Good old garden session nov 8

[Eastman]

First session back at home after my 3 object astrotrip last weekend?.

Well enough of that and lets crack on, The sky looked really promising while the dark sets in so I put the 10"dob outside to cooldown, nice transparant sky with a lots of star visible very low towards the horizon. That's a good sign. First up Mars, great to have some structure back on the red planet, best at 150X. Next up Neptune, I was inspired by @John to see Triton but did not succeed this time. This must be doable from my garden, so I be back for that one.

NGC 752 just above the Triangulum Nice big open cluster. Tried to find galaxy IC 179 which is almost at the egde of the cluster but could not find it. Next I moved to NGC 7331 a spiral galaxy in Pegasus. This was the object of the night, beautiful light core clearly seeing it's shape from the side and above. Best view with 80X.

The Blue Snowball Nebula NGC 7662 at lower magification a bit like Uranus, but more blueish, could go to 150X. Always a struggle with a dob near the zenith. NGC 7457 must have tried a least 15 times to find it. Finally I saw it but it's not more than a very faint fuzzy.

M34 great  open cluster almost a X shape of stars. M45, have to wait long for it before it rises above the trees. On to M 31, not as Majestic as last weekend in the SW130p under a dark sky but M 110 en M 32 also visible. Keep forgetting to put the dewcap back on the telrad so its fogging up bad, time for a dew heater strip I guess. I'm enjoying this time of year, it's dark early and I like to be outside in the cold.

NGC 1342 a open cluster in Perseus, nice but not a showpiece. Time to end the night with my all time favourite open cluster(s) NGC 884 / 869 great view to end the session with.

 

If I could do a one recommendation, NGC 7331 will be it.

greets Gert

[Littleguy80]

Great report, Gert. Nice to see so much from your back garden  Like you, I’ve tried and failed to see Triton but it’s all part of the fun. One day we’ll see it and it’s gonna feel great!

[domstar]

Great report. Very interesting that 130mm at a dark site beats 250mm in the garden. Maybe petrol really is the biggest upgrade.

[Eastman]

11 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Like you, I’ve tried and failed to see Triton but it’s all part of the fun.

That true Neil, to me searching objects is half the fun. I think thats why I never considerd a goto mount.

[Eastman]

9 hours ago, domstar said:

Very interesting that 130mm at a dark site beats 250mm in the garden. Maybe petrol really is the biggest upgrade.

Dark skies is indeed the best upgrade and will Always make a big difference domstar, but I also think that the 130p flextube is a serious nice telescope.