Cloud dodging with a wide field

[John]

Some nice dark skies between the clouds have tempted me out this evening armed with my Vixen ED102SS, a low power / wide field eyepiece and an O-III filter.

With this setup I can see a 4 degree true field so my targets have (mostly) been the North America Nebula and the Veil Nebula. Through the wider cloud gaps I've had splendid views of these Summer targets. The very large field of view allowed both the East and West elements of the Veil Nebula to be in the same view with the fainter extended pyramid of Pickerings Wisp showing between them. The N. A. Nebula was also shown well with the darker "Gulf of Mexico" area framed by the ghostly outlines of "Florida" and the "Texas / Mexico" portion.

The Pelican Nebula between two stars across the "Gulf" towards Deneb was also on show although it's resemblance to the large marine fish catching bird was dubious to say the least tonight !

I also got some nice glimpses of the Crescent Nebula (it does look rather like the Euro symbol I think) and a few other favourites before packing in.

A very nice 90 minutes of low power, wide field Summer cruising assisted greatly the O-III filter  

I can't get enough of the Veil Nebula at this time of year - it's just such a spectacular set of objects, so much to explore

 

 

 

 

[Littleguy80]

Fab report, John. I love all of those nebula. A night in Sagittarius with the dob for me this evening. I would have liked to have stayed out longer but tired eyes have gotten the better of me. It’s been a great week of observing. 

[Stu]

Very nice John, two of my favourites too. Now I have a Genesis back I shall have to get that out under a dark sky again for some widefield observing. The Veil and NAN are not much cop from home so I have to head somewhere darker, perhaps my camping holiday in Dorset coming up!

[Paz]

Nice report. Roughly how dark would you say it needs to be for those targets say in terms of naked eye limiting magnitude.

[John]

36 minutes ago, Paz said:

Nice report. Roughly how dark would you say it needs to be for those targets say in terms of naked eye limiting magnitude.

I didn't do a NELM check last night. I could see the mag 13 star next to the Ring Nebula with the 102mm scope though, I remember that. With my naked eyes I could see traces of the Milky Way running through Cygnus and on towards Cassiopiea but I get nights when it's clearer than that.

Sorry I can't be more precise.

 

[Littleguy80]

54 minutes ago, Paz said:

Nice report. Roughly how dark would you say it needs to be for those targets say in terms of naked eye limiting magnitude.

I’ve estimated my skies at home to be around NELM 5-5.5. With an OIII filter, I can get both of those targets. Similar to John, I can trace the Milky Way once it gets past midnight. It helps that Cygnus is near the zenith when the sky is darkest. With the Veil it’s only the Eastern and Western sections, no Pickering’s Triangle from home.  

[Stu]

I reckon Mag 5.5 is where it starts to get interesting. I'm normally just below 5 here and can only get hints of there objects from here. It's a great time of year coming up, warm but dark nights, Cygnus and the Milky Way overhead at a nice time. What's not to like? 👍

[MarsG76]

Nice report... it's been a while since I was at the eye piece... reports like yours make me miss it even more.. time to make eyepiece time.

 

[Trikeflyer]

It was a good night last night.  I wish I could see these nebulae from home. of all my targets, nebulae are a real favourite.  All I could see was M27 and M57 which were nice but not the NAN or the Veil or the swan!  

Had the equinox 120 on the new Ioptron AZ pro.  Made sure the mount was dead level and rock solid and it performed impeccably. I love this mount, it really is very accurate and so simple to use.  If you get the set up right it's amazing! I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an Altaz that has good payload capacity.  It's whisper quiet and a joy to use. 

Spent time an various things last night but the highlights included M11 - probably one of my favourite Messiers - there's so much in that cluster, I always spend a long time on it for some reason.  

The rocking horse (thanks old Nick) NGC6910 in Cygnus was nice as was Graffs Cluster IC 4756 (thanks again Nick).

Some doubles, split of izar was nice, and then a few doubles and clusters in Cas to finish.  Had to go to work on Saturday so although I wanted to stay up past 2.30am I couldn't justify it! The skies were still great when I packed up. Now its raining here and 100% cloud cover. Tonight not looking likely.

Steve

[Paz]

10 hours ago, John said:

I didn't do a NELM check last night. I could see the mag 13 star next to the Ring Nebula with the 102mm scope though, I remember that. With my naked eyes I could see traces of the Milky Way running through Cygnus and on towards Cassiopiea but I get nights when it's clearer than that.

Sorry I can't be more precise.

 

Thanks, that description is very helpful, I know the times would describe the milky way  like that so have a rough idea. In summary darker than where I live!