A bright Swan and a few others

[jetstream]

This past while has been very busy for me so it's great to be able to obs a bit again. The sky gave up 21.5 mag with above avg transparency for a good while.

The main targets were The Veil,Wisp and the NA neb with its Pelican companion.

The Witches Broom gave up it's "3rd" split very nicely last night - I love when this is easily visible. All was nice and bright with the Veil complex so over to the NA we go...

A quick peak revealed a bright Gulf area with the 21E which indicated a switch to the 30mm ES 82/Lumi OIII. While the 21E/OIII showed the Pelican neb easily, I needed more FOV in order to see the head of the bird, and see I did!

And lastly my evenings challenge- the Little Veil neb (Sh2-91) a bit from Albireo- this "aint easy"... I saw mostly nothing  but I did see a faint shadow of something near 12 cygni...I'll need the best conditions possible here to confirm this one.

Oh & BTW... one look at the Swan Neb and all else was forgotten! So easy naked eye and so dazzling in the scope! I had forgotten about this object and once again it riveted my attention, making all those faint nebulae, faint memories ( for the time being  ). I'll be back.

[Pig]

Great report, it sounds like you had a wonderful night Gerry and it was also well deserved after all of your recent movements

21 seems quite a lucky number for you..... 21 mm Ethos ..... 21 mag skies ...... What else could one possibly wish for

To put the cherry on the cake maybe you should take your yacht for a cruise around "Lake Jetstream"

[Stu]

Fabulous night Gerry, I'm very jealous of your skies!!! Only ever seen the two elements split in the Witches Broom, it must have looked amazing

[YKSE]

Nice report Gerry, I'm looking forward to a little better weather in the coming days, nights actually

[laudropb]

Very nice report. Must have a go at the swan next clear night. Thanks for posting.

[John]

Great report Gerry

[greglloyd]

Great report Gerry, I enjoyed reading it!

Conditions have been very poor here this summer - I've yet to get a single good night out to view the summer sky. It may be early in September before I get a good look at the Veil, etc again.

I did get a short look at the Lagoon a week or two back but it's very low from this latitude. The Swan is a much better target from my back garden. Hope to catch it again soon.

[Piero]

Interesting report Gerry! There is something of amazing in seeing nebulae under a dark sky. Very glad you have a good sky over there!

Thanks for sharing your report.

For beginners like myself, I just add the following link to get some insight to understand the measure "mag with above avg transparency":

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/rate-your-skyglow/

[swamp thing]

And lastly my evenings challenge- the Little Veil neb (Sh2-91) a bit from Albireo- this "aint easy"... I saw mostly nothing  but I did see a faint shadow of something near 12 cygni...I'll need the best conditions possible here to confirm this one.

Good luck with that one Gerry.

Ive tried this a couple of times with my larger scope and have had similar results to you. Its tough.

I'm actually waiting for better conditions myself on this one. Who's gonna get there first.........knowing British weather........you

[PeterW]

Where is it, how big is it? Il give it a crack from the IoW in October then?

Cheers

Peter

[Stu]

I think this is it, just near Alberio. Looks like an empty box to me

[PeterW]

Found some stuff in vilpecula and Cygnus, can't see any note of finding that one though. Looks quite thin and stingy

Cheers

Peter

[jetstream]

Good luck with that one Gerry.

Ive tried this a couple of times with my larger scope and have had similar results to you. Its tough.

I'm actually waiting for better conditions myself on this one. Who's gonna get there first.........knowing British weather........you

I'm not going to hold my breath on this one  I think you will get it first!....well if your weather improves before my 15" is ready...

I look forward to your report on this object Steve.   

[jetstream]

Where is it, how big is it? Il give it a crack from the IoW in October then?

Cheers

Peter

Hi Peter, you may have a better chance at this with your set up than me, I'm still exploring the option. Here is a bit on this object http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/summers-overlooked-deep-sky-objects-08072014/

[PeterW]

If it's transparent then we'll see. This one is quite thin, I might have to console myself with other nebulae instead. Added to my target list.

Petwr

[scarp15]

An interesting new challenge, expect that this will tax a few attempting. Certainly worth a try knowing its there, do not expect to accomplish too much, though who knows. Splendid report, looking good here for Saturday rain rain and some between now and then though.  

[DemosL]

Can someone please explain to me what a 21 magnitude sky is. I started in astronomy in 1969 and I understand the stellar magnitude system, whereby Sirius is -1.6 mag, the Sun is -27 mag, and the dimmest stars visible to the naked eye are 6+ mag. In don't understand 20 and 21 magnitude skies.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[YKSE]

It's just another way of measuring the sky darkness, meauring Magnitude-Per-Square-ArcSecond(MPSAS), instead of the commonly used Naked-Eye Limiting Magnitude(NELM). That 21.5 MPSAS equals 6.4 NELM, You can easily do the coversion using this link

When I was out last night, waiting for darkness to fall, Deneb started to show up, SQM meter showed me 13.0 MPSAS, it was then  -0.7 NELM.

[PeterW]

My urban garden is around 18.5, best possible is around 22. Anything higher is a lie... Or you are underground! Good sites are 21+ but it does not give an indication of transparency that is key to seeing faint stuff.

Peter

[SimonfromSussex]

Nice report Gerry, cannot beat the Swann, beautiful site. It always surprises me how big it actually is with a lovely billow of nebula outside the main shape.

I've never heard of the little veil, def on my list to track it down now, nice one!

Mind you if Steve has struggled this must be a faint one!!!

[DemosL]

It's just another way of measuring the sky darkness, meauring Magnitude-Per-Square-ArcSecond(MPSAS), instead of the commonly used Naked-Eye Limiting Magnitude(NELM). That 21.5 MPSAS equals 6.4 NELM, You can easily do the coversion using this link

When I was out last night, waiting for darkness to fall, Deneb started to show up, SQM meter showed me 13.0 MPSAS, it was then  -0.7 NELM.

Thanks for the explanation. I actually looked it up on the Internet after my post. I found out that a lot of LP is 16, while 21 or 22 are excellent.

[Special K]

Great report! Those bright nebula have a way of imbedding themselves on the memory and a fantastic way to end a session hunting for the faint stuff.

[scarp15]

Traveled North a little, for a dark sky session, NGC7000 within the Gulf of Mexico region was very pronounced tonight with my 8" F6 dobsonian 21E combination. The nebula was so bright and distinct that it almost compared with the Veil. Transparency was very good, stunning contrast within the milkyway and a few late perseids, av SQM reading mag 21.3.   

[jetstream]

Traveled North a little, for a dark sky session, NGC7000 within the Gulf of Mexico region was very pronounced tonight with my 8" F6 dobsonian 21E combination. The nebula was so bright and distinct that it almost compared with the Veil. Transparency was very good, stunning contrast within the milkyway and a few late perseids, av SQM reading mag 21.3.   

Excellent Iain!   Yes the NA neb sure can show well, can't it?! It's amazing this object can be so good in great skies and so mediocre (or worse) in avg skies. There's a nice faint patch off the top end of the Gulf that can be fickle too.

These low power Ethos are MADE for this kind of viewing- IMHO that is  Congrats again...

[Piero]

It's just another way of measuring the sky darkness, meauring Magnitude-Per-Square-ArcSecond(MPSAS), instead of the commonly used Naked-Eye Limiting Magnitude(NELM). That 21.5 MPSAS equals 6.4 NELM, You can easily do the coversion using this link

When I was out last night, waiting for darkness to fall, Deneb started to show up, SQM meter showed me 13.0 MPSAS, it was then  -0.7 NELM.

Thanks Yong!

Looking at the this map (http://www.lightpollutionmap.info), the site on the Dolomites where I observed in the beginning of August was around 21.5. The view of the Milky way crossing the deep sky from Perseus to Sagittarius was really pretty as well as the clarity of dsos.