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Almost like buses, you wait for ages then.

alan potts

By alan potts
in Observing - Reports

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alan potts

alan potts

Posted
Posted

Well I finally got out last night for the first time this year and what a night it turned out to be. I had a look at the very thin Moon which was well placed, often when it is like this is setting at a shallow angle and you are having to look at it thought a thick atmosphere but not the case last night, this an Venus was just killing time until it got dark and of couse the Moon going lower only helped.

Now I have always been drawn to Sirius, why I don't really know, last night there was no scintilation at all and turning the 12 inch SC towards, a scope with a very poor hit rate on this target, I could see the light from it was as stable as the one from the bathroom that my son had clearly left on. This is not unusual in itself here but it was at this time of night, Sirius being this good is normally a before dawn happenning. Even with X74 in the shape of the 41mm Panoptic the pup was easy and it was not fading in and out, it was there all the time. Using the goto I took a tour of Canis Major and also M41 in the middle. I also spent about half an hour with the top mounted 70mm to see if I could see the Pup with that but alas no. Moved up to M42 and the trapizium was rock steady using the 24mm Panoptic E and F were easy targets, not something one can always say. I took a tour of the stars of Orion using the electronics then thought I would check out the flame, there it was in the 41mm without a filter or anything. As the scope never moves the goto is very accurate and I entered IC 434 the dreaded Horses Head, something I have found to be very troublesome over the past almost two years. Options, thought I would go for the 41mm with Astronomik's, UHC filter and after about 5 minutes, there it was, not exactly in your face but there anyway. Now I had mixed feelings, because one part of me was pleased with what I saw but another was very disappointed, I had spent all that time looking for this! On reflection I am happy that I have a last seen it but I don't see myself spending hours to see it again, yes I will have a look in from time time but will be it. After this a moved a very short distance to sigma Orionis and the 4 stars were again easy to see at the scopes lowest power (x74) and I could clearly see the main brightest component was elongagted, but not split, a split is beyond the limit of the scope I believe, on reflection I should have upped the power and tried as nights like this early evening are rare indeed, I have to say this is one of the most pleasing multi stars in the sky.

 

Alan.

 

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clarkpm4242

clarkpm4242

Posted
Posted

Nice report!  Good tick!!

Pedantically,  B33 is the Horsehead and using that ID should centre the dark nebula.  IC 434 is the much larger 'bright' nebula, GOTO will  centre this and not necessarily the HH.

Hopefully more rewarding next time!!

Cheers Paul 

 

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alan potts

alan potts

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56 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Nice report!  Good tick!!

Pedantically,  B33 is the Horsehead and using that ID should centre the dark nebula.  IC 434 is the much larger 'bright' nebula, GOTO will  centre this and not necessarily the HH.

Hopefully more rewarding next time!!

Cheers Paul 

 

On that power i have the best part of degree so no real trouble but it is intesresting that Meade then incorrectly mark IC 434 with the words Horses Head, thanks for putting me right.

Alan

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scarp15

scarp15

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Congrats on glimpsing the Horse Head Alan. It's never going to look like much, but visually it can be improved by optimising the contrast. The first challenge is actually getting to see it at all, after which it becomes a bit easier as you have gained confidence that it can be visually glimpsed, then if inclined you can begin to 'get to know' its characteristics a bit more.

The last session I committed time on this, I examined B33 with three eyepieces at my disposal. 25mm and 20mm TV plossl and 13mm ethos. In would have been interesting to have a 19mm panoptic and perhaps a 16mm T5 available (eyepieces that I had previously owned). The nebula was visible in each eyepiece yet the most satisfying view in terms of contrast was with the 20mm plossl, using a 14" dobsonian, producing 4.34mm exit pupil at X80. What I have begun to find a little absorbing concerning the nature of this, is to tease or trick my eye into seeing more so with direct vision. Also to gain a little in the profiling, whilst some 'get' the horse head it is also referred to a more like a dogs head (less refined perhaps) . It is possible though to go beyond the notch, to date I have settled with momentary observation of a dogs head. Also a quality H-beta filter will make an improvement over a UHC type and if you become interested in faint nebulae, is very beneficial on a variety of other subjects.  

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mapstar

mapstar

Posted
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On Wed Mar 01 2017 at 09:39, alan potts said:

after about 5 minutes, there it was, not exactly in your face but there anyway. Now I had mixed feelings, because one part of me was pleased with what I saw but another was very disappointed, I had spent all that time looking for this! On reflection I am happy that I have a last seen it but I don't see myself spending hours to see it again, yes I will have a look in from time time but will be it.

All those hours trying Alan and you've finally stabled it.

You will have to try it in the big dob next, the key is the three stars in a small arc close below Alnitak, then in between the top two of these, the two stars behind its mane indicate the start of the neck out to the left (true east in newt view)  :grin:

Anyway a big well done Sir. 

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alan potts

alan potts

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On 2.03.2017 г. at 11:09, chiltonstar said:

Congrats Alan - a milestone I am unlikely to achieve, but there you go.....

Has your snow gone now and been replaced by the warmth of Spring?

Chris

Thank you everyone, Chris yes it really is rather nice at the moment, things change so fast here or can do. Last night the Pup was very difficult and I am not sure I saw it, so it is totally down to conditions, I was using the same scope that the night before couldn't fail. This Pup must be a stinker when the stars are closer together, I believe they are about at maximum separation at the moment.

Alan

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