Delamere forest 19/12/2014

[Daniel-K]

it was the 18/12/2014 when i checked the forcast and it said to be clear for the following night so i rang the usal  suspects to arrange a night in the forest, they must have though has he even looked  out the window today at all? me being a eager beaver likes to get out whenever i can and with the moon out the way there was no way i was missing missing this chance.

the Friday came and after work i checked the forcast and TBH it wasn't looking good it was tipping down in Halewood around 17miles from our local dark spot. after checking sat24 for a while i decided it was still a go as we could get some decent breaks with the cloud hanging up on the edge of Ireland.

The drive to the forest wasnt so pretty it was lashing down and with Graham already there, there was no pulling out. i arrived about 5PM to be greeted with patchy sky but damn! it was crisp in bewtween the cloud. I decided not to set up right away due to some naughty looking clouds coming in. Graham had been around the forest most of the day and said there has been no rain at all today, i couldn't believe it but the floor was bone dry. Time for a brew and a cake  

I set up after the cloud had littery dissipated above our heads and the sky was full of stars. Unfortunately i missed this gap as Graham my scopes personal seamstress (made covers for all my scopes) had made me a rain proof cover and needed to do some final fittings. good job aswell cause we had a brief shower then it was clear again.

By the time the next gap was here i was ready to rock n roll. armed with my new 20mm & 14mm ES 100'S there was nothing that was going to stand in my way.

Andromeda was nicely placed and what better to start with than a stunning side on Galaxy NGC891 i like to use Almach as the pointer to find this and dont forget Almach is a stunning double with blue & orange stars. A little bit of scanning with the 20mm and gotcha. i upped the mag to 132x with the 14mm ES100'S . The Galaxy was showing great dark rift across the center and it was stretching near the full length of the EP .I shouted Graham over but before he could look a small bit of cloud had come in but patients and when the cloud blew over he gave a mighty "look at the size of that"! lol the image scale is incredible jumping up 2" in aperture  is well worth IMHO especially if you like going to dark sites.

NGC404 next to Mirach was next this makes a excellent excellent object as Mirach is deep orange and is booming with contrast. The Galaxy it self is quite faint and needs good condition's to spot. it doesnt have a bright core but its elliptical shape is quite stunning.

I tried to catch the veil but it was too low and was disappointing.There was a bank of cloud heading in but we could see it was clear behind it so the kettle went on.Barry turned up at half 7 with his new 18mm ES 82.

Aurga was nicely placed and we done the rounds as these never get boring M36 M37 & M38 & NGC 1907  all looked super in the 20mm ES 100.

while still in the area there is a small PN next to MENKALINAN IC2149 you dont need a OIII or UHC to see this but it does help i put the Astronomik UCH filter in the 14mm and it stood out very well with a small fuzzy halo.

Gemini was rising  high and i quick look at M35 before moving on to the Eskimo nebula.

i started off with the 20mm 100ES with no filter and instantly i knew it would show some good detail i could clearly see the bright creamy core and blue fuzzy halo. i equip  the howie galtter parralizer with the 2" Astronomik UHC and inserted the 7mm 1.25" nirvana which gave me 264x

 

the howie glatter is a 1.25" reducer which is threaded at the bottom to take filters so you dont have to buy two different size filters 

 

what i saw next was the best view of the eskimo i have ever seen.i instantly picked out circular filaments in between the blue halo and the creamy core. this was the first time ive seen these. i could have spent at least an hour looking but  no knowing when the cloud would turn up all 3 of us had a look and then moved on 

 

has anyone else observed these circular filaments?

 

M1 was next armed with the 14mm and UHC it was showing bright mottled patches with dark rifts very good but from a dark site this DSO really does sing.

 

we had to rush to get the cover on as we looked up there where some dark clouds and it just started raining. the rain only lasted about 2mins.

 

i failed at a few objects aswell but the most annoying one for me is NGC 2419  this has evaded me for years!!! 

 

NGC 1700 by the star Cursa by Orion is a really diffuse galaxy it took some time to find this i think its around Mag 13 but well worth a look as its quite big.

M42 was blazing in the 14mm showing off really fine intricate wisps of nebula the running man was also very easy to see on the night.

 

M82 showed some really nice structure with the dark x showing clearly at 132x 

 

we had a good night with around 4 hours of observing but tiredness got to us all and packed up at 12:30am i was very happy as this was the first proper run for the scope and it is so nice to use. im happy with the quality of the mirror.

 

Merry xmas & clear skys!

 

Dan   

[cotterless45]

Wow ! Super report. I've loved seeing the dark lane through NGC 891 from a dark site. The Eskimo has been good , even from town. We see the halo, which is very fine. It's been cloud chasing Olympic style recently,

Nick.

[Scooot]

Yes wonderful write up. I think you're going to have many more great nights with that scope Dan.

[Special K]

Fantastic report, Dan, and Merry Christmas to you too! +1 for the Eskimo, it's easy to find and so often rewarding. Definitely not seen those details from my part of the woods