Saturday night - a dewey session but a lovely one.

[hgjevans]

Last Saturday night promised some clear skies later on, although the evening was cloudy here. I set up and aligned the mount while it was still twilight - there was just enough clarity for me to see Polaris, though not enough at that stage to make it worth observing. One of my weather apps suggested that the light clouds would be past in a couple of hours, so I put the scope out to cool and went back indoors to work on my target list - a bunch of clusters in Cassiopeia and Perseus, the Cat's Eye nebula, M15 and M2, M33, and I would have another go at spotting M74, albeit more in hope than expectation.

At about 10ish it looked as though there were enough clear patches to make a start, and I went out, but only to find that the scope was now covered in dew! It was the first issue I had had with dew since last winter. The mirrors were fine, but the finder scope was dripping wet. So, I hoiked the scope back into the garage and got to work with the hair-dryer. A couple of minutes sorted it, but It was obvious from the clammy feel out in the garden that if I went back out with it and started observing I would have the same problem half an hour later - possibly with the mirrors too. So I left the scope in the garage and went back in to wait an hour or two. 

At around midnight the skies were now almost completely clear, and the dew seemed mostly to have settled out, so my session was back on. The target list pretty much had to go - the two Messier globulars were by this time behind a tree, and the Cassiopeia clusters high up, and getting higher all the time. I wasn't keen on observing that near the zenith with dew around, so they had to go too.

The Cat's Eye (NGC 6543), happily, was perfectly placed. Zeta Draconis was my starting point - just one degree up in declination, and 50 minutes back in right ascension and there it was - very small in my 24mm eyepiece, and very blue. Much brighter than I was prepared for - it was clearly nebulous, even at this low (42x) magnification. At higher powers its elongated and somewhat mottled profile was evident, and its blueness remained, but I couldn't see any structures beyond that. Still, it was a lovely bright planetary nebula with tantalizing hints of more to be seen - I dare say perhaps with bigger apertures and/or darker skies.

I turned my attention then to one of the lower Perseus clusters that was still on my hastily revised list - NGC 1528. Someone (sorry, I forget who) drew attention to this on SGL the other day and I made a mental note of it as worthy of a look, so I was glad to be able to get the scope on it. And it was indeed a fine cluster - large, with a lovely 'horseshoe' shape formed by maybe seven or eight mag9/10 stars being its most distinctive feature.

Improvising off the list now, I thought I'd get my first view of the season of the Auriga Messiers - or a couple of them anyway. They weren't really that high up yet, but M37 and M38 were still worth a look. The highlight though was NGC 1907, just about half a degree south of M38. This little cluster appeared nebulous in my direct view, but a dozen or so resolved stars winked into existence with a little averted vision. 

A little session with the binoculars kept me busy for a while, and allowed me to hunt for those Cassiopeia clusters without risking a dewed-up primary mirror, but eventually I went back to the scope to look at some galaxies. It was getting on for 2am now, and both M33 and the M31 group were more or less at their highest points. The sky was really clear, and M33 gave me the best view I've had of it. I know it would be better from a darker site, but I'm just delighted I can see it at all from here! M31 likewise was looking great, with hints of its darker lanes, and M32 and M110 standing out clearly, all together in the field of my 24mm.

Encouraged, I went for M74. At least it's easy to locate, if not actually to see: following the line from Hamal through Sheratan (alpha and beta Arietis), on to eta Piscium, this spiral galaxy sits just under 1.5 degrees back and a little below the line. It took me a few moments, but before long the tell-tale smudge of a galaxy core was unmistakeable. Switching to my 16mm eyepiece brought it out marginally better, but that was as far as I could go with higher powers. A vague sense of structure beyond the core probably owed more to my imagination than actual observation, but once again it left me confident that given a darker sky some time there would be more to see with this one.

Rather frustratingly, I now noticed that M15 and M2 had, while I had been absorbed with the galaxies, emerged from behind the tree and disappeared again behind another one on their way towards the western horizon. I consoled myself with a quick look at M81 and M82, since Ursa Major was now rising in the north-north-east. After the more southerly galaxies they were disappointing, and it was a few minutes before I found the cause. As I struggled to reacquire them after turning the tube in the rings for a more comfortable viewing position, I spotted that the finderscope was dewed up again. A quick look though the empty focusser with the red torch pointing down the tube revealed dew all over the secondary mirror as well. It was gone 3am now, and I decided that was my cue to pack up for the night. One last job before that, though - I went round to the front of the house with my binoculars, where Orion was now rising, and trained them on M42. The first time with these bins, and the view was a fine end to the session - or as fine as it could be with a street light barely thirty yards away and directly under my line of sight.

And that was it - all done and back indoors by 3:20am. One last look out of the window before I went to bed - Venus was rising in the east, looking quite orangey that low down. My target list had been largely abandoned, but another one had emerged in its place, and I was more than satisfied with a lovely three-hour session.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report of a lovely session

[Stu]

Great session, and great perseverance battling the dew . Dew shields don't do much good looking up at the zenith do they?

Nice range of objects. M74 is a tricky little blighter, only seen it once from a dark site as I recall. Well done for spotting it.

[Mike73]

Really nice report, so many great objects in there!

[hgjevans]

Thanks everyone - glad it was of some interest. 

[Piero]

Very nice report!  

I saw the Cat's eye last night too and I was also surprised to see how bright it was. I expected much less! 

[hgjevans]

Thanks Piero - yes, the Cat's Eye is remarkably bright. I had another look at it this evening - the waxing gibbous moon hardly mattered, though I suppose it's just the main core that I'm seeing.