Last night's observing session - Galaxies, Nebulae and Clusters.

[Sam]

I haven't had a chance to get the 16"Lightbridge out for a while so last night was a welcome opportunity to get back into observing. SWMBO bought me the Celestron eyepiece set a few weeks ago so it was a good chance to give them a go.

The first stop was to see if I could see the bubble nebula - no such luck, probably need a filter or something, but while there I had a look at M52 and then a look at NGC 7510, a small open cluster - kind of like a wedge shape. The next stop was back to Cygnus and off to M29 - the number of stars visible in the milky way is just staggering so I spent a bit of time just browsing before looking for M29 - this one was hard to pick out through the background stars. Next was the Blue Snowball (NGC 7662) between Lacerta and Andromeda. This was very small with a fuzzy outline and a solid looking centre, through the 4mm eyepiece - with a hole in the middle, a bit like a donut (more like a darkening slightly of the colour rather than a hole), though not like the ring nebula. The nebula did have a slight blue tinge to it. A little to the right of the Blue Snowball was a faint galaxy, NGC 7640 - it appeared quite faint and long and very difficult to see.

While I was in the area of Andromeda it was worth a look at M31, M32 and M110.All three were very clear and M31 looked very majestic and filled the whole FOV of the eyepiece (32mm). A little to the left of M31 and friends are two smaller galaxies. NGC 278 was the first one, quite bright and round - maybe the faint hint some some spirals. The next one was NGC 185 which is oval in shape and quite bright in the middle. Just further to the left of those two galaxies is the Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76). I haven't seen this before and it was quite bright in the dob - it looked like a dog bone. The weather has been pretty rough lately so it was good to get out and have a reasonable observing session.

Sam

[Andrew*]

You seem to be rattling off the objects one by one there LB - nice work!

What reference do you use at the eyepiece by the way?

I've recently considered giving up all the hassle of imaging and replace all my kit with a 16" LB.... I'm sure (and hope) this phase will pass - classic aperture fever. Besides, I should really wait for the 16" SW flextube if it will ever emerge...

You never let us know how you found the Celestron EPs :nono: .

What 36mm EP were you working with for M31?

(Sorry, that was a lot of questions!)

Andrew

[Sam]

Andrew,

They're great and worked very well - the 36mm was actually a 32mm (amended the above accordingly), whoops should have read the side of the eyepiece earlier!!!! The edge of the field of view with the eyepiece showed nice tight stars so I am quite happy with that set. The 4mm eyepiece was pretty good as well. I also used the 9mm eyepiece. Just browsing the milky way with 32mm was great as well. I haven't tried the barlow or any of the filters yet.

Sam

[Andrew*]

Ah! I see.

NGC 7640 sounds like a tough/disappointing target, even for a 16". What were your skies like?

Andrew

[Sam]

The skies weren't too bad, not the best they have been but at least free from clouds (beggars can't be choosers). NGC7640 was quite satisfying to find as I was trying to hop to it from the snowball. The tricky bit is Stellarium is on my laptop which was connected up to the other scope for imaging NGC 6945 so I had to run back to the laptop to get the reference for the next hop (no goto in sight here). It is amazing what I see on the way to different targets - last night was the vivid yellow stars that I kept seeing from time to time and two satellites that sailed past.

[Doc]

Great report LB.

Like you I have the 16" but haven't used it for at least 3 weeks now. Still building the conservatory and patio so have no where to put it yet.

Glad you had a good night.

[Talitha]

Great report Sam, thanks!

Can you see M31's dust lanes with the 16"?

[Sam]

Carol,

M31 was still quite low on the horizon so I couldn't see anything that was definitely a dust lane - but with averted vision I think there was a hint of a dust lane on one side. When it gets higher (or when I stay up later) it'll be good to keep an eye out.

Sam

[Plastic chicken]

Your having a blast with the 16" Sam!!!! Can`t remember the last time i got mine out!!!! blumming british summer time!!!!

PC