Garden goodies (part 2)

[furrysocks2]

So much for the dob closet and decking I built - lid up, doors off, dragged the scope straight out onto the grass to get down out of line of sight of a few street lights around. Neighbours all had their outside lights off tonight, so no need to ask. One bathroom light illuminates the garden, but I put up with that. And it's early yet anyway.

Three EPs in hand tonight - 35mm 68, 16mm 82 and 21-7mm zoom. DIY observing chair out with me - I'm waiting for the day it gives out underneath me...

First targets were M31 and M110 (though I now know I should also be looking for M32). Find it hard to believe how long the red dot batteries are lasting when I keep leaving it on for days. M31 pretty much filled the 35mm - something just over 1.5 degrees. I soaked in as much as I could stomach - core and oval fuzz. On to M33, nae hinging aboot. Core. Shape and orientation - as I watched, they solidified. I picked out stars within the mass, little prickles averted or direct, maybe 8-10 or so in number. Counting is very difficult. Must have been on it 20 minutes. I'm struggling to remember all that went through my mind - perhaps I was lost in it - no bad thing. Freezing, coat hood tucked into the corner of my mouth to keep my other-eye shaded. But body wrapped in oodles of down, cold at the small of my back - must remember to tuck myself in.

I was called back into the house to sort a child out for bed, I perhaps grumbled a little but no harm. 10 minutes in the house, and I saw more M33 when I went back than I had before I came in. Before I started the first session, I'd been in front of the computer. I remarked on first stepping out how purple and flat everything looked. Reminded me of my non-scope eye after checking a mate's phone for M33's location last week at the dark(ish) site. I reckon a computer screen must be so much worse then than simple inside lights. If the house didn't wreck my sight when I popped in, perhaps I was still simply recovering from the computer half an hour before. I don't know but back outside, M33 was starting to show some variation.

I left M33 and skipped around the sky for a while... M37 (always), M42 hadn't quite cleared the fence, so maybe half-aperture, but the 7-21mm zoom got an outing... I zoomed in to 7mm on the trapezium and was disappointed it stopped. Dark, uneven, narrow, kind of focussed, still need to check mirror clips for over-tension. Horrid to position the eye at 21mm, ok-ish further in. Anyway, won't give it up until I've dive-bombed the moon with it. Only 4 visible. Over the other side to Lyra - double double. No chance. Back out to the 16mm - I tend not to use the 35mm much at the moment... might like something in between actually, 24mm perhaps. The 35mm might take a filter nicely, but the sky is just too light for what I'm after, and most clusters too small. I know I've enjoyed it though. M29, I'd seen it's location briefly on a map, pointed and looked very briefly - another time. M103, too I'd seen a location for, quick peek. M45 for a little while, taking each star at a time.

Then popped inside to Stellarium for some inspiration. I turned on red mode and lifted my eye patch off my scope eye. I set up my scope and eye piece and got a sense of how M33 filled the field of view, also confirmed the little prickle stars I was looking at to be mag 12-14. I paid no attention to the galaxy image itself, other than the extent relative to the field of view. Was happy with that. Searched for Bubble Nebula, came up in Stellarium but no image of it, just a few stars showing, but next to M52, "equidistant off the end of the two fat-end Cass stars" was all I needed to know, I'd hunt it down... with M52 to the edge of field, Bubble should appear somewhere, no idea of scale. I noted star patterns to indicate direction and went back out.

M52 was lovely! Who knew it was there all along. Hopped one FoV across and hunted. I got wafts of something. I wasn't sure how big or small it should be. Whether it surrounded a star, or sat in space, short of, within or beyond the line of stars... but I started getting confused, I was seeing more than one potential, almost as if it was extended - I wasn't expecting that.

Then I had a thought. Back inside. I'd meant to search Ring Nebula. Off Stellarium shot, ended up still above the horizon, Lyra. Half way between the bottom two - easy peasy.

I've probably not been so excited looking through the scope until right then. M57 in the 16mm ... it's a ring, Jim! Focussing off the surrounding stars, it made me want to change focus looking at it. I wished I had Stu's 10mm Speers Waler in my hand right then - it's in the post. Popped in the zoom... I certainly didn't mind the narrow field of view looking at the ring. Was getting difficult to fit/focus the nearby stars right down at 7mm but certainly noticed the change in contrast as I moved in and out. So back out to the 16mm, focused nicely and just took it in. I wonder if it pops any more than that in a dark sky. Again - it was there all along, and really easy to find too.

Back to M33. Reconfirmed the mag 12-14 stars I'd seen earlier, confirmed the stars around it in the field of view as Stellarium predicted. Sat and watched. Hands in pockets, every so often out to dunt the scope round a bit. Little wobbles and rocks, definitely getting more and more. More than the dark site. I'm trying to work out where I'm seeing more. Top right in the eyepiece - definitely more to the right than the left. Then I'm not so sure, getting body to the lower left as well. The word "teasing"... teasing more detail out of it as I observed for longer and more often. It teasing me, as I focus on one part, another hides again, making me work hard to get a handle on it.

It's fun keeping a 12" scope in the back garden.

[John]

Great report

The stars you are seeing across M33 are foreground ones I guess ?

 

[furrysocks2]

Just now, John said:

Great report

The stars you are seeing across M33 are foreground ones I guess ?

Thanks, John.

Yes, no doubt - "within" was perhaps the wrong word to use.

I love how really high mag stars appear - I think I've used the word prickles a few times now - very delicate. There's a little clump of half a dozen or so in one of the double clusters that draws me in - speaking of which, I missed that earlier.

Off out for one last peek...

[furrysocks2]

A first on M51!

 

I meant to write earlier... while working on M33, and also when hunting the bubble near M52, I was getting periods of what I'd describe as a moderate black-out. Suddenly, it would go dark - dimmed - empty and soft - like I'd dropped a couple of beers. I don't believe this to be simply down to eye placement - that was the first thing I was conscious of. I had a 3.25mm exit pupil with the 16mm. I'm sure it wasn't my head being in the wrong place, no amount of adjustment in that sense brought the brightness or sharpness back. It could possibly be described a little bit like a migraine/sight-disturbance type of blind spot. But not awfully long lived, and did recover.

I could center M52 but couldn't see more than half a dozen bright stars. If I pulled myself away from the EP a little and let in some ambient perhaps, it'd recover after 10 or 20 seconds or so. I think in total there were three occasions. This struck me, in the same way as coming out from indoors and feeling as if I could see more detail - only in this case I was settled in with my hood up, peering intently at not very much at all, and then I would suddenly see even less.

No surrounding lighting changes I was aware of, and I'm generally pretty sensitive to a light going on, etc. No idea if that's a brain thing, or an eye chemistry thing, or what. Perhaps I just wasn't finding focus or something and that took away the clarity - but that's hard to believe with so many points of light to register.

Is that a "thing" - getting a sudden drop? Perhaps I was over doing it, better take it easy next time.

[johnfosteruk]

Cracking report. Could the black-outs have been a Vogon Constructor Ship crossing the fov?

Seriously though, I assume you’ve had no other vision related weirdness of late. 

[furrysocks2]

13 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Cracking report. Could the black-outs have been a Vogon Constructor Ship crossing the fov?

Seriously though, I assume you’ve had no other vision related weirdness of late. 

Don't think so. A mate suggested I might have stopped breathing while concentrating so hard.

[alanjgreen]

Furry socks,

Nice report. You are getting there with m33. The main "S" arm is seen starting bottom left, it swings up and around behind the core then turns down through the core before swinging again around to sweep out to the top right corner. That's what I see in my dob. 

The bubble is a real hard one, you need x250 plus to see anything around the left of two bright stars. You WILL need a filter too. I mention my results with filters on the bubble in a recent report, can't remember which one as I just got up and waiting for coffee to be ready!

Alan

[Paz]

It is interesting what you say about m33 when you went back to it. I find when I leave a target and go back to it later in a session I often see a step change for the better in details but the conditions and things like my dark adaptation won't have changed.

[estwing]

Great read and report, M57 is a wonderful object (I won't mention its central star!!)...clear skies!

[furrysocks2]

17 minutes ago, estwing said:

Great read and report, M57 is a wonderful object (I won't mention its central star!!)...clear skies!

Thanks. Hehe, game on!

[estwing]

you had to look didn't you!...12-16 not much hope...18-22 possible....but its been spotted by faulksy after 4yrs.

[Astro Imp]

Great report mate, glad you're having fun.