How Low Can You Go?

[dick_dangerous]

Hi All,

So last night the forecast came up - clear skies. It was a school night and the middle of July, so never properly dark and certainly hard to see much until 11.30 at the earliest. Oh, and in London it never gets properly dark, just that gorgeous deep blue with the orange glow around the horizon. All the same I thought "What the heck?" - I might have had a totally insane day at work today but that's what coffee's for. Plus I managed to be incredibly productive in spite of the lack of sleep.

My goal was, as the title suggests, to see how low I could go. Possibly one could meld astronomy with limbo dancing: the penalty for hitting the bar being that you have to recollimate the telescope. I had a little list of objects to attempt, mostly first-time sights in the Dobsonian, and all but one of them I succeeded on...

• Saturn - limbering up on planets with a warm telescope is a terrible idea, but by the time I'm set up and ready in the park, it's pretty cool anyway. Seeing was alright - I had the Cassini Division and a bit of subtle banding on the surface, but I spent a great deal of time with the ringed wonder.
• Mars - teeny weeny it is now, and very clearly presenting a gibbous phase. Other than that there was precious little else to see - perhaps a hint of an ice cap, but nothing like the views a few months ago. Roll on 2016!
• M19 - My first attempt saw me lug the telescope around trying to get a view around the oak tree by my observing site. It was no good though, so I had to wheel my kit further into the park. In spite of the move M19 was stubbornly not visible, even after several false alarms, so I switched my focus...
• M17 - How cool is the Omega Nebula? I'd found it the first time last year, and it's easy enough to locate, but the Dob revealed much more detail, especially with the UHC filter and my 15mm BST. Entrancing, and now a firm favourite. It was also at this point that a passing dog walker on their phone shone a light in my eyes as I was desperately trying to shield them. The trials of being an amateur astronomer in a London park...
• M16 - I had a scan around M24, but that's one for the ST80 if ever there was one, then I shifted on up from the Omega to a new one for me, M16. The cluster was clearly visible and, with the UHC filter, there were hints of nebulosity, although I wouldn't swear to it. Certainly not as spectacular under my London skies, but worth a look next time I'm out of town at the right time of year...
• M8 - the Lagoon was slightly lacklustre tonight - possibly due to its elevation. A few wisps around the clusters and the UHC didn't make much difference. I'll try it again come August. Could have been worse -  couldn't even find the Triffid.
• M19 (Again) - Attempt two, and I wrestled with my torch and TL@O until finally I managed to star-hop to 26 Oph and from there to M19 which was visible this time, a slightly elongated blur in the EP.
• M62 - With M19 in the bag I went further south and pushed the boat out with M62. Somehow, I don't know how exactly, I managed to fetch up on the right spot and was rewarded by a surprisingly bright and diffuse round blur. At 8 degrees this was seriously low by London standards, glowing through the smog. I did try to find M6 after this but, as expected, it was impossible to locate with none of the finder stars easily visible. M6 and M7 should be viewable later on this month, so once the moon's out the way I might have another crack at them, but for now they remain my Messier nemeses.
• M11 - Well I couldn't finish up on that, so I had a quick look at what would be a first with the Dob - The Wild Ducks. That blew my socks off frankly - what was sparkling blur in the ST80 is a dense collection of stars in the Dob. What lovelier way is there to finish off a night's observing.

So while you might have to stay up into the wee hours, it's well worth even a little effort with a clear sky at this time of year. Reminded me why I love to observe in the summer, and roll on a few more clear nights!

DD

[cotterless45]

Some lovely finds there. M11 is a very beautiful cluster, never tire of it.

When it's possible I try and get down to the south Kent coast. The views south down the channel are wonderful and it gets darker sooner than here.

We've a huge oak in the adjacent school , it's right over the low ecliptic and due south. In addition the glowing town lights that area up, so it's difficult from here,

Nick.

[andrew63]

That's a nice list for a summer night.   For M6 and 7 you don't really need guide stars as they are bright.  Try a sweep in binoculars down the tail from Antares -  will show them very nicely.

andrew

[acey]

Well done DD. At my latitude (55.1 degrees) it's all-night twilight at this time of the year, but your post set me wondering how low I've managed. My horizon limit is -34.9 degrees (55.1-90), and the lowest DSO I can think of that I've seen is M83, at declination -29.9 degrees, i.e. 5 degrees at most above my horizon.

[dick_dangerous]

I'm toying with the idea of going out again tonight. It's a school night, yes, but these clear nights don't grow on trees this year. Plus the sky is looking very good right now. I'm sure a big blob of cirrus cloud will drift over to spoil my fun...

DD