SN in TV76 - Gotcha :-)

[Stu]

Staying at my parents tonight near Wokingham which is a little darker than home in Walton.

I brought the TV76 and PST with me and after having a nice look at the sun at around 3pm, I thought I would give the Supernova a go in the TV76. My skies aren't great and I'm enjoying pushing my observing skills to the limit to see this object which, whilst it's quite easy under darker skies or in larger scopes, is pretty challenging with a combination of small scope and poor skies. Transparency is not great tonight, and there are patchy clouds around but clearer spells coming through regularly with this wind.

Anyway, first challenge was to find M82 in the first place! I normally use a stop hop from the small triangle of stars, but these were tough to find, so I used the diagonal across the bowl of the plough which was basically running vertically. I found the two stars near the two galaxies with my 24mm Panoptic and after a little while I managed to spot them.

I centered M82, and then gradually stepped up the power through Hutech 12.5mm Ortho, then 9, 7 and finally 6mm BGO giving x80.

The galaxy was more obvious in the 9 and 7, but I couldn't clearly say I'd seen the SN, but in the 6mm it was quite clear with averted vision. My eyes hadn't fully dark adapted, and it is still quite low so I would expect it to be easier later on and with better night vision.

Chuffed to get it again, I would say it is slightly dimmer than the mag 10.6 star nearby, but that maybe the slight dimming affect of being set within the galaxy.

Cheers,

Stu

[Beulah]

Well done!!!

[cotterless45]

Well done ! Has four viewings so far. Was keen to keep up, but haven't seen a star for some time, clouds only.

Nick.

[andrew63]

Nice report Stu - this has been a treat to observe.  I have good skies but a small scope and follow you in using simple eyepiece types to view. A 8mm TV plossl at 89x generally gives the best view for me of the star, and surprising amounts of structure in the galaxy.

andrew

[Stu]

Nice report Stu - this has been a treat to observe. I have good skies but a small scope and follow you in using simple eyepiece types to view. A 8mm TV plossl at 89x generally gives the best view for me of the star, and surprising amounts of structure in the galaxy.

andrew

Thanks both. I have just tried again and the sky was looking better. Hints of it with 9mm and 7mm but then the high cloud came back.

There is structure there, definitely, but the sky is a bit too bright to allow to much to come through here.

Need to get the 12" on it!!

Stu

[alan potts]

Nice one Stu, you would do well to see it from here at the moment even it you had a massive scope, it's wall to wall cloud for me . Even if it did clear I have a mountain of snow to move.

It is not well placed for me, being further South has advantages when looking at Sirius but not when looking North, I have a forest and hills that way, still nothing that an Army of chainsaws and few tons of jelly would not put right.

Alan

[Joves]

Good work, Stu. That sounds like pretty good going from the little 76. The little nugget has done you proud!

I'd love to have a crack at it myself, but alas, I'm the wrong side of the equator!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congrats on that. I should try it in the 80mm, or the kids' 114mm mini-Dob

[Stu]

Give it a go, I'm sure you'll get it. Under reasonable skies I'm sure it would be easier. You can begin to tell the difference between my home skies and John's for example. I struggle with averted vision with a 106mm frac whilst John finds it relatively easy in a 102mm. Very frustrating, need to move!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Give it a go, I'm sure you'll get it. Under reasonable skies I'm sure it would be easier. You can begin to tell the difference between my home skies and John's for example. I struggle with averted vision with a 106mm frac whilst John finds it relatively easy in a 102mm. Very frustrating, need to move!!

I already got it with the C8 (easy-peasy) but it has evaded me in bins so far. The boys would of course be chuffed to bits if they could see it with their scope

[Stu]

I just need a chance to get the 12" on it if ever the weather and a free night coincide!

[AlexB67]

Dunno about a 12 inch but it sure looked stunning in a 10 inch Dob last night.  I managed to get a bit of the calm before the storm at 4 AM when the plough is pretty much near zenith. Waiting for that bit of sky when living in a light polluted city is well worth it.

Considering the weather, I am quite chuffed I managed to see it three times in a week, though on two of those occasions it lasted not very long at all with incoming clouds and rain.

Lets face it, it is worth every bit of that sleep deprivation I am now suffering from that I can't even get to sleep, but SNs that good don't come around that often !. 

Even if  ISON do not make it this year, I feel privliged to be given such a rare treat in my year one observing. Who knows, it could be another 30 years or never for another one that bright and close, by then I'll be an old pensioner, I'll have all the time in the world to catch up on sleep 

[Naemeth]

Congrats Stu . I'd love to bag the SN, but I may miss it due to all this cloud and rain...

[lunator]

Stu

Well done on the SN, I fell your pain with the sky having grown up in Hampton area, it does make bagging targets slightly trickier. This SN is fantastic to view, well placed, and in an interesting part of the sky.

You are right about making the most of this one, although hopefully we could have a London bus scenario where you wait ages for one then several arrive at once

Cheers

Isn

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[Mark at Beaufort]

Stu - well done on seeing the SN in your TV76. I have viewed the SN in a 10" Dob, 6" Newt and my 4" Astro Tech. I wanted to see how clear the SN was in a 4" frac and had a good view using my 8mm Ethos.

If we ever get a clear sky again I would like to try the 6mm and 9mm Hutech Orthos in the frac to compare the difference.

[Stu]

Thanks Mark. Would love to get a view under decent skies or with the newt. It's a tricky find from where I am. I used 5 & 7 XWs when I viewed it in the 4", didn't think about the BGO's, should give the 6 & 7 a go, may have higher transmission but the extra fov was helpings keep what was a very faint target in sight! It was better at 7mm (x99), than 5 (x138) when I viewed it.

Stu