Just a lovely evening

[Littleguy80]

Last night was a really relaxed session that I didn't intend to write up but I enjoyed it so much that I really want to record it! I planned ahead for the session and slept for an hour so I wouldn't be fighting sleep. I find this really helps! I started out trying to see Comet C/2017 S3. Last Thursday this had been very bright and easy to see but this time I drew a blank. This seems to be an interesting comet having bright outbursts and then fading quickly. After commenting on a post by @domstar regarding the Iris nebula, I decided to give this a go. I suspected this was a target for dark skies. The Iris nebula is a reflection nebula centred around a 7th magnitude star. With averted vision I could pick up some nebulosity and a mag 13 star close by. Both disappeared under direction vision.

I now returned to another comet, 21P Giacobini-Zinner. This comet had brightened noticeably since I observed it last Thursday. I could now hold it easily in direct vision. It appears as small patch of nebulosity. For some fun, I moved onto the Blinking Planetary nebula (NGC 6826). This was wonderfully clear and showed the sky to have good transparency. A lovely round, slightly greenish, patch of nebulosity surrounding a bright central star when viewed with averted vision. Look at with direct vision and, like magic, the nebula disappears and only the star can be seen. It's a trick that never gets old! I felt that this was my view of this planetary to date.

A ping from SkySafari told me the ISS was approaching. With my lowest power eyepiece in the focuser, I got ready for the chase. It rose to the left of Arcturus and I quickly got it into the finder and then the eyepiece. I was able to track it for almost it's entire journey overhead. At 60x the shape was clear. I want to try this again at higher powers! Time for something a bit more stationary though. I took my first look at Uranus of the year. A small pale disc with a greenish tinge. Whilst looking at the gas giant so far away, a little hedgehog came up behind me. These little guys are so cute! Neptune was my next target. I once again spent quite a bit of time searching for the moon Triton next to the tiny pale blue disc. No luck but I could pick up mag 13 stars close by. I can't be far off seeing Triton!!!

I decided to finish the session on Mars. Before I centred on the red target, I went after the globular cluster, M75. I hadn't realised it was as high in the sky as it was and it's one of the Messier's that I'm yet to see. It's quite a small glob but still pleasing at higher powers. I couldn't resist another planetary and so went off in search of NGC 6818, the Little Gem nebula. This seemed to be a similar size to the blinking planetary nebula. It's bright and easy to see. I wasn't able to see it in two sections as it's shown in photos. I also had a look for Barnard's galaxy (NGC6822) but wasn't able to see it. Given it's quite large, I suspect it needs darker skies to account for it's low surface brightness. I finally brought Mars into view. The seeing was quite steady and I was able to see a large darker area on the planet's surface. It wasn't well defined but a great improvement on other viewings over the last month. Two more hedge hogs came along to join in the fun.

As I packed up and walked back to the house, I noticed the Pleiades rising about the rooftop. It was a nice reminder of the targets to be enjoyed in the months to come. a final few minutes were spent to looking overhead where I could see the Milky Way arching across the sky. A stunning view and a lovely way to end a really, really enjoyable session.

[cotterless45]

Lovely report and some cracking finds there . Nothing but cloud here now , but good stuff coming ,Nick.

[Stu]

That's a great session, especially for a relaxed one

Sounds like you had some lovely skies to play with.

[Saganite]

Lovely session Neil, great stuff.

I have two scopes set up for tonight and I am hoping for better than I got 22/23 July,. The Moon and Saturn were pretty good but Mars was just a seething mess with atmospheric CA , and no detail at all, in fact it looked like a ball of fire !

[Littleguy80]

7 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Lovely session Neil, great stuff.

I have two scopes set up for tonight and I am hoping for better than I got 22/23 July,. The Moon and Saturn were pretty good but Mars was just a seething mess with atmospheric CA , and no detail at all, in fact it looked like a ball of fire !

Thanks Steve. A ball of fire sounds pretty awesome! Fingers crossed you get better seeing tonight though  

[Saganite]

Just looking at Jupiter Neil and there  is more detail than the other night within the belts, so I am hopeful of a decent Mars tonight, at about 1 am. 

[Saganite]

2 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks Steve. A ball of fire sounds pretty awesome! Fingers crossed you get better seeing tonight though  

The sad thing was that Mars appeared enormous through the 12" Dob and with binoviewers, and it was strangely compelling viewing even though it appeared as a ball of fire !

[Littleguy80]

2 minutes ago, Saganite said:

The sad thing was that Mars appeared enormous through the 12" Dob and with binoviewers, and it was strangely compelling viewing even though it appeared as a ball of fire !

Haha I can completely relate. Even though there’s not much detail to be seen I’ve been taking a look pretty much every session. It’ll come good soon!

[Saganite]

I maybe spoke too soon, 'cause when I returned to the scope Jupiter was hidden by a bank of cloud that has appeared from nowhere. I still have the Moon !

Are you observing tonight Neil ?

[Littleguy80]

9 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I maybe spoke too soon, 'cause when I returned to the scope Jupiter was hidden by a bank of cloud that has appeared from nowhere. I still have the Moon !

Are you observing tonight Neil ?

Oh no. All a bit cloudy here tonight sadly.  Although I do keep popping out to check in case it clears. I’ll often have a quick go the bins if I get a break in the cloud. Just a little something to feed the obsession   

[wookie1965]

Great session supposed to be clearing skies here take the Tal out pity cannot get the 5" out once I'm fixed up I will.

Try for the comets later but don't hold out much hope.

[Saganite]

Well good luck anyway Wookie. There is more cloud building but I at the moment the Moon and Jupiter are providing  intermittent target practice !

[Littleguy80]

5 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Great session supposed to be clearing skies here take the Tal out pity cannot get the 5" out once I'm fixed up I will.

Try for the comets later but don't hold out much hope.

Best of luck, Paul. Comet 21P is supposed to brighten quick significantly over the next month so I’m sure you’ll get it sooner or later  

[Saganite]

10 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Oh no. All a bit cloudy here tonight sadly.  Although I do keep popping out to check in case it clears. I’ll often have a quick go the bins if I get a break in the cloud. Just a little something to feed the obsession   

That's it Neil, keeping the 'withdrawal ' symptoms under control. 

[Size9Hex]

Nice report Neil, thanks for posting. I’ve failed on Barnard’s too - and that was from a decent dark site. I think you’re right about low surface brightness. The other tip I’ve read elsewhere is that it’s lacking in any high contrast edges for your eye to latch onto, so could benefit from a lower power than you might normally use.

[Littleguy80]

8 minutes ago, Size9Hex said:

Nice report Neil, thanks for posting. I’ve failed on Barnard’s too - and that was from a decent dark site. I think you’re right about low surface brightness. The other tip I’ve read elsewhere is that it’s lacking in any high contrast edges for your eye to latch onto, so could benefit from a lower power than you might normally use.

Thank you! Good tips on Barnard’s galaxy. I’ll try for it again from my local dark site. 

[Special K]

That’s a great session and Pleiades at the end!!!  They are back so soon!