Christmas Evening observing

[Stu]

With the skies forecast to be clear until around 9pm, Mrs Maksutov seemed very relaxed about me having a little observe whilst everyone chilled this evening. Managed to get out for a couple of hours after it got dark and had a nice relaxed time, playing with some new kit and just having a wander round old favourites.

Two main things to try, my Induro AT413 tripod and Lumicon OIII filter. Some of you may have read the thread where I opted for the Lumicon UHC, but me being me, I decided to get both, particularly as the UHC was not in stock and the OIII arrived in time for Christmas. The OIII has definite benefits for some objects apparently so seemed worthwhile.

The tripod is a really great addition to my grab and go kit, finally making this a pleasure to use in all circumstances, and allowing me to view at the zenith whilst standing and putting the eyepiece in exactly the right place. Very stable too, and easy to adjust up and down.

The skies here are reasonably dark, certainly better than at home. The Milky Way was just about visible though not very obvious. The Double Cluster was also just about visible with the naked eye.

One of the first things I looked for with the OIII was the NA nebula and the Veil before they disappeared behind the house. Bearing in mind I was using a 76mm scope, and was observing somewhere where dark adaptation was difficult to maintain (mother in law kept putting the kitchen light on :-) ), I was not expecting much. However, the results were very impressive I have to say. The NA nebula was surprisingly clear, I've only ever seen it well from a much darker location in my 106mm. The Eastern Veil was well defined, and the Witches broom was nicely visible with averted vision. The narrow bandpass of the Lumicon certainly seems to be effective even in such a small aperture. Under a dark sky, with full dark adaptation and the 106 it should be fabulous. A number of other objects also looked good through it, M57, M27 and M76 the Little Dumbell, although I expect the UHC maybe the better choice for these.

Favourites of the night were definitely the Double Cluster and Caroline's Rose through the 17e. Very comfortable viewing with the tripod up high, and the TS flattener I have now gives nice sharp stars right across the field with no difference in focus position between centre and edge. Wonderful star colours against a lovely dark sky background with the smaller exit pupil.

The Pleiades was also set very nicely against a very dark background. I may be going crazy, but I swear I could start to see nebulosity and dark areas amongst the stars. Bear in mind it was a very dry night, despite being only a few degrees above freezing there was absolutely no dew on the optics at all thankfully so I can rule this out. Transparency was also very good, although the seeing was sometimes a bit wobbly, especially over houses but at the time M45 was above fields so very clear. The only other thing it could be was just general scatter in the optics around each star. I would be interested to know of others experiences of seeing this nebulosity in small (or larger) scopes from dark sites. I have observed M45 many times over the years but not seen this effect so clearly and it was not apparent when viewing the Double Cluster.

I spent a long time trawling around Cassiopeia checking out the open clusters, there really are plenty up there, and lots of nice ones. I wasn't too bothered about identifying them all, just enjoyed looking at them, although I definitely got NGC's 457, 654, 659 and 663 along with M103.

Kemble's cascade was framed beautifully in the 21e, with NGC 1502 nicely showing and its two little 'eyes' crisply resolved. At higher magnification it is a nice little cluster.

The Andromeda galaxy looked lovely also in the 17e, the outer areas beginning to show themselves with M32 clear and M110 just visible with averted vision. M33 was also just visible as a round glow which I was pleased to see.

Later on, M42 cleared the hedge, and whilst still over the field it looked wonderful. Nice crisp trapezium, no chance of more than four stars in this scope I don't think, I certainly couldn't see them. Plenty of texture and detail in the nebula itself, the OIII made it shrink dramatically and I didn't find the UHC-S helped much either which I think was due to the brighter lights around at that time so my dark adaptation was worse. Viewing with no filter gave a lovely natural look and the 'wings' showing quite dramatically. Sigma Orionis was well resolved, as was Rigel with its little friend.

Last target was Jupiter. Not so much going on, although some detail visible in the belts I didn't spend long in it. 4mm Radian gave the best views, the seeing wasn't up to any more. The best thing was Europa just appearing as a pimple on the side as it exited transit, nice to see.

All in all, a very good and unexpected session. Just old favourites visited, but I always enjoy doing that anyway. New kit all tried out successfully at last, so I am happy.

Cheers,

Stu

[Astro Imp]

Nice report Stu, really enjoyed reading it. Looks like you had a great time. 

[scarp15]

Nice report, it was a good night, I was lucky enough too, to go out and make the most of it from my local light polluted area, became very cold here, but as you have mentioned, crisp views of the clusters and filtered (orion ultra block) revealing prominent structure,  the eskimo standing out proud and orion nebula. I think I even detected some nebulosity within NGC 2264 Christmas Tree cluster.

[ronl]

Very good report, you had a good session, I usually start with the old favourites,

mainly to get an inkling of what the seeing is like, it doesn't help when the

kitchen light goes on, happens to me too, I sneaked out last night got around

2 1/2 hours, the weather report for the next day or two is not good so we have

to make the most of what we can get.

[Special K]

Good read Stu and glad the new gear is working out. I sometimes dread feeling a new purchase is a bit of an anticlimax and wasn't initially impressed with my UHC at first. It took me a while to learn what it was good for. Well done on the North American: I can't see this from home either and yet to see it.

Regarding nebulosity in M45, there was one session where I became very inclined to think I was picking it up. I also checked for dew and was ok in that regard. Good thing to check in 10x50s from a dark site.

I love those eyes near Kemble's Cascade! Happy Hunting!