4 May - Big Dob has second light with Photonis INTENS night vision

[alanjgreen]

Date: Fri 4th May 2225-0330am       

Scope: 20” f3.6 Lukehurst Dob with Paracorr (fl = 2089mm & f4.1). Night Vision: PVS-14 with Photonis 4g INTENS.

Eyepieces: 55mm (f2 x38), 35mm (f3 x60), 27mm (f4 x77), 18.2mm (f5.8 x115). Filters: Astronomik CLS, Baader 610nm Red, Astronomik 6nm Ha.

 

Make Hay While The Sun Shines!

After just two nights, last night turned out to be clear sky all the way (which was not in the weather forecast). As it was a warmer day, I got out at 2100hrs to uncover the scope and turn the fans on. I headed out at 2225hrs with a clear plan to choose a setup and stick with it for the first hour (at least) to view as many Galaxies as possible BEFORE IT GOES DARK!

I setup with the Panoptic 27mm (giving x77 @f4) and headed for the tiny Mice Galaxies (visible = Yes), then came Whale,  Needle, NGC4725, Silver Needle, Cocoon, M94, 5033, NGC5350+53+54+55+58 (Five in the fov & very nice), M51 (plenty of arms on show), M101 (large hazy patch only), M82 (thick & very bright. Core split by black bar), M81 (very large& bright)

Looking up the sky was still a shade of dark blue and over in the west it was much lighter. There was no moon but it’s a surprise to me that all these galaxies are visible when I can only see the main constellation stars!

 

Hickson55 and its not even dark!

Here is my observation from 18 Apr for Hickson55 ->

And from last night (at only 11pm) ->

“With the Pan27 I quickly located a small fuzzy patch and centred it. Then I turned the GAIN up on the PVS-14 and three tiny cores appeared in the view, then a forth came too”. This is with only x77 magnification (mind boggling indeed).

 

Not a Fix All for Everything

Emboldened by this success, I headed over to Hickson 56. Here is my observation from 18 Apr for Hickson56->

And from last night (at only 11pm) ->

“One small bright blob of galaxies located. Cannot separate the cores at this magnification.”

I meant to come back later when it was darker, but forgot!

 

Back To Bigger Galaxies

I upped the magnification by moving to the 18.2mm DeLite (f5.8 x115).

M106 revealed a “shaped” halo with a distinct curve to the left side.

NGC4449 – A very interesting irregular galaxy that looked like its picture in Sky Safari.

 

Closer Study of M101

I now turned my focus to M101 and spent time comparing different eyepieces and 610nm & CLS filters. With my 21.6 skies the best view was “unfiltered”.

It seemed that focal ratio was key to pulling out more arm structure. The 55mm Plossl provided the most arm structure. With the 8mm Ethos in the big dob I am able to pull three arms from M101 after spending decent time observing.

It seems that even with Night Vision, M101 requires you to “get your eye in”. I was able to see (& sketch) two additional “partial” arm structures that I have never seen naked eye. I have confirmed them on images this morning.

 

Closer Study of M51

Over to the Whirlpool with the 55mm Plossl. Wow, it was a lovely sight with all the arms “plain as day”. The bridge was lovely and the companion NGC had a real “comma” shape. I tried to “see” details within the arms but not sure I did even with the “gain” turned up.

 

Other Notable Galaxies with a Dark Sky (now 1am)

Cocoon – Looks very different with Night Vision. The larger galaxy now overpowers its smaller neighbour and seems much bigger than naked eye. The “interaction curve” is very obvious. Nice.

Whale – The 55mm Plossl delivered up a treat here as not only could I see the Whale (and its tiny friend) but I got the “curved” interacting galaxies 4657+4656 in the same fov. It was a galaxy sight to remember!

Needle – The galaxy was simply stunning against the darker sky. The core was small and sharp. The dark central lane passed across underneath sharp and clear. It’s hard to believe you can see so much at x38 magnification?

 

Milky Way Rising

Over in the east I could see the Milky Way wide in the sky. I removed the Night Vision from the eyepiece and put it in direct to my eyeball (x1). Wow! The Milky Way came alive with stars and nebulosity (even in the moon light).

I reached for the Astronomik 6nm Ha 2” filter and held it in front of the PVS-14 objective by hand. POW! I was now overcome with Nebula. Cygnus was a revelation; I was stunned at x1 magnification.

I had no choice but to move the DOB in the shed and get access to Cygnus TONIGHT!

 

Part2 – Lost in Nebulas

After repositioning the big dob, I loaded the 55mm Plossl and screwed the 2” 6nm Ha filter onto the Paracorr. I aligned the scope and chose my “Summer” observing list (Sky Safari).

I headed for Sadr.

I cannot give a comparison of what I saw around Sadr as I have NEVER seen this nebula before! The whole region is alive with varying brightness nebula. I happened upon some lovely textured brighter areas revealing intricate dark patterns within them. The 55mm Plossl was giving a 1.05 degree view and it was just not enough… I was lost in nebula!

Time to try something SMALLER like the Crescent. Wow! Superb finer details seen in the very bright and obvious crescent structure. Like an image! I tried the 35mm (f3 x60) which gave slightly larger scale but some of the detail was lost with the focal ratio decrease caused by change of eyepiece. Back in with the 55mm…

 

North American – Not well positioned from the shed, losing some aperture to the walls but what a view! The Nebula is so thick, it seems almost solid white. It’s like looking at M42 with the dig dob naked eye, that level of obvious nebula to the eye! Saw some new to me brighter bits within it, need to come back. The Pelican was much fainter by comparison but still now an “easy” target (just need more fov).

Veil – The Veil was “on a par” with big dob naked eye I would say (it was poorly positioned so will improve with height), the whole complex was bright and visible but then it always is in big dob. Maybe, some areas were “more” but by this time and after all that concentrating, my brain was starting to give up!

Blinking Planetary nebula – We NEED A NEW NAME as it does not blink anymore!

Dumbbell – Nice and bright image. Very well defined straight edges.

Ring – So very very bright. Piercing.

 

Off To Bed With a Smile On My Face

By 0330 I was dead on my feet. The sky was still clear and the moon had continued its rise. Yes – all these nebulas were seen with a 70% moon right next door in the sky! (Mind boggles again)

 

Clear Skies,

Alan

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Exciting stuff. 

Exciting just reading your report so must be mind boggling for real 

Steve

[Eastman]

34 minutes ago, alanjgreen said:

Scope: 20” f3.6 Lukehurst Dob with Paracorr (fl = 2089mm & f4.1). Night Vision: PVS-14 with Photonis 4g INTENS.

When I read this, makes me want to visit you and take a look!!!

Great report Alan.

[alanjgreen]

5 minutes ago, Eastman said:

When I read this, makes me want to visit you and take a look!!!

Great report Alan.

1. Here is big dob "ready for action..."

2. A quick pic of the inside of my garage "in the pitch black"

[scarp15]

Fascinating report Alan and a taster for what might be possible in the new season. Quite understandable that your location has dark skies. It would also be great if you could invest in a Unihedron Sky Quality Meter and take periodic true readings to include in your highly detailed accounts, the icing on the cake perhaps. 

[David Levi]

An exciting report, sounds amazing. The NV is obviously adding another dimension to observing. Thanks for the picture of the setup. I was wondering what it looked like following your first report.

[Paz]

6 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

1. Here is big dob "ready for action..."

Great report thanks for posting, but be careful, you'll have someone's eye out with that!

[alanjgreen]

6 minutes ago, Paz said:

Great report thanks for posting, but be careful, you'll have someone's eye out with that!

It’s actually easy to find the eyepiece as it glows white phosphor, so easy to guide your eye in. The latex eye guard is comfy to.