Observation report 26.11.2008

[glennbech]

Observation report 26. November 2008. 21.00 – 23.00

Location: Ralingen, Close to Oslo, Norway.

Telscope: William Optics Megres 90 Doublet Refractor (621mm)

Eyepieces: Sky Watcher 25mm & 10mm “Standard” Eye pieces.

I don’t believe in faith; but the fact remains that the plug of the mains power cable for the HEQ5 pro got damaged today. No photography on one of the best nights in a long time. It’s even moonless! I decided to take my Megrez 90 for a spin on top of the Vixen Porta mount and summarize the experience in this observation report instead. Lots of fun!

[/]M36 was easy to find starting at Alnath and moving west until I found a bunch of bright stars with 2 Auriga in the center. This group basically “points” to M36. The open cluster looked best in the 10x EP making it fill most of the view. Moving directly north it is easy to find M38 that I found to be a bit fainter but larger in size. M37 is also in the neighborhood and I found that cluster to be more interesting; it almost looked like a nebula in my small scope since a lot of the stars are real faint.

Since I do imaging in this area I wanted to see how IC 410 & IC 405 looks like “in real life”. That was a very nice experience. Not realizing what I was looking at -I found NGC 1893, the open cluster in the nebula IC410. I can swear I saw some nebulosity around the cluster when I was poking and tapping my scope. It could of course be the dreaded averted imagination!

I also found another cluster/nebula IC417; I’ll have to go back and image that one later.

I decided that I wanted to try some galaxies and started safe. Star hopping from h uMa, M81 the galaxy came easily into view with direct vision as a faint smudge with a bright core. This was actually my first view of another galaxy except M31; I guess I should look more and photograph less! I was really surprised to find it so easily since I have a small town to the north that lights up the sky. I also did a futile search for NGC 891. I guess I’ll either have to have darker skies or a larger scope to see it. I wrapped a blanket over my head and dark adapted for at least 10-15 minutes in an attempt to observe it. I hope I was in the right place!

I did the mandatory stop by M31. It was best view in 10mm due to best contrast. No detail visible as usual.

I have wanted to check M1 off my list for a while. I Started at HP 26451, and after some confusion about the FOV in my EP I discovered a faint smudge almost by accident. In my 25mm EP it is in the same field of view as HP 26451 directly north of the star. Switching to a 10mm EP made the nebula disappear with direct vision. No detail was visible.

I also did a small stop by M42 and finished with the Double cluster. I shouldn’t have done that since really made me realize how cheap my Eye pieces are (not a flat field at all!)

Great, cold night; It’s a good thing the power plug died I think J[/][/][/]

[lunator]

Very nice report.

Start saving for the good eyepieces

They do make all the difference.

Cheers

Ian