The Veil!

[david_taurus83]

Yes! From light soaked Birmingham and bright skies! Started off the night by setting up the AZEQ6 close to the back wall of the garden to shield myself from that god awful street light which has plagued me since I first looked through an eyepiece. Using the WiFi dongle, Synscan Pro and Sky Safari on my phone has been great! No more handset cable wrapping itself around the mount and legs and both apps on the phone are far easier to navigate. It does have a quirk though, as highlighted on another thread. After slewing to a target via Sky Safari, you need to switch to Synscan Pro, confirm you are on target and press Point and Track. Otherwise, it stops tracking after 20 seconds or so.

 

Anyway, starting with Jupiter. It is past south now by the time I go out after 11pm. Observed for a bit before it gets too close to the neigbours roof where seeing starts to diminish. Only 3 moons visible, Io and Ganymede beside each other and Callisto the opposite side of the disc, which itself shows 2 equatorial bands but nothing really exciting. No GRS tonight but some faint bands above and below the 2 main ones. Blue filter i find is best for this.

 

I swing over to Vega for a quick look and defocus check of my collimation which appears ok before nudging south to M57. Best viewed through the UHC filter this one but not as clear as the first time I seen it. Skies were darker then. Best at low power I think.

 

I try a few nebulous regions now, not expecting much luck. Just south of Deneb is the North America Nebula and the Pelican Nebula. Nothing here but a nice cluster of bright stars. Close by, with Sadr roughly in the centre is the Gamma Cygni Nebula. Again, nothing to see here but Sadr itself. These nebulae look nice in images but no smudge, wisp or cloud available through the eyepiece!

 

Moving down now to 52 Cygni, the bright star located by the eastern Veil Nebula. As expected, no sign of any nebulosity. I know from other reports that this is definitely visible to the human eye and that one is slightly easier to see than the other. A quick goto on the phone and the mount slowly tracked over to the Western Veil...

 

BEHOLD! There it is! Very faint but definitely there! A thin wisp of cloud against the bright background sky! Swithing over to the UHC filter adds some contrast but its harder to focus. Its also still visible without a filter but almost blends in with the background. According to Sky Safari im looking at the most northern part. I quick pan around doesnt reveal much else in the southern section of this side. Knowing what to look for, a quick tap on the phone and we swing back to 52 Cygni. I can see it now!! Fainter than its western counterpart, but definitely there now! From 52 Cyg stretching out to the tip of the "Broom". This one is harder to see without the UHC filter. Almost nothing without.  Delighted now as I fill in my observing notebook and add a new target to the list. I really need to get out to darker skies and have a go at this again.

 

I notice now on Sky Safari that M31 is making an appearance again. Unsure if im too close to the wall to get it so low in the sky I send the mount swinging anyway. And there it is! The core brighter than I've ever seen it. The first faint fuzzy I ever observed back in November, it was a lot dimmer then even in darker skies. My collimaton procedure now is probably better though, my eyes better adapted at soaking up those precious photons ejected many millennia ago!

 

A quick goto now up to the Whirlpool, Bodes and the Cigar. The first almost invisible this time round and the latter visible, but far fainter than the last time I looked up there.

 

Saturn has cleared the neighbours roofs now but as feared, for this one I have indeed set up too close to the back wall and the scope pointing at the top course of brick. Saturn isnt quite South yet so I leave the mount tracking and take a 15 minute break. Once back outside, Saturn and its rings are available this time but some of my aperture is probably still catching the top of the wall so any zoom in on the planet offers less than impressive views. I pack up and go in happy with the fact I have glimpsed the great supernova remnant in Cygnus. Now that I have seen it, it cant be unseen and can only offer more detail every time I have a look.

 

David

 

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Very nice report and a full enjoyable evening by the sounds of it.

. I live on very edge of town and normally pretty dark but was like daylight most of last night. I waited and eventually got some very nice views of Saturn albeit seen between branches of the very tall leylandii trees at bottom of garden. A lot of thin clouds rolled in later and by the time Mars came into my view is was very cloudy so never saw Mars.

Steve

[lenscap]

As a fellow light-polluted Brummie with the same scope (but manual mount) I am greatly encouraged by your success with the Veil.

I  was looking in Lyra last night and was surprised to get a good view of The Ring Nebula, despite the perpetual twilight.

So despite the LP, I will be seeking out Dim Fuzzies with renewed optimism.

[wookie1965]

I could not see any Nebulosity last night great report.

[david_taurus83]

These were the sections that were just about visible.

[Demonperformer]

That sounds like some session with its mix of frustrations and excitement. Congratulations on grabbing the veil - that is quite an achievement with any sort of LP.

[John]

Sounds like the first time I saw the Veil - with an ED100 refractor and a Baader UHC-S filter

Then I discovered what an O-III filter can do to this object

[cotterless45]

Super report of what is possible from town. When you see the Veil from dark skies it's just mesmerising,

Nick.

[Owmuchonomy]

As John says above try it with an OIII filter; it can be outstanding.  It always astounds me as to its relative size.