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Checking of the M35, M36, M37 and M81/M82

glennbech

By glennbech
in Observing - Reports

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glennbech

glennbech

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Even with the moon well below the horizon, my sky has been washed out lately.  Is this what is called "transparency" ? With low contrast, I have selected mainly open clusters as targets. The 90mm refractor is not the right tool to "brute  force" the fainter objects. The M81/M82 pair is also pretty bright. At magnitude 6.9 and 8.4 I suspected I would be able to, at least, locate them.

I started the hunt for Bode's nebula at Dubhe, and had to hop four full fields of views through my 33mm/72 WO. This was pretty straight forward with Stellarium in "night mode" as a guide.

Both galaxies popped into view and from my observation plan, I knew that my 15mm Vixen SVL would make both galaxies fill the field of view. The contrast  increased with the 15mm And after some study with both direct and averted vision it was clear that my "upper left" target was M81 and my lower right was M82. It was M82 with an elongated shape that told them apart. This was, of course, not a spectacular view, by any means, but I was very happy with detecting them, and the experience of the rather long star -hop.

I finished the night by browsing through the M35, M36 and M37 clusters. M35 is an easy find in my 33mm. I just found 1 gem in the foot end of the twins, and it was clearly visible as a patch of stars a bit to the north. I observed it with my ES 4.7 mm and it was a nice little cluster. M36 was just a few hops north of Alnath. I have always thought of Alnath as the "bottom of Auriga", but according to Stellarium its acutally B-Tau. I'm learning new things every day :-) The cluster itself was not very interesting, so I moved over to the highlight of the evening M37.

I hoppped west directly from M36 to M37, a lot less work than starting from Alnath again. When it came into view I though I saw a globular cluster! Its is incredibly dense and packed into a relatively small area. It was also well framed in the fov of my ES 4.7mm. I will definelty go back and observe it more another time. 

I was so cold at this point that even a small hop over at M38 seemed like another day :)      

The forecast, and view out of the windows says clear skies and good transparancy tonight. Maybe some fainter targets will reveal themselves :)

Clear skies!

 

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glennbech

glennbech

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Just now, MAN or ASTROMAN said:

Nice report.

When I'm looking at the Auriga clusters,I always  like to include  a look at the 'Leaping Minnow ' and 'Cheshire Cat,aka 'Frog Face' asterisms.

They never fail to make me smile!

Thanks! will put them on my list :) 

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StarSapling

StarSapling

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Good job, and don't be in a hurry to discount what your 90mm refractor is capable of, mine surprises me with its performance on a regular basis.  For decades, my 10" dob was my primary instrument, and of course it goes much fainter and deeper than my 90mm, but nowadays I find I am more inclined to use my 90mm and 120mm refractors due to their ease of transportation and use.  I can confidently say that I have seen more objects, with my small refractors in the last five years, than I did with my 10" reflector in the previous thirty years, simply because it is easier to get out and observe with the refractors!  There are many hundreds of DSO's within reach of a 90mm refractor.  When I got started, the 3 inch refractor and the 6 inch reflector were the workhorses of the hobby, and anything larger than 8 inches was considered a huge instrument!

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Special K

Special K

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Very nice report Glennbech.  A small refractor still packs a heavy punch!  

Not sure what your atmosphere was like but the wash might be light pollution?  Or the nasty combination of thin cloud and light pollution. Transparency is the degree of particles in the air which obscure our view. Mostly this is down to water vapor, but can be pollution or even dust.  Seeing will be the steadiness of the atmosphere and getting both seeing and transparency makes a legendary night!  

Clear skies :)

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glennbech

glennbech

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On 2/28/2016 at 09:56, Special K said:

Very nice report Glennbech.  A small refractor still packs a heavy punch!  

Not sure what your atmosphere was like but the wash might be light pollution?  Or the nasty combination of thin cloud and light pollution. Transparency is the degree of particles in the air which obscure our view. Mostly this is down to water vapor, but can be pollution or even dust.  Seeing will be the steadiness of the atmosphere and getting both seeing and transparency makes a legendary night!  

Clear skies :)

Thanks! 

I've checked weather forecasts, and weather data. The air is very humid in most of Norway nowadays, with Relative humidity reaching 100%. I think that with light pollution kills the sky.

I did some observing from a more secluded place last night. The sky was still "blue", but a lot better than home. The Double cluster, naked eye visible is a good sign for me :-)

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glennbech

glennbech

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Just now, Special K said:

The Double Cluster naked eye is a very good sign indeed!!  I can only manage a smudge with averted vision from here. 

I was thinking of getting a barometer to help forecast good skies, but not sure if it would be much help!

Maybe one of your weather forecasters forecast humidity? Mine does (www.yr.no)

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