Quite a session !!!

[John]

I kept it simple tonight. Just a small box of Tele Vue plossls plus the 12" dobsonian and Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.

Nice clear night but the seeing was not too stable so after having a peek at Jupiter and watching the Great Red Spot through some of it's transit I moved on to my usual fare in the Orion region of the sky examining M42 and M43 with and without filters, picking out E & F Trapezium, using the 2.5x Powermate to give enough power to split 32 Orionis and then the 8mm plossl to pick the Pup star out from Sirius's glimmering skirts. So far so good.

Moved on to Gemini to split Castor have a browse through the sprawling cluster M35 and a squint at the hazy faint mass of stars that make up NGC 2158 laying in the fringes of M35. Upped the magnification again and got some nice views at 199x of NGC 2392, the Eskimo Nebula using averted vision to pick up the dual-core structure and some interesting contrast features in the inner core that surrounds the central star.

As the sky was clear and dark I thought I'd better give my regards to comet Lovejoy Q2 which is currently in Andromeda. It's still a lovely low power sight with clear hints of a long straight tail across most of the field of view of the 32mm Tele Vue plossl eyepiece. As I was in the area, so to speak it seemed rude not to pay a visit to M76, the Little Dumbell Nebula. I've not observed this for a long time and what a lovely little nebula it is. It's clear bar shaped form does indeed look like a miniature version of it's brighter and much larger cousin in Vulpecula that will be on show later in the year, in the warmer (hopefully) months. 

I took a break at that point for a warming cup of coffee and a look at my nice little Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas to pick some further targets. As Ursa Major had risen to a decent altitude I thought I'd have a look at a few galaxies in that constellation. I'm not normally a great galaxy or faint deep sky object hunter because my skies at home have some light pollution, neighbouring houses and quite a few trees in awkward positions. For some reason tonight though I had a rush of blood to the head and decided to see how many galaxies I could actually spot in the Ursa Major / Canes Venatici / Ursa Minor ans Cepheus area of the sky. After a couple of highly engaging hours, much to my surprise I'd managed to see and positively identify (to the best of my ability) quite a few. Here is tonights Ursa Major / Canes Venatici / Ursa Minor galaxy list more or less in the order that I spotted them (apologies if some of these belong to a nearby constellation instead !):

M 51, M 101, M 108, M 109, M 63, M 81, M 82

NGC 5195, NGC 4100, NGC 4036, NGC 3945, NGC 4102, NGC 3077, NGC 2976, NGC 5473, NGC 3953, NGC 3738, NGC 3756, NGC 3729, NGC 3718,

NGC 3631, NGC 3982, NGC 3998, NGC 3898, NGC 6217, NGC 2300, NGC 2276.

This was going pretty well - I'd intended to see if I could see 10 galaxies in this area but actually managed 27 ! I'd actually spotted a fair few more but I've only listed the one's where I was fairly confident of the identity. 

Encouraged and somewhat in a "galaxy mood" I switched my attention across the sky to the Leo / Virgo / Coma Berenices area to see how many more I could add to the list. Here is my galaxy tally from that part of the sky:

M 95, M 96, M 105, M 65, M 66, M 85, M 100, M 99, M98, M64

NGC 3226, NGC 3227, NGC 3193, NGC 3190, NGC 3162, NGC 3384, NGC 3412, NGC 3377, NGC 3367, NGC 3596, NGC 3628, NGC 3593, NGC 3681,

NGC 3684, NGC 3686, NGC 3655, NGC 3626, NGC 3608, NGC 3646, NGC 4394

Wow ! - a further 30 galaxies picked up from another really rich galactic hunting ground.

I allowed myself a little fun to end the session having a look at the globular clusters M 53 in Coma Berenices and my old favorites of M 13 and M 92 in Hercules that were just reaching an observable height in the sky.

So what started as an unambitious session ended up as a 4 hour deep sky exploration with my personal tally of galaxies receiving a huge boost. The final total was 24 Messier objects and 42 from the New General Catalogue, 57 galaxies, 4 nebulae and 5 clusters. Plus some nice doubles, Jupiter and the lovely comet of course.

There are plenty more galaixes out there to be seen as well. Tonights conditions were good but I do get darker nights and I don't think any of the galaxies I spotted were fainter than magnitude 12, most being brighter. I have got down to magnitude 13 or so on really good nights so I have more scope there.

A number of the galaxies that I spotted tonight will repay a further visit. M64 is the famous Black Eye Galaxy and I did spend a little time using averted vision and a little more magnification which showed the dark dust lane running across it.  Many of these galaxies are paired in the 1 degree field of the 32mm Tele Vue plossl and some even show as triplets, including the famous Leo Triplet of M65, M66 and NGC 3628. I expect quads and quintriplets await darker skies !

Overall a fantastic session using relatively simple equipment (no wide angle eyepieces !!!) some mugs of hot coffee and a straightforward but accurate guidebook.

Sorry about the lengthy post but this is probably one of my most enjoyable and productive observing nights ever and I wanted to get it all down before I hit the sack. Thanks for reading this, if you did !

[alan potts]

A great report on what seemed a very good night at the scope and not an Ethos in sight. I only have two TV Plossl's and I have to say I am finding them a bit hard work at the moment. I don't much like them with the eye-guard up and can see why recently I read someone had one that had been cut down. They are jolly good sharp tools though for the outlay new even and I guess I just need to get to known them, one should never judge something on only a few hours knowing.

Alan

[Stu]

No need to apologise John, a cracking read, and an amazing list of targets observed.

I'm very jealous, don't knock your light pollution, I can only dream of seeing these from home so you are lucky to have such good skies.

Out of interest, when warming with your coffee during breaks, do you manage to stay dark adapted?

[cotterless45]

Neat report, was hoping that others were out enjoying the skies.

Making a hot drink is a minefield, especially keeping one eye closed ! There's the fridge white light, the kettle blue light and for that hot milky effect, the glare of the microwave.

So rare to get no Moon, clear sky and a hot drink, hurrah !

Nick.

[Paul73]

And I thought that I had a good session!! My Galaxy fest now looks a bit tame. Must try harder tonight!

The only parallels between our sessions was, they were both loosely planned mooches and massively enjoyable. Sometimes we are so intent on working through a list that we forget to enjoy it.

Paul

[Stu]

Was cloudy here last night Nick, I'm hoping tonight is going to be good though

[John]

I'm lucky in that the patio that I do most of my observing from is about 3 paces through some french windows into our dining room. I keep low light in there and make a large flask of coffee. I don't go to huge lengths to stay dark adapted though. There is little point when a neighbour can switch on their kitchen light at any time just a few metres away and I just have to get on with it.

I'm afraid I like viewing in some comfort so I don't stay out for hours on end.

Given my "soft" approach I'm pleased that I can at least get a decent haul of faint fuzzies when the mood takes me

Alan: I know what you mean about the eye cups on some of the shorter focal length TV plossls. Last night for 95% of the time during my galaxy hunting I was using the 32mm which is probably not the optimum exit pupil for me or my skies at 6mm but it makes sweeping the faint opjects up relatively easy. For a few galaxies I switched to the 20mm or 15mm plossl for a closer view once I had them in my sights.

From the off last night I intended to solely use the TV plossl / Powermate set for all observing to see if I could live with them if I decided to part with my wide fields. The answer was a fairly resounding "yes". At no point during the evening did I find myself tempted to slip an Ethos into the drawtube but I still had a great time, which is what it's all about

I hope you get a good night tonight Stu

[Stu]

I'm lucky in that the patio that I do most of my observing from is about 3 paces through some french windows into our dining room. I keep low light in there and make a large flask of coffee. I don't go to huge lengths to stay dark adapted though. There is little point when a neighbour can switch on their kitchen light at any time just a few metres away and I just have to get on with it.

I'm afraid I like viewing in some comfort so I don't stay out for hours on end.

Given my "soft" approach I'm pleased that I can at least get a decent haul of faint fuzzies when the mood takes me

Alan: I know what you mean about the eye cups on some of the shorter focal length TV plossls. Last night for 95% of the time during my galaxy hunting I was using the 32mm which is probably not the optimum exit pupil for me or my skies at 6mm but it makes sweeping the faint opjects up relatively easy. For a few galaxies I switched to the 20mm or 15mm plossl for a closer view once I had them in my sights.

From the off last night I intended to solely use the TV plossl / Powermate set for all observing to see if I could live with them if I decided to part with my wide fields. The answer was a fairly resounding "yes". At no point during the evening did I find myself tempted to slip an Ethos into the drawtube but I still had a great time, which is what it's all about

I hope you get a good night tonight Stu

Regarding widefield eyepieces, I've found the same John. I'm not saying I don't love them, but I have found myself going whole sessions with just my travel case which is a set of BGO's, a Nag Zoom, a couple of TV Plossls and a 24mm Panoptic. No issues with scope balance and very easy to use. The biggest pain is the difference in focus position of the BGO's vs others.

Lovely sunny day here so I'm getting some solar in, and will then pop the VX10L out tonight for my first light with it.

Stu

[faulksy]

lovely report john and what a feast you had, cant believe you picked off so many galaxys in ursa major thats great going.

to big mak good luck tonight, look foward to your first light report with the vx10

[Qualia]

Aye, quite a session, John and cracking report to boot! Great stuff It also makes a great case for keeping things simple; that to have a successful and enjoyable evening one doesn't need more than a couple of simple Plossls and clear skies

It was interesting to see you visited 3190 and to make no reference to anything odd near its bright core. I feel that is confirmation of my own enquiry.

Here the weather is still terrible; rain, cloud and more rain, so absolutely no chance of heading out. Bit frustrating really.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great report John - I really liked your Orion Dob so great for DSOs. The amount I saw last night with the VX8 just makes me hungry for a larger Orion scope with the Hilux coating.

[laudropb]

Wow. What a session. An inspiration to us all to keep things simple and enjoy our great hobby

[bish]

That's one hell of a session. I've done all nighters from 6pm to 6am and not achieved so much. It's nights like these that make all the cloud and frustration worth it.

[John]

Thanks for all the comments folks

It was a great night and good fun although it's not the way I generally observe hence the "rush of blood to the head" comment in my report. Normally I spend quite a bit of time on relatively few objects even over the 4 hours session. For some reason last night something got a grip on me that pushed me to see just how many galaxies I could actually pick out. Most did not get much observing time in all honesty and I will be returning to quite a few to give them the attention that they deserve.

What it did prove to me was that, despite my reservations about the limitations of my back garden as a DSO observing site, there is plenty of opportunity out there if I pick the parts of the sky with a little care. During the session I swept my scope through the "bowl" of Virgo and saw lots more faint fuzzies so although by that time I was tired and I'd have to have started a systematic sweep / star hop to be sure what I was actually looking at. Those are waiting for another night

[FenlandPaul]

Great report, John. That's a staggering number of galaxies in one evening!! Very inspiring and will plan a session to pick a few off in the near future.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[PeterW]

Half a "messier marathon"! If get an eyepatch of some sort to keep you dark eye dark if you need to do the occasional indoor trip.

Cheers

Peter

[John]

Good idea Peter

I'll take some ribbing from my family but I have thick skin over my hobby (but don't enjoy getting too cold !).

[acr_astro]

Hi John,

Wow! Nice report of a great session!

Clear Skies!

Achim

[John]

Thanks Achim

I got the Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas quite recently and it was my guide for the night. It's not as advanced as some deep sky charts but it seems very accurate. What added to the fun was that I didn't do any pre-research on the objects I was hunting. I just saw them on the chart near where my scope had just been pointing and tried to find them. With the exception of a couple of objects I managed to find all the ones I tried for but until I saw something in the eyepiece I had no idea whether it would be a large or small object, bright or faint. It sort of added to the fun

[PeterW]

I prefer to know a bit about thobjects, just to make sure that they aren't too small or too faint bencore I spend a good amount of time hunting. My personal best tally for an all nighter was around 60 objects... Not very accurate count as some fields of view almost certainly containd multiple objects and so I just "estimated" the number of numbers objects.

PEterW

[John]

I prefer to know a bit about thobjects, just to make sure that they aren't too small or too faint bencore I spend a good amount of time hunting. My personal best tally for an all nighter was around 60 objects... Not very accurate count as some fields of view almost certainly containd multiple objects and so I just "estimated" the number of numbers objects.

PEterW

I'd usually do a bit of research too but I went a bit "out of character" for the session I've described here