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A few Caldwell objects with the ten inch


Bodkin

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This was my first proper observing night of the season, which says something about the weather in mid Wales recently. Just a short session of a couple of hours, but it was great to get back under the stars and build some enthusiasm for observing again.  I only used the F6.5 ten inch dob with a single 24mm eyepiece. Object targeting usig David Ratledge's book and star hopping using Stellarium on a tablet.

C44 - A barred spiral in Pegasus. Easily visible with a strong elongated form, but no sign of the arms. A good start.

C15 - the blinking planetary in Cygnus. Very bright and easy to find using Stallarium at the eyepiece.  Clearly lived up to its name for me, with strong apparent changes in magnitude from direct to averted vision. The circle of nebulosity becomes very clear in averted vision, but in direct vision it is swamped by the central star.

C43 - edge-on galaxy in Pegasus. Another easy find. Strong elongation with the strong hint of the dust lane in averted vision.

C30 - Galaxy in Pegasus.  Stumbled a little in finding it, but it is pretty bright when tracked down.  Nice elongated ellipse with a brighter centre. No fleas tonight.

C12 - Galaxy in Cepheus.  Faint, large galaxy in a rich field of stars.  Nice mottled texture across the face of the galaxy, but no specific arms seen.  Apparently this is a starburst galaxy with an unusual strucutre, presumably caused by a recent merger of galaxies.

C51 - Irregular galaxy in Cetus. Nope, nothing, not a hint.

C18 and C17 - Galaxies in Cassiopeia.  These two satellites of M31 are favourites of mine.  C18 was easily seen and C17 was found after a little searching and not seen with direct vision.  Under my best skies C17 is directly visible to me, but the transparency was still pretty good.

A few other things were viewed; M33 with NGC604, Mirach's ghost, M31 and friends.

A good start to the season.  The focusser seemed to give up the ghost over the summer, but this was not a major hindrance as could clamp it in place and I prefer not to change eyepieces anyway. I am totally converted to using Stellarium on a tablet in the field, but I am probably well behind the curve on that realisation.  Clear skies to all.

 

Jonathan.

 

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16 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

A nice report Jonathan. With regard C51 (IC1613) I have tried for years to see this object but without success.

It is a new challenge for me.  It is good to have something to consistently fail at in the autumn before I can get on with failing to find the Horsehead in the winter.

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