A few DSOs for good measure...

[Richard Hather]

Another week and another few nights of clear weather when my 4 off comes round ?

I must be doing something right,

I kicked of my session last night with the usually suspects quick look at the moon far to bright with the 13E and 20ES so I went straight to Jupiter.

I was rewarded with some lovely seeing for the most part, the 2 main belts easily visible along with both poles and of course the GRS made another appearance in my 13E easily picked out as a lovely orangey colour on the bottom right band beautiful ?

I spent a good hour observing Jupiter before I thought I want to see some DSOs even though the moon would make it hard work.

So what to observe I decided on 3, M57/M81/M94, I started with the planetary Nebula M57 and was able to tease out some detail and could make the object out as soon as I tried to observer it.

I then decided on M81, M82 was a complete no show couldn't really make it out but Bodes was easily seen and again I enjoyed trying to find structure in the grey smudge.

So onto my last and probably most difficult target of the night M94 a spiral galaxy in Canes which I just managed to make out with next to no detail but a bit of averted vision and I could definitely see a greyish blob were it was supposed to be ?

Not a bad night really my DSLR stayed packed away and I enjoyed the night, I didn't stay up for Saturn but maybe tonight ?

Clear skies ✨?????

Richard

[John]

Good for you for going for some DSO's with the moon in the sky

I've been sticking to the Moon, Jupiter and double stars over the past few nights. Looking forward to getting the dob out again when the Moon's off the scene though.

[Richard Hather]

29 minutes ago, John said:

Good for you for going for some DSO's with the moon in the sky

I've been sticking to the Moon, Jupiter and double stars over the past few nights. Looking forward to getting the dob out again when the Moon's off the scene though.

Nice what dob do you use may I ask I've been looking into them them recently.

I thought I mite as well give it a try and although I didn't see great detail by a long shot at least I saw them which surprised me.

[John]

I have an Orion Optics 12" F/5.3 with a custom made dob mount.

[Richard Hather]

Sounds nice I have been looking into dobs recently and maybe keeping my 6se as a grab and go or selling it to fund the dob choices ?

 

[John]

20 minutes ago, Richard Hather said:

Sounds nice I have been looking into dobs recently and maybe keeping my 6se as a grab and go or selling it to fund the dob choices ?

 

Prviously I had a Meade 12" Lightbridge dobsonian. That was not a bad dob but it was very heavy. My Orion Optics weighs around the same as a 10" Skywatcher dob which is a great advantage to me because I need to be able to move the thing around reasonably easily. Here is a pic of my current 12":

 

[Richard Hather]

2 minutes ago, John said:

Prviously I had a Meade 12" Lightbridge dobsonian. That was not a bad dob but it was very heavy. My Orion Optics weighs around the same as a 10" Skywatcher dob which is a great advantage to me because I need to be able to move the thing around reasonably easily. Here is a pic of my current 12":

 

Wow that's a lovely scope, especially the handmade base looks very sturdy. I was looking at a 12" as a potential upgrade maybe a Skywatcher Skyliner 300P Flex Tube Dobsonian Telescope for easier storage double the aperture I currently use and being able to see everything on the Messier list at least would be nice.

My C6 simply isn't up to the job with some of the them when I've tried to observe them.

Even though LP is apparent were I live would I still be able to see all the messier list with a 12" even if they were not very detailed.

I only ask because I can honestly say I would probably never be able to get such a scope to a dark site.

Richard

[Astro Imp]

Nice report and good for you going after DSOs on a night of full the moon.

I would have thought the whole Messier catalogue would be doable with your 6Se from a suitably dark site.

[Richard Hather]

Didn't really plan it just thought I would try a few ?

Your probably right Astro but it's a little LP we're I setup in my back yard and definitely impacts what I can see in a 6se and how much detail I can see.

If I do get a bigger aperture telescope this will hopefully improve detail of what I can see with my C6 and open the door to other unattainable objects as well.