Banked views

[mapstar]

Sunday the 22nd and clouds had blighted the new moon yet again and I was anchoring to get out and hit some targets. The scope like everyone else's hasn't had much use this autumn up to now.I set off under clouded skies hoping the weather forecasts were right, BBC had it clear all night, Metcheck down to 14% cloud, XC about the same. As I headed north the nearer I got to Sutton Bank the clouds started to dissipate. I climbed the 500ft switch back to the plateau and headed for my usual spot.

 

Pulling the car up I jumped out and was immediately hit by the breeze which was steady with the occasional gust. It made the 8deg seem a lot colder. The silver dusting of the milkyway was the best I've seen it this year but not difficult when all I've seen is cloud!!! I positioned the car facing into the wind and after a change of socks and footwear promptly set up. A leisurely half an hour later and the scope was collimated ready to go. It was 9pm so onto the first target which was to be the fireworks galaxy on the border of cygnus almost directly over head. Dob hole territory. 

 

I chose Alderamin in Cepheus as a starting point to hop over. A bit rusty it took me a while to gauge the star chart to the magnitudes of the stars.Working my way north along the constellation line until I dropped down to a cluster NGC6939 which was quite a large expanse of stars reminding me very much of the Aldebaran and the hyades. A nice cluster but didn't hold my attention for long as I moved onto the fireworks galaxy NGC 6946. In the 13E the large spiral galaxy took up about 1/3 of the fov and I could make out the HA regions making tracing the very faint arms east and west easier. All those clouded nights were beginning to be forgotten. To the east on the chart was UGC11557 back in Cepheus and after 5mins search I managed to locate it. Quite diffuse and not an easy target at approx mag14.5. I slotted the 8E in to push the contrast up and make things easier if not a bit mushy.

 

Back into cygnus and NGC 6916 a small nice galaxy which had a star either side of it's core.Moving nearer Deneb the Fetus nebula NGC 7008 was a nice view. A faint round shape with two bright stars inside it had two distinct brighter sections south east and north west. I did try the OIII and the UHC and although both brightened the two areas the dimmer portions disappeared.

 

Getting my feet back on the ground I headed for Eniph on the very south east side of Pegasus as it was at a more comfortable viewing angle. I headed for M15 just off but on the way viewed another planetary NGC 7094.  This was a stark contrast to the last and at 169x with the 13E just visible as a light halo around a central star. It was easier to see when filtered with the OIII but the UHC gave the best view.

 

M15 was as always stunning. Easy to locate as it jumps out in the finder but at 169x the core stars are resolved and 3 dimensional in view. A good view so moved on. Just on the border of Pegasus NGC 7042 was an easy find but above it was another galaxy not marked on the star chart. After checking the guide software back home this is NGC 7043 which was much fainter.

 

I broke for a  and the obligatory bar of chocolate  and just viewed the Milkyway in all it's glory spanning the sky east to west. Cygnus was sliding ever west and just on the eastern horizon Orion and Gemini were fully up although too low to be considered as good targets. The wind had now dropped to about 4mph and it was quite pleasant with an owl hooting in the distance and very few cars about. A peaceful observing session is great.

I'm a bit short on lamp oil these days but M31 and the double cluster were really easy to see but I couldn't tease M33 out with the naked eye. A meteor fell as I watched from the Pleides down through Orion. Not sure on the time but must've gone midnight.

 

Back to it and I resumed where I'd left off hopping over the border from Pegasus in Equuleus . A small face on spiral.  Dropping to the bottom of the constellation I bagged NGC 7046 quite easily before moving north east on to NGC 6972 over the border in Delphinius. I noted this down as quite diffcult? not sure why at mag 13.2 it was well within the range of the scope. NGC 6928 and 6930 were both together in the field of view and my notes have other scribbled out which meant I thought I could see something else. Confirming I missed another couple of lower mag galaxies at the side. Shall have to revisit

 

A nice little glob came into view NGC6934 was small and in the 13E I could not resolve any of the stars in it's core. Pushing the mag up to around 275x with the 8E I could tease out the stars in it's core. Difficult but not like finding galaxies.

 

A few whispy clouds on the western horizon had appeared and the viewing conditions were definitely beginning to slide. I switched to Cetus next as it was well placed and picked up Mekab to start my hop up to NGC1024 and 1029. Again I missed another galaxy at the side of these NGC 1028 which was a similar mag to the previous I'd missed. Maybe high cloud up there?

 

NGC 990, 927 were noted as I worked my way to NGC 877 which had another galaxy to the west which was probably NGC 871. I missed quite a bit here looking at the guide software but I was mindful of the bank of cloud which now covered half the sky from the west.

 

With that I had a quick view of the Orion Neb and hopped to the Eskimo Neb NGC 2392 before packing up and heading home at just gone 1am.

 

The journey home was a bit longer than I thought as the motorway network around leeds had been closed and the traffic diverted through the centre! After seeing little in the way of wildlife at Sutton bank a fox in the middle of Leeds was a surprise.

I arrived home and half 2 to a welcome bed and unpacked the car later that day.

 

Clear skies 

 

Damian 

[wookie1965]

Great report Damian glad someone got out, there are a few targets there most if not all I will never get but it is brilliant reading about them.

[estwing]

Excellent stuff Damian and a welcome report!...didn't we glance at this area of 6972 in Skye?...roll on for the faint fuzzy marathons!...clear skies!

[jetstream]

Excellent report Damian and very nice work pulling those small faint galaxies out!

[clarkpm4242]

Made me feel quite tired with the travelling!

A good session and good effort!!

I had a failed attempt at a time lapse on new digislider early in the evening then a short binocular session, including the N6946 and M31.  It was very clear though clouding over here earlier, to your west.

Thank you for the write up.

Paul

P.S.  If you haven't tried it, Pease 1 in M15 is a great challenge.

[gtis]

Great report as ever Damian 

funny you saw a fox ? in Leeds as the past few nights I have seen a fox ? down our street in darfield 

neil

[Beulah]

A fantastic report. Much prefer finding isolated spots to observe in rather than put up with man made LP. Its a great way to achieve good observing results on familiar objects and faint targets.

[mapstar]

6 hours ago, estwing said:

Excellent stuff Damian and a welcome report!...didn't we glance at this area of 6972 in Skye?...roll on for the faint fuzzy marathons!...clear skies!

Cheers Calv.

I can't find anything in the few hours we had so maybe just similar. I can remember the ursa major NGC 3550 Abell 1185 hunt

Too right can't wait 

[DeepSkyBagger]

Great stuff, Damian. Nice to see someone going after those feeble little galaxies just because they're there!

A good read. Made me jealous. I was in the Lake District on Sunday. The forecast was good for me, too, until a couple of hours before dark, when it all went pear-shaped. Ah well, glad someone got a good night of it.

[barkis]

Reaping the rewards  from your creation Damian. A very interesting commentary on your sky tour with the Dob.  You're  a determined young man, and you must have made a hundred miles round trip. That's dedication for sure.      I enjoyed reading  your account of the nights viewing, as have the other guys who've read it,   and you certainly logged many objects.  Thanks for putting the time in, and posting it for the enjoyment of others.  You Big Dob. guys are certainly a credit to SGL.                                                  

 

 

[mapstar]

Thanks for the comments guys.

2 hours ago, DeepSkyBagger said:

 I was in the Lake District on Sunday. The forecast was good for me, too, until a couple of hours before dark, when it all went pear-shaped. Ah well, glad someone got a good night of it.

The forecast can leave a lot to be desired I'll agree Patrick. Sorry to hear you were thwarted. Hopefully the next time you're in the lakes it will be crystal clear especially at the U.S.P. 

2 hours ago, barkis said:

Reaping the rewards  from your creation Damian. A very interesting commentary on your sky tour with the Dob.  You're  a determined young man, and you must have made a hundred miles round trip. That's dedication for sure.      I enjoyed reading  your account of the nights viewing, as have the other guys who've read it,   and you certainly logged many objects.  Thanks for putting the time in, and posting it for the enjoyment of others.  You Big Dob. guys are certainly a credit to SGL.                                                  

 

 

Thanks Ron.

These things do take quite some time to write up so I'm glad everyone that reads it finds it useful. Hopefully it will inspire others to get out there and try the same. 

No good having a piece of glass like that and not stretching it's legs. 

On the subject of distance 200 miles round trip is the furthest I've travelled for a nights viewing but Sunday night was a mere hop at a tad over 120miles .

Dedicated or mad? I'm somewhere in between . But I do enjoy the tranquillity of being under a good dark sky. 

Damian 

[DeepSkyBagger]

1 hour ago, mapstar said:

The forecast can leave a lot to be desired I'll agree Patrick. Sorry to hear you were thwarted. Hopefully the next time you're in the lakes it will be crystal clear especially at the U.S.P. 

We need a secret wink.  (<-- I have no idea what this is.)