Ice on your telescope

[Littleguy80]

By the time the evening arrived yesterday, I was feeling pretty tired and unmotivated. My wife gave me the necessary prodding and encouragement to load the car up and head out to the dark skies at Seething. The Norwich Astronomical Society was running a public open evening so I first headed over to see if I could help. There was still quite a few members of the public about but everything was under control. After a bit of socialising I headed down to the far end to set up. 

I hadn't prepared a list of objects to see so I gave my eyes a chance to adapt to the dark and just looked up to explore the sky. Cygnus caught my eye as I still wanted to get a good look at the Crescent nebula. There was a little bit of cloud in that part of the sky so I decided to start with the Veil. I put the OIII filter straight on and Cyg 52 in the middle of the Telrad sights. The western Veil was a nice start to the evening and it really did make me smile to the think of all the times that I simply couldn't see it at home. The Eastern Veil never fails to impress, especially under dark skies. It's wispy appearance is unmistakeable from pictures. Despite enjoying the views of the Veil, I could tell the sky wasn't at it's best, perhaps some thin cloud, so the Crescent nebula was left for another night. Instead I moved across to M42. The wide view of the Orion nebula through the OIII is just stunning. One of the nice things about observing at Seething on a club night is other members popping along to see how you're getting on. I had a chat with a nice chap called Barry who uses 6" version of my scope, I have the 5" version. Other than a 9mm Celestron X-Cel, Barry just uses stock eyepieces and doesn't have any filters. Barry was really impressed with ES68 24mm with the Astronomik OIII. It was good to see the difference a good eyepiece and filter can make even with a smaller aperture. We put the OIII on Barry's X-Cel which was good but the ES68 had stolen the night.

After Barry left, I went searching for NGC253, the Sculptor Galaxy. As I worked my way down the stars to the galaxy, trees started to appear in the view. It was a bit too late in the evening for the Sculptor. I turned the scope around to Ursa Major and went for M97, the Owl nebula. I could just about make out the nebula without filters. The 12mm BST and Astronomik UHC delivered the best views giving great definition to the circular shaped planetary. I couldn't see the infamous eyes of the owl though. The 8mm BST and OIII darkened the nebula too much to be useful. My next two targets proved an excellent lesson in choosing the right magnification. I started with the 12mm BST, giving 75x, to try and see M109 and nothing. Dropping the magnification to 50x with the 18mm BST and the little galaxy became a much easier spot. It's so easy to think that increasing magnification will give better views but sometimes less really is more. This was again shown with M108, much easier to find at 38x versus 50x. M108 is a nice edge of galaxy. It was like a fainter version of M82, the Cigar Galaxy.

With the constellation of Cancer now well up in the sky, I decided to go for Sir Patrick Moore's favourite target, the Beehive Cluster. Earlier in the year, from home, I had multiple failed attempts to see M44 before eventually finding it. Learning to find targets manually has a steep learning curve. With a few more months experience behind me and good dark skies, there were no such troubles. The Beehive is lovely large and bright open cluster. With the size of the cluster, I couldn't help but feel that you really need binoculars or a good wide field scope to appreciate this cluster fully. Moving down the sky, I now went to M67 which makes a nice contrast to M44. This open cluster is much more tightly packed and is reminiscent of the Auriga open clusters. Ursa Major was now a bit higher in the sky, so I paid a visit to M51. The bright pair of galaxies was a welcome sight with 50x proving to be the sweet spot in terms of magnification. I'm looking forward to seeing M51 higher in the sky in the coming months.

The open clusters M46 and M47 in Puppis sit very close to each allowing for easy comparison. I started with M47 which is the looser cluster of the pair but filled with bright stars. Bright and beautiful this really stands out. M46 doesn't have the brighter stars of M47 but is very dense and it's this density of fainter stars that make it the more appealing in my opinion. M46 also has something within it that makes it a little bit special. Adding my UHC filter to the 12mm BST, I could clearly see the planetary nebula NGC 2438 sitting within the cluster. The 2 for 1 deal on targets has pushed M46 onto my list of favourite targets.

The Leo triplet is another target that I failed with earlier in the year. I may have seen it but I simply didn't have the experience to be sure of what was in the eyepiece. This wasn't an issue this time. Despite the sky not being at it's best down low, M65 and M66 were clear to see in the eyepiece. The same could not be said of NGC 3628 leaving me one short of the trio. I wasn't too disappointed though, it was success whilst still leaving something to shoot for in future sessions.

I finished the night by returning to M42. I thew everything I had magnification wise at the Trapezium to try and get beyond the A to D stars but once again came up short. Sooner or later I'm going to see that E star! I dropped back to the 24mm ES68 for a final unfiltered look at Orion. The A-D stars split even at 38x with the nebula itself showing a lovely shade of green. As I packed up, @Cjg said "Ice on your telescope. The sign of a good night!"

[domstar]

Excellent. I'm really looking forward to those tight open clusters in a few months.

[MarsG76]

Nice report, you have your wife to thank for that.. and you were going to give it a miss?? 

What a great amount of objects you bagged, took my imagination and memory out under the stars as I was reading this.

 

[Littleguy80]

40 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

Nice report, you have your wife to thank for that.. and you were going to give it a miss?? 

What a great amount of objects you bagged, took my imagination and memory out under the stars as I was reading this.

 

I certainly do. We all need someone to give us a little push every now and then  Thank you, glad you enjoyed the report!

[Astro Imp]

Another super report Neil.

Those "E" and "F" stars in the trapezium are tricky little blighters I have seen "E" but still trying for "F".

I was out last night at home and having a good look at M42, as I was looking at the trapezium I thought it looked a bit faint and looked away from the eyepiece to see the cloud streaming in.

[Littleguy80]

3 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

Another super report Neil.

Those "E" and "F" stars in the trapezium are tricky little blighters I have seen "E" but still trying for "F".

I was out last night at home and having a good look at M42, as I was looking at the trapezium I thought it looked a bit faint and looked away from the eyepiece to see the cloud streaming in.

Thank you, Alan! So pleased you made it out for a little bit even if the clouds cut the night short!

[Cjg]

Great report Neil. Just wait until Feb, a run of about 5 cold days with still air and a temperature of about minus 7; the air will be stiller, the damp ground frozen after a week of low temperatures...that and very clear skies...I still remember seeing a tint of green to the Nebulosity around Orion (was with a 10" dob). You'll split them, last night was damp and a little hazy...

Chris

[Littleguy80]

19 minutes ago, Cjg said:

Great report Neil. Just wait until Feb, a run of about 5 cold days with still air and a temperature of about minus 7; the air will be stiller, the damp ground frozen after a week of low temperatures...that and very clear skies...I still remember seeing a tint of green to the Nebulosity around Orion (was with a 10" dob). You'll split them, last night was damp and a little hazy...

Chris

Thanks Chris. I guess the skies at Seething are such a step up from home that even with hazy conditions it seems great to me! 

You’ll have to take a look at Orion through my scope next time. The green colour seems really noticeable to me. Not sure if my eyes are just sensitive to colour or whether it’s an artifact from something in my scope. There’s no filter which would be the obvious explanation. I can see the green colour even at home. 

Looking forward to those February skies  

[scarp15]

Great report Neil impressive range of objects observed. The cold conditions can produce good conditions. I to had detected a subtle green tinge within Orion last night, I got lucky in that my scope did not freeze over, but some eyepieces had stubbornly seized into the focuser whenever I was facing in a windward direction, the location was open and the wind chill cutting. Despite multiple layers, coffee, mince pies and periodically getting out of the cold stiff breeze was necessary, more of that would be welcome for this winter.

[Littleguy80]

Thank you, Iain. I was well layered up too. I found some old sketex boots that I used to wear fishing with my Dad which saved on cold feet. My hands got cold too but I remembered I had a second pair of gloves in the bag which cured that. Flask of tea too. I wish I’d had mince pies though! 

The subject of colour in Orion has me wondering. Really not sure why I seem able to see it easily with a small aperture. I don’t see any colour in the Veil with the same eyepiece so I would think that would rule out anything odd specific to my equipment. Good eyes I guess  

[scarp15]

In Orion the green colour is generated by oxygen ions and our eyes are sensitive to responding to green light. A rustic orange particularly around the inner, towards the Trapezium region can also be seen on occasions.  

[Stu]

36 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

The subject of colour in Orion has me wondering. Really not sure why I seem able to see it easily with a small aperture. I don’t see any colour in the Veil with the same eyepiece so I would think that would rule out anything odd specific to my equipment. Good eyes I guess  

I used to think my eyes were very insensitive to colour, but I now do see green in M42 even with a 4" scope. Transparency really helps, but also, ironically, not being too dark adapted helps as your cones are more likely to remain stimulated so you see colour more easily.

[Littleguy80]

9 minutes ago, Stu said:

I used to think my eyes were very insensitive to colour, but I now do see green in M42 even with a 4" scope. Transparency really helps, but also, ironically, not being too dark adapted helps as your cones are more likely to remain stimulated so you see colour more easily.

That’s really interesting, Stu. I’m glad you’re seeing the green too with smaller apertures. I was starting to doubt myself!

[Hayduke27]

"Ice on your telescope. The sign of a good night!"-  It's so true!

 

@Paul73 wrote a report in which he described being "frozen and elated" at the end of his night.

 

It can truly be a peculiar way to have fun 

[Paul73]

Yes. It is the nights where you are so engrossed with the observing, that you don't notice how cold you've got! 

It sounds like last night was one of those nights.

re. Colour - M43 can show a blueish hue when compared to the green / pinkish M42. It takes a 10" plus scope for my eyes to start catching anything other than a green tint.

Paul