Round 2!

[Davesellars]

Second night running perfectly clear skies with no Moon!  If this is my birthday present I'm not complaining... After a bit of a rest from the previous night's outing I was out to my site and setup for just gone midnight.  This time the weapon of choice was my 8" SCT to attempt to pick up some of the faint galaxies on the Herschel 400.

I was pretty much dark adapted after setting up so went straight for the jugular after testing the conditions with M51

M51 - Bright cores visible at low magnification 54x.  Further detail visible interaction beteen the two at 85x and extensive structure surrounding the diminished cores shown at 190x with the 6.7mm ES82

M101 - At 54x the merest hint of spiral structure coming through with averted vision but impossible to hold directly

.... Now to the real business with the H400 close to M101 both of which have kicked me before.

NGC 5473 (New) - elliptical galaxy mag 11.5 - This is quite easy to locate the position set between a mag 12.4 and 10.7 star.  54x shows nothing.  At 85x helping with averted vision there is a slight patch of light coming through.  This does not reveal itself properly until I hit it with the 6.7mm for 190x  Now the galaxy is showing a slight core in the centre with a very faint surrounding. Difficult to determine tha actual shape.

NGC 5474 (New) - spiral galaxy mag 10.8 -  Again not possible to see unless you hit it with mid to high magnification.  Extremely faint diffuse showing no or little core but with direct vision with the Baader Classic Ortho 10mm to pull this out.  The 6mm ortho for 214x showing that it is a touch brighter to one side but slightly iregular.

NGC 5631 (New) - Spiral galaxy mag 11.5. Extremely faint slightly extended from the core but with averted vision only

NGC 5907 (New) - Spiral galaxy mag 10.3.  Impressively large object showing at 54x but without real detail.  Its edge-one nature obvious as a thin sliver of light cutting through the FOV.  Found this best at 85x however some study at 190x fattened the object beyond the core.  An interesting object to view.

NGC 5866 Spindle Galaxy (New) mag 9.89.  Easy object at 54x showing large core extended to both sides elongated with hint of fainter extension of light.

NGC 5982 Elliptical Galaxy (New) mag 11.1 - Some brightness to the core but mainly very faint with averted vision helping to see a little bit more.

M13 - A little break for the eyes from the faint 'uns!  Tremendous view at 190x showing a miriad of pin-point stars right through the core and the propeller structure.  Simply stunning and leaves you with a big cheese-eating grin on your face

Back to business and the little galaxy right by M13..

NGC 6207 Spiral Galaxy mag 11.6 - Elongated shape obvious although no distinct core at 190x

I took a proper break for tea and marvelled at the Milky Way a while I did notice that it was getting a touch lighter as astro-dark had just finished so I stopped with the galaxy hunt and pointed to Cygnus after a quick trip to M57 which showed well and its elongated shape at 190x

NGC 6910 (New) Open Cluster - bright stretched V formation quite a compact little cluster and obvious.

IC1318 - Here I just observed the distinct dark nebulae? patches cutting though the nebula which showed only as a very faint lightening of the sky without any filter

NGC 6866 (New) Open Cluster - Dense small cluster with fine stars throughout showing very well with the 24mm EP (54x)

NGC 6826 (New) Planetary Nebula mag 8.89 - Very bright nebula and showing a very distinct green at low magnification which was a surprise.  Bumping up to 190x showed with a bit of work some difference in contrast in the outer edge of the nebula to the centre.

NGC 7044 (New) Open Cluster - Very light small scattering of faint stars.  Unimpressive.

I just shot by M45 to finish the night at 4am.  Light was starting to roll in.  As I left I noticed Orion had risen.  Betelgeuse shining brilliantly and the 3 stars of the sword just visible.

[Stu]

Another stunner Dave, some great targets in there, pretty tough ones too!

I really enjoyed my C8 on deep sky targets, it was surprisingly effective as you have shown in your report; an object lesson in the benefit of getting increased image scale on the faint stuff to help improve its visibility. Nice one!

Now, I still need to go back and finish part one  

[cloudsweeper]

Great session and report, Dave.  I've not my used my 8SE much since I got the ST120 - I'm enjoying the superwide field of vision and the easy sweep across the skies.  Once I get more used to finding my way around without GoTo, I aim to use both 'scopes in equal measure!

Doug.

[Davesellars]

Thanks Stu & Doug!

The C8 is a little work-horse on DSOs!  It was probably feeling rather left out as well as my 120ST has been my primary instrument for the last couple of months.  Each scope has it strengths and compliment each other very well now I'm realizing the strengths of each scope. 

Looking at the forecast it seems highly likely round 3 tonight is all-nighter!  

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, Davesellars said:

Thanks Stu & Doug!

The C8 is a little work-horse on DSOs!  It was probably feeling rather left out as well as my 120ST has been my primary instrument for the last couple of months.  Each scope has it strengths and compliment each other very well now I'm realizing the strengths of each scope. 

Looking at the forecast it seems highly likely round 3 tonight is all-nighter!  

I loved having the C8 side by side with the Tak down in Devon, best of both worlds, particularly when they are accurately aligned on the Giro-WR mount. Finder/widefield with the Tak and higher power in the C8. Lovely stuff.

Have you considered a giro type mount to have both side by side?

[Davesellars]

HI Stu,

That would be nice to have a side-by-side.   However not sure the tripod would handle both though as it's on its limit really with the C8 and accessories.  Also the logistics of having to schlep two scopes out to my site which I have to walk (about 15 mins) ..  

[cloudsweeper]

Dave & Stu - 

Oh no - another way to part with cash!  

How could we get on with an 8" SCT and a 120 Frac on a common tripod?  (Giro?)  It would mean sacrificing the GoTo, and just having two manual mounts.

Getting a starting point star with the frac is sometimes difficult when it's not very dark and the tablet app lacks detail.  And I can't put the frac on the GoTo mount as it obstructs the tube.

Any suggestions?

Doug.

[Davesellars]

I don't use my GOTO (NEQ-6) for visual I find it infintely quicker to star-hop manually. Besides, my NEQ-6 because of the weight is semi-permanently housed at the side of a window for imaging work when I feel the urge.

However, the NEQ-6 tripod would certainly be strong enough and better with the pier extension - certainly sufficient support for two scopes with a good T style mount would be the best solution.  Since the SCT is tricker to star hop with without the finer control of slow motion controls the refractor would become the finder so to speak.

But...  I'm not going there!   Quite enough to be honest with one scope and pick the targets that are optimal. Two would mean more dew prevention stuff required as well!

[cloudsweeper]

OK - the problem was finding a reference point for star-hopping with the frac (easier, with the wider FOV) - but the tablet app lacked detail to get a decent fix in sky.

Sorted it easily! - just changed the settings in SkyPortal - star name density, magnitude, symbols.  I should now be more sure of my starting point, and therefore able to use my Sky Atlas to locate interesting objects.

(Sorry this has veered away from Dave's original report on his great session with several DSO sightings!)

Doug.

[rockystar]

lucky boy. I've had two nights of promise that quickly turned into clouds

some nice targets there, think I'll have to search for a couple of those next time I'm out