Evening with a big Dob, HIGHS & lows...

[alanjgreen]

Date: Sunday 12 November 2045 - 0130am              Scope: 20” f3.6 Dob with paracorr2

Its been a couple of weeks since I have been out with the scope, I skipped a couple of decent nights due to that pesky moon being out! Finally dealt a decent hand last night?

Learning from my previous night out (see "An Icy Night in Cumbria"), I decided to go single eyepiece (Ethos21) and fitted the eyepiece heater tape at the start of the session. I also set my Kendrick heat controller at 50% from the start (learning that 20% wasn't enough previously) for the secondary mirror & eyepiece tape.

The sky was decent to the naked eye. Milky way was nice and wide at 8-30pm, I could see the double cluster and M31 naked eye. M33 was not visible.

M33 - Decided that this should be my first target. I have not had a decent chance to observe M33 with the big dob so far this season so this helped make my decision. It filled the E21 and the "S" shape was seen, but somewhat lost in a much larger patch of galaxy dust. Several NGCs were visible including one to the top right, close to the centre that I dont remember seeing/noticing before? I spent a good 10 minutes watching and waiting for my pupils to open and the galaxy improved as I did so. Eventually, it became a much wider expanse and I saw the galaxy grow out beyond the bright NGC (by the star) - I had not seen this section of the galaxy before. Checking photos this morning there is an arm that comes out under the bright NGC so it must have been this. The lower "S" also seemed to trace a path further beyond the core before swinging into the core region than I remembered. Overall, my best view of the M33.

M31 - with spirits lifted, I headed over to M31. The two dark lanes showed clearly next to the core section. I also had hints of a dark lane on the other side of the core. I followed the dark lanes up the side of the galaxy and was able to see the first lane break off and swing across to the other side (near M32 position) - wow! I followed the remaining lane up and then it also swung across the galaxy and started down the other side. - I have not seen these two intersections so well before. Up at the tip of the galaxy was a brighter clump that I have not seen before. Images seem to show some brighter area in this location. The top section was hard to descern as there was so much of it, it was faint but everywhere! Overall, my best view of the M31. Over to M110 and "hello, its got a core!". The core was very bright and surrounded by a round dust cloud. Not sure if I have seen the "core" before?

NGC7331 & fleas - Next up was 7331 (on my way to Stephans Quintet). It was not at its best. I was still at x100 and three of the fleas were visible in a triangular pattern below the galaxy. But I have seen 7331 bigger than this in the past. I tried the Ethos13 but it was really hard to get sharp focus and so returned to the E21.

NGC891 - After the last session, I had to come back to 891. Alas, my results were somewhat confusing (for me anyway!). With the E21 the galaxy was larger than last time out but it was fainter? With some time at the eyepiece the central dark lane became apparent with averted vision. Last time out the galaxy was overall smaller but brighter I would have said. The central dark lane was also easier last time. I swapped in the E13 and the view was worse. Again, the overall galaxy size was bigger but the detail was lost and the central lane not really discernable

"What going on?", I thought

The seeing was good, I was getting "more" than last time out but the scope/sky was not taking any magnification at all. Was it the conditions? Is this a symptom of having the secondary dew heater too high? - anyone care to pass an opinion???

Anyway, onwards to other targets but decided to stick with the E21 from here on...

Stephans Quintet - I bagged the big 3 but the twin only showed as one. x100 is too low to get them all so I savoured the view (as they are past their best for this year) then moved on...

Bubble neb - This was an interesting one as I would swear that I bagged one side of the bubble with the E21/Astronomik UHC combo. A small bright semi-circle could be teased out of the star surrounds with some concentration and so I am concluding that this was my best view. Would have loved to get the Ethos10 on it, one for next time...

Cave - Harder to tease out than in some of my previous sessions. I had the Astronomik O3 and it was there but I have seen it better!

Pacman - E21/UHC - great and bright. Never disappoints if you "need a lift" after struggling with another target

Heart and Soul - Tale of two targets here, the heart was a clear winner and in good form but the soul had lost its soul and was a dissapointment in comparison.

Flaming star - Another poor show, yes I could see the nebula but I could not "see" the nebula if you know what I mean!

IC443 supernova remnant - "A winner at last". After a few misses, this turned out to be a hit! It looks like a sausage running alongside 4 stars. The lower sausage (curvy sausage) was bright and clear, then it fades away as you move up alongside the stars. Looking at images this morning, it appears that I may have seen it all, just need more power to get in closer next time.

M1 crab - Great view unfiltered. Hands getting cold now so less keen to mess with on/off of filters

Rosette - Fantastic! Wow this nebula really delivers. Its massive even at x100. You can scroll the dob around and get lost in all the nebulosity. A real highlight!

Flame neb - Easily visible with the UHC filter but that pesky star Alnitak is impossible to get out the way in the E21

Horsey - No horsey tonight. Scope is not well positioned in the shed to get down that low at the moment. Again the E21 is not enough magnification to allow me to throw Alnitak out of the view. I will target it next time I get an "after midnight start". Cant do it all in one night!

 

Needless to say, it is not clear why the sky would not take any power? Even though the seeing must have been good as many targets were "best ever". Any opinions?

 

One final "highlight" of the night, was filling my new HOT WATER BOTTLE and taking it off to bed to warm my frozen feet - recommended

 

Clear skies,

Alan

[domstar]

Fascinating report. I can only dream of those views, but you write about them so well that it put a smile on my face (on a Monday too).

[25585]

IC443 the "Pepperami Nebula".

[scarp15]

Great session, not sure what to determine concerning distortion with your increase in mag, as you indicate, could be heat thermals. My own session was on Saturday night, temp remained just above freezing with a light breeze, no issues concerning eyepieces, filters etc, though I was observing at low power for much of the time. Good plan for a hot water bottle.

[PeterW]

It’s not called the flaming star fo no reason... it’s not as well defined as other nebulae, making it hard to pin down. IC434 is the jellyfish, nice find.

You need some dew bands for your toes!

 

peterW

 

[Paul73]

This could be seen as heresy, but the E21 could be your issue. If there is any background brightness , it will catch it. A bit more mag may have worked well on some?? My best views of Stephen's Quintette came at about 200x.

Thanks for an enjoyable read.

Paul

[swamp thing]

Nice report.

You seem to be confusing seeing with transparency.

Transparency allows us to see faint objects. Seeing is the steadiness of the atmosphere that allows us to successfully magnify. They do not compliment one another. IOW nights of good seeing are seldom transparent and vice versa.

One often finds that as we ramp power up the seeing will not support the transparency (bloody annoying but hey ho!). If it was easy.........where is the challenge in that eh?  

Have fun out there  

[estwing]

Nice report and I could feel the cold!..the Rosetta is fantastic in bigger dobs,if you can fit it in!!

[jetstream]

6 hours ago, swamp thing said:

Nice report.

You seem to be confusing seeing with transparency.

Transparency allows us to see faint objects. Seeing is the steadiness of the atmosphere that allows us to successfully magnify. They do not compliment one another. IOW nights of good seeing are seldom transparent and vice versa.

One often finds that as we ramp power up the seeing will not support the transparency (bloody annoying but hey ho!). If it was easy.........where is the challenge in that eh?  

Have fun out there  

Great explanation Steve.

[jetstream]

On 11/13/2017 at 06:00, alanjgreen said:

anyone care to pass an opinion???

Varying levels of transparency can cause weird things to happen and across the sky ie pockets of better (sometimes moving) transparency. I notice the same kind of things Alan.

Great report!