Dark Forces hiding the low Ms

[mjpfc]

Out until 3am this morning to attempt to complete my Messier run for the year.

I had mainly the Ms in Scorpius, Lower Ophiuchus and Sagittarius to Observe, and I saw

most of them very well in good stable sky between shredded clouds passing W to E.

M4 was near its best, and Globs, 19 and 62 were the brightest and most extensive that I have ever seen them.  M22 looked gigantic, and M16 and 17  stood out beautifully with lots of subtle detail.

Putting in a filter gave me a hint of the "red" lobe of M20, and showed M8 up very well.

It cruised around M24 and put a filter, and some Magnification on the tiny (and quite dim) Planetary Nebula NGC 6567. I have read that it has a hole in it but I could discern no structure or colour, just a little circle of nebulosity.

The 4 low Clusters (open and Globs) however seemed to have some dark power hiding them from me.

I was observing from my garden, so here I have to wait until they clear the house to my south, and

cross a short gap before dishappearing behind another building, around 9 minutes transit time, but the west side is quite bright so viewing time is shorter.

The tatty clouds on the night had large gaps between them which gave time to observe, but down near the horizon of course, foreshortening due to the angle meant that the gaps were shorter than the obscuring by the couds.

On all 4 occaisions (In a row) cloud and murk intervened, covering star patterns that were heralding these objects' imminent appearance ( less than 30 seconds away and in two cases less than 10).

I managed to Catch M54, who's core was very bright and who's fainter outer shell was very obvious although only hints of stars were seen. This stopped the 4 becoming 5 and cheered me up again  and so I then moved across the garden to look at M30, before moving back, in time to catch M55/75.

M55 always strikes me as a big object, and only its inherent dimness stops it from being a showpiece Globular.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable night and have just 4 messiers left for this year, all Low, in a row, though garded by something evil. 

I may need to take out some sort of amulet/Talisman to overcome the "powers".

Mick

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report, lovely read

[swamp thing]

Nice report mick.

May I ask what the skies are like on the isle? It's not that far from me and I wonder if a visit is a worthwhile prospect. Are their areas with low LP?

[mjpfc]

Steve,

            the skies are generally fine, we have some moisture and contrails problems as we are overflown by Southampton and sometimes Gatwick bound arcraft, but LP is confined to our small towns, and the Orange glows to the North of the Solent. When the skies have a reasonably low moisture content in the maritime air they are super.

Both the flat and high ground on the south side of the island has cracking skies with little LP to worry about, hence the

IOW Star party is held at Brightstone Holiday Camp on the SW Coast around March each year.  There are Coastal Car parks and public footpaths around most of the "Chines" along that part of the Island: Whale Chine, Grange Chine, Brook Chine and Sheppards to name a few.

There are also lots of areas of high, downland away and above the town lights that are minutes away from the towns etc.

I use Culver On the Eastern point of the Island (Plenty of public access areas) for the east.

Boniface Down (Above Ventnor) or Black-Gang Viewpoint for the South. 

....and Tennyson/High down in the far west.

I do a lot of Observing simply from my Garden in Sandown, which is surrounded by houses, but that actually cuts out the light from the seafront and streets and gives me a reasonably dark sky most of the time, though too much moisture results in the Urban/Suburban

LP orange glow, signalling time to head for the hills.

As the Island is self contained, non of the areas are much more than 10-15 mintutes from Shop/Pub/accom etc,....

And finally.......

The Vectice Astronomy Society have their Observatory at Newchurch in the middle of the "East Wight" just under Halfway between Sandown and the bustling Metropolis of Newport.  Its in a sports-fields area that is surrounded by trees and quite dark. 

Hope that helps mate,

If you are passing, Im the one sitting by the back door, surrounded by sleeping cats, reading about the Ottoman Empire.

Mick.

[WaveSoarer]

Very nice report and I enoyed reading it.

[Lorne]

Good report Mick, I enjoy reading these, nice to hear of folk out on observing sessions at this time of year especially on targets that will never be visible at 55* N, roll on August when I get some decent darkness back up here 

[Paul73]

Nice to hear about what these should look like.

I spent a good portion of last night hunting about in the 2am twighlight for these babies, only to find faint shadows of the splendours that you describe so ellequantly. I need to head south!!

Paul