lovely Cassiopeia

[Piero]

Clear sky tonight and thankfully no clouds like yesterday! Despite a naughty neighbour who needed two lighthouses to make sure that people from half West Cambridge could see the splendour of his house garden, I still managed to do some observation. Luckily things improved after 9.30 when those lights were turned off. 

Anyway, here we go  

 

Date 02/10/2016
Time 21:00-22:20
Location Cambridge, UK
Lunar Phase Waxing Crescent 6%
Temperature 8C (NW 3 km/h)
Seeing 1 - Perfect seeing
Transparency 5 - Clear
Darkness 19.61

M33 Tri Galaxy 15x, 28.8x +/- OIII
Faint and extended shape. No trace of NGC604 with OIII filter.

NGC6992 Cyg SN Rem 15x + OIII
Visible but not much contrast.

NGC6960 Cyg SN Rem 15x + OIII
Visible but not much contrast.

NGC7000 Cyg Neb 15x + OIII
Undefined patches. Cygnus is now right above Cambridge from my house.

NGC869/ 884 Per Opn CL 15x, 28.8x
Great view at both the magnifications. Faint stars visible at the core of NGC869. Lovely!

IC1848 Cas Neb 15x + OIII
Soul nebula. Not sure about nebulosity.

IC1805 Cas Neb 15x + OIII
Heart nebula. Patches of nebulosity near the core. I believe I saw the patch located at west too.

NGC281 Cas CL+Neb 15x, 28.8x + OIII
Pacman nebula. Distinct nebulosity, but no pacman shape.

NGC457 Cas Opn CL 15x, 28.8x
Dragonfly cluster. Nice open cluster with two bright stars at its base.

M57 Lyr Pln Neb 28.8x, 40x, 72x + OIII
Ring nebula. Ring easily visible with averted vision at all magnifications, but somehow nicer at 72x.

Epsilon Lyr Dbl star 72x
Double double. Tight double stars very detectable for both Epsilon 1 and 2.

[Tzitzis]

Nice report Piero! Enjoy the sky as much as you can buddy!

[FenlandPaul]

Nice report, Piero.  I have to say that SQM reading really isn't bad from your location, is it?  And your seeing was better than it was here - each star of the Plough was twinkling quite noticeably later on.  I really must get an OIII filter - a whole world of nebulae awaits!

Paul

[niallk]

Great report 

Oh to be able to type 'perfect seeing' !

[Piero]

2 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

Nice report, Piero.  I have to say that SQM reading really isn't bad from your location, is it?  And your seeing was better than it was here - each star of the Plough was twinkling quite noticeably later on.  I really must get an OIII filter - a whole world of nebulae awaits!

Paul

 

2 hours ago, niallk said:

Great report 

Oh to be able to type 'perfect seeing' !

 

Thanks!  

I have recently recorded ~19.60 mag a few times in the early evening, but my sky reaches 20 mag at around midnight. By that time, Andromeda and the Double Cluster are visible by naked eye, but not M33 (I think the latter requires skies as dark as 21 mag at least). 

For the UK, last night the seeing was very good where I was observing. The air was sufficiently steady to nicely see perfect diffraction rings inside and outside focus for Vega at 0.8mm exit pupil with my 60mm. I have to say that the Antoniadi scale can be a bit simplified because in my little experience a sky is really steady after being without turbulence for 2-3 days. This is often the case from my observing location in Italy.

 

Paul. Yes, a good OIII is a worth purchase. It seems to me that the choice between Astronomik or Lumicon is more about preference: some people prefer the Astronomik because it shows background stars a hint better, others prefer Lumicon because it is more a line filter, hence more nebula contrast. To me, both seem excellent filters and I would not discount either of them. You will certainly enjoy it with your 12" dob and other scopes. 

[Size9Hex]

Lovely read as always Piero. Hopefully a rare event with the neighbours lights.

[PeterW]

Good to hear you are having some luck with some of my favourite nebs. The patch near the heart neb is ngc896, which is on one edge of the heart. The soul looks like a shoe print.

cheers

 

peter

[Piero]

9 hours ago, PeterW said:

Good to hear you are having some luck with some of my favourite nebs. The patch near the heart neb is ngc896, which is on one edge of the heart. The soul looks like a shoe print.

cheers

 

peter

Thanks Peter for letting me know this. I will update my notes.

Piero

[Saganite]

On 10/2/2016 at 23:00, Piero said:

Clear sky tonight and thankfully no clouds like yesterday! Despite a naughty neighbour who needed two lighthouses to make sure that people from half West Cambridge could see the splendour of his house garden, I still managed to do some observation. Luckily things improved after 9.30 when those lights were turned off. 

Anyway, here we go  

 

Date 02/10/2016
Time 21:00-22:20
Location Cambridge, UK
Lunar Phase Waxing Crescent 6%
Temperature 8C (NW 3 km/h)
Seeing 1 - Perfect seeing
Transparency 5 - Clear
Darkness 19.61

M33 Tri Galaxy 15x, 28.8x +/- OIII
Faint and extended shape. No trace of NGC604 with OIII filter.

NGC6992 Cyg SN Rem 15x + OIII
Visible but not much contrast.

NGC6960 Cyg SN Rem 15x + OIII
Visible but not much contrast.

NGC7000 Cyg Neb 15x + OIII
Undefined patches. Cygnus is now right above Cambridge from my house.

NGC869/ 884 Per Opn CL 15x, 28.8x
Great view at both the magnifications. Faint stars visible at the core of NGC869. Lovely!

IC1848 Cas Neb 15x + OIII
Soul nebula. Not sure about nebulosity.

IC1805 Cas Neb 15x + OIII
Heart nebula. Patches of nebulosity near the core. I believe I saw the patch located at west too.

NGC281 Cas CL+Neb 15x, 28.8x + OIII
Pacman nebula. Distinct nebulosity, but no pacman shape.

NGC457 Cas Opn CL 15x, 28.8x
Dragonfly cluster. Nice open cluster with two bright stars at its base.

M57 Lyr Pln Neb 28.8x, 40x, 72x + OIII
Ring nebula. Ring easily visible with averted vision at all magnifications, but somehow nicer at 72x.

Epsilon Lyr Dbl star 72x
Double double. Tight double stars very detectable for both Epsilon 1 and 2.

Hi Piero,

Great report as always.

I too enjoyed the sky conditions on Sunday, and it makes up for all the other nights of frustration !

BTW your neighbours lights are visible in spite of St Neots ! 

 

 

On 10/3/2016 at 06:24, FenlandPaul said:

Nice report, Piero.  I have to say that SQM reading really isn't bad from your location, is it?  And your seeing was better than it was here - each star of the Plough was twinkling quite noticeably later on.  I really must get an OIII filter - a whole world of nebulae awaits!

Paul

You must get one Paul.

 The Veil particularly, in a  12" Dob, is amazing.

[scarp15]

Your dedicated observing with your TV60 is just terrific Piero celebrating the prowess of these small fracs, definitely enthuses me to get out and use mine more extensively. A great range of subject matter and descriptive comments, especially concerning the nebula in Cassiopeia.  

[Piero]

51 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Your dedicated observing with your TV60 is just terrific Piero celebrating the prowess of these small fracs, definitely enthuses me to get out and use mine more extensively. A great range of subject matter and descriptive comments, especially concerning the nebula in Cassiopeia.  

Thanks Iain! Same for your reports!

These small fracs can show a lot under good skies. Of course they are limited in aperture, but for large targets they work very well. Veil, North America, Double Cluster, M44, M45 and the Alpha Persei Moving Cluster are just amazing. Flying around the Milky Way is a pleasure! 

[Special K]

Nice report Piero!  Cas is a fine choice at the moment as it just gets closer to zenith as the night wears on  

I struggle to see the Heart and Soul from home, though Mel 15 and the micro cluster  Stock 7 in the Heart can be made out.