Home and Away

[Littleguy80]

This is the story of two observing sessions. One from the suburban skies of my back garden and the other from my local dark site. For both sessions I used my 10" dob. Monday evening started with some planetary observing with my son and his friend. One of the pleasures of observing the past couple of summers is having friends over to share the views with. I've lost count of the number of people who have been wowed by seeing Jupiter and Saturn through one of my telescopes. After awhile the boys went off to the tent to enjoy some back garden camping. I didn't really have a plan of what to observe but decided to start in Ophiuchus. The large open cluster IC4665  made an excellent starting place. I believe this is sometimes referred to as the summer beehive. One of the Messier globulars came next, M14. I started sweeping around the star fields and happened across NGC6633 which is a really nice open cluster. A scan on SkySafari, showed that the planetary nebula NGC6572 was close by. This is a real stunner. At low power it is extremely bright and a very distinctive blue/green colour. It responds well to high powers too. I spent quite some time admiring this. I needed something special to follow the planetary nebula and M11, the Wid Duck Cluster was just the ticket. There are so many stars that the whole cluster just seems to glow. A real delight. I added an OIII filter to take in a few nebula, M16, M17 and M27. The Swan remains one of very favourite summer targets. It was time for something new. Following a recommendation, I found my way to the globular cluster NGC6934 in Delphinus. It's small but bright and improved further with high powers. An excellent recommendation. I went on to split Pi Aquilae which is also a new target for me. Caroline's Rose, NGC457 and the Double Cluster were all enjoyable despite the Moon which was now creeping about the roof tops. It was now late so I finished with a low power look at the Moon. It was really nice to take the whole thing as opposed to chasing more detailed views at higher power.

Despite being a little tired from the previous night's observing, I couldn't turn down the opportunity for some observing at my local dark site. I knew it wouldn't be a late session with Moon rising fairly early in the evening. After arriving and aligning finders etc, I went off for to say a quick hello to my fellow observers while the scope cooled and the skies darkened. Knowing the time before the Moon arrived was short, I put the Lumicon OIII filter in with the ES82 30mm and headed straight to the Veil. The Western Veil jumped right out at me. It's been a long time since I've observed the Veil under good dark skies and I was stunned by just how good it looked. Pickering's Wisp was the best I've ever seen it. There was no straining to see it as I have on many previous occasions. The Eastern Veil was brighter still with small filaments of nebulosity. This was the first time that I really had that sense of looking at a black and white photo such was the detail on display. I decided to try for SH2-91, the mini Veil. This was a stretch target and I thought I sensed something by comparing the appearance of stars. A review of images this morning led me to conclude that I wasn't seeing it though. That challenge remains for another day.

I continued onto the North American Nebula but was again taken aback by another sight. The Pelican Nebula was so much more noticeable and clearer than I remember seeing it in the past. I got a much better feel of the shape of it. The NAN itself occupied my attention for quite some time. I was left wishing I'd planned a bit better for the session so I could have targeted some specific features within it. Continuing my race around the nebulae of Cygnus, I went over to the Crescent Nebula. I'd been wanting to try my 25mm TV Plossl on this for awhile. I had a suspicion that the narrower FOV and a high transmission would work well. My suspicions proved well founded. I preferred the narrow FOV of the TV Plossl to the big ES82 eyepiece. The full curve of the crescent could be seen plus the central spike. Radically different views to the small section of the nebula that I can see from home. I now wondered if the Pacman nebula would also work well with this eyepiece/filter combination. The short answer was no. It was much more difficult to pic the Pacman neb up thought it was much less ideally placed than the Crescent. My eyes were feeling tired now so I took a break to eat some chocolate and just take in the Milky Way naked eye. 

Feeling refreshed but with the Moon now making it's presence felt, I returned to the eyepiece. I decided to revisit Caroline's Rose with the benefit of dark skies. The difference was astounding. There were so many more stars visible. I enjoyed following the delicate lines of the petals. I often neglect some of the brighter targets when on my dark site trips so I decided to observe M13. I observed this from powers of 133x up to 400x , with 240x seeming to be the sweet spot. Averted vision brought out the propeller. Neptune's moon, Triton has long been one of my challenge targets. Despite a lengthy attempt to spy it next to the ice giant, it still remains on my challenge list. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent watching the small blue disc drift through the eyepiece. The Little Gem planetary nebula was to be the final DSO of the bright. Another bright planetary which benefits from higher power. Barnard's galaxy which is next to the Little Gem wasn't visible though. A quick look at Saturn nicely capped the end of another great session. 

Two very different sessions but I really enjoyed both of them. The benefits of dark skies make for incredible DSO views but a lot of fun can be had from a suburban back garden too.

[domstar]

Great report. Just checking out Cassiopeia in case the clouds clear and you've given me some good ideas too. You've also got me singing 'You and me belong....'

[Paz]

Great report, thanks for posting. The nebulae make for an interesting list to go for.

[scarp15]

Good comparison and comprehensive detailed accounts Neil. The season has begun, that is interesting in your assessment for using the narrower field / less glass element plossl for the Crescent, I will note this and try this out, when the time arrives. So far it has just been home for myself, some double star hunting following a spate of relatively pleasant evening opportunities, though itching to get to dark skies. Just to add, that is a fair outcome for your first grasp at the Little Veil, if you get a chance just keep going back to it, maybe it will start to make sense - though of course we are waiting for Gerry's 24" dob observational description. 

[Littleguy80]

2 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Good comparison and comprehensive detailed accounts Neil. The season has begun, that is interesting in your assessment for using the narrower field / less glass element plossl for the Crescent, I will note this and try this out, when the time arrives. So far it has just been home for myself, some double star hunting following a spate of relatively pleasant evening opportunities, though itching to get to dark skies. Just to add, that is a fair outcome for your first grasp at the Little Veil, if you get a chance just keep going back to it, maybe it will start to make sense - though of course we are waiting for Gerry's 24" dob observational description. 

Thanks, Iain. It was good to get some proper observing in. I wish I’d been better prepared but it didn’t lessen the enjoyment at all. You may well have seen this already but a good article on the little Veil:

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/summers-overlooked-deep-sky-objects-08072014/

The forecast for the next few days is looking good. Hopefully a return trip to the dark site will get me a bit closer to observing it  

[Littleguy80]

8 hours ago, domstar said:

Great report. Just checking out Cassiopeia in case the clouds clear and you've given me some good ideas too. You've also got me singing 'You and me belong....'

That’s a proper throw back to my childhood. I was thinking about it when I selected the title!

[scarp15]

15 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks, Iain. It was good to get some proper observing in. I wish I’d been better prepared but it didn’t lessen the enjoyment at all. You may well have seen this already but a good article on the little Veil:

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/summers-overlooked-deep-sky-objects-08072014/

The forecast for the next few days is looking good. Hopefully a return trip to the dark site will get me a bit closer to observing it  

Yes, there is also this account below, but in arid dry conditions, much more challenging for us and as Gerry had mentioned in another thread, not to waste too much time in pursuing it,

http://sandandstars.co.za/2017/07/26/cygnus-other-snr/

It is looking potentially good for over the weekend, moon is still up a bit too soon but hope to get out and look forward to your next dark sky report.