A superb DSO night

[jetstream]

High transparency, dark and the Milky Way was unbelievably sharp and reflecting off the calm lake, even the wide extended cloud near the south horizon was casting a glow across the bay.The VX10 and 15 were out and did great jobs.

I just have to mention 2 highly contrasted dark nebulae over near the Swan M17 and down and over to the right a bit. M18 seems to have a reflection component, VDB121 which shone nicely. Well these 2 dark nebula (B92 and B93) are an absolute must see! They are very highly contrasted being near M24, a beautiful sight itself.

Over to Aquila I pursued another dark nebula B140-this thing is huge! another for the list. While in the neighbor hood I checked out NGC 6781, a very nice bright planetary. First seen with no filter, the Astronomik OIII/17E did a fantastic job and I further upped the mag playing around.

All the above were with the 10" f4.8/17E and the OIII ( not for dark nebs though), and yes-no filter for VDB 121- using one killed it.

So now I ran up to the ridge a hundred fifty yards away where the 15" was waiting. The Veil was superb, like a grey photo and up here the Lumicon UHC bested the Lumi OIII soundly- on all the upcoming objects...it the darkness level that makes the UHC pull away IMHO. The Lunt 20mm HDC/21E were squaring off again... I'll cut this part short- they both work extremely well. I compared them on SH2-157,LDN 544,NGC 7510 and the Bubble NGC 7635 and there was no difference between them. All these were easy to see tonight.

Oh and a prize?! I saw a distinct emission neb up near Cepheus which I think is SH2-139. The neb in question was not that hard to see in the 20mm/UHC, I must re visit. Anyway I'll mosey on off to bed now, dreaming of all the objects I didn't report

ps- did I mention SH2-91, the little Veil?

[Tim]

Sounds like a great night Gerry!

[estwing]

The little veil eh? Conditions must of been top notch Gerry ...I think Steve had a bash at this once and did comment how hard it was!

wetting the appetite with such reports like these Gerry..clear skies!

[jetstream]

29 minutes ago, estwing said:

The little veil eh? Conditions must of been top notch Gerry ...I think Steve had a bash at this once and did comment how hard it was!

wetting the appetite with such reports like these Gerry..clear skies!

I have seen the little Veil (well part of it) many times and quite a while back reported it in a few threads. The one little streak is easier than the other - this object is a great test of things for sure. Last night while looking to point the scope at the Cocoon area I got totally confused from the blaze of stars up above Lacerta- the starfields in my 15" were jaw dropping actually.

Eagerly waiting reports from your 24" Calvin!

[scarp15]

Just got round to checking up on all those objects in your report Gerry. B92, B93 do appear interesting, Sagittarius is fairly low lying from my observing location, being closer towards Scutum, I enjoy fixing on M17 though which is more elevated. Quite agree NGC 6781 is a nice P/N to visit. Need to look up those nebulae you mention particularly in Cepheus, the Little Veil is a primary target in which I will once again look for a thin strand whilst using my OIII filter, feeling cautiously hopeful about this one. 

Another great session for us all to digest anyhow Gerry, look forward to more reporting.

[PeterW]

Sh91.... darn it! Cocoon is easy though. Sharpless 139?? Near sh142 the wizard?? Should have gone after CTB-1 then!

sounds like an epic night... dark nebs especially.

Peter

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Sharpless 139?? Near sh142 the wizard??

I re loaded Vogels SH2 maps and I think you're right it must be SH2 -142 as SH2 -139 sounds much too faint. I caught the neb panning around and wasn't that difficult. Next time out I must confirm this object, man there is a lot of stuff out there.

[PeterW]

Interstallarum plots a lot of it in Cepheus, around gamma cygni is another matter.

 

peter

[John]

Superb report again Gerry

If I had your skies I'd get rid of all my scopes and most of my eyepieces and get a socking big dob !

Meanwhile it's a very nice night here at the moment and the Leica ASPH zoom barlowed to give 300x is showing me the best views of M13 I've ever had with my 12" scope and very reminiscent of those I've seen through larger scopes so I'm happy

 

[Littleguy80]

What a report, Gerry! Amazing targets and brilliantly described. Dark nebula sound very mysterious!

[jetstream]

3 hours ago, John said:

the Leica ASPH zoom barlowed to give 300x is showing me the best views of M13 I've ever had with my 12" scope and very reminiscent of those I've seen through larger scopes so I'm happy

Awesome John!

You have found out one of the Leica Aspherics best roles- clusters and it is superb in this role as you have seen!

[Pig]

A fantastic nights observing Gerry ..... it would be great to have skies like you get. Keep the reports coming ?  

[jetstream]

15 minutes ago, Pig said:

A fantastic nights observing Gerry ..... it would be great to have skies like you get. Keep the reports coming ?  

Thanks Shaun, tonight I might obs if the sky holds-are you interested in any targets?

[Pig]

It's mainly the wide field views for me Gerry and some coloured stars ? You may spell that as colored ?

[PeterW]

... some big bright or dark nebulae that you've not observed before....

Peter

[MarsG76]

Great report... those nights of darkness and superb transparency are rare, at-least for me... so luck was definitely on your side to catch such a night.