29th March 2019 me, my dobsonian, and my dad

[Paz]

After a week of missing out on clear skiers due to work commitments I was looking forward to an astro meet up on Friday night but that also got beaten by other commitments. Although I couldn't leave home I could still have a go in my light polluted back garden so I rang my dad who came over for some observing and put the VX14 out to cool down.

I didn't set up the equatorial platform as that means the need for a small step for zenith viewing which would not be a safe idea for my dad. We had a look at Interstellarium and the Cambridge Double Star atlases to come up with a plan. My back garden has high obstacles all around and you can't see low down in any direction, but a band of sky through Auriga/Gemini/Cancer/Leo/Virgo was going to be on. The main plan became open clusters in Auriga/Gemini and galaxies in Leo, sticking to Messiers so they are easier to find/view, plus maybe some doubles or other things if the opportunity arose.

We headed out and started out with the 31mm Nagler (and paracorr 2) giving 59x and 1.38 degrees. 

M35 (Gemini)

M35 was first on the list. The short hop form Eta Geminorium is easy, but the light pollution and transparency make Eta about the faintest thing I can line up on with the Telrad in the direction of Gemini. There is a bright grey background glow but M35 looks great. As it doesn't have such a defined edge it almost feels like it is larger than the field of view, but it's only 40 or so minutes across and it's just surrounding field stars we are seeing at the edges of the field. Sky Safari has M35 containing maybe 500 stars of which 120 are magnitude 6-13. We didn't check but I doubt we were seeing down to magnitude 13 on this occasion. Burnham noted M35 as having main sequence class B3-G0 stars plus some late G-K class orange giants. I don't recall seeing colour last night but I wonder if the brighter stars that we do see are the giants. I switched on the HR diagram in sky safari to have a look but it only registers close by field stars, and all the stars in M35 are too far away. It would be great if it showed the plot for stars in clusters as the distribution says a lot about the age/characteristics of a cluster.

NGC2158 (Gemini)

We tried to spot NGC2158 and although we had the right spot (signposted by that little banana curve of stars in M35 that points in the direction of NGC2158) we didn't see it. Reading up on it a bit more today I think I was looking for the wrong kind of thing. I was expecting to see a faint open cluster but it is described as looking more like a globular (individual stars being mag 16) in nature and in appearance so I guess it would be a faint fuzzy with no discernible stars. I will try to have another go at this before Gemini is out of season.  The open clusters in Auriga were too low now and behind a fence so we gave up on clusters and moved on. 

STF1083 (Gemini)

We decided to have a quick look at he Eskimo nebula as I had been looking at it recently and knew where to find it, close to Wasat. However I had a really hard time seeing Wasat at all through the Telrad and after a few goes gave up on that marker and hopped down from Pollux instead. When I thought I had it lined up in the RACI finder I looked through the scope only to see a nice double star - we had landed on STF1083 by mistake. Making the most of it we had a good look at this, a magnitude 7.3/8.1 6.8" PA 46 degree double. I'm more interested in physical doubles and looked up the history of this one. Burnam had it as 6.4" PA 44 degrees measured in 1950, and Stelle Doppie has various measurements starting at 6.3" and 46 degrees in 1781 then around 6.7"-6.8" and 45-47 degrees most recently. This star is in the Cambridge Double Star Atlas which only considers physical doubles but I wonder if this is just a common proper motion pair and not a physical double.  I plan to do more reading up in it.

NGC2392 Eskimo Nebula (Gemini)

Then we got around to observing NGC 2392. Easily seen at 59x but we moved up to a 10mm Delos for 184x and 0.39 degrees plus a UHC filter. I had an OIII somewhere but my filters were not all in their proper boxes with the right labels and I didn't want to faff with my dad getting cold so the UHC it was. I could see the two different levels of nebulosity - the brighter centre and fainter halo, My dad reported seeing the central star, but I admit I missed that. It is interesting how varied the distance estimates for this object were - Burnham noted estimates from 1370 to 3600 light years, which meant estimating its size was difficult.

Gamma Leonis (Leo)

We skipped Cancer and headed for Leo. Gamma Leonis is an easy find and a big easy split (4.7") with the 10mm Delos so we had a good look. The stars are very bright and a bit rowdy with the dobsonian (magnitude 2.2/3.6) so we stopped the aperture down to 137mm. This transformed the image to a super-clean pair of stars and a much darker background and was a fine sight. I noticed that the atmosphere looked very still / good for doubles. We had not noticed this earlier on STF1083 as we were only using the 31mm at that point.

M96(?) (Leo)

On to galaxies in Leo we started with M95/M96/M105. Things took a turn for the worse at this point! I could see one faint fuzzy which I guess was M96 but the other 2 were not visible. We had a quick look but it was right on the limit of detectable and anyway we had to go inside to warm up at this point.

Tea Break(!)

Over a cup of tea we had a think about what else to have a look at, but we would not be out again for very long. Reflecting on experience so far I thought we ought to have a go at a tough double as the conditions seemed good for it. I had a look in the double star atlas and found STF1426 in Leo which looked a challenge at 0.9". We also decided to give up on galaxies and try other DSOs. Considering the band of sky available the most winning DSO target I thought would be M3 which I knew would be good with the large aperture even with the light pollution, and it's easy to hop to from Arcturus. M44 was also a contender but we had already done an open cluster.

STF1426 (Leo)

This was a hop down from Regulus. This double is magnitude 7.4/8.3, and 0.9". Once we found the right area I spent quite a while trying to pin down the right star. Once I thought I had it there was no split so we moved up to a 6mm Delos for 307x. Still no split followed by doubt about having the right star. After some checking and double checking I was lost and gave up on this one. This was a shame as the chances were good it would have been a split. At this point I found myself regretting not setting up the equatorial platform as it makes finding and observing things like this so much easier.

M3 (Canes Venatici)

We moved on and stuck to the plan for M3. After a hop from Arcturus and Eta Bootis using the 9x50 RACI finder I had a look through the 6mm Delos which we had not changed. Whoa! There was M3, huge and totally unlike anything else we had viewed earlier on. M3 is 33,000 light years away and my field of view ready reckoner estimates that the field of view with this eyepiece+ paracorr is about 270 light years across at that distance. M3 is filling much more than half the field of view and this tallies with estimates of around 180 light years for its size. We backed out to a 12mm Delos for 153x and 0.47 degrees and this frames it better, hanging in the void. Knowing you're looking at 500,000 stars packed in a ball is still difficult to believe.

We had to come in to warm up and call it a night at this point. It has been a couple of short but great outings and although the galaxies were not on and I got lost at one point it was a really good session and great to be out with my dad, this is one I will remember.

Sorry that was a longer write up than I set out to write!

[AstroStokie]

Sounds like an evening well spent! ??

[Demonperformer]

Sounds like a plan well executed and I'm sure the satisfaction was that much greater when you found the things that were difficult, not to mention the added bonus of spending it with your dad.

[Paz]

5 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Sounds like a plan well executed and I'm sure the satisfaction was that much greater when you found the things that were difficult, not to mention the added bonus of spending it with your dad.

Thanks, I don't get the chance to observe with my dad very often so it's something to make the most of!

[estwing]

Sounds like a cracking night,lovely report.

That is a great scope you've got there,clear skies.

[scarp15]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

Thanks, I don't get the chance to observe with my dad very often so it's something to make the most of!

Nice report I am also particularly looking forward to gaining a first view of M3 this season, since I have the same set up will as in your report use a 6mm eyepiece.

Good that you got to share with your Dad, mine is in his eighties and not in the best of health. He looks forward to my infrequent visits because I usually take along my 8" dob and if suitable a look at the moon is expected. Gets quite captivated by this, considering his situation, these things count.

[niallk]

Great report  - so nice to be able to share the experience with your Dad! Wonderful stuff 

[Eastman]

16 hours ago, Paz said:

Knowing you're looking at 500,000 stars packed in a ball is still difficult to believe.

Great report, nice to have youre Dad joining you.

M3 one of my favorite Globs. Even it's core is 11 ly across.

[Paz]

4 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Nice report I am also particularly looking forward to gaining a first view of M3 this season, since I have the same set up will as in your report use a 6mm eyepiece.

Good that you got to share with your Dad, mine is in his eighties and not in the best of health. He looks forward to my infrequent visits because I usually take along my 8" dob and if suitable a look at the moon is expected. Gets quite captivated by this, considering his situation, these things count.

This was the first time I've seen M3 this season. Normally I'd view it first at low magnification but seeing it straight off at high magnification it was an "in your face" surprise moment if that makes sense. Good to hear you get to observe with your dad, it is a great thing that money can't buy. 

[Paz]

1 hour ago, Eastman said:

Great report, nice to have youre Dad joining you.

M3 one of my favorite Globs. Even it's core is 11 ly across.

The big globular clusters always look good with the VX14 and are a favourite type of object for me. Sky Safari comments that as well as a super packed core and a visible cluster spanning 180 light years it apparently gravitationally dominates a space more than 3x that diameter!