Deep sky sketches and reports

[N3ptune]

Hello, has promised in a previous thread I publish here some logs and sketches for my latest observation at my current best dark spot, not perfect but quite an interesting sky there.

TIME: 21:30 to 2:00 Montreal Time / Temperature (+-) from 18C to 10C / Seeing: Good / Transparency: Transparent / Clouds +- 5% to none / Humidity low / Mosquitoes: moderate / Moon 33% gone at +- 11:30 really orange/red at low altitude, beautiful 

Telescope: 203x1000 F5 Newtonian with: 32, 24, 18, 7, 4.7 oculars with 2x barlow.

DEPARTURE: The sky looked like the picture bellow, perfect sky, really calm and no need to say my motivation was high, it was a 100 kms trip with no incidents. Only joy and good music.

ARRIVAL: Setting up the gear went well, I had all the requirement, mounting and aligning the EQ5 took 5 minutes maximum, and my polar alignment was right on spot. (This polar scope keeps it's alignment with the RA axis very well) So far I am really pleased with the quality of the EQ5 too.

I was well prepared, my atlas had it's bookmarks (thanks to @MarsG76 and @Littleguy80) the spot was calms with the exception of the mice living all around me in the bushes.

OBSERVATION:

MILKY WAY: First the Milky way was astonishing, I could see it all from one side to the another like a giant rainbow, after 11:30 (moon set) it was spectacular,  especially around Cygnus and Scorpio, it was at least 30 degrees wide at the largest part around Cygnus. The split around Scorpio was well defined. I mean it was clouds around the Lagoon Nebula and the Star Cloud, the DSO were visible with naked eye and the milky way itself looked like clouds. This was my very best naked eye observation of the MW.

STARS: Looking at the zenith, and Cygnus, there were so many stars at least 600 to 800 steady stars visible from my eyes and a massive quantity of really faint ones inside the MW, I had to unfold my camping chair just to look at the scene. 

NORTH AMERICA AND PELICAN (See sketch bellow): Was fairly easy to locate using 32mm/2" EP with 2" NPB filter, the edges of the pelican (facing NA) and most of the perimeter of NA were visible. The cluster inside the NA is literally insane, packed with faint stars, it's a breathtaking object. My favourite part of it is the dark navigation canal between the 2, the nebulosity is the shore obviously and there is the distinctive nebula tip of the NA which is also the easiest part to spot with the highest contrast. Wow! this is gold truly..

NPB filter was mandatory to enjoy this sight, incredible results with my 2" 32mm with optimal 6.5 mm exit pupil.

Meanwhile I heard some kind of mouse dispute just in front of me... clearly there is a nest there.

THE GREAT VEIL NEBULA (See sketch bellow) That was the highest point of the night, I was very lucky with the atmospheric conditions and 3 parts of the nebula were visible. The most interesting part was NGC 6995 the large arc opposed to the witch broom NGC 6960 (including the beautiful star 52), both parts had clear cloudy definition, really addictive object to look at.

I had a tear coming out of both eyes when I saw NGC 6995 with that much visibility (also with a waaaaaaaoooww), it was so beautiful... and rare. It has maybe a slight amount of green color in it although it could be because of the filter. Filter is green and red.

Both NGC had plenty of definition again with 32mm + NPB (2.25d TFOV) the only eyepiece used there. The middle part of the nebula, 6992 was also visible but much dimmer, still a large part of it could be seen.

The end of the witch broom, to me, looks more like sand blown by the wind. True natural art.

CEPHEUS: The elephant trunk nebula, not sure if it was visible, but it looks like some parts of it were, the cluster itself is insane, really dense open cluster, with the superb red Garnet star, one of my all time favourite. I found it by chance while looking into Cepheus (it's not always naked eye visible from home) then I learned later it was a famous red star. (:

THE RING NEBULA (See sketch bellow) Again, the ring because we have a faint star thread going on address bellow (pretty much dead now), and I am testing the limits of my 203mm aperture reflector in various conditions. Clearly there were more faint stars visible from my dark spot, much more in averted vision. The easiest to spot close to the ring are there on the sketch, at least 3 of them are invisible from home in averted vision, their magnitude is to be be determined now.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/296609-faint-star-hunting/?page=2

The nebula itself, I didn't spent too much time looking at it, it was a star exercise mostly. The power used to study was 212x 4.7mm ES with no filter. The seeing was surprisingly good for that much power, it's not a low power image but good enough and interesting.

SHOOTING STARS I saw 3 of them, a fast one, but there was a 3 second slow one too with a deep green combustion, I could see the remaining parts finishing their course at different speed, and I made a wish.

DOUBLE DOUBLE CLUSTER: Naked eye visible, I looked at this wonder with 25mm eyepiece, it was a bit low so, not has packed with stars has last time but still a must.

AQUARIUS: Searching for planetary nebs 6803 and 6804 without success.

WILD DUCK CLUSTER: I didn't remember how this one is was impressive and dense, and worth spending time on, wow! First located at 31x the background of the cluster is white literally, so dense, then used 212x, this was too much. To study the core, the Fujiyama orthoscopic 7mm was the right pick to preserve quality! 142x of good definition, my rough estimation would be 250 ~ 300 visible stars inside the FOV, surprising seeing.

EAGLE - OMEGA - STAR CLOUD: Omega and Star cloud were naked eye visible, actually Eagle too, Omega was strong enough to be visible without NPB filter, even the Eagle was visible without the filter. I tried various eyepieces size on these but my best pick was 40x with 25mm xcellx, much better with the 1.25mm NPB filter especially on Omega. Omega is like Orion a bit, really green with visible clouds details, one of my favourite gem.  And there was the impressive star cloud, a comforting place for me.

THE LAGOON AND TRIFID (See sketch bellow): Along with the Veil, these 2 were the super stars of the night, totally incredible and also this was my first observation with great conditions like that. Again, both green and large objects, the star cluster inside the Lagoon makes it very unique and pleasant to look at. Also there was a visible split in the middle, the high contrast nebula to 1 side and the faint Nebula with the cluster to the other side. Something you can never forget. Again, Wow! (2" 32mm 31x with NPB filter was optimal to see both in the same FOV)

SATURN NEBULA (Aquarius) This one had a strong turquoise green color, one of the brightest and vivid color I have ever seen in the sky (along with the Cat's eye from a previous observation.) and strongly blinking, because of some wind?   a bit better with NPB filter, EP was Xcellx18mm 55x. 

SAGITTARIUS M22 CLUSTER: Another massive cluster like the wild duck, probably one of the densest I ever saw, unfortunately it was too low and there was a serious loss of resolution because of that. 25mm 40x was about the best eyepiece to look at it. Really impressive cluster.

VEIL: I wanted to finish with the veil at the zenith, so I had a last look at the structure (: definition was even better then previously. Then I packed the gear at 1:45 MTL

THE COYOTES: To close this unbelievable observation, a pack of coyote manifest themselves, by howling, there were many individuals and the sounds came from the front of my car on at least 100 degrees, less then 200 meters away. I never packed my stuff so quickly, they were at least 5 individuals, minimum, singing a different song! It's kind of nice to listen anyway.

(; I hope you liked that report, for me it was a memorable observation.

THE END

[N3ptune]

Sorry for the spelling up there, I am trying to improve, and improve it not easy.

[Richard Hather]

Wow beautiful report Neptune, one of the best I've ever experienced ?

Seriously the way you describe your observations it's like I'm there with you ?

The Veil I've tried to observe twice and failed both times the wild duck cluster is beautiful to observe though one of my favourites ?

So happy your session was a success ?

[Astro Imp]

I'm so pleased for you and really appreciate you taking the trouble to inform and entertain us with a great report.

Good luck for the future and please keep posting.

 

[Stu]

Wonderful report Neptune. You clearly made the most of some spectacular skies! Lovely sketches too, I've seen the Veil and NAN on a number of occasions with good clarity and they are just superb objects to observe, you've captured them nicely.

[Littleguy80]

Fabulous report and stunningly good sketches! I really feel like I've been along with you on this trip through your earlier post and now this report. Really happy that it turned out so well for you. Thanks for sharing 

[Mr niall]

Amazing report really really enjoyed reading that, fab sketches.

[N3ptune]

Well I am really glad you all liked this report and if it was immersive too! I guess that's another goal achieved there because this  was fantastic trip trough space. I thought about it all my week end. Thanks for your kind comments (;

 

[niallk]

Great report + sketches N3ptune 

Geez - a pack of coyotes in the dark must be intimidating!!

[N3ptune]

Yes it it intimidating very much, at first I always think if they are wolves.  Even if they are coyotes, seldom, I know people gets eaten by them too. and this time they were really close. At least they didn't howl while I was looking at the DSO i kept my concentration for 4.5 hours non stop. Like Stu said it I made the most out of this sky, I think so too.

[mariosi]

Wonderful report and sketches.

Thank you for sharing

Marios 

[Pete Presland]

Terrific report and sketches, sounds like an excellent session!

[N3ptune]

@Pete Presland

It was memorable, my vacations are coming soon, I almost can't wait to fill the tank with petrol and drive to a dark site again, to re live this level of depth again. Thanks Pete for the comment.

[Pete Presland]

Just now, N3ptune said:

@Pete Presland

It was memorable, my vacations are coming soon, I almost can't wait to fill the tank with petrol and drive to a dark site again, to re live this level of depth again. Thanks Pete for the comment.

I love being close to nature, but a pack of wolves so close? I have seen the film "the grey"  I did see a large group of deer one morning in the UK while imaging the sunrise, a total surprise for the area. One minute there, another minute gone, disappeared into the waste high cornfield  

[N3ptune]

On 8/12/2017 at 00:48, Pete Presland said:

I love being close to nature, but a pack of wolves so close? I have seen the film "the grey"  I did see a large group of deer one morning in the UK while imaging the sunrise, a total surprise for the area. One minute there, another minute gone, disappeared into the waste high cornfield  

sorry for this late answer but that's a nice event you witnessed, a close encounter with many wild deers like that, they are fearful pretty much but it,s always a pleasure to see them.

[Beulah]

Great report, I really enjoyed reading it, thank you for taking the time to create it.

Those first two images are very evocative; you can almost smell the fresh air that seem to indicate a cloudless sky...

Also amazing that you can see so much with the 8" Newt...you must have some fabulous skies your way.

[N3ptune]

Hello Beulah, you point something important, my sketches are limited by some physical factors. In my sketches, The Veil, NA and Pellican, were not has strong has in the eyepiece, I just can't draw any fainter then that on the field with a very limited amount of red light, that,s why I have to push a bit more on the pencil to have the capability of seeing what I actually draw.

At the eyepiece, there were more subtle details in the Veil then in my sketches especially for the NGC6995 part. Also, the Veil was extremely visible (for a faint object) with the narrow passband filter. My dark spot is in the range of the medium, close to medium/good I would say (rough visual evaluation), that is for light pollution. BUT the atmospheric conditions were over the top that night, and it's a major point in the scale, that, and the objects were directly at the zenith so I think it's a blend many good factors more then the aperture.

I am confident a 150mm instrument would have performed very well too on that specific night.

[Beulah]

I didn't see your sketches, Neptune - apologies. My broadband connection is very slow - at the time I wrote my post, your sketches hadn't loaded up! Now I can see them. Great effort - it's what I can see in my 12"!

Capturing the Veil is a tricky business. The fine 'threads' of the nebula seems to shimmer and change when studying it for a long time. Next time you sketch it, you will notice other elements you haven't seen before. Someone said on this forum recently that sketching improved their observing ability.

 

[MarsG76]

What a excellent report, I really enjoyed reading it and looking at your fantastic sketches.

I can sense the passion in your description and could place myself there.

Good luck for many more deep observation nights like that one...

PS: Coyotes and wolves? I hope you take a weapon with you.

[N3ptune]

1 hour ago, Beulah said:

I didn't see your sketches, Neptune - apologies. My broadband connection is very slow - at the time I wrote my post, your sketches hadn't loaded up! Now I can see them. Great effort - it's what I can see in my 12"!

Capturing the Veil is a tricky business. The fine 'threads' of the nebula seems to shimmer and change when studying it for a long time. Next time you sketch it, you will notice other elements you haven't seen before. Someone said on this forum recently that sketching improved their observing ability.

 

I believe that definitely, sketching will improve sketching too It forces one to capture details and compare them with the real thing, which makes the sketching errors pop out instantly (and the drafter being unsatisfied constantly?)

Next time, I will pay attention to the changes inside the nebula, I believe dark adaptation will play a role in this.. and the eye will reveal more details after 20, 30 minutes, I noticed the same thing happeing with The Great Orion Nebula, it's a real challenge to sketch.

45 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

What a excellent report, I really enjoyed reading it and looking at your fantastic sketches.

I can sense the passion in your description and could place myself there.

Good luck for many more deep observation nights like that one...

PS: Coyotes and wolves? I hope you take a weapon with you.

Thank you! i am glad you can see yourself, we know the feeling well ((: it's my vacations now so I am ready to take ma car to a new distant spot, has soon has it's possible, there will be another report then!! (;

There were no wolves sounds fortunately, only coyotes. has a defensive device ,I have a jo battle stick with me, it's uses in Aikido to practice katas, is it enough? I really don't know, I would like to to get some spark sticks maybe... you light it and it's throwing a large amount of non lethal sparks, light and noise towards the animal. Could be a good solution.

UPDATE:

@MarsG76 I called the hunting and fishing store and they suggest me to buy a Bear Bagners  they effective against bear but they should be effective against coyotes too. This the demo bellow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vBU1gLbI0

[MarsG76]

10 hours ago, N3ptune said:

I believe that definitely, sketching will improve sketching too It forces one to capture details and compare them with the real thing, which makes the sketching errors pop out instantly (and the drafter being unsatisfied constantly?)

Next time, I will pay attention to the changes inside the nebula, I believe dark adaptation will play a role in this.. and the eye will reveal more details after 20, 30 minutes, I noticed the same thing happeing with The Great Orion Nebula, it's a real challenge to sketch.

Thank you! i am glad you can see yourself, we know the feeling well ((: it's my vacations now so I am ready to take ma car to a new distant spot, has soon has it's possible, there will be another report then!! (;

There were no wolves sounds fortunately, only coyotes. has a defensive device ,I have a jo battle stick with me, it's uses in Aikido to practice katas, is it enough? I really don't know, I would like to to get some spark sticks maybe... you light it and it's throwing a large amount of non lethal sparks, light and noise towards the animal. Could be a good solution.

UPDATE:

@MarsG76 I called the hunting and fishing store and they suggest me to buy a Bear Bagners  they effective against bear but they should be effective against coyotes too. This the demo bellow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vBU1gLbI0

I was talking about something more proven... I generally have with me something more effective.

You'd have a bad day if you'd get set upon by coyotes or, heaven forbid a BEAR!!! and realize that the bungers don't work!!!

That said I never had to use extreme force yet... fingers crossed it stays that way.... for both of us...

[N3ptune]

On 8/19/2017 at 23:09, MarsG76 said:

I was talking about something more proven... I generally have with me something more effective.

You'd have a bad day if you'd get set upon by coyotes or, heaven forbid a BEAR!!! and realize that the bungers don't work!!!

That said I never had to use extreme force yet... fingers crossed it stays that way.... for both of us...

Ahh I would like to carry something more effective but I don't know the laws for what is possible to do or not. For instance if i have to keep let's say a riffle inside a box, inside my car.. it's useless. My best defensive right now is to get inside my car, for coyotes it's enough, for a bear it's another story

[MarsG76]

3 hours ago, N3ptune said:

Ahh I would like to carry something more effective but I don't know the laws for what is possible to do or not. For instance if i have to keep let's say a riffle inside a box, inside my car.. it's useless. My best defensive right now is to get inside my car, for coyotes it's enough, for a bear it's another story

At the end of the day.. I hope you never have a problem with wild life of any kind... good luck... again, great report and sketches.

My obsy/permanent telescope hut built is finished and I'm putting the gear inside, so hopefully not too long until I'm regularly observing and imaging again. 

 

[N3ptune]

1 hour ago, MarsG76 said:

At the end of the day.. I hope you never have a problem with wild life of any kind... good luck... again, great report and sketches.

My obsy/permanent telescope hut built is finished and I'm putting the gear inside, so hopefully not too long until I'm regularly observing and imaging again. 

 

Oh nice, if you have a thread with this new observatory, ill go take look at if of course. Are you satisfied with the project?

[MarsG76]

3 minutes ago, N3ptune said:

Oh nice, if you have a thread with this new observatory, ill go take look at if of course. Are you satisfied with the project?

Once it's all ready to go I'll write a post to show it... of course... so far I'm very satisfied with the project, seems to work well... I designed it in two parts, the small back part that houses the shelves, computer and storage, and the front part where the pier is located and the whole half of the housing rolls off it to reveal the sky.

I also made it small enough not to take too much space in my yard but big enough to be practicable. I lose a bit of the sky due to the size, but that simply limits me to image at the best parts of the sky, aka, when the objects are higher than 40 degrees above the horizon.