Cracking night but the GG still evaded me

[bomberbaz]

Yes well last night myself and a fellow enthusiast went to the trough of bowland for a session and although I didn't bag the horsehead, I still had a fabulous night. When I say I didn't bag it, I think I saw hints of something but I am not convinced enough to tick it off.

However what I did manage was a second view of triangulam. Not brilliant but there she was is the middle of the 26mm Nagler. Hints on the arms and a brightened core but nothing much else. 

I then went onto some Nebula hunting (filters used HH, O-III and UHC) getting the Bluesnowball, nice little chappie then round to Orion. Got my best view so far of M78 with a viein clear though the middle and its companion, NGC 2071 above it. From there down to the Flame which was barely visible, this is why the maybe HH view doesn't convince me. Dropped down to the running man and was teasing some good detail out of him also with the UHC, then slipped a HA filter on and move down to ORION, much less of it than with the UHC/OIII but surprisingly extra structure, especially over the UHC.

Ok decided to play at galaxy hunting for a while then go back to nebula after. Onto the LEO triplet, bingo first time in the 26 Nagler and first time for me. No great detail although the 2 messiers were bright in the core.

Now M98, something surprising here, I saw a companion blinking in and out of view. this morning stellarium tells me this is NGC 4168 MAG 14 which surpirsed me although apparent brightness is 11! Another nice surprise. M99 (Pinwheel) next, this did yield some structure so I stayed with this a little longer and enjoyed teasing out the spiral structure in it before moving onto the Markarian Chain. I think here I got carried away and got stuck on what I could easily see rather than letting myself relax into it to yield more. That said M48&86, NGC's 4461/4458 (the eyes) and just getting it although faint was NGC 4473. M86 was by far the brightest although the eyes were quite mesmerising.

Carried on through the Virgo galaxies bagging a total of 18 during the session but the Plaudits go to M51. Simply stunning. I swear I could see the bridge between the two and some excellent structure in the main body. Another one I spent quite a while viewing, spiral was clearly visible even with direct viewing although averted did yield that little extra. Definately my best ever result from this galaxy (pair).

During the night also did a few open clusters, the OWL was also particularly stunning with one eye quite clear and some nebulosity from Pleiades. I checked the this by comparing against other bright stars and none had anything like the glow seen from M45. Not my best ever but still satisfying.

My closing 45 minutes were saved for Jupiter. The seeing was excellent although this was really a dark sky viewing night and not planetary, however its rude to refuse when conditions beg you. I had the 5mm Radian in and cranked up to 240 and left it there, no need to change down. The views were superb, excellent. What I found really helped was using the Baader UHC-S filter. I know some people have reservations over the use of filters but to me it lifted and seperated the light and darker area. The Northern and Southern belts were just there, you could not miss them. I could go on but you get my drift.

In the end cold, hunger and tiredness kicked in at 11, I had been there since 6 and not eaten since 4. However I drove home a happy man although still wishing I had tried just that one more time for the horsehead but it ain't going nowhere.

I should just had my buddy, who was imaging was really enjoying the visual time as well and that mnade it more the enjoyable, having someone to chat to and discuss the objects we were saying, comparjng notes as they say.

Virgo will be getting revisited.

[alan potts]

Nice report Steve sounds like a good night was had by the pair of you. I have one question, you mention H Alpha filter, I assume that is HA, I thought for visual on the HH you needed a H Beta filter?

Still not real weather here for anything other than ducks.

Alan

[Paul73]

Don't worry Steve. I trained my newly aquired Hb filter on the HH last night. Nothing.

Stupid filter.....

Sounds like a truely splendid night.

Paul

 

[bomberbaz]

22 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Nice report Steve sounds like a good night was had by the pair of you. I have one question, you mention H Alpha filter, I assume that is HA, I thought for visual on the HH you needed a H Beta filter?

Still not real weather here for anything other than ducks.

Alan

My mistake Alan, I did actually mean the HB filter. 

7 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

Don't worry Steve. I trained my newly aquired Hb filter on the HH last night. Nothing.

Stupid filter.....

Sounds like a truely splendid night.

Paul

 

Agreed paul, its all the filters fault 

[Piero]

Wow a lot of targets! Very nice report!

Piero

[laudropb]

Very nice report of a very productive session.

[FenlandPaul]

Fantastic to squeeze all that in before 11 - great report.  It's wonderful to observe with others occasionally.

[cloudsweeper]

Very productive indeed!  I was only saying to the wife the other day that the Trough of Bowland would be a great site - we spent many happy days there having picnics with the (now adult) children.  Marshaw to Dunsop Bridge was our favourite stretch.  It's a bit far however, and not something I'd fancy doing on my own.

What part were you in Steve?  Away from the road, I presume, to avoid being blinded by headlights!

Doug.

[estwing]

cracker Steve...the flame was easily detectable when I bagged the nags head at Snowdonia. Surprised how much the OIII shows in M42 myself...must come to elan mate...knock yer socks off..

[estwing]

6 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

Fantastic to squeeze all that in before 11 - great report.  It's wonderful to observe with others occasionally.

best way to observe...different scopes,mirrors,ep's....even eyes!

[bomberbaz]

6 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Very productive indeed!  I was only saying to the wife the other day that the Trough of Bowland would be a great site - we spent many happy days there having picnics with the (now adult) children.  Marshaw to Dunsop Bridge was our favourite stretch.  It's a bit far however, and not something I'd fancy doing on my own.

What part were you in Steve?  Away from the road, I presume, to avoid being blinded by headlights!

Doug.

Actually at a car park near dunsop bridge ajacent to the road. you hear the cars before you see them. A minor pain but its not that busy a road.

56 minutes ago, estwing said:

best way to observe...different scopes,mirrors,ep's....even eyes!

Next time up there I am gonna take the ED100 too and do some comparisons of different objects, hope for some decent weather in April although the HH will be gone by then I fear.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely report of a great session!

[PeterW]

She's vanishing fast, still got plenty to go for further up the Milky Way, though we're into Galaxy Season now. Time to service your kit (upgrade?!) and plan for the Autumn when the Milky Way comes back!

 

peterW