Blooming cold but nice session!

[Knighty2112]

Just finished a session with my small Opticstar AS90S ‘frac on my 6/8SE goto mount rather than my normal C8 SCT scope attached to it. Just under 2 hours of observations, and now warming up with a latte with some Glenfiddich stirred in. Main EP used was 10mm Delos, but also used Morpheus 14mm for a wee while, and finished off with my Maxvision 20mm for some beautiful wide field views. Seeing was OK, with nice transparency. Objects seen listed pretty much in order of viewing from what I remember;

M42 - looked great even without UHC filter, but much better when used.

M78 - my first view of this, and again looked better with filter (at least more widespread if a little dimmer)

IC418 / Eskimo / Blue snowball / Cats eye planetary nebulas - all showed well with UHC.

Ceres & Flora asteroids - easy to make out in the star fields.

Uranus -small, but easily identifiable.

M37 / M38 - nicely viewed. Not sure why I never looked at M36 too!

M31 / M32 / M110 - Good view of M31/32. Could just make out 110 with slightly averted vision.

M33 - again with averted vision could make out this elusive galaxy.

M81 / M82 - showing very well in all eyepieces used, especially in a nice wide field view with the 20mm Maxvision.

Omicron Ceti (Mira) - had a look at this variable double which is at its brightest now.

To finish off I had my 20mm Maxvision EP in the scope and had some excellent views of the Pleiades, the Beehive, and the best view of the night in the EP (beating M42 even for me which is no easy feat) was Kemble’s Cascade, which I could just about fit the full waterfall of stars in the FOV of the EP. Beautiful, and a great view to end my cold but rewarding session!  

[Stu]

Excellent session, some great targets there.

I mustn't forget Mira next time out!

[Froeng]

That is a very impressive haul for only 2 hours! You mentioned Kemble’s cascase. Did you also see NGC1501, the planetary nebula at its end? I saw it for the first time last month and it is one of those lesser known objects well worth a visit.

Frank

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, Froeng said:

That is a very impressive haul for only 2 hours! You mentioned Kemble’s cascase. Did you also see NGC1501, the planetary nebula at its end? I saw it for the first time last month and it is one of those lesser known objects well worth a visit.

Frank

No, never saw that, but I saw NGC1502 at the top of the cascade another night.  

[F15Rules]

Nice report Knighty?. 

A 2 hour session is great, had one myself tonight. Just long enough to stay alive in these temperatures, whilst getting through a decent haul of targets. Coffee with a dram sounds great!

Dave

[Charic]

Knighty2112, Sounds like you had a great session.
I'm not long back in myself. I've had in mind for some time a destination along the Dava Moor as a potential dark site for visual observations.
Its about 25 miles distance from the house, 30-45 minutes drive, and I pull into a lay-by some 4 Miles North of where I had planned to stop.

Wow! The Milky Way in all its glory is on full display!  difficult to see Cassiopeia amongst the Stars! this could be a good place after-all.

I set up the Skyliner,  open aperture into the wind to aid rapid cooling, then I set up the 15x70's on the tripod.
The task tonight was to study Ursa Major only? I wanted to pin down M101-Pinwheel galaxy.

As my eyes further adapted to the dark, the sky overhead just got better and better! Using Stellarium as a guide, locally my Light Pollution setting is about LP Level 6  matching what I see outside for this Month, but here its down to LP level 2, possibly 1 ( I'll stick with LP2 ) but just goes to show the difference  achievable under better/darker skies, but there's still some glow on the horizon, infact two points of light, one at 160° @ 7miles, light glow from Garantown-on-Spey, and at about 280° @20 miles, Inverness, so not totally dark, but reminded me of my earliest visits back in the 70's to the London planetarium, where the horizon was dimly lit (with the London skyline - just for effect) but this glow was nothing drastic, but overhead was still improving as my eyes further adapted, then the first car passed by! ( one about every 15 mins  ? ).

Despite the crispy snow underfoot, I actually needed a red torch to see what I was doing at this site. As my excitement grew, I began to search around Ursa Major with the 15x70's. Its -4°C on the dial, and the fingers are ice cold if I remove the neoprene gloves?

Ok, first up, at a neck breaking altitude , M82 Cigar and M81 Bodes  galaxy were easy to locate, but could I find the Pinwheel M101 or M51 (not on this occasion ).
I swing around to take in Sirius, Orion, M45 Pleiades and M31 Andromeda. M31 filled the eyepiece and M110 was Cleary evident. M45 as always just stunning, and Orion looked better than ever...........time for the Skyliner!
 

M81 / M82 ok (again at a neck twisting altitude, but still no Pinwheel M101? Then on to M45, just gobsmacked with the image, 'diamonds over black velvet', I need to get an image.
As a result of switching on the mobile, the screen was so bright, destroying my vision,  I almost lost my balance tripping over one of the legs of the tripod, glad no-one could see, but the screen brightness is just too much ( should have realised - thats why I don't use the phone at home when inside my dob-tent, its just too bright!.
Anyhow, I continue onto M31 and this eyepiece still might not be wide enough, but extremely happy with the view, and its un-likely I'll buy a wider eyepiece. ( I'm using the 32mm Panaview).
Back to Orion, things take a rapid  turn for the worse? My images are blurring, and the Stars are dimming? A combination of everything freezing over, and the sky now overcast, all in the space of a few minutes,  plus its gone eerily  much cooler, so possibly time to pack up.
I tried cleaning the finder scope and the eyepieces ( at this time the primary mirror does not look like its frozen over, and now I'm losing visual clues overhead, so yes, time to pack it in.

Apart from the rapid onset  cold  and freeze over, and the two points of light on the horizon, this could be a good site for further use, especially if I go  4 miles further South, but on the way home, my mind was full of closer locations, some within forested areas, reducing my views to the horizon, but making for much darker skies above.
I still claim that on one occasion over the last few years, the back road, not 1 mile away produced a much more spectacular view of the night sky, and during that night, the light from the Milky was casting body shadows, just so impressive.

After packing things away, I remembered that I did pack my 8x40's (doh!) but too late now, overcast, and  I could not  find my Star atlas, which is still in the car somewhere, no doubt I'll find it later.

I also wanted to check the apparent difference between my two Barlow units in response to another members request here on the SGL, but it was too late to try due to the conditions. 

Overall, if the night sky had stayed clear, I'd probably still be there now, I left at 1915 and returned at 2330.
With so much excitement and expectancy  it was easy to forget just how cold it felt, but the neoprene gloves made a huge difference, but because the viewing conditions changed so rapidly, I was beat, so will have to wait until the next time to continue my assessments  (possibly another Year - I hope not!!!!!).

I also discovered a couple of loose fittings on the OTA tonight, lost a plastic bearing insert, the black washer, where the tension handle passes through the base unit into the OTA itself ( found it - still on the tension handle, I'll superglue it back in, that way, cant lose it, EVER! ) and just how out of collimation my scope appeared tonight when using the laser? I even had to re-adjust the secondary! not something I do that often, but the  Star test  looked good, and the images  were sharp until the big freeze!

Just realised something whilst writing this text! I never used the Barlow with my Laser? Doh!. No wonder it was out!.........Oh-well, something I'll need to look at tomorrow, and re-collimate.

So until the next time, and conditions allow, its just another waiting game. Dark skies  everyone.

 

[Froeng]

Nice one Charic!

shame the clouds came! But the you should always leave when its most enjoyable for the best memories...

it seems had you stayed longer it would have gotten too cold anyway! Well done for the nice observations and good writing!

I envy you for those dark skies! Here in the SE London’s lightdome is just omnipresent!

Frank

[cloudsweeper]

Good reading, Gus!  I had a brief session too, taking the opportunity this time to test/compare some EPs:

All time well spent, and hoping for more this evening!

Doug.

[Knighty2112]

6 hours ago, Charic said:

Knighty2112, Sounds like you had a great session.
I'm not long back in myself. I've had in mind for some time a destination along the Dava Moor as a potential dark site for visual observations.
Its about 25 miles distance from the house, 30-45 minutes drive, and I pull into a lay-by some 4 Miles North of where I had planned to stop.

Wow! The Milky Way in all its glory is on full display!  difficult to see Cassiopeia amongst the Stars! this could be a good place after-all.

I set up the Skyliner,  open aperture into the wind to aid rapid cooling, then I set up the 15x70's on the tripod.
The task tonight was to study Ursa Major only? I wanted to pin down M101-Pinwheel galaxy.

As my eyes further adapted to the dark, the sky overhead just got better and better! Using Stellarium as a guide, locally my Light Pollution setting is about LP Level 6  matching what I see outside for this Month, but here its down to LP level 2, possibly 1 ( I'll stick with LP2 ) but just goes to show the difference  achievable under better/darker skies, but there's still some glow on the horizon, infact two points of light, one at 160° @ 7miles, light glow from Garantown-on-Spey, and at about 280° @20 miles, Inverness, so not totally dark, but reminded me of my earliest visits back in the 70's to the London planetarium, where the horizon was dimly lit (with the London skyline - just for effect) but this glow was nothing drastic, but overhead was still improving as my eyes further adapted, then the first car passed by! ( one about every 15 mins  ? ).

Despite the crispy snow underfoot, I actually needed a red torch to see what I was doing at this site. As my excitement grew, I began to search around Ursa Major with the 15x70's. Its -4°C on the dial, and the fingers are ice cold if I remove the neoprene gloves?

Ok, first up, at a neck breaking altitude , M82 Cigar and M81 Bodes  galaxy were easy to locate, but could I find the Pinwheel M101 or M51 (not on this occasion ).
I swing around to take in Sirius, Orion, M45 Pleiades and M31 Andromeda. M31 filled the eyepiece and M110 was Cleary evident. M45 as always just stunning, and Orion looked better than ever...........time for the Skyliner!
 

M81 / M82 ok (again at a neck twisting altitude, but still no Pinwheel M101? Then on to M45, just gobsmacked with the image, 'diamonds over black velvet', I need to get an image.
As a result of switching on the mobile, the screen was so bright, destroying my vision,  I almost lost my balance tripping over one of the legs of the tripod, glad no-one could see, but the screen brightness is just too much ( should have realised - thats why I don't use the phone at home when inside my dob-tent, its just too bright!.
Anyhow, I continue onto M31 and this eyepiece still might not be wide enough, but extremely happy with the view, and its un-likely I'll buy a wider eyepiece. ( I'm using the 32mm Panaview).
Back to Orion, things take arapid  turn for the worse? My images are blurring, and the Stars are dimming? A combination of everything freezing over, and the sky now overcast, all in the space of a few minutes,  plus its gone eerily  much cooler, so possibly time to pack up.
I tried cleaning the finder scope and the eyepieces ( at this time the primary mirror does not look like its frozen over, and now I'm losing visual clues overhead, so yes, time to pack it in.

Apart from the rapid onset  cold  and freeze over, and the two points of light on the horizon, this could be a good site for further use, especially if I go  4 miles further South, but on the way home, my mind was full of closer locations, some within forested areas, reducing my views to the horizon, but making for much darker skies above.
I still claim that on one occasion over the last few years, the back road, not 1 mile away produced a much more spectacular view of the night sky, and during that night, the light from the Milky was casting body shadows, just so impressive.

After packing things away, I remembered that I did pack my 8x40's (doh!) but too late now, overcast, and  I could not  find my Star atlas, which is still in the car somewhere, no doubt I'll find it later.

I also wanted to check the apparent difference between my two Barlow units in response to another members request here on the SGL, but it was too late to try due to the conditions. 

Overall, if the night sky had stayed clear, I'd probably still be there now, I left at 1915 and returned at 2330.
With so much excitement and expectancy  it was easy to forget just how cold it felt, but the neoprene gloves made a huge difference, but because the viewing conditions changed so rapidly, I was beat, so will have to wait until the next time to continue my assessments  (possibly another Year - I hope not!!!!!).

I also discovered a couple of loose fittings on the OTA tonight, lost a plastic bearing insert, the black washer, where the tension handle passes through the base unit into the OTA itself ( found it - still on the tension handle, I'll superglue it back in, that way, cant lose it, EVER! ) and just how out of collimation my scope appeared tonight when using the laser? I even had to re-adjust the secondary! not something I do that often, but the  Star test  looked good, and the images  were sharp until the big freeze!

Just realised something whilst writing this text! I never used the Barlow with my Laser? Doh!. No wonder it was out!.........Oh-well, something I'll need to look at tomorrow, and re-collimate.

So until the next time, and conditions allow, its just another waiting game. Dark skies  everyone.

 

It got down to minus 13 in Scotland, so no wonder your scope was freezing over quickly. Sounds like an ideal spot for future viewing sessions, so hope it works out for you there.  

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Good reading, Gus!  I had a brief session too, taking the opportunity this time to test/compare some EPs:

All time well spent, and hoping for more this evening!

Doug.

Thanks Doug. Interesting read on the Aspheric EP tests. Be interesting to see how it performs in your C8 mate.  

[Alan White]

Glad you all had good sessions, sadly wall to wall clag over me last night, so I sat in the warm listening to vinyl.

 

[Charic]

........as is often the case here Alan, everyone having good times, me under the jet stream!

At least I managed my first drink last night, Morgans Private reserve & coke ( medicinal reasons of course  - Brrrrrr! ) and as for your vinyl, its something I'm considering, but cant pull myself yet, into buying a deck or buying into the format again, yet I still have a small collection of LP's doing nothing ( side tracking now, maybe better in another thread ).

Back to the OP and  the cold! .......... I've found that layering is the way to go for me, but does not need to be heavy and thick, just the right materials work.
Not only did I have neoprene gloves on, the type where you can pop the tips of the thumb and forefinger, I  was wearing Snowbee base layers, a single lightweight fleece and a North Ridge coat, Karrimor trousers and trainers? (should have taken my snow boots maybe, for the depth of snow,  but the snow was frozen, rather than wet, so nothing got to my socks! but only my hands felt the cold for real, my thinsulate hat protecting the chill on my ears.

You need to be comfortable with your observing, having the right gear helps, maybe its time to trick out my my scope with some insulation? 

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Glad you all had good sessions, sadly wall to wall clag over me last night, so I sat in the warm listening to vinyl.

 

Sorry about the cloud cover. Who was you playing on the old needle? 

[Knighty2112]

9 minutes ago, Charic said:

........as is often the case here Alan, everyone having good times, me under the jet stream!

At least I managed my first drink last night, Morgans Private reserve & coke ( medicinal reasons of course  - Brrrrrr! ) and as for your vinyl, its something I'm considering, but cant pull myself yet, into buying a deck or buying into the format again, yet I still have a small collection of LP's doing nothing ( side tracking now, maybe better in another thread ).

Back to the OP and  the cold! .......... I've found that layering is the way to go for me, but does not need to be heavy and thick, just the right materials work.
Not only did I have neoprene gloves on, the type where you can pop the tips of the thumb and forefinger, I  was wearing Snowbee base layers, a single lightweight fleece and a North Ridge coat, Karrimor trousers and trainers? (should have taken my snow boots maybe, for the depth of snow,  but the snow was frozen, rather than wet, so nothing got to my socks! but only my hands felt the cold for real, my thinsulate hat protecting the chill on my ears.

You need to be comfortable with your observing, having the right gear helps, maybe its time to trick out my my scope with some insulation? 

One thing I forgot to put on last night were some double socks I have. Not particularly made as thermal socks, but they do keep my feet warm in my boots that I wear. It was the cold feet that made me pack up after 2 hours. The rest of my body was Nice and warm with the layers I had on too, so note to self; make sure you wear the correct socks when it is freezing outside!  

[Alan White]

12 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Sorry about the cloud cover. Who was you playing on the old needle? 

A whole mixture to be honest, a bit cheesy later on, Neil Diamond, Shirley Bassey et al.
Something for a chilled evening in mainly.

[Doc]

Great write up Gus, sounds like you had a wonderful evening, with some great targets spotted.

I was out as well and I agree it was very cold. I saw almost the same stuff as you did.

Congratz on Ceres and Flora, it's strange but I have never seen them, keep forgetting to look.

[Knighty2112]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

Congratz on Ceres and Flora, it's strange but I have never seen them, keep forgetting to look.

One of the great things with using Skysafari when I’m observing is that I can match very well the view in the eyepiece with the expected view with Skysafari, so matching up Ceres & Flora against the background stars is quite easy.  

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

One of the great things with using Skysafari when I’m observing is that I can match very well the view in the eyepiece with the expected view with Skysafari, so matching up Ceres & Flora against the background stars is quite easy.  

Agreed, it's a great feature, combined with setting the correct fov it is almost too easy sometimes  

@Charic those conditions sound fabulous! You need to get out there more often. M51 and M101 would almost certainly have been visible; I've found both with binoculars under brighter skies so definitely worth another go.

[Charic]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I've found both with binoculars under brighter skies so definitely worth another go.

I won't give up, not sure I'll be out tonight though, started snowing at 1600 Hrs.