the moments of improved seeing. 

M44 looked good with the smaller M67 benefitting from a tad more magnification with the 19mm Panoptic - I do most of my panning around with the 38mm SW.

The three Auriga clusters were next with M37 the best with swarms of stars. M105 was just visible but even better once I realised that I had left the blue filter on the eyepiece from trying to tame Jupiter! 

M97, the Owl nebula (I had seen the OWL Cluster earlier) was faint but improved by the UHC filter. The Leo galaxies were now coming up and M95 and 96 were visible but by now the moon was beginning to interfere. However, M81 and M82 were further away from the moon and great to see their contrasting shapes in the same field. 

Finally a quick look at Mars, rising but still very low and therefore just a fuzzy red blob. Looking forward to seeing that better later in the year.

It was now time to pack in as I was getting quite cold (first time this year) but I took a step back and just wondered at the night sky. It was not as clear as some nights earlier this year (the street light outside my house has been fixed which doesn't help) but still majestic, with Leo rising with the Moon and Mars, and Orion striding out high in the SW with his usual cohorts. Stunning - I threw the cover over the scope and went to bed happy.

[JulianFR]

What a great read. You saw so much; it's inspired me to look around more when I next go out.

As a beginner I see a lot of sky and stars but there is so much I have yet to find... I'm ashamed to say the Andromeda galaxy and the dumbbell among them, though I can locate the Ring nebula quite easily now. Maybe I should buy setting circles for the dob.

Last night was the first time I've looked at the Orion nebula both through my scope and binoculars. Quite beautiful ... For me perhaps actually better through the 15x70s.

And Jupiter was again supreme, though personally I couldn't see too much detail: basically the two bands. This through my 6mm WO, which I think is quite a good ep, so maybe I need to re-check the collimation again. Or buy a filter.

I would have loved to have seen some of the other deep sky objects you mentioned do will have to study my sky atlases. I know where to look for the North America nebula but no sign last night. Maybe it's that flaming street light!

[Rustysplit]

 Really nice report.Sounds like you had a stunning night Kerry. You must have been out for ages to catch both Venus and Leo.

[kerrylewis]

Alan

I confess that I did have a couple of hours kip between Venus and Leo!

Kerry

[Luke]

Great account

I had a most excellent session too, not a marathon as my other half and I are still not 100% after illness and can't do the really late nights any more. Sights of the night were Caroline's Rose looking elegant, and M42 the Orion Nebula looking far better than expected considering how low it was in the sky when we caught it. Nights like this make up for the stretches when the clouds take over

[Special K]

Excellent stuff, Kerry, and its real great to get back out in the cold again, isn't it?!  The winter nights come at more of a price on comfort, but have a high yield in targets. 

Love the naps taken in between observations!!!!  I missed all the fireworks with the double transit of Jupiter last night due to an extended 'nap' from 10-4:30

[kerrylewis]

Special K : I am very fortunate in that I am (almost) retired. In fact I work most Thursdays and it's amazing how many clear nights are forecast for Wednesdays! But on other nights it doesn't matter how much sleep I miss.

I often see what the evening sky has to offer and then sleep for a few hours and get up in the early hours for the morning sky. That's what I did last night so I missed some of the Jupiter action too - but there's always another opportunity

Kerry

[faulksy]

sounds like you had a great night Kerry, what formula did you use for indoor collimation, and how did the star test go

[kerrylewis]

Faulksy - indoors I made sure that the adjustment knobs were all tight. I hadn't done this properly before  which meant that the scope slipped out of collimation when it was moved. I then roughly collimated it by looking down the end of the tube and getting everything concentric. I think this is described either in the Celestron manual or the Bob's Knob's instructions.

I then collimated it on stars. I printed off some very useful instructions that I got from a link on SGL. These tell which knobs to tighten/loosen to move the central shadow in the right direction, which is much better than trial and error. This was very quick and worked well resulting in nice concentric out of focus images.

If you have not done so already, I would recommend swapping the adjusting screws for Bob's Knobs - again I got the details on this forum.

I am away from home at the moment but I can send you the various links later if you need them

Kerry

[Crebles]

Great report kerrylewis, I had a cracking night's observing Tues-into-Weds night. Very welcome after that long dry cloudy spell. Stood out in a cold dark field in Norfolk. BIg skies indeed. First light with my Apollo 15x70's. I also thought The Dumbell was somehow larger than I remember!

[kerrylewis]

So Simon - we can announce to the world scientific community that the Dumbbell has rapidly expanded and you and I can be jointly credited with the discovery

[cotterless45]

I'll go with that, I think that the more often you get used to seeing M27, the bigger and more impressive it gets.

M35 is a lovely cluster, on Wurzel's tour I go onto M38, then let the newbie just push the scope down to get M36 and an "aaaah!"

( " you've trodden on my foot ").

Had some really beautiful views at x160 of Jupiter, it's changed so much since last year, belts and spots and the fuzzy regions have got much darker and browner.

Here's hoping for some

Clear skies,

Nick.

[Skylook123]

Wonderful report to read, Kerry.  This time of year, for the next month or so, it is almost the same tour I take on the rare personal night out.  95% of my observing is public outreach with a 10" Meade on an Atlas EQ-G, but my personal times are with an 18" Teeter truss dob, and your tour is much like mine, just visiting old friends, except I replace The Owl Nebula with Stephan's Quintet since I have the aperture available on the personal tours. 

Great bit of advice on the Bob's Knobs.  I've heard of folks not tightening them down to start, just adjusting away, and having a knob come out!  I had my 10" Meade SCT for many years before adding them.

I just don't seem to get much benefit from filters on Jupiter, except that a lunar filter, or a polarizing filter, cuts the glare down without much tinting effect.  But my old eyes rarely catch the transits and shadow transits.

The "cluster in a cluster", NGC2158 on the edge of M35, is a special teaching view.  Most open clusters disperse as they age due to the rotation of the original gas cloud imposed on the star field it created.  M35 is only about 100 million years old, but is fairly close to us at about 2800 light years.  But in this case, NGC2158 is very old, 1 billion years, but has held its shape because there are so many stars in it, so close together, that their common gravitational field is not letting the elements drift away.  And it is about 16,000 light years away, so it resembles a globular cluster and until a decade or so ago, was often listed as a glob.

Next time out, after you are done with M42, hop up to the left belt star Alnitak, and shift off to the left for The Flame/Tank Track nebula.  Just get Alnitak off the eyepiece edge, and if you have one, an O-III or UHC filter helps.  And down below Alnitak is the Horsehead, but even with an H-Beta filter I never can see it, although friends looking at my view tell me it's right in the center.

Your report reads like a guide to a great autumn tour.  Nicely done!

[Crebles]

So Simon - we can announce to the world scientific community that the Dumbbell has rapidly expanded and you and I can be jointly credited with the discovery

I like it. Nobel prize here we come. Move over Shoemaker-Levy, Crick and Watson, Higgs & Bosun, here come "kerrylewis & crebles".

or maybe we just both have glaucoma.