Short 1 hour observation session.

[N3ptune]

Hello here is a little resume of my latest short observation last evening. The weather is not very good these days so I was glad to be able go and install my telescope to one of my favorite spot, in a very small and dark village close to mine.

I was inspected by the police on my way there because I pulled over with my hazard lights to let some cars pass (I like to drive slowly to get there) Nothing happened with the police but they were interested a bit in my gear, especially with my home made dew heater.

They wondered what it was, and I have to say this morning, I never thought of it but yeah! that's a suspicious device (; they have a good eye. Inside the bag is a 12 volts 7AH Lead battery, and it looks like a mafia explosive device a bit.

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The temperature was about 0 with maybe 60 humidity, no moon, no clouds, this is the observation:

Pleiades: I had a good look at the Pleiades, the collection of stars was at a good height in the sky with wide field 34mm 68d eyepiece, I could fit almost twice the Pleiades inside the 2.2 degrees so it's always a pleasure to look at these blue stars. I could see 7 - 8 stars naked eye, 2 of them were averted vision only.

It's a pleasure of the winter to see that cluster coming back again at 21:00. 

Auriga: Another favorite for its characteristic shape and Capella. I looked for the small planetary nebula 1.2149, close to the main star AUR Menkalinan but could not see it because of light pollution. And perhaps the constellation was too low but most likely light pollution, 7.40mag  surface brightness.

Then there was cloud formation, I had to look at the stars trough these clouds for a bit.

Then I took the path of the Auriga Star clusters to start with M37, to M36, to the nice blue and orange star collection, AUR 19, 18, 16, 14 (There was a double to check (14) didn't do it) NGC 1893 was visible there but faint, then finally M38 and NGC 1907.

I particularly like NGC1907, the smaller cluster close to M38 because it's very faint and it looks more like a nebula then a cluster at low power 29x with the 34mm again. I tried a few things on it, 18mm 55x, 7mm 143x and 25mm + barlow 80x. The best view I could get from it was at 80x, the best balance of quality sharpness VS Size. 

The whole spot M36, M38 and NGC1907 is a fabulous place at low power, then you have the stars 19, 18, 14 which are bright with interesting color contrast. 

Auriga is a very comfortable place.

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I am waiting for a 12mm BST Starguider too, it's  5 kms away from me but I need to pick it up at the warehouse.. I wish I had it yesterday..

Finally I pointed the 8 inches Newtonian at Taurus to look around θ2 Tau (the main star close to orange Aldebaran) and it's forming some kind of a 6 stars crosshair  . I taught of sketching but didn't do it, because of rapid cloud formation and there was a a small house close producing an insane amount of toxic smoke? The column of smoke coming out from their chimney was so thick and full of chemicals, I even started coughing at some point.  (Most likely they were illegally burning wires at night to extract copper.. )

The house was creating an incredibly large toxic cloud all by itself..

But overall I am satisfied with this maybe 1 hour observation especially with Auriga clusters, that was great.

(;

Hope you liked my story.

Cheers!

[Littleguy80]

Great report. I spotted NGC1907 last night while looking at M38. Had to look it up afterwards. I thought it looked like nebulous too  

I really like my BST 12mm. It’s one of my most used eyepieces giving around 2mm exit pupil in my scope. I think you’ll Be very pleased with it!

[elliot]

20 hours ago, N3ptune said:

likely they were illegally burning wires at night to extract copper.

That puts next door's conservatory light to shame as far as nuisance neighbours go. Nice report. Was umming an ahhing about the 12mm or the 15mm plus a new 25 to replace the stock. Think I've made my decision thanks to @Littleguy80

[N3ptune]

11 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Great report. I spotted NGC1907 last night while looking at M38. Had to look it up afterwards. I thought it looked like nebulous too  

I really like my BST 12mm. It’s one of my most used eyepieces giving around 2mm exit pupil in my scope. I think you’ll Be very pleased with it!

 

Yeah it's a great little thing NGC1907, I would like to see it with something like a 16" Newtonian. With some power I can resolve a few stars but it's not very dense, more aperture would be required I think. But still, very interesting! The Starguider I should have it tomorrow, and I agree, it should be very good, it will give me 2.4mm exit pupil and 83x which is a all the time usable power it will be used at each observations on many many things. The actual 2x barlow will lose it's slot inside my case.

And it will also be possible to compare side to side Xcel LX with Starguider.

9 hours ago, elliot said:

That puts next door's conservatory light to shame as far as nuisance neighbours go. Nice report. Was umming an ahhing about the 12mm or the 15mm plus a new 25 to replace the stock. Think I've made my decision thanks to @Littleguy80

Thanks! it was fun too (except for toxic cloud at the end)

You have to choose between starguiders? what is your final decision?  It's very strategic choosing the right eyepiece.

[Ags]

I was angling for Auriga this weekend, trying to snatch gaps in low drifting clouds. On Saturday I only managed M37 with my 80mm frac, after which the clouds closed in and no further observing was possible. On Sunday it took three attempts at setting up my Newt before I finally had a run a clear sky (admittedly there was a bit of high altitude haze) around Auriga. Racing against the clock I managed to get in M36, M37 and M38 and share the views with my co-observer, but cloud prevented us hunting anything more challenging. We just had time to drop down to the horizon and appreciate Castor before the clouds closed over the whole sky and the drizzle started again. Then we realized we had missed Blue Planet :(.

[Moonshane]

It's a nice little cluster 1907. One of the earlier sketches I made

[N3ptune]

Yep that how I remember small little cluster like your sketch inside the FOV.