M17-Holy cow!

[jetstream]

Last night the sky gave avg conditions with the MW showing a bit of structure and the split in the southern portion was easily visible. Cleardarksky rated the NELM at 6.3. Seeing seemed pretty good.

I'm still shocked this morning!

M17 was an absolute treasure in the eyepiece, unbelievable. Sometimes views grab you and stay with you- this was one of them! Large, bright, showing mottled green (UHC) and structure in the object, the neck area was one of them. This object was VG in the 20mm Lunt HDC but the 17mm Nikon HW stole the show, hands down. Upping the mag using the 14mm HW option diminished the object- fine tuning these objects is crucial IMHO...

speaking of which- I inadvertently had the 14HW in trying IC1318- which shows great in this scope, well the 14mm just killed it..so important to try different things to see what works and what doesn't.

Jupiter is very l;ow obviously but the 24" gave great views up to 275X+ a bit using the Zeiss Vario zoom, same as @Piero. Very good contrast, detail, and color- I just can't wait until its higher.

This was my first use of DSC- thanks Sky Commander! very accurate, many new (to me) objects found including some great planetsaries such as NGC 7008- the Fetus nebula- I has structure showing and once my excitement settles down I'll fine tune these objects- this view of it was an excellent beginning!

What a fantastic 1.5 hrs of observing!😀

 

ps- who put that bright galaxy with its glowing core and nice elongation next to M13?

Edited June 26, 2019 by jetstream

[Piero]

Congratulations, Gerry.

I'm glad that you had a fantastic view. Thanks for sharing this report.

[jetstream]

10 minutes ago, Piero said:

Congratulations, Gerry.

I'm glad that you had a fantastic view. Thanks for sharing this report.

Thanks Piero,

Its all coming together and working Piero, the brighter objects are very bright in this scope- it frames objects like the Swan so well and the Lagoon was spectacular too.

[Piero]

Planetary nebulae should be spectacular with that scope I feel, and the sky commander will serve you well on this.

[Stu]

Great stuff Gerry, keep the reports coming. Bet you can't wait for a really transparent mag 21.8 sky!!

[Mark at Beaufort]

Fantastic stuff Gerry.

[estwing]

Try swapping to an OIII filter next time on M17 . Gives a different view and extends some of the nebula....have fun.

[Paul73]

I gotta gotta bigger scope. 😢

Reading about one is the next best thing. And I’m unlikely to fall off the ladder.

That little run down from M16 through 17,18 to 24 is one of the best little tours in the sky!

Paul