Febuary's observing

[Casus belli]

I’ve had a few nights out with the scope this month. It’s been a month of enjoyable frustrations. I’d planned on observing the realm of galaxies at the tail of Leo but had always been thwarted. Cloud, the moon, neighbours lights, geography, horizon crud and my own stupidity had all conspired against me.

The one really calm, clear night I had I set up the scope early to catch the setting half moon. I left the scope out while the moon set and Leo rose. I returned to the scope in perfect conditions 4 hours later expecting to be swamped by galaxies. However silly old me had forgotten all about dew formation didn’t he? I did spot a couple of faint fuzzies but I couldn’t identify them. I then wrote a long post for these forums which got eaten just as I was finishing it.

Last Sunday I set up the scope early evening before a nearly full moon rose and washed out the sky. Just as I finished coliminating my brother Brian appeared. Despite my neighbours back light being on I was able to give him a pretty good show. The double cluster and M34 cluster in Perseus, M36,37 and 38 in Auriga, M45, M44 and a particularly nice viewing of the Orion nebulae which really impressed him. Basically all binocular targets as I gave him a pair of binos recently. I finished by showing him M31 and finally Saturn. (Save the best till last) He was really excited by the fact that He could see three of Saturn’s moons.

We went in for a cuppa just as my other brother Sandy appeared. Brian went home to thaw out while Sandy and I went out. My neighbours turned out their lights just as we went out so Sandy got the best of the nights viewing. M31 now showed both companion galaxies, Saturn now showed 6 moons, Mars gave a hint of surface detail and a faint nearby pinprick of light which on a later look at stellarium was probably Deimos.

Now there’s a fair bit of sibling rivalry between Sandy and myself. We always belittle each others hobbies. He has his gliding (wouldn’t an engine be easier?) and sky-diving (why would anyone jump from a perfectly good plane?) So tonight was his chance for revenge.

ME

“This is M51, a pair of colliding galaxies!”

HIM

“Oh yes I can see them fine” PAUSE “Is this going to take long?” Oh yes, very funny Sandy.

Much the same with the Orion Nebulae.

ME

“It’s where new stars are born”

HIM

“I’ve been looking at this for 5 minutes now and I haven’t seen a single new star”

I hope he gets eaten by an eagle. Still revenge was mine as I played the laser coliminator on his back, knowing that my cat Gnasher would pounce. :hello1:

Now on to my real reason for posting. (I do prattle on a bit don’t I?) Last night 27th of Feb. Fairly good conditions. No moon or neighbours lights. Some high cloud and a bit of a breeze. Not bad but not really that good.

Saturn looked good with some faint banding, a hint of a Cassini division and 6 moons. Mars a featureless blob. My usual targets of M31 and M42 not visible from my location. The breeze picked up a bit so I swapped eyepieces from 26mm to 40mm for a look at the beehive (Simply stunning) M36,37 and 38 all looked nice. Managed to get M51 with the 40mm which I was really pleased with. Time for a cuppa and a warm up.

When I went back out the breeze had dropped so I changed back to the 2” 26mm E.P. I spotted M95, 96 and 105 near Saturn and found M65 and 66 without to much bother. A look for M98 etc showed hints of fuzzy blobs but nothing I could positively identify. Ah well conditions aren’t that great I thought, they’ll keep for another night. I looked for M64 in Coma Berenices and found an elongated fuzzy blob with a hint of darkness running through it. I knew it wasn’t M64 having seen this before. I went in to warm up (It was cold last night) and to check stellarium. Nothing in Stellarium but my “Skywatching” book gave me NGC 4565 a new galaxy for me. Hooray! I also found my original target, M64

I was going to call it a night but there’s always something else you want to see isn’t there. I just had to have another look for the realm of galaxies. I spy a fuzzy, wait, two fuzzies, no three fuzzies in a line. I know what this is! M58, 59 and 60 with M60 showing its companion galaxy. Just above are m89, 90 and 87 and above them and in the same fov is M84 and 86.

I grabbed a pencil and piece of paper and made a rough sketch. I’ve got 14 galaxies marked but the above named ones are the only ones I could positively identify. To say I was pleased is the understatement of the year.

My back is aching and I’m frozen stiff…Hang on is that Vega peeping round that house. If so then Hercules must be there so I’ll have a quick look at M13. I’ve seen M13 before with my ETX 90 and once before with this scope on a cloudy, moon spoiled night. I line up on where I thought it would be and was mystified and delighted to see a pair of beautiful orange stars of equal magnitude Turned out I was looking at Draco and by chance had found V1 and V2 dra.

I find M13 through the Bino’s and realise that I’m going to have to wait for it to clear the house before I can see it….unless that is I just drag the scope into a more favourable spot. Ah the joys of no go-to!

M13 is the most stunning object I have ever seen especially through the 13mm pentax. A whiteish/blueish blob with gold dust sprinkled through it. M92 is fainter and only marginally less impressive. And finally I’m rewarded with my first view of M57 for several months. It’s beautiful despite being low down.

Thats got to be the best night I've ever had. I doubt if I'll ever see so many new objects in one night again

[GazOC]

Much the same with the Orion Nebulae.

ME

“It’s where new stars are born”

HIM

“I’ve been looking at this for 5 minutes now and I haven’t seen a single new star”

Now thats funny..

Great report, you certainly bagged plenty of objects.

[jgs001]

Excellent report that. Thanks.