Twilight at 2am

[Special K]

This is a short report but since there are so few hours on the night to take advantage of, I'll post anyway!  Up at 1:30 and saw it seemed clear so I shifted the large tube put to the balcony. Deneb is way way up there overhead so perfect opportunity to carry on browsing those treasures along the galactic plane on the way toward Cass. There was a hint of MW but I noted the thin ambient layer of cloud before nightfall could be obstructive. 

Getting my bearings with the North American Nebula took a bit of time but the Central American feature was very prominent last night. Next time I will unleash the ED80/Nag31mm/O-III combo to frame this in the FOV. However the 6" punched through to deliver nicely on the faint scattering of NGC7429 in the heart of the nebula. I also scanned a degree south of the NAN and was detecting some nebulosity of the Cygnus Arc region.  

By 2:30 there are early signs of dawn (can you believe?!) so I hustled up to the area of the Californietto Nebula Sh2-157. That hop is recorded below and I intend to repeat when skies are darker. The Bubble is in this region as well. What I did see in the area were some fine chains of dim stars that could be part of the nebula. Definitely worth another look soon.  There's some great things to see given half a chance!  Clear summer skies!

Im thinking of piggy-backing the ED80 on the 152 but worried that might be pushing the EQ5 too far.  Be great on the NAN though to have two views for the price of one!  

[Stu]

Great to get out there without freezing and to be able to enjoy all those lovely objects. After my DSO fail in Devon, I'm looking forward to late July/early August and getting my fix of the Veil and NAN for the year.

Nice report ??

[Mark S W]

Nicely done Sir

We take advantage while we can.

 

[laudropb]

Very nice report. You made good use of the few hours of darkness available. I had a go at 2am this morning, but the seeing was terrible and the transparency was equally poor, so I just gave up and returned to bed.

[Commanderfish]

Hi Special K,

I also have an ED80 and a 152 Starwave.  As you appear to be visual, have you considered changing mount to a Giro mount?  I get three scopes on my Teleoptics Ercole Giro.  I tend to have the ED127 on one side, and the 152 Achro on the other.  Then I piggyback my ED80 to the carrying handle of my ED127.  The mount is very comfortable with this load, as it can actually take 18Kgs on each side; all in with finders, diagonals and EPs I've got 15Kg on the ED80/127 side (including 2 x Ethos, a Baader SkySurfer V and an Antares 10 x 60 RACI), and a little under 13Kgs on the Starwave 152 side.

It's great to have three views to choose from simultaneously (actually it's four if you count the 10x60 Antares RACI which has a seven degree field  ).

[Commanderfish]

[Special K]

9 hours ago, Commanderfish said:

 

It's great to have three views to choose from simultaneously (actually it's four if you count the 10x60 Antares RACI which has a seven degree field  ).

Looks great!!  Nice setup   Interesting you have the same scopes and they do compliment each other nicely.

I have thought about the ercole in the past and would be a good move in the future.  My brand of star hopping makes good use of an EQ setup but I could get over it!  

[cotterless45]

Well Kevin what a great report, it's still worth hanging on from midnight . At 2, Cygnus is well at the zenith. Can't wait until those nights draw in. Try the open clusters here and in Lacerta, clear skies !

Nick.

[alan potts]

Short but nice, it is good to get outside. I recall many years back we were doing a long distance walk on the N Yorkshire Moors and a 2.15 I could not believe I could sense it was becoming light, it was about this time of year, maybe around 15th.

Alan