8Dec - Big Dob best ever views of M33 and some new nebula to boot!

[alanjgreen]

Date: Fri 8^th December 1900-2330              Scope: 20” f3.6 Dob with paracorr2

 

Window of Opportunity

With the passing of the full moon (good riddance), the window of opportunity opens for an early evening session before the Devils Orb bursts onto the scene to end the party Checking “Clear Outside” I see that the Orb is not due until 2300 so I eat my tea early and head off outside around 7pm.

The sky is lovely and dark with the milky way starting to show overhead, Andromeda is easily spotted high in the sky.

 

Ready, Get Set, Go

I open the shed and unwrap the big dob. My Howie Glatter collimation tools reveal that the secondary remains spot on from the last session and the primary needs a tiny tweak on one bolt - Ready.

Its already cold, below zero! So I get the eyepiece heater connected and leave it nicely poised, dangling over the red dot finder. Now connect the Ipad to the Nexus wifi network, launch Sky Safari and highlight “Alignment Stars” on the display. Lights Off and push back the roof – Get Set.

Once aligned, I push over to M31 to confirm the alignment and take a close note of exactly where in the “eyepiece FOV circle” the galaxy core is located. [ half way out towards 9 o’clock ] This information will help me later when pushing as I will centre all the objects at the slightly off centre position knowing that this puts them in the centre of the FOV – Go!

 

Galaxies a Go Go

M31, M32 & M100 glx – Starting with an easy target. I insert the Ethos13 (x150) and trace the double dark lanes up one side, across the top, down the other side and back across the bottom. The seeing is good – I can follow the lanes all the way around the galaxy core, the bottom section is a hard one usually! I am now very familiar with M31, so I check out the bright section on the leading edge and spot something new – a bright section out beyond the dark lanes, on the other side but opposite to M32. [ Can’t see exactly what it was checking images this morning but I have not noted this before – one to check again next time I am out? ] I didn’t think the core of M100 stood out as good as I have seen it once in the past.

M33 glx – I started with the E10 (x200) and was greeted with a lovely lower sweeping arm heading into the centre as clear as day. There was a mass of dust heading out the other side, breaking into a small arm and the longer sweeping trailing arm. With some time and averted vision, NGCs & IC belonging to M33 started to come into view... There was too much to see in the tiny FOV (of the Ethos!) so I dropped the magnification and inserted the E13 (x150). This is better, now the galaxy can be framed (just about) into the FOV. Using the dark patches to show me where the arms are, I can "see" 5 arms of varying size – I start to sketch them out on paper – I can pick out the core (looks like a barred core) then the edge of a (brightish) circle of inner dust, followed by the edge of a faint outer circle (the galaxies outer edge) – I add this to the sketch...

Now onto the NGCs & ICs within M33. I pick them out in 2s and 3s and add “X” to the sketch (“X marks the spot!”). I bagged THIRTEEN in total (beating my previous total of 11). [ This morning’s job was to map my Xs to the M33 map – linked here ]  

http://www.seetheglory.com/star-clusters-and-nebulae-in-the-triangulum-galaxy-m33/

I think I bagged NGC604, A71, A66, NGC595 on the lower left. I bagged IC139, IC140 & IC136 under the core. I bagged A48, A14 & IC137 to the right of the core. I got A128 out to the end of the faint upper arm. Finally, NGC592 & NGC588 (which make a nice triangle with the already mentioned A128). Note that all these are best guesses at identity on my part!

NGC891 glx – With the E10 (x200) I was rewarded with my best ever view of 891. The galaxy was a tall as the FOV of the Ethos and it displayed a lovely broad black line pretty much through its fill length. The black line got wider/thinner as it ran along the length of the galaxy. It was a view to savour!  

NGC925 glx – This is a target that I need to revisit. It as flat and bright but it seemed to have a dark patch above it. Looking at images this morning, it could be the dark patch tell-tale sign of an arm? I was using the E10 (x200). I need to come back with the E8 (x250) and see if more is on offer?

My other galaxy targets (in this area) were NGC1023, NGC890, NGC949, NGC278, NGC185, NGC147. Of these I would mention that NGC147 seemed to be more visible than last time I was here, where I had found it a real challenge to see this very large faint piece of fuzz. It was still faint but it was easily seen this time in direct vision.

 

Nebula Finale

With time moving on, I needed to get some Nebula action before the Devils Orb removed them from sight!.

Pacman – Ethos21 & Astronomik UHC revealed a lovely framed view of the pacman. The gas expanse was large of picturesque amongst the stars of the cluster. But what really stood out for me was the blackness of the dark lane that pierces into the nebula. Super.

M76 little dumbbell – I threw in the Astronomik O3 and headed for M76. The O3 really pulled out the two end sections well and not much in the centre. It gave a “just pulled Christmas cracker” appearance that I liked. However, in the E21 (x100) it was pretty small and I decided to move on to larger targets.

Heart & Soul – These are challenging nebula and I have really worked them hard over the last 3 months. Feels like I know them well! They were not well positioned from the shed and I found it a challenge to trace around them. I did pick out the usual brighter sections but it feels like I need a break of a year to regain my interest in this target.  

Flaming Star – Now moving into my range was the Flaming Star. This is going to be one of my targets for this season although after my initial visit last month I was left severely underwhelmed! However, tonight was a different story (isn’t that always the way!). I spent time on this target with E21 (x100) and E13 (x150), both coupled with the Astronomik Hb filter and to my amazement it was visible! The nebula seems to be in two parts, there is the faintly “flaming” section that moves away from the two bright stars which frames nicely in the E21 but reveals more detail in the E13. And then there is a broad “tail” section that curves away like a big comma “,”. This comma section is easily seen in direct vision and is a lovely wide feature that is easily traced away from the centre 2 star section. It’s a long tail and cannot be framed in the E21. The wavy flaming section is framed in the E21 and as you sit and stare, the Hb does reveal shadows within the background. Increasing magnification to x150 brought out the flaming section but now you need to pan around it. I am so glad that this was a successful target, the last “dud” session had made me lose some interest in it. I will now revisit it as it gets higher in the sky to see if more detail can be revealed...  

IC417 – I paired the O3 with the E21 and headed for IC417. I found plenty of gas visible in this area but as I traced around it, it did not seem to match the view on sky safari? I was also short of time with the moon starting to pop its head out from behind the Pennines. I shall need to revisit this but it looks like a worthy target.

NGC1931 – I could see this nebula on the sky safari map located nearby so I dropped over to take a look and found a small bright patch of nebulosity within some stars. I need to come back with the Ethos8 (x250) to get a closer look. Another target noted for this season...

 

Ode to the Weather Gods

The outlook for the next week looks good (at the moment!). The moon will continue to wane and also struggle to get out of its bed. There seems to be up to 3 clear nights on the horizon And its forcast for cloud on Thursday when I will be at the cinema watching “The Last Jedi” so my Ode to the weather gods might be about to pay dividends…

 

Enjoy,

Alan

[John]

Great report Alan - very envious of your skies and having a large aperture to explore them with

[Hayduke27]

Great report, thanks for sharing!

[mapstar]

Nice very detailed report again Alan.

It sounds very easy to get out with great skies on your door step and the scope  set up and cooled already. 

I would get out more with a similar set up especially with current work commiitments. I do like the whole drive out as it always builds the anticipation of a great session though and how different the skies can be. 

Thanks for writing it all up brilliant stuff 

 

[Littleguy80]

Another brilliant report, Alan. I was chuffed at seeing NGC 604 but THIRTEEN NGC and IC’s! Amazing!