Baltimore, Ireland, observing night no. 2

[Captain Scarlet]

Tue 30th Apr, Ballylinchy, Ireland. 1230 - 0315. SQM 21.88 - 21.95 at Zenith.

Last night, Tuesday, was another sparkling clear night. I’d set up in the afternoon with the AZ-EQ6 on the Berlebach Planet holding the Skywatcher 12” newt on one side and the APM-LZOS 105/650 on the dual saddle. I spent some time during the afternoon making sure everything was pointing in the same direction, including the finders. I had 3 finders: a dual set-up on the 12” comprising a simple RDF and SW 8x50, and a TS Optic 9x50 RACI in the APM’s finder-rings. I also properly collimated the 12” reflector, including tweaking the alignment of the secondary which was slightly off.

The work paid off: everything I looked at through it was as sweet as I wanted, and star-tests were good.

Effectively, the APM + Delite 18.2 was acting as a super-finder too: my workflow was RDF at 1x to get into the neighbourhood, RACI finder at 9x to enter the ballpark, APM at 36x to get close and finishing up at 150x on the 12” (Delos 10).

The Goto was accurate last night, though, so usually I found my target straight away at 36x, centred up a little, and moved on to the 12” for extended viewing.

When I first set up my 12” on this mount in August last year, I posted a photo to which @Stu asked why I had the eyepiece pointing “in” rather than “out” of the dual-scope rig. I tried “out” during my session last week. Because any target above around 50 degrees altitude forces me to use a set of steps to get to the eyepiece, I found myself having to step up in the dark and keep balanced while precisely positioning my eye with nothing to steady myself against except the tube. I found it surprisingly tricky and it wasn’t working for me. As well, the finder-shoe is then underneath the focusser, making using a finder on that tube all but impossible.

So last night I reverted to the “focusser in” set up, which allowed me to place my hand on the top of the mount as I step up and lean in to the eyepiece, and to use the 2 finders properly: perfect.

I had the same list of targets I’d not looked at for last week’s previous session:

- M92, a globular cluster in Hercules. Very evident in the APM 105, spectacular in the 12”, stars resolved all the way in.
- M13, a step up from M92, lovely. I thought I saw the propeller, but not 100% sure.
- M81, Bode’s Galaxy. Through the APM in its super-finder role, both M81 and M82, the Cigar, were visible in the same field: very bright. Brighter than I’ve ever seen a galaxy before, actually, but that’s mainly because I’ve only had 4 sessions with this 12”. I’ve never observed M82 before, though I have tried and failed from London when M81 was just evident.
- M82 was amazing. An oblique dark “slash” was highly evident across its middle. I spent some time on M82.
- I didn’t dare risk M51, which was next on the list, as it was very close to Zenith and I was afraid of mount-strike.
- M65, part of the Leo Triplet, though I’d forgotten this at the time. I saw two galaxies in the field of view of the APM at 36x. At 150x, individually, I was just about aware of structure in one of them. I think I missed the most interesting of the three, NGC 3628, as I reckon the dust lane would have been easily evident. Next time (maybe tonight as the forecast is not looking too bad…)
- M53, another globular, I love these spectacular objects, they really reward the dark sky and large(ish) scopes.
- M3, brighter and better than M53, which is why I chose it next. Very like M13. i spent time on this, too.
- M63, sunflower galaxy, extended fuzz around a very bright core.
- M106, seemed asymmetric.
- I risked M51 finally, and had to stop the mount before the base of the 12” struck a tripod leg: not unexpected, I’ll have to set up in EQ mode next time, something I’ve not done yet with this AZ-EQ6.
- M57, Ring Nebula. Nearly finally, I went for my first-ever “wow” object through the 12” from last August. It was dim, as expected, in the 105, and actually disappointing in the 12”, not at all leaping out as I recall it did when I last saw it. I knew why, of course. A quick swipe of my hand over the tube confirmed the arrival of The Dew. More or less time to pack up, it was around 0245.

I finished off with a quick walk around the corner of the house to see that Jupiter and 3 Moons were up, Jupiter a clear and too-bright disk through my 15x56 binoculars with 3 Moons outstretched.

All in all a very satisfying night. Cheers, Magnus.

[Stu]

Pretty spectacular skies you had there Magnus! Need to get that 105 on some nice widefield nebula targets when they are well positioned next. I bet the 12" was amazing on the globs!

[scarp15]

Quite lovely observing location, is that a SQM-L? Very decent target list making the most of the Spring skies, nice account cheers.

[Captain Scarlet]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Pretty spectacular skies you had there Magnus! Need to get that 105 on some nice widefield nebula targets when they are well positioned next. I bet the 12" was amazing on the globs!

I only saw a glob, or even knew they existed, 18 months ago. My first was from here in Sep 2017 through the Mak180, it was M13. I actually shouted when it came into view. Through the 12", as you'll know, it just blows me away. I can stare at them for ages.

[Captain Scarlet]

13 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Quite lovely observing location, is that a SQM-L? Very decent target list making the most of the Spring skies, nice account cheers.

Yes, indeed, an SQM-L. I have a lot of gadgets, and this is one of the simplest but amongst my favourites and most-used.

[scarp15]

1 hour ago, Captain Magenta said:

Yes, indeed, an SQM-L. I have a lot of gadgets, and this is one of the simplest but amongst my favourites and most-used.

Quite this device becomes integral, gaining a holistic informed experience to a dark sky session. I must say those are exceptionally good readings and it is reassuring to know that on exceptional nights of good transparency in remote and dark sky country, this extent of dark sky quality can sometimes be achieved - in the early hours. 

[tonyowens_uk]

Beautiful part of the world if a bit hard to get to Magnus!

My compliments too on your land and seascape photos from your personal website that you linked to BTW. Jaw-dropping light and scenery. 

Tony Owens

[scarp15]

Just to note that if considering a SQM-L device, this is required to be used held at arms length pointed in particular at zenith. This will provide a reading at a 40 degree point of sky that you are to observe in. A frequency of readings will determine an average and of course only viably used when there is no cloud cover.   

[Captain Scarlet]

14 hours ago, tonyowens_uk said:

Beautiful part of the world if a bit hard to get to Magnus!

My compliments too on your land and seascape photos from your personal website that you linked to BTW. Jaw-dropping light and scenery. 

Tony Owens

Thanks Tony, actually less hard than you might imagine to get to from West of London. The 0245 Pembroke Dock ferry timing allows me to leave work at a normal time, leave home at 8pm ish, catch the ferry for a 4 hour sleep (cabins very reasonable), another 4 hour drive and arrive before 11am.

[Captain Scarlet]

42 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Just to note that if considering a SQM-L device, this is required to be used held at arms length pointed in particular at zenith. This will provide a reading at a 40 degree point of sky that you are to observe in. A frequency of readings will determine an average and of course only viably used when there is no cloud cover.   

I’ve collected a fair amount of data with it from my back garden west of London ... you might have seen or be interested in my presentation of it;

...obviously a far more light-polluted place than Ballylynchy. It and the Ireland readings show good consistency with the lightpollutionmap.info Atlas predictions.

Magnus

 

[tonyowens_uk]

22 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

Thanks Tony, actually less hard than you might imagine to get to from West of London. The 0245 Pembroke Dock ferry timing allows me to leave work at a normal time, leave home at 8pm ish, catch the ferry for a 4 hour sleep (cabins very reasonable), another 4 hour drive and arrive before 11am.

Actually you are right. It’s doable in some dignity if the ferries are used. After we relocated from London to Ireland I used to travel weekly from Wicklow to London Bridge or to Cambridge. After six months of costly and stressful flying and car rentals I tried the ferry/drive alternative and never looked back. For people who don’t value rigidly scheduled work and sleep rhythms (astronomers?) the ferry option works particularly well.