21st October - my best ever observing session

[MartinB]

Last night in Chesterfield there was a rare combination of great transparency, steady seeing and no dew. There was a good breeze blowing but, although this played havoc with my imaging it didn't trouble my Skyliner 300 dob. There was a bit more LP that usual which I guess is probably because of the amount of moisture in the air.

Started off with a star test on vega having read the article in this weeks S@N. This showed collimation to be spot on (having tweaked with a Baader laser), no astigmatism and diffraction rings appearing the same in and out of focus. The double double was just split at x150 using a Pentax 10mm XW.

Had my best ever view of M27 using the Pentax 10mm and UHC filter. The outer limbs were easily visible with direct vision. The brighter core stood out clearly and there was some variation of brightness within the core but not enough to give the appearance of mottling.

M57 was very bright with clear dark at the centre. At first I thought the blue green was showing really well then remembered I was still using the UHC filter :oops:

Onto M31, I wanted to see if I could discern the most prominent dust lane. This dust lane is actually much further out than I had previously thought and the nebulosity in this region is very faint. I didn't succeed with a 27mm Panoptic. Overall contrast was improved with a CLS filter but still no joy. Next time I will use a higher power and use M32 and 110 as a guide to where to place the scope.

M33 was in a fair bit of LP but showed up pretty well using the Pan 27mm and CLS combination. There was clear brightening towards the centre.

From there it was onto M15 which is a beautiful glob. The stars were very well resolved at x150. Upping the mag to x210 with a Pentax 7mm increased the seperation of the stars but they appeared lest vibrant at this mag.

Then a quick look at Almach. Again my preferred EP was the 10mm Pentax x150 which gave a comfortably wide split and lovely colour contrast. Followed this up with a look at Iota Cassiopeia. The double was easy to see and the 3rd star was just split at x150.

A quick trawl throught the clusters in Cassiopeia. The highlight for me was the incredible Owl Cluster NGC 457. I didn't know that NGC was the owl cluster but it was immediately obvious. It was pretty spooky. There was an owl screeching away overhead and this bird with demonic gleaming eyes peering down my scope. The wings were quite dramatic.

Took in the clusters in Capella with M37 taking pride of place. Lovely delicate colours with the Pan 27. A Nagler 17mm didn't really bring out anything that the pan didn't and overall I preferred the view at the lower power.

Whilst looking at clusters I had the obligatory trip to the double cluster, again the Pan27mm came up trumps. This is an awesome EP which has been massively enhanced by the Baader MPCC.

Pleaides was now well up. Looked ok through the pan but need something wider for this. A 40mm Paragon maybe??

Finally it was a question of peering into the LP low over the centre of chesterfield to see if I could make out M1. It turned up clear enough with a CLS filter. Only once I'd located it using the CLS was it possible to just discern it unfiltered. Upping the mag helped to improve contrast and some shape was discernible with the 10mm Pentax.

And that was it with the scope. Had a sit back in a comfy chair and enjoyed taking in the constellations and the odd shooting shooting star.

A wonderful Autumn Sky viewing

[Doc]

Wonderful report Martin.

I'm not far from you in Nottingham and I also had a great night.

You have much better eyepieces then me and I don't have any filters but I saw very similar.

You mention seeing colour in the M57 with a filter, I swear I saw colour with no filters.

[barkis]

I enjoyed the journey with You Martin. Informative report there. Who says imagers skimp on Observational Astronomy. No such thing.

Can't think of a better companion for the trip you took, than a 12" Dobsonian.

Thanks for sharing the eyepieces with us.

Ron.

[Astronut]

Nice report. I haven't seen M37 since last year - one of my favourite open clusters and definately the best in the 3 Auriga Messier clusters. It looked very impressive in the Pentax but I didn't have my Ethos then.

I have the same dob as you but I 'm guessing I haven't used it as much as you have yours.

Unfortunately it was cloudy with spots of rain on my side of the Pennines last night (seems it was clear everywhere else as usual) and it's the same again tonight with much thicker cloud on its way.

[lunator]

Martin

very nice report.

Congrats on split the iots cas. tripleat x150 That shows the seeing was good and the scope was well collimated as you noted

I'm sure the Winter views will be awesome through the Dob

Cheers

Ian

[thing]

Great report Martin, I had a good night last night also in Lincoln. I've noticed other reports mentioning the colour of the Ring, I always get colour on it in my 8" Newt, I'm always suprised no one else does.

[GazOC]

Great report Martin.

[Helen]

Its reports like this that make me want a Dob I keep going back to the 10inch with DSC on ABS at the moment..... :nono:

Great report though Martin, those nights are precious!

Helen

[Astroscot2]

Sounds like a good night Martin, I used a UHC filter a number of years back for viewing, gave superb views of nebula - may look at one of these in the future.

[MartinB]

Thanks guys, glad it was of some interest. Looks like a few of us have had a good session this week.

Sorry Astronut, it is really frustrating when most of the country is having great skies and you are cloud bound.

[asteria]

Great report - thanks.

Ed

[russ]

Awesome report Martin. In-depth with stacks of info. Great to compare your night with ours using similiar setup.

I had a chance to view M15 last night. Quite surprised how well resolved it was. I agree with you regards the power. Best view was with the 9mm TMB. But it was better resolved in the 7.5mm Speers but getting on the faint side. It's a nice a glob though.

Sounds like you are really enjoying the 12? It's a great aperture to have.

[Andrew*]

Beautiful report, Martin. Thanks for sharing.

I think the recent clear night(s) hit the spot for the whole of SGL - feels like a burden of many cloudy nights has been lifted. At least it's encouraged a few lovely reports to be posted up. Shame I missed it.

What UHC filter did you use by the way?

Andrew

[MartinB]

What UHC filter did you use by the way?

Andrew

Now you've got me. I think it is the Baader UHC S 2"