A split session - last of the old year, first of the new

[hgjevans]

I think most of us in the UK have been frustrated by the weather these last few months. Many poor souls up in the north of England, and in Scotland too have had much worse things to worry about than mere star-gazing conditions, so I shouldn't complain too much. Still, a look at my notes shows that the last time I had my scope out was in mid-November, and before that it was the first week of September! I've had a few nice binocular sessions in that time, but a good scope night was long overdue. Various weather forecasts had, for several days, pointed to New Year's Eve being a good possibility, and it didn't disappoint.

I had the scope out by about 9:30 and as Orion would soon be behind a tree I just cracked on with it. I guess the earlier downpour must have cleared the air pretty well, because I was seeing more of M42 than I usually do from my present location, and M43 was also much more distinct - normally I barely notice it next to the brightness of its more imposing neighbour. The Trapezium is always beautiful, with its close, tight, colourful group of stars - still darned if I can see any more than four of them though.

From there it was on to Mintaka (delta Orionis), which is lovely in itself, but in this case was just my starting point for locating M78 - just a short hop back in Right Ascension. It wasn't standing out very clearly for me, so I didn't spend long on it. I was filling in time, really, waiting for my real intended target, M67, to get up a bit and clear next-door's roof. The Eskimo Nebula (NGC2392) used up a few more minutes. This is one I'd only first seen back in the autumn, despite looking for it many times the previous year. With the LP here I can only really see the brightest central part, which I suppose may account for the difficulty I had pinning it down.

Before too long Cancer was well enough placed, and I could just barely make out the Beehive with the naked eye, so it was time to go looking for M67. I could see it easily enough in the 15x70s, but getting my finderscope on it was a little more tricky. I think it was on the third attempt starting from delta Cancri that I got it - a beautiful cluster of resolved stars with, I presume, many fainter ones showing as nebulous clumps - worth waiting for!

With the skies wonderfully clear, I started doing the rounds of more familiar friends - a glance at the the Auriga Messiers, and it was on to Ursa Major. I thought I'd try for M97, now that it was again getting up to a reasonable altitude at "sensible o'clock", but nothing doing - too much LP in that direction. M81 and M82 were much more obliging.

Back over to Gemini and M35 - I nearly didn't bother with it, but I'm so glad I did, because NGC2158 was showing up really well, almost on the meridian, and much better than I'd seen it on previous occasions. It had barely registered with me as worthy of note, but I know better now! And since this was evidently a night of good clarity I thought I'd grab a look at M1 while it was up there too - I was rewarded with the most contrasty view of it that I've yet had.

I rounded off the first stint of the night with a look at M31/32/110 - nice, but too low now to be really dark in that part of the sky. And finally Almach - a beautiful colour-contrasted double, similar to Albireo, but much closer together, and all the better for it, IMHO.

Approaching midnight now, and my feet were resembling blocks of ice, so I packed up the eyepieces, and went in to watch the fireworks.

The second session - and my first of 2016 - started at about 1am. I had only three things in mind - Jupiter first, as it was by now above the roofline. The four Galilean moons were strung out all on one side, so no transits or occultations to watch, and no GRS either. But there were occasional moments of good seeing despite it being so close to the house, and glimpses of detail in the equatorial belts at 200x, and some visibility of temperate belts.

My other two targets took longer to emerge - the moon first: I have resolved for several months now that I am going to make more of an effort with lunar observing. This seemed like a good opportunity to finally do something about that. The moon was wobbling about like nobody's business in the warm air above the roofline, but it scarcely mattered - the richly abundant and large scale detail visible in the 5mm eyepiece was immensely satisfying, and I kicked off my new lunar observing career with a look at what I later determined was the Hyginus crater and rille system just off the terminator. It was just a pity I had left the tablet indoors and couldn't consult my LunarMap app to have made a little more of it at the time.

Finally, Arcturus was rising above the shed, and that was the marker for finding comet Catalina. The moon's presence wasn't great for this, but still...  It was easy enough to spot - more nebulous than comet-like, but I was encouraged to see some definite irregular shape to the faint cloud passing just a degree or so off Arcturus. I didn't bother trying to view them both in one field of view - too much exit pupil, I reckoned, but it showed up nicely enough in various eyepieces from 16mm down to 8mm. I watched mostly through the 16mm until I had clearly seen it change its position relative to the little group of mag 9 stars just west of Arcturus. A moon-free night in a few days' time would be nice, before it fades much more.

[estwing]

lovely report Huw...very nice sights. The lack of stargazing due to the weather does seem pale when some have had their lives torn apart by the weather...clear skies.

[Stu]

That was a very good read Huw, sounds like a nice couple of sessions, and great to be back out there after so long.

[laudropb]

Thanks for that lovely report of a very productive session in 2 parts. It was a most enjoyable read. Still no clear skies here but as you said, we should be thankful to have no floods.

[hgjevans]

Thanks everyone - glad it was of some interest. I just hope I don't have to wait so long for the next session. Clear Outside, however, is showing an awful lot of red blocks!

[Astro Imp]

Only just come to this and glad I didn't miss your excellent report.

You mention taking more notice of the moon, have you tried the Luna 100? I find it gives more focus to Luna observing and directs you to features you wouldn't normally observe.

Good luck for 2016.

[hgjevans]

Thanks Alan - I have heard of the Lunar 100, which is to say that it has crossed my radar, but I've not got a list or map, or whatever. I've not really got much beyond the initial resolution, in fact. That was mainly because I just finally decided there was no reason to keep writing off perfectly good observing nights just because the moon was up! I do need to get organised about it, but I thought I'd start by simply getting more familiar with the major features. At the moment I couldn't name more than a couple of maria and three or four of the more notable craters - long way to go yet!

[Piero]

Wow! Very nice reports and many interesting targets in there!

Looking forward to reading you next ones! Hopefully we will have many clear nights now in winter and then in spring!

[hgjevans]

Thanks Piero - I was enjoying your report earlier from the previous day, but cursing myself for not having picked up on NGC2301 for my session. It sounds lovely, and would have been perfectly placed. Ah well, next time!

[hgjevans]

Thanks Alan - I have heard of the Lunar 100 ... but I've not got a list or map

Well, I have now! (Thanks to Google and S&T). And I'm encouraged to note that I've already got 'L1' in the bag!

[YKSE]

That's very nice Celebration of astro new year

[jetstream]

Very good report Huw, glad you had fun. When back in Gemini and with an OII filter, try the Monkeyhead neb, from those skies it will not be hard and is very rewarding.

Congrats for a fine session!

[alan potts]

What an absolutely superb report Huw sounds like you had a great time. I have always found the Crab a bit of a let down from here and my skies are very dark though maybe not as there were a few years back, it is nothing to shout about even with the 18 inch. Some of the others you mention I have still to find with the big scope though I have seen them before with my other scopes with the exception of the Eskimo Nebula, must hunt that down.

Alan.

[hgjevans]

Thanks again everyone. 

Gerry, thanks for the Monkeyhead tip - it does look spectacular in the images I've just found. My filter-buying days have yet to come, so I'll put it on the list for later.

Alan, yes the Crab never does seem to quite live up to its billing - I guess the fact of having records of spectacular observation going back to the 11th century, and its position in the No.1 slot on Messier's list do rather raise expectations a bit. Still, I was happy on this occasion that the overall shape was standing out fairly clearly. Normally I'm just aware that there's 'something nebulous' there, often just in averted vision.

[alan potts]

Huw,

I moved the 18 inch to it by accident on 29th December and it was looking acroos the house roof so the seeing was affected and I wasn't even aware of what it was until I had a second look, even then I was not sure.

Going back to when I started in Hull back in 1973, I had a 3 inch refractor back then, I never saw it once from there, it was only when I made the 12 inch I saw it and that disappointment has stuck with me. It is rated at magnitude 8.3 I believe, I am never sure how they arrive at these numbers as some galaxies at mag 11 stand out more.

Happy New year,

alan