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SWSP report...

estwing

By estwing
in Observing - Reports

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estwing

estwing

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After a 3hr drive from Cheadle in sunshine as I pulled up to the campsite it began to rain...typical! So onto setting up camp where I bumped into Damian (mapstar) who I hadn't seen since the "where's my cake gone" mystery of PSP!. A quick chat and wheeled my dob out of my van and blew the air bed up when mapstar brought over a welcome brew...Steve (swampthing) pulled up a short time later and we duly set up steves awning or the dob church as I call it after spending so many hours in it praying for clear skies!!!

Friday night turned out to be very hit and miss with gaps in the clouds, not enough to tempt out our dobs. Shaun (pig) then turned up late in the night after a sat-nav misshap....as we had already put up Faulksys tent for tomorrows arrival, I suggested that pig should take the easy route and borrow mikes tent...job done.

I cant remember what time the rain started but parking my van under a tree in heavy rain felt like I'd slept inside a kettle drum!...the rain stopped around midday and gave way to strong sunshine so as 5pm ticked by we collimated our scopes, I had a quick nosey at Damian's 22" dob and couldn't believe how compact and lightweight it is for a big scope. If you've seen it you'll understand what I mean!. it was now 6pm and time to play our favourite game of " guess what time Mike's arriving"...!!..and at 8:10 the winner was declared !

We all helped mike to set up so we all could get things rocking...it was dark,still and clear, let's observe!

Ep's used 21mm ethos and 8mm ethos...

So onto the looky up bit...The gang were armed with pigs 110 ED Frac..Daves 16" dob...my 18" dob...Faulksys 20"....steves 20"...mapstars 22"....we pointed our smile machines at the Brecon sky and began

M51 first which showed some spirals but not clear...oh well it is a bit low in the sky, M57 was also not fantastically clear was a sign that the upper atmosphere wasn't great..no central star!!

Perseus next and a gaggle of ngc's just to the left of Algol NGC 1275 is the only one marked I S&T pocket guide but good skies reveal more

one thing I did notice that the transparency was blowing hot n cold so mag 13 galaxies where easy to spot, then not?!!

The veil next to compere views with mikes new toy, also filters as mike had a baader oiii and I have a lumicon oiii...lumi wins here and its agreed that mike has indeed a cracking good mirror...phew! Crescent neb next..nice but much more detail was seen in Elan back in july.

M27 turned out to be a huge ball of cotton wool just hanging in the sky...wonderful!

A fog bank drifted down the valley and we all crossed our fingers but it didn't hang around so back to work! The dew was by now heavy so heaters were cranked up. Onto Stephans quintet and then to NGC 7814 in Pegasus, NGC 7448 and then M2 seemed dull in the ep but as soon as you pulled away from the ep the dew was straight on it!

Cetus next NGC 1055, M77, NGC 1087, NGC 1022, NGC 1052 and NGC 1042.

Erindanus gave me NGC 1084 and NGC 1187...Damian was gunning for G1 in Andromeda so I spent time with him checking charts and views as this isn't much to look at and needs power to tease out this tiny glob from faint stars..but we got there in the end.

Aries NGC 772 the fiddle head and NGC 821 next, then M74 and NGC 660 a polar ring galaxy in Pisces...time was ticking on but Orion was clearing the trees and Mike was buzzing!...M42 is great in any scope but in true dark skies its gobsmacking!...the trapezium and me and a few other could see that E&F are easy to spot but G&H weren't ...not to my eyes!

A bash at the HH neb, but even with a proper HB filter...the horse had bolted! the flame was easy tho.

NGC 2264 the Christmas tree cluster contains the cone nebula, my winter target this year. I tried for perhaps 15mins but it was coming towards the end of the night and my whole body was felling it. We turned in about 5:45am smiling as the Welsh sky had once again given me my dark sky fix... roll on the next one, Calv.

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Pig

Pig

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Great account of events there Calvin :hello:After my experiences looking through the big mirrors I can see the need for having one myself. I am also looking forward to the next meeting so I can steal a few more views. I do like the iPhone set up Mike has, it is a great trade off between a goto and manual setup.

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Timebandit

Timebandit

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20 minutes ago, Pig said:

Great account of events there Calvin :hello:After my experiences looking through the big mirrors I can see the need for having one myself. I am also looking forward to the next meeting so I can steal a few more views. I do like the iPhone set up Mike has, it is a great trade off between a goto and manual setup.

 

Owwwww no Shaun . It sounds like spending some time with the Dob Mob may have converted you to the Dark Side ?. I get the feeling a bout of aperture fever maybe approaching for you Shaun and it is very difficult to cure. I thought you were a refractor man through and through, but obviously the SW trip could be a very expensive field outing, as a dob is going to be purchased one suspects, I am not sure how you are going to hide and explain away a big dob appearing in the house to your good lady?.  

Go for it Shaun ,I do like a nice frac. But when you start looking through  sizable dobs it does make you re evaluated your scope set up and realise how those faint fuzzys can be pulled out with aperture. And how much more you can see and realise what you are missing out on. I can see a new dob Mob recruit in the making. The dob mob strikes again?

Nice to read this report and sounds like a good time was had by all☺  

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Pig

Pig

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LoL Simon :icon_compress:
I find its always best to have a few choices and a frac has some very good advantages such as wide field views, double star views, they also do not wash the colours away on targets such as the garnet star and there is still the versatility for solar.
A big dob is great for the occasions when you get the chance of a dark sky trips, they sure do deliver the wow factor in a big way.

A decent frac and a decent Dob is pretty much all you would need :drunken_smilie:

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Pig

Pig

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50 minutes ago, estwing said:

agreed Shaun its a great little device mike has there...good to see you again and glad you got your hands sorted.

You too Calvin.... its good to be around like minded folk :happy6:

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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1 hour ago, Pig said:

LoL Simon :icon_compress:
I find its always best to have a few choices and a frac has some very good advantages such as wide field views, double star views

Plus you can always use it as a baseball bat if you're disappointed with the views :evil6:

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Pig

Pig

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6 hours ago, swamp thing said:

Plus you can always use it as a baseball bat if you're disappointed with the views :evil6:

It is also about the size of the syringe for the injection I had on Saturday :happy11:

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PeterW

PeterW

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SWSP=?? Great (and honest) report, but for them fiddly nebulae there is more than just mirror size to the game. I can say I am now recovered from aperture fever (though I would never turn down the opportunity to own/look through a monster),  I have now gone down with focal ratioitis, which is much rarer and hard to treat.  Anyone free at the end of the month for a bit of sharpless fishing? ;-)
 
Cheers
 
PEterW
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Timebandit

Timebandit

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18 hours ago, estwing said:

keep the frac and get a dob...that's what I've done...

 

Totally agree with you estwing. I can to this conclusion a while back. I do love the HD type views and grab and go capabilities of a good frac on a AZ. Great

 But if you really want to get into the hobby seriously and really start to see what's out there then you really do need aperture as this is king and a great 1/10 mirror helps?

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Pig said:

LoL Simon :icon_compress:
I find its always best to have a few choices and a frac has some very good advantages such as wide field views, double star views, they also do not wash the colours away on targets such as the garnet star and there is still the versatility for solar.
A big dob is great for the occasions when you get the chance of a dark sky trips, they sure do deliver the wow factor in a big way.

A decent frac and a decent Dob is pretty much all you would need :drunken_smilie:

 

Yep Shaun totally agree. If you wish to cover a spectrum of targets available then you really IMO do need a refractor and a reflector in your tool box, as well as some cracking eyepieces?

I have never regretted going from a refractor base and getting a foot into the Dark side    and joining the Dob fraternity. It is not until you see through a decent size quantity Dob that you realise what you are missing out on and how much more you can expand your hobby/interest by going for aperture, it opens up a whole new universe to you. I would of loved to of met some of the dob lads and have a peek through a 20" plus(makes me feel inadequate with only 14") and hopefully one day soon this will happen. But I have a feeling this could be a very expensive meeting as I am sure to get aperture fever ,and I want one will come into play?  

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PeterW

PeterW

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Oh dear, you do have the fever bad my friend! On a clear night when I can read my charts by the light of a nearby streetlight I can look up and see the North America and all his chums with an instrument I can hand carry..... dobs suffer under light pollution and really need to be taken for long walks in the countryside and take up lots of space in the living room like a large dog. If you want nebulae then a couple of stacked narrow hydrogen alpha filters and an image intensifier are a better bet. I have joined the "green side". Costly? Maybe, but then so are boxes of ethoi and massive mirrors...

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

PS I am not knocking big dobs, given the chance I would love to have one (probably >24" class f3). 

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