Galaxy hunting on the Isle of Wight

[Hobbes]

Last weekend I took my recently aquired Obsession 18” Classic over to the Isle of Wight for my first star party with this scope.

The location was the Brighstone Holiday Centre on the south coast of the island and although the sailing conditions for the ferry crossing had been good it was blowing a hoolie by the time I got to the campsite and I managed to snap one of the tubular alloy tent poles while getting the tent up.

Along with the other big Dob owners I set up the Obsession in the lee of some chalets to get at least some protection from the wind.

Friday night as clear but windy with a 15-18mph gusting to 30mph Nor'Nor'Easterly, seeing not very good but nice and dark. Reckoning that low power was going to be the best bet under the conditions I opted for the Ethos 21mm and pretty much stuck with this for the rest of the weekend. The first target on my list was Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak but I abandoned the hunt for this fairly rapidly as a gust of wind nearly toppled the scope and me on my step ladder over while pointing near the zenith. As I had decided to work on the Hershel 400 I swung the scope round and started picking up targets in Puppis moving up through Monoceros and into Gemini before swinging across to Leo. This meant the scope was pointing downwind which was a lot safer. There being zero chance of dew I took the light shroud off after a couple of hours to reduce the wind resistance which helped a bit. Main issue was the need to keep hold of the scope at all times to keep it on target. This made star hopping really quite challenging and was a real physical workout.

Saturday night was just as windy but I had moved the scope nearer to the chalets sacrificing the northern horizon in order to get a little more shelter but was still having to hang onto the scope to keep it on target. Seeing and transparency were excellent and we were at it until 2:30am. The seeing conditions let the Obsession/Ethos combination really perform – This was a galaxy hunting machine!

I spent the majority of the session cruising through the Virgo galaxy cluster. The sheer number of galaxies visible was bewildering - they were everywhere!. Because the scope would lose position as soon as I let go of it I used Markarian's Chain as a staring point. Easy to find and very distinctive so there is no doubt that you are starting in the right place.- aim the Telrad at the midpoint between Denbola and Vindemiatrix (does anyone else think that sounds like a character from an Asterix book?) and look for M84, M86 and The Eyes and work from there.

Sunday night - still windy although a little less gusty than previous nights. Clear again but seeing was the poorest of the weekend. Went after and found Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in Ursa Major which I had failed to find on Friday/Saturday nights due to the windy conditions. Finished shortly after midnight and packed up scope in preparation for leaving on Monday morning with aching shoulders and arms from wrestling with the wind blown scope for three nights on the trot.

High points of the weekend were:

Seeing the Rosette and Cone Nebulae. Both appeared as murky brown areas surrounding their respective clusters.

Adding to my Markarian’s Chain count to bring it up to 14

Spotting IC 3371 - a mag 15 galaxy in Virgo

Stunning views of the Needle and the Whale and Calf Galaxies in Coma Berenices and the Sombrero in Virgo.

Getting my first decent views of M13, M92, M3 and M5 in the new scope.

Lovely daytime views of Mercury and a 1% illuminated Venus in a GoTo refractor

Clocking up over 100 targets over the course of the weekend - having spent the last three years using GoTo it was nice to get my Star hopping mojo back.

All in all a really fantastic star party - Lovely friendly welcoming group, really dark skies and three nights of viewing. Now looking forward to Kelling next month.

[Size9Hex]

Great report! Sounds like beautiful skies and great observing despite the character building windy weather!

[laudropb]

Very nice report. I really enjoyed the read. Sounds like you enjoyed yourself , despite the wind. After all that's what it's all about.

[Stu]

Big scope under a great sky, sounds like a winning combination!

Lovely report, thanks! I love Markarian's chain when seen well, and the Needle galaxy is amazing isn't it?

[PeterW]

Brighstone is a nice place, I go there regularly, though mainly in the autumn (you're welcome to come back then!). Good that you had some clear... even though the wind made the challenging.

Nice sized scope, be wary of wind, Owens old 20" got spun round and he bent his encoders... right pain to fix!

The cone is a great success, I've picked up the horsehead several times and other dim goodies, though transparent nights have not been as plentiful as I would have liked on my last few visits. Globs thru a big scope are kind of magic!

 

PeterW

[mapstar]

Nice report and a pleasant read, star hopping is fabulous on nights like what you had. 

Were you using a star chart or just going from memory as holding one down in that wind sounded a challenge on it's own. 

 

[ericemms]

Great report Rob,

the wind at IoW 2017 will be remembered! Like you I spent most of the time on the Vir galaxies and chasing the comet. 

I took a SQM reading of 21.26 on the Friday night - 2017 March 24 - not bad.

I'm surprised you managed any observing on that Sunday night - well done.

[estwing]

Great report and read.i love the 21e in my 18" such a great combo for hoovering...did you get the full cone structure?..I've only caught one side of it,clear skies 

[PeterW]

21.26.... I've had 21.5 before, hope that doesn't mean the end streetlights are making things worse...

 

peter

[estwing]

Sorry to ask but how much was the ferry service?

[ericemms]

1 hour ago, estwing said:

Sorry to ask but how much was the ferry service?

I paid 79 pounds - rather expensive for one person, car and two telescopes! But I booked months ahead and sometimes a discount wangled by the organisers can be gained closer to the event date. Also I'm a 'overlander', locals enjoy a cheaper crossing!

[Hobbes]

On 31/03/2017 at 09:27, mapstar said:

Nice report and a pleasant read, star hopping is fabulous on nights like what you had. 

Were you using a star chart or just going from memory as holding one down in that wind sounded a challenge on it's own. 

 

I use Skysafari 5 Pro on an iPad. Now that you can red screen the whole iPad it works really well

[Hobbes]

On 02/04/2017 at 08:15, estwing said:

Sorry to ask but how much was the ferry service?

I paid £124 for the ferry but I did have a trailer and estate car and they charge by the meter. I also paid the standard fare rather than the economy one as this allow much greater flexibility on timings and cancelation.

The extra cost of the trailer was more than covered by the money saved by camping as opposed to hiring a chalet as I was going solo.

[Hobbes]

On 31/03/2017 at 10:03, estwing said:

Great report and read.i love the 21e in my 18" such a great combo for hoovering...did you get the full cone structure?..I've only caught one side of it,clear skies 

I think I only managed to see one side of it. I needed higher magnification to get a proper look but the conditions didn't really allow that!

[estwing]

ive seen the one side twice but not the full cone,its really,really tough.