Theres usually one or two isn't there ?

[John]

Most observing sessions that I've had have involved a number of different targets in different parts of the sky, usually following the constellations as they rise to favourable viewing positions. Usually, when I think back to what I've observed, one or two targets stand out has having been particualy nice. Not always the objects you expect though 

Last nights session with my Takahashi 100mm refractor followed this pattern. The sporadic clouds gradually thinned leading to a nice, dark, clear period around midnight. My targets during the session included a number of favourite double stars, a couple of globular clusters, 3 planetary nebulae, 7 galaxies, a gradually fading nova and a handful of open clusters. None of these were new to me and they were not pushing the performance in any way really but just having a relaxing, fun time

The "stand out" objects last night were two of the open clusters ......

* The superb Wild Duck Cluster, Messier 11, in Scutum.  A dense, exquisite fan shaped spray of tiny jewel-like stars at 90x. Discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681, first resolved into stars by William Durhem  around 1733, catalogued by Messier in 1764 and named by Admiral Smythe in  the 19th century. It's got a bit of history !

* The lovely Owl or E.T. Cluster, NGC 457, in Cassiopeia. My refractor view showed the "upside down" view of this lovely steller gathering so the bright pair of "eye" stars were at the bottom but the "wings" or "ET's arms" in the form of faint sprays of stars to either side were very nicely shown. This is yet another of William Herschel's discoveries dating from 1787 during his most intense period of deep sky surveying. I certainly buy into the Owl or E.T. names for this object but less so "The Skiing Cluster" and I did not know what a Kachina Doll looks like (another name for this grouping of stars) until I Googled. Apparently it's an ancient spirit of the Hopi People that lives in the sky and comes down to dance, sing, bring rain for the harvest and gifts for the children. So now I know and it does make some sense for this cluster !

Here is a pic of NGC 457 (not mine I need to say but I've rotated it to a refractor type view) and also one of a Kachina Doll, for anyone interested

[Charic]

17 minutes ago, John said:

just having a relaxing, fun time

Sounds like you really have stopped studying the merits of each and every eyepiece, and enjoying the results you see through them, enjoy it while you can.
I'm still waiting for darker nights ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz,,,,,,,,,,!

[John]

16 minutes ago, Charic said:

Sounds like you really have stopped studying the merits of each and every eyepiece, and enjoying the results you see through them, enjoy it while you can.
I'm still waiting for darker nights ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz,,,,,,,,,,!

Darkness will soon come to you Charic

The eyepieces I used last night were the Baader Classic Orthos that I bought from you plus a Vixen NPL 30mm

 

[Scooot]

Kachina doll, that's a new one. That certainly is a strong likeness, I might even remember that.  The cluster is also one of my favourites. As is the Wild duck cluster, I first looked at it this year through my 10" a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit murky being fairly low around 10.30/11.00. Then again a few days later when we had a much better night of seeing with the bigger Dob, and it was much nicer.

Thanks, thats a nice report and the sketch and pic were a good addition.

[Charic]

Cheers John,  glad their of use to you.

[cloudsweeper]

Nice account John - M11 is indeed a stunner - one of those you never tire of viewing!

Doug.

 

[Mr Spock]

It takes a lot of imagination to see an owl in there!

[Charic]

.......funny old thing, I just tried with Stellarium and I see it, not sure ill see it from my garden though! (real-world)

[Paz]

Nice review port thanks for posting. Could I ask where is the nova you observed, I've never looked at one before and would be interested in seeing one.

[Dave1]

Very good observing session John. Most envious. Last night for the first time I managed Double Double close to Lyra. Tried using Vega and Albireo as my guide to find the dumbbell nebula, but failed. Mind you I wasn't at a proper dark sky site, and that was using my 60mm. Will keep trying.

[wookie1965]

NGC 457 is one of my favourites, great report some nice objects there M11 is superb.

[John]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

.. Could I ask where is the nova you observed, I've never looked at one before and would be interested in seeing one.

It's in Scutum. There is some further info in this article:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-surprises-new-comet-c2017-o1-scutum-nova-and-a-supernova-to-boot/

 

[Piero]

NGC457 is a lovely cluster, one of my favourite in that area. The name I am familiar for it is `Dragonfly cluster`, although for some reason I see a Concorde shape, where the two bright stars are the bottom are the engines!  

[Pondus]

E.T cluster is lovely indeed. I like the E.T label.

Come to think of it, I know way too little regarding Norwegian sky culture namings.

Except Wild duck, 'Vildanden' cause of Ibsen....

Nice report John. Skys getting darker up here (behind the clouds), hopefully I can start my Autumn sessions soon.

The Docter 12.5mm and a filter is still waiting for first light.

Rune

[Piero]

34 minutes ago, Pondus said:

The Docter 12.5mm and a filter is still waiting for first light.

That combo on my 8" dob which is like yours gave me a truly memorable view of the M42. 

[F15Rules]

Sounds like a lovely relaxed session John, with a top end refractor and a handful of relatively cheap, but optically excellent simple eyepieces.

Were you tempted to wheel out the "big, wide guns", and if not, did you enjoy the 'back to basics" eyepiece selection  as much as your more expensive ones?

I've often thought that most of my really enjoyable sessions were when using a similar selection, just so simple, lightweight and fuss-free?.

Dave

[alan potts]

Nice report John, strangely I was looking at the Wild Duck last night, though I can't see how they ever called it that personally. I still have the 130mm Lzos in the barn so I banged that on the mount and went to wild duck when it was semi dark and watched whilst the sky darkened. I also looked in on old favourite M22, still think it looks better in the 18 inch though at X230.

Alan

[John]

9 hours ago, alan potts said:

Nice report John, strangely I was looking at the Wild Duck last night, though I can't see how they ever called it that personally. I still have the 130mm Lzos in the barn so I banged that on the mount and went to wild duck when it was semi dark and watched whilst the sky darkened. I also looked in on old favourite M22, still think it looks better in the 18 inch though at X230.

Alan

A lot of stuff looks better through an 18" inch I reckon

Admiral William Henry Smyth observed Messier 11 in 1835 and described it thus: " This object, which somewhat resembles a flight of wild ducks in shape, is a gathering of minute stars."

Another of his quotes is: " ...no family is quite civilized unless it possesses a copy of some encyclopaedia and a telescope."

I can relate to the 2nd one

[alan potts]

On 21/08/2017 at 18:10, John said:

A lot of stuff looks better through an 18" inch I reckon

Admiral William Henry Smyth observed Messier 11 in 1835 and described it thus: " This object, which somewhat resembles a flight of wild ducks in shape, is a gathering of minute stars."

Another of his quotes is: " ..."

I can relate to the 2nd one

no family is quite civilized unless it possesses a copy of some encyclopaedia and a telescope.

I gues 50% of it is the best I can do, have the internet though.

SAlan