Messiers and Sagittarius

[Littleguy80]

After the Easter weekend, where I was very bitter about having 4 days off work and not a single clear night, this bank holiday weekend was fantastic. 4 nights of consecutive observing. Brilliant! Sunday night gave me the opportunity to take a trip to my local dark site at Seething. I'd worked out which of the Messier objects I hadn't seen so my plan was to work my way through as many of those as I could. This was also my first session at Seething with my new Lunt/APM 100 degree eyepieces. I have the 20mm and the 9mm. Chris, @Cjg, was my observing buddy for the evening with his 3" frac, which complimented the views in my 10" dob really nicely.

It was still fairly light around 10pm when we started observing. I started by finding M53 as a starting point to try and see the much, much fainter globular cluster of NGC 5053. A viewing suggestion from @David Levi. I had no problems identifying the correct surrounding stars but was unable to see the glob. As we weren't into astronomical darkness yet and my eyes weren't fully dark adapted, I decided to come back to this later. I actually ended up trying for this again, last night from home, using a 7mm ortho I could just about pick out what appeared to be some stars in the correct area but it was ever so faint.

Onto the Messier's! M68, a globular cluster in Hydra was the first on the list. It was quite low down but an enjoyable target none the less. I headed off into Draco looking for M102, the Spindle galaxy. By luck, I ended up finding NGC 5907 which is a really lovely edge on galaxy. The happy accident targets are often favourites for me. I soon found M102 which also impressed. My search for M85 took me into Coma Berenices. As well as M85, I also observed NGC 4293 and NGC4394. I next picked up M100 but then I started to hit problems with the eyepieces dewing up. At this point I don't have dew heaters so I was a little stuck. I popped the eyepieces back into the case in the hopes they'd warm up a little.

The dew issues, worked out really well for me. I grabbed the 7mm Meade RG Ortho and took a look at Jupiter. The timing was perfect to catch the transit of Ganymede. I could see the little moon with it's shadow just beneath giving a superb 3D effect. I've never seen a moon transit like it. The GRS was also on display but played second fiddle to the transit. Chris and I headed into the clubhouse to dry out our eyepiece and have a cuppa.

With the eyepieces now clear I returned to Coma Berenicies and got views of M100, M99 and M98. The face on galaxy, M99, was the standout of these three for me. I spent some time trying to pick up Markarian's chain but transparency had worsened quite a bit now. Instead, I went for the M107 in Ophiuchus. Another nice example of a Messier globular cluster. Antares was appearing from behind a tree so it was time for two more globs, M4 and M80. I really like M4, it's such a big target. It didn't feel as densely packed as other globs. I took a quick look at M51 but transparency still seemed poor overhead. Chris spotted Saturn about the clubhouse so I took a quick look at that too.

Sagittarius was now high enough to start observing. The next hour or so was the best of the night! The Omega nebulae with the Swan was amazing. Last year from home with my 130mm scope, I needed an OIII filter to see the Swan. This year, with a 10" dob, 100 degree eyepiece and a great dark site, I could see it very easily unfiltered. I had a real moment of feeling incredibly fortunate to have the equipment and observing site I do. I added the OIII filter and the contrast greatly increased. I moved over to the Eagle nebulae. Simply stunning. Chris' frac stole the night when he showed me both the Swan and the Eagle in the same FOV. The 20mm Lunt HDC was used as I meandered through Sagittarius, seeing M18, M24 (Sagittarius star cloud), M23 and M19. The Lagoon was hiding in a tree which was the only disappointment. Before packing up, I grabbed a quick look at M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, which was every pretty as I remembered. 

On arriving home, I couldn't resist a quick look at Saturn and Mars. I was able to see the Cassini Division for the first time this year and the polar ice cap on Mars. My Messier count now stands at 95 with 10 of the evening's targets being new ones for me. It was about 3:45 AM when I crawled into bed. I really can't wait to spend more time with Sagittarius!

[Louis D]

18 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

I started to hit problems with the eyepieces dewing up.

I've never had issues with eyepiece dewing while wearing eyeglasses at long eye relief eyepieces.  I think the moisture on the eye lenses is coming from the cornea somehow.

[Littleguy80]

13 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I've never had issues with eyepiece dewing while wearing eyeglasses at long eye relief eyepieces.  I think the moisture on the eye lenses is coming from the cornea somehow.

Interesting. Perhaps a temperature differential thing?

[Louis D]

6 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Interesting. Perhaps a temperature differential thing?

Well, for dew to form, the eyelens must be cooler than the dewpoint, so two things must be in play.  One, the eyepiece is cooling faster than the surrounding air due to radiative cooling to the sky, and two, the dewpoint must be elevated somewhat either due to high humidity (on the verge of dew everywhere) or localize humidity due to your eye, breath, or sweating.

[domstar]

Great report. I can really relate as I've been trying to tick off the Messiers and I've seen around the same amount. On Sunday I managed to tick off M68 too. M102 is still on my to do list but will need careful planning, and the  some of the southern Saggitarius objects are going to be tough with light pollution. I think my nemesis will be M 83 the southern pinwheel. It's nice to hear about someone doing similar things. I also admire your relentlessness. Two hours and my concentration is all wobbly.

[Littleguy80]

32 minutes ago, domstar said:

Great report. I can really relate as I've been trying to tick off the Messiers and I've seen around the same amount. On Sunday I managed to tick off M68 too. M102 is still on my to do list but will need careful planning, and the  some of the southern Saggitarius objects are going to be tough with light pollution. I think my nemesis will be M 83 the southern pinwheel. It's nice to hear about someone doing similar things. I also admire your relentlessness. Two hours and my concentration is all wobbly.

Thank you! It occurred to me over the weekend that I didn't know how many I'd seen so I made a list. I had a go at M83 on Saturday but it was just too low. 

I find that I get totally absorbed in looking for stuff. Time just flies by. I will take breaks and just look up or use the binoculars which probably helps. 

[cloudsweeper]

9 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

 

I find that I get totally absorbed in looking for stuff. Time just flies by. 

It certainly does, Neil.  Especially when you're also trying to log your activity!

Great report!

Doug.

[Paz]

Great report, Nd impressive how many messier you are racking up. I don't know how many I've seen, I ought to add them up and be more organised with my planning!

[David Levi]

Fantastic report Neil. Thanks for taking the time to look for NGC 5053 for me. I keep looking in the correct area as well but apart from this perhaps imagined slightly less black area of sky (imagined while wiggling the slow motion controls) I've yet to have conclusively seen it. It's good information that you are struggling with this target using a 10" dob. I'll keep checking the area though just in case some superb clear night comes to my assistance.

[Stu]

Enjoyed that one Neil, great report. I love that area of sky but have never had more than an 8” SCT on it, more often a 4”. So many lovely targets down there, it is great working your way up the Milky Way picking them off. Have you seen M22 in the dob yet?

[Eastman]

Great report Neil, nice number of messiers. Had the same problem on NGC 5053 last weekend.

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

Great report, Nd impressive how many messier you are racking up. I don't know how many I've seen, I ought to add them up and be more organised with my planning!

Thank you. It all really started from me wondering how many I'd seen. I do log new objects in SkySafari so it was easy to figure out what I'd seen

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, David Levi said:

Fantastic report Neil. Thanks for taking the time to look for NGC 5053 for me. I keep looking in the correct area as well but apart from this perhaps imagined slightly less black area of sky (imagined while wiggling the slow motion controls) I've yet to have conclusively seen it. It's good information that you are struggling with this target using a 10" dob. I'll keep checking the area though just in case some superb clear night comes to my assistance.

Thanks David. It's certainly a tough one. I think it might have been clearer if I'd looked at Seething maybe an hour later. Good fun to have a challenging object like that  

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

Enjoyed that one Neil, great report. I love that area of sky but have never had more than an 8” SCT on it, more often a 4”. So many lovely targets down there, it is great working your way up the Milky Way picking them off. Have you seen M22 in the dob yet?

Thanks Stu! I remember reading your reports on Sagittarius last year. I think they were from your holidays in previous years. It's such an exciting part of the sky, so much to see. I haven't seen M22 in the dob yet but hope to see it in the next month or so.

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, Eastman said:

Great report Neil, nice number of messiers. Had the same problem on NGC 5053 last weekend.

Thanks Gert. You look at it on SkySafari or an atlas and you think it should be easy and then you wonder where it is at the eyepiece!

 

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks Stu! I remember reading your reports on Sagittarius last year. I think they were from your holidays in previous years. It's such an exciting part of the sky, so much to see. I haven't seen M22 in the dob yet but hope to see it in the next month or so.

That’s right, camping hols in Dorset and Devon. M22 is a cracker!

[Littleguy80]

Just now, Stu said:

That’s right, camping hols in Dorset and Devon. M22 is a cracker!

If the improvement in the views of M22 is anything like the improvement in the Swan and the Eagle then I’m in for a real treat!

[GavStar]

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

That’s right, camping hols in Dorset and Devon. M22 is a cracker!

Thanks Stu, I must remember to put that on my list of objects to observe this summer. I love globs!

[GavStar]

7 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

If the improvement in the views of M22 is anything like the improvement in the Swan and the Eagle then I’m in for a real treat!

Somehow I think you’re gonna like the lagoon in your new scope Neil!!

[Littleguy80]

Just now, GavStar said:

Somehow I think you’re gonna like the lagoon in your new scope Neil!!

Hehe It was a favourite in my old scope. 12mm BST and UHC filter was just awesome. Can’t wait to see it with the new setup  

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, GavStar said:

Thanks Stu, I must remember to put that on my list of objects to observe this summer. I love globs!

At least from Texas, M22 is more spectacular than M13 (Hercules GC) because it's larger, brighter, and resolves better because it is less than half the distance away.  It's also super easy to find being slightly up and left of the Sagittarius teapot asterism's center line:

[Cjg]

It was an awesome evening of observing.

If we get another session like that before the end of the month, I'll be happy and the Lagoon, Triffid and more from Sagittarius will be in view. The damp I think is partially a local climate 'thing' often get lots of moisture present in the air.

Till he next time.

chris