A brief dark sky session between the clouds

[Stu]

Away this weekend camping under what I expected to be cloudy skies, I was surprised by a clear spell of several hours. Having the trusty Tak and AZGTi with me, I set it up just using the handset, not bothering to attempt a WiFi connection as I expected it to be a brief session.

Unfortunately Orion was past its best by the time I was setup, so the only views I had of M42 were not the best. High power just showed fairly mushy stars due to the low altitude, but low power was a better view. I was using the 24mm Panoptic to keep weight down. A Docter 12.5mm provided mid range and the Nag Zoom was there for high power.

At best the skies measured around mag 20.9. I took one reading just over 21, and later on it dipped to 20.6 ish, due to the hazy cloud reflecting LP I guess. Given that my skies at home are around mag 19, this sky felt like luxury for me, despite not being able to get properly dark adapted due to local lighting around where I was observing.

I took in a number of the old favourites which look ok from home, but even with only 4" aperture the benefits of the dark sky showed in the deeper contrast and fainter stars resolved. The Auriga Clusters and M35 were all wonderful, I'm always amazed how different they all are, despite all being open clusters.

Two stand out views from the session though for me. First was the Leo Triplet, and I do just about mean triplet! M65 and 66 were fairly easy, but NGC3628 was a challenge which needed averted vision. At first I couldn't see anything, but once I got a little better adapted and shielded my eye I picked it up quite easily. I don't see these from home in this scope so it was a pleasing get.

Second one was M97 and M108. Again I don't see these easily from home but even unfiltered M97 was a lovely small round glow, and m108 a classic edge on spiral galaxy, great to get both in the field of view at one time. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to view at higher power with a UHC to see if I could see eyes on M97.

I failed later on with M101, I suspect because of high cloud which came in ahead of the thicker full cover. Before that  though I did also get some good views of M51. Two clear cores, one a little bigger than the other and a halo of the spiral arms surrounding each. It's funny how your mind plays tricks with you, it was quite easy to visualise spirals in the haloes which I'm sure cannot be seen at this aperture so must be some memory effect from seeing images perhaps?

Anyhow, nothing earth shattering, but a good and unexpected little session.

EDIT for completeness I should add Algieba to the list as it looked fab.

[johnfosteruk]

Nice report Stu, this is why grab and go is a must.

I often wonder how much I'm observing rather than remembering! We are pattern recognition machines after all

 

[Piero]

Congrats on your session Stu. 

I was observing the same targets last night from my backyard despite the wind. M37 was really beautiful.

The docter works nicely with that scope on my opinion. 

[domstar]

An enjoyable read. You described a lot of my spring sessions- trying to spot the Hamburger, having real problems with M97 and especially M108 and being wowed by M51.

Next time the moon starts waning it could be time again.

[John]

Nice report Stu - some of the best sessions are the spontaneous and unplanned ones

 

[mark81]

Nice one Stu!  Good read with some nice targets..

It's a shame that Orion is on its way out now but with Leo on its way up and Hercules not far behind, we can't complain.  ?

 

[scarp15]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I took in a number of the old favourites which look ok from home, but even with only 4" aperture the benefits of the dark sky showed in the deeper contrast and fainter stars resolved. The Auriga Clusters and M35 were all wonderful, I'm always amazed how different they all are, despite all being open clusters.

 

Nice report Stu and good to know that you were able to use your refractor on a camping weekend- not just the weather factor, also upon reading that other thread where you had locked the car whilst camping, keys and contents inside. The clusters are just great when at a darker site; SQM- L; 21 they are highly pronounced.

[Stu]

38 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Nice report Stu and good to know that you were able to use your refractor on a camping weekend- not just the weather factor, also upon reading that other thread where you had locked the car whilst camping, keys and contents inside. The clusters are just great when at a darker site; SQM- L; 21 they are highly pronounced.

Thanks Iain. Yes, I'm fairly scarred by that experience so tend to be quite careful with keys now!

The Tak performed very well, as did the AZGTi, would have been great to have longer but I'll take the hour or so I had gratefully.

[bingevader]

For the plebs amongst us, can you please tells us what Tak and what AZGTi?

I'm in the process of trying out a local site and assess its darkness and having other people's opinion of what constitutes dark skies is always very useful.

Of course, I need to know what equipment you used to make a comparison.

[Stu]

3 hours ago, Piero said:

The docter works nicely with that scope on my opinion. 

Indeed it does! Mine is a very special one, trained by the master of dark sky observing @jetstream and sent over to give me some lovely views

It does frame some of these groups beautifully, and at 1.7mm exit pupil it is great for DSO observing. The first two images are with the Docter, the 3rd is with the 24mm Pan, showing that it is perfect for some of the larger targets out there in the Tak.

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, bingevader said:

For the plebs amongst us, can you please tells us what Tak and what AZGTi?

I'm in the process of trying out a local site and assess its darkness and having other people's opinion of what constitutes dark skies is always very useful.

Of course, I need to know what equipment you used to make a comparison.

Of course, my apologies. I had forgotten I don't have anything in my signature at the moment.

The Tak is an FC-100DC, and the mount was a Skywatcher AZGTi used with a Synscan handset rather than controlled with a phone. I use a Gitzo tripod rather than the standard Skywatcher one as it is very portable and stable. Many other lower cost options out there which work very well of course. I mainly used a 24mm Panoptic (68 degree afov) and a Docter 12.5mm UWA (84 degree afov), for high power I used a Nagler 3 to 6mm Zoom which gives up to x246 although I didn't get over x123 in that session.

[bingevader]

Thanks.

[Eastman]

On ‎11‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 16:46, Stu said:

The Auriga Clusters and M35 were all wonderful, I'm always amazed how different they all are, despite all being open clusters.

Great to be out Stu, the Auriga Clusters are thankfull objects. This week the same here, clouds and more clouds. But some times a small break so I could have a swing at the Auriga Clusters with my bino.