Last day

[Piero]

Thankfully, the sky was mostly clear, so I managed to have my last observation with this dobson before coming back to the UK tomorrow.

An evening full of pleasant surprises, particularly considering the amount of light pollution over here. Overall, I had a fantastic evening. I hope the following report can give a small insight of it.

What is sure is that I will miss this Dob.. no doubt!

.. but this means that I WILL take my TV60 to darker places more often to compensate for the lack of aperture!  

Date 30/12/2015b
Time 18:00-23:30
Location Venice Area, Italy
Altitude 8m
Temperature 1C (6 km/h)
Seeing 2 - Slight undulations
Transparency 4 - Partly clear
Telescopes Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200 F6
Eyepieces Panoptic 24, Nagler 13, Nagler 7, PM2.5x
Filters Astronomik UHC, OIII

M38 Aur Opn CL 50x, 92x
Starfish cluster. One of the best open cluster in Auriga.

M45 Tau Opn CL 50x
Although the 24 Pan did not cover the cluster completely, the view was very pretty. It seemed to me a faint hint of nebulosity surrounded the brightest stars.

IC348 Per CL+Neb 50x
Located at the bottom of Perseus, next to Omicron Per (Atik). I did not manage to see any nebulosity, but the cluster is quite pretty.

Zeta Per Mlt Star 50x
I was not aware that this is a star multiple system. I should have tried a bit more power and see whether the 11 mag star was detectable via averted vision. The system is also beautiful at 50x though.

M77 Cet Galaxy 50x, 92x, 125x
Cetus A, the brightest Seyfert galaxy. It's a barred spiral active galaxy located 47mly away from us and with apparent mag 9.6. Seyfert galaxies and quasars are the two largest groups of active galaxies. From wikipedia: "They [seyfert galaxies] have quasar-like nuclei (very luminous, distant and bright sources of electromagnetic radiation) with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, their host galaxies are clearly detectable". While observing this galaxy I literally fell in love with these small faint targets . I was capture by a sublime and exotic thought of very distant targets, new forms of intelligent life spread across the universe, and different galactic islands separated by this silent dark vacuum. There is a chance I will become a galaxy junkie one day!

NGC1807 Tau Opn CL 50x, 92x
It forms a pair with NGC1817. The two clusters are moderately compact clusters located between Orion and Taurus.

NGC1817 Tau Opn CL 50x, 92x
See NGC1807.

NGC1662 Ori Opn CL 50x, 92x
Located on Orion's shield, this cluster has a few blue bright stars and a couple of red ones. Quite pretty.

Beta Ori Dbl Star 50x, 92x
Rigel. I could spot the partner star at 50x but the separation was obvious and better at 92x.

Delta Ori Dbl Star 50x +/- OIII
Mintaka. Easy double star on Orion's belt.

NGC1990 Ori Neb 50x +/- OIII
I was looking for the nebulosity surrounding Alnilam. Tricky to say whether the detectable hint of nebulosity was due to the real nebula or the star brightness though.

Zeta Ori Dbl Star 50x +/- OIII
Alnitak. I should have tried higher magnifications.

Sigma Ori Mlt Star 50x, 92x, 125x, 171x, 231x
I managed to see four and three stars on the top and bottom groups respectively. This was already at 92x.

M78 Ori Neb 50x, 92x +/- OIII
Star hopping from Zeta Ori (Alnitak). I really wonder how Messier managed to spot this target as it is quite faint to me. It might be a challenge for me due to the light pollution in this geographical area though. An OIII filters helps, although the target remains faint.

NGC1981 Ori Opn CL 50x
Open cluster located north of Orion's sword. It is formed by few bright stars.

NGC1977 Ori Neb 50x +/- OIII or UHC
Nebulosity was visible with either UHC or OIII filters. Located right below NGC1981.

M43 Ori Neb 50x +/- OIII or UHC
Nebulosity was visible with either UHC or OIII filters. Located right below NGC1977.

M42 Ori Neb 50x, 125x, 171x, 231x +/- OIII or UHC
Majestic nebula. Shadows and shades near the trapezium were visible, making this nebula a lovely target. The trapezium was well distinct: stars from A-F visible without much difficulty at all magnifications. No detections of stars fainter than F.

NGC1980 Ori Neb 50x +/- OIII or UHC
Nebulosity was visible with either UHC or OIII filters. Located right below M42.

M79 Lep Glob CL 50x, 92x, 125x
From Alpha Lep (Arneb) follow the line to Beta Lep (Nihal) and move South for another segment of similar length until the double star HIP25045 (mag 5.3). Due to light pollution, the observation of this globular cluster was limited. I found the best view at 92x. A bit of star granulation was detectable with difficulty at the borders.

NGC2204 CMa Opn CL 50x
Finding this cluster under light pollution was quite painful, and eventually it disappointed me. After viewing images of this cluster, I realised it required dark skies in order to be appreciated. It is formed by many faint stars, which I could not see.

M50 Mon Opn CL 50x, 92x, 125x
Heart-shaped cluster. Star hopping from Alpha CMa (Sirius). Lovely cluster with a nice red star in it.

NGC2301 Mon Opn CL 50x, 92x, 125x
Heard about this cluster from Nick, and I am very glad I observed it. It is a gorgeous open cluster with a weird shape. At 50x, a chain of stars lead to a close shape. It reminded me of a vacuum cleaner. At 92x many dim stars were visible. From the central base, another star branch is found. Mostly formed by blue stars, although two-three red stars are also present.

M47 Pup Opn CL 50x, 92x, 125x
This is a bright, moderately large open cluster. Really pretty.

M46 Pup Opn CL 50x, 92x, 125x
Located South of M47, this is much dimmer than M47. I wanted to try to spot the planetary nebula near the centre, but clouds came after I put my OIII filter at the bottom of the eyepiece barrel. Another time.

[jetstream]

Great report Piero!

Wait until spring.....there going to be hundreds or more galaxies you will see. I'm thinking you should warm up with the Leo triplet- have you seen these yet? One of my goto favorites.

MdStuart has some excellent maps on his website for us galaxy hunters- check out the UMA map, from dark sites you will see many of these, and then there's Virgo, Coma....

Your going to have fun Piero!

[cotterless45]

Lovely report ! Well spotted on all those targets. Very pleasing to get the various multiples in Orion, I had no idea that most of the major stars there were binaries.

The 200 f6 Dob must be the most useful bit of kit made to do what it says,

Happy New Year ! Nick.

[Piero]

Great report Piero!

Wait until spring.....there going to be hundreds or more galaxies you will see. I'm thinking you should warm up with the Leo triplet- have you seen these yet? One of my goto favorites.

MdStuart has some excellent maps on his website for us galaxy hunters- check out the UMA map, from dark sites you will see many of these, and then there's Virgo, Coma....

Your going to have fun Piero!

  

Thanks Gerry! I will!

I did spot 2 galaxies of the triplet with my tv60. It was tough though! Thankfully, astronomical targets won't change in our short existence, so there will be time in the next years!

Lovely report ! Well spotted on all those targets. Very pleasing to get the various multiples in Orion, I had no idea that most of the major stars there were binaries.

The 200 f6 Dob must be the most useful bit of kit made to do what it says,

Happy New Year ! Nick.

Thanks Nick and thanks again for suggesting 2301, a wonderful target! A 200mm is really a powerful tool for astronomy and it's great that is affordable by most!

@all: have a great new year and hopefully many hours of clear sky!

Best, Piero

[estwing]

Great stuff Piero and another trawl of treasures!

[Paul73]

Great report. Being a bit further south probably really helped with a few of these.

NGC2301. Noted.

Paul

[YKSE]

Another good read, Piero, you have finished astro 2015 with a good smile

[laudropb]

Well done Piero. You have finished 2015 with a bang. I hope 2016 is equally good for you.

[Piero]

Thanks everyone! Wish you a great 2016, and hopefully many clear nights!

[Helix]

Hi Piero,

I really enjoy reading your reports. Another great targets. I observed 30/12/15 with my friends in Norfolk as well. My favourite targets were Abell 12 in Orion and Stefan's Quintet in Pegasus. I know what aperture means for us observers.

Please keep sharing your reports

Regards,

Tatyana

[Stu]

Fabulous report Piero, I enjoyed reading it. I'm glad you've finally got a little aperture to play with, you deserve it after pushing your observing skills so hard with the TV60!

Happy New Year!

[Piero]

Hi Piero,

I really enjoy reading your reports. Another great targets. I observed 30/12/15 with my friends in Norfolk as well. My favourite targets were Abell 12 in Orion and Stefan's Quintet in Pegasus. I know what aperture means for us observers.

Please keep sharing your reports

Regards,

Tatyana

Thanks Tatyana I will!

I saw your targets on Google and they are impressive! Looking forward to reading more and more about your new beautiful telescope!

@all: have a happy new year and hopefully many clear nights ahead!