A mixed bag on a cold, crisp evening

[FenlandPaul]

The day looked so promising and the evening didn’t disappoint as Venus and Mars punched through the fading twilight on my way home from work.  I decided to load the dob into the car and take it outside the village to the allotments, which are darker than my back garden and last night were less shrouded in the smoke of neighbours’ fires – a hazard of these beautifully clear, crisp winter evenings.

After a quick recollimation (I’d somehow knocked the secondary out rather alarmingly in transit), I settled down planning to capture some sights in Aquarius, starting with M2.  Somehow the sky towards the south west was rather opaque, I assume because the moisture levels were sapping the strength out of the fainter stuff on the way though.  My intent was to hop down from the “steering wheel” asterism via Sadalmelik, down to Sadalsuud and then to follow some chains of fainter stars to the north to land on M2.  Despite spending 20 minutes or so I achieved nothing; the soupiness seemed to be lingering in that direction.  It was much more promising to the south east.

So I turned my attention to Uranus, which was really easy to find to the east of Zeta Piscium – very clear in the finder.  In the 7mm Nagler it was a small, bright, steely-green disc and it remained non-stellar in the 32mm.  This is only the second time I’ve seen Uranus, and what was striking was how much less intense the colour was in the 12” dob compared to the view I had last year in the ST150 refractor.  Still, a pleasant sight.

Whilst in the area I moved to Zeta Piscium, a nice wide white and slightly yellow double that I estimated having a PA of about 085.  The pair was also easily split in the 32mm, in which the primary appeared rather more yellow.

M74 (galaxy in Pisces) was next.  I found it round, quite large and with a fairly low surface brightness (I’ve subsequently read on SkySafari that it has the lowest surface brightness of any Messier object – not entirely sure I believe that but an interesting possible-fact nonetheless).  The core was noticeably brighter and non-stellar.  The whole galaxy would have been easily overlooked in these conditions, which were improving but were still sub-optimal.

To the north-east of M74, easily located via a hop from Gamma Arietis, is the galaxy NGC770 and its fainter companion NGC 772 lying to the SW.  Both galaxies could be seen in the same field, although 772 popped in and out of view.  770 has a stellar core and diffuse surroundings, and is much larger in extent than 772.  772 couldn’t be separately identified in the 32mm, but was more consistently seen in the 7mm Nagler.

Northwards now, on the other side of Sheratan (Beta Arietis) is a nice group of galaxies – NGC 678, NGC 680 and NGC 691.  678 and 680 were moderately bright in the same field, both appearing as fuzzy blobs but holding direct vision well.  691 was harder to see to the south and east and really only visible with averted vision, with which it appeared to have a reasonably stellar core and diffuse surroundings.  I suspect from a truly dark sight this triplet of galaxies would stand out very well, along with the fainter companions dotted around.

What became frustrating at this point was it was clear I hadn’t parked the base of the dob on level ground, so I was experiencing a lot of stickiness in azimuth movement.  Must pay more attention to these things!!

Only moments from NGC 678 is the lovely double ∑174, with a gorgeous orange and green-blue colour contrast.  Well worth a look.

To better known ground, now, and over to the Crab Nebula, M1.  Compared to the galaxies I’d just been looking at, it appeared pleasant bright in both the 32mm and 7mm.  I tried to pin down its shape, but it seemed like jelly and every time I thought I’d sussed it out it would morph into something else!  The only distinguishing feature that seemed to hold in the 7mm was a wide indentation / dimming on the ESE side, although this wasn’t visible in the 32mm.

Due east of M1 is the double ∑742 (you can find it simply by letting the Crab scuttle off out of view, taking a sip or two of tea, and then looking through the eyepiece again).  This is an attractive straw-coloured pair, with the secondary lying to the west of the primary.  The best view was in the 7mm Nagler but it could also be split in the 32mm.

I’d been very patient during the evening, waiting for Orion to rise to a decent height before taking my first view of the season.  The great nebula had been one of my first sights in this scope a couple of years ago and the detail blew my socks off, so I was quite excited.  But I decided to continue this exercise in self-restraint and looked first at NGC 2022, a planetary known as the Collarbone Nebula.  This sits two-fifths of the way between Meissa and Betelgeuse (I suppose on the Hunter’s right collar bone).  In the 7mm Nagler it was bright, round and definitely annular and seemed to be a reasonable size.  Strangely, despite its size, when I popped in the 32mm I just couldn’t see it. 

At about 25 degrees in altitude now, I turned my attention to M42.  Wow.  I could have gazed for hours.  In the 7mm Nagler the central region around the Trapezium was a swirling cauldron of gas, with knots and eddies.  I could follow filaments of nebulosity for several field-widths, and for the first time the E-star in the Trapezium jumped into view.  Once I homed in on it, I could scarcely believe I hadn’t noticed it before.  I will give the F-star a good crack next time I’m out as well, because by my reckoning that should be fairly straightforward now I know where to look.  I need to spend an evening on a sketch of the area, because my words couldn’t possibly convey all of the detail and interest.

Dew was becoming a significant problem now, and with no heater the telrad was almost unusable and the eyepiece of my RACI was also struggling.  So I decided to call it a night, very content with the first proper session of the winter.  A couple of learning points for me.  First was the need to get some form of dew management for my finders (I didn’t have a problem with the secondary as it’s a closed tube, but I guess if I’d stayed later I may have done).  The second is, when I’m away from the back garden, I need a table of some sort; atlases, clipboards, thermoses and ipads don’t mix well with muddy ground!

Thanks for reading, and clear skies.

Paul

[ejp1684]

Thanks for this report, Paul. I was in the back garden last night and was so enjoying just looking at different objects I forgot to take any notes. Your descriptions are inspiring. I discovered early on that a table is a 'must', and I bought a cheap but sturdy one off ebay. It's proved very capable. Will have another go at a more organised session this evening when clear skies are forecast for a few hours at least.

Eric.

[Saganite]

Superb report as always Paul 

[kerrylewis]

Great report Paul. M42 never fails! 

M74 is not known as the Phantom for nothing. It eluded me for months. I was never able to see it from my garden with the SCT but as soon as I got the Dob there it was.

I agree that a table is essential for all those bits and bobs. I bought a cheap folding camping table which is very lightweight.  It's slightly bent now after I discovered that it wouldn't double up as a seat - but it still does the job. 

Kerry 

[FenlandPaul]

38 minutes ago, kerrylewis said:

Great report Paul. M42 never fails! 

M74 is not known as the Phantom for nothing. It eluded me for months. I was never able to see it from my garden with the SCT but as soon as I got the Dob there it was.

I agree that a table is essential for all those bits and bobs. I bought a cheap folding camping table which is very lightweight.  It's slightly bent now after I discovered that it wouldn't double up as a seat - but it still does the job. 

Kerry 

I imagine that 14" of yours would make mincemeat of M74, Kerry!

I've now ordered a table from Amazon - needed to check the dimensions carefully as Interstellarum is fairly sizeable when opened out!!

[kerrylewis]

It depends on your definition of mincemeat Paul! The skies from my garden have some LP so it's still not been exactly spectacular! I can see a clear but faint patch with no structure. I need to try it from a dark site. 

[YKSE]

Very enjoyable read Paul and your mixed bag is much more fruitful than my latest trips to dark site

[Davesellars]

Great report!  Loved the description of M1... It is rather jelly like!   It's a tricky customer indeed....

[laudropb]

Very nice report. A most enjoyable read of a very productive session.

[mikey2000]

Well written, Paul.  I had great pleasure reading it.  I agree on other's observations about your description of M1 (jelly!!)  I can't wait to find it myself one day...

[Bindweed]

Really enjoyed reading that, thank you for posting.

[chiltonstar]

A very nice report.

A good description of M1! On a night with less than good transparency, I always think it looks galaxy-like, with an undefined oval shape; a couple of nights this week, it's been good enough to show the squashed diamond (whatever that's called) shape, with a brighter centre and some streakiness. One I always show to visitors though, if only because it's M1 - the first Messier object - and the historical context.

Chris

[alan potts]

A very nice report, I know what you mean about finding a place for things though last night even with a table everything would have blown away, golly it was windy.

Alan