300p dob - 4 hour observing session report

[PaulM]

Initially started out with Saturn through my 200p just after twilight. Always a good sight to start with and in order to view it properly as it is low I spent an hour beforehand trimming down a large tree in the garden, there are other possible trees that may get a trim as well !

Showed Saturn to my wife for the first time and she was impressed at how clearly you could see the rings and some of its moons

Once it got darker the 300p flexi dob I got out earlier was setup for the main observation session

Started with some familiar targets to get me going which were M57 Ring Nebula, M13 Hercules great cluster, M92 globular cluster and the M81\82 galaxies which I enjoy very much viewing through the 24mm EP

At this stage it was apparent this was the clearest and most stable night since buying the 300p a few weeks ago so decided to stay out longer than planned and purposefully set out to observe in a North\North East direction as I have mostly been looking South\South West and also wanted to observe Neptune and Uranus as I have never seen them before all of this entailed me needing to relocating the 300p twice which wasn't a problem

NGC 869\884 Double cluster - (4/5) - Perseus - can just about view both in my 24mm EP and offer a very nice sight, quite open but still clustered. In the 8mm EP I could observe them individually and see the more fainter\clustered stars

M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula - (2/5) - Perseus - faint but discernible in the 24mm EP. Bit brighter but still faint in my 15 mm and 8 mm EPS, giving a more strong shape in the 8mm EP and OIII filter. You can see how it got its name as a dumbbell structure can be clearly made out

NGC 663\C10 - open cluster - (3/5) - Perseus - very open\spread cluster

NGC 457 - Owl Cluster - (4/5)- open star cluster - nice cluster, quite open but confined in the 24mm EP, is nice to look at as there are a good variant in star brightness. Its obvious how the cluster got its name with two obvious bright stars being the eyes and the other stars forming an Owl shape with its wings spread out standing up

Barnards Star - always wanted to observe this as its one of our closest stellar neighbors

Cygnus X-1 \ HDE 226868 - wanted to observe this knowing that I'm viewing a blue supergiant (HDE 226868) that is being slowly eaten by a black hole

Neptune - in the 24mm EP gave off a small blur\green disc, was hard to tell if it was Neptune at first or a star so to make sure I star hopped from the star Hydor in Aquarious. Moving to the 8mm the disc became a little more apparent and blue\green colour became stronger. No moons visible.

Uranus - in the 24mm EP gave off a larger more obvious disc than Neptune with a white\slightly blue color. Moving to the 8mm the disc became much more apparent. No moons visible.

M45 - Pleiades - (4/5) - Taurus - I noticed the Pleiades has risen above some neighbouring houses (wonderful sight to the naked eye) so was low in the sky and in the East which for me is the most light polluted section of my sky. Couldn't fit the whole cluster into the 24mm EP so will be looking to purchase a reducer at some point.

M31\101 - Andromeda Galaxy - (5/5) - by now this was high in the sky to the SW so away from the light polluted East. Through the 24mm M31\101 were clearly visible, M31 itself seems to be hinting at a much wider structure that I have previously observed where it has been lower and in the East, so very much looking forwards to observing M31 in a dark sky location

M101 - Pinwheel galaxy - (1/5) - Ursa Major - 24mm EP, very very faint and giving no structure, very slight hint of a brighter core - disappointing

So overall a great session with plenty of new objects observed some of which have been added to my must look at again list

I really need to get to a dark site in North Wales soon

[Charic]

Good report, if only I were able  see so much from my observatory? 

I've a much darker garden now, due to the newer LED street lamps, and not yet had the chance to observe under the new conditions, but my view of the sky is seriously restricted.
Roughly my field of view is between Ursa Major  and  Cassiopeia.  Set 'Trees' as your landscape (if you use Stellarium) and that will give you an idea of my field of view, though not quite as strict as 'Trees' depicts.

Also, I've mentioned in other threads about  possibly owning a 12" scope myself one day, and I did buy some Delos  eyepieces specifically for the 300P, however, I note you seem to be doing just fine using the 8 and 15mm BST's. Thats good news for me, if ever the 300P does materialise.

 

 

 

[estwing]

Lovely read and nice catch on M 76, thanks for sharing, clear skies!

[Stu]

Nice one Paul, a good range of targets there, the 300P sounds like it is doing you very well.

How about a nice ES 30mm 82 degree to get a decent amount of sky in? Should get 1.6 degrees or so vs about 1 for the 24mm, just need to make sure the scope will still balance with the weight in it.

[scarp15]

Nice report, as Stu has said the ES 30mm will be a good asset to that scope, such as for the Pleiades.

[wookie1965]

Great report some good objects there couple of my favourites.