Horizon to Zenith

[scarp15]

The last time I visited this place my dob blew over. This time it was again windy with clear skies, yet offering a bit more shelter and protection from gusts than at my other locations. Previously I had my 8" dob, tonight I hauled my 14" dob out of the car. Setting up, a strong gust blew inward the fabric dust cover at the top of the tube, becoming lodged onto the Primary mirror. The only way to dislodge was to heave the quite hefty tube upside down, resting on a mat, against the wind and not least wondering what the effect would be on the pre set collimation. No matter, dobs are made of hardy stuff.....so are amateur astronomers. 

At low power Jupiter was quite featureless, Saturn a little sharper. The first catch for the night was M11, gaining a distinguished view of this cluster with the 13E. M22 was also impressive. Above the moorland, there were no low hazy clouds, drifting across to encounter numerous open clusters. Switching to a Lumicon OIII filter, 21E, I could trace the nebulae in the finder scope and each one visited seemed to light up. M17, The Swan was bright and graceful, M16 The Eagle characteristic with the dark lobe. much lower, M8 The Lagoon a little above the horizon, distinctive with dark lanes, open cluster NGC 6530 nestled within. Buffeted by gusts of wind, attention turned toward reaching high and into Cygnus. NGC 6888, The Crescent nebula conveyed that ghostly impression of a smooth grey curving 'brain like' shape transfixed in this dynamic starfield.

Drifting across, the Veil was fully exposed and revealing. Finally at last, the first time I have seen it this year, Pickering's Triangular Wisp could be followed along the thin thread, There appeared to be 'chunks' of nebulosity, such as NGC 6779 very apparent. Western and Eastern sections revealing a delicacy of filaments. In my hast to get organised, I did not have Mel Bartel's sketch to hand, as provided by Gerry, which could have produced more exploratory scrutiny. Onwards, the drama and excitement continued as I climbed higher landing straight onto the Gulf of Mexico to explore the North America and Pelican Nebula.

The wind chill was cutting, I had not layered up enough, even though I was wearing a down filled vest, a base and a mid layer, down filled beanie hat and gloves, summer it is not. Restored after a coffee break, I went in pursuit of NGC 6934 in Delphinus. This is a pleasing small hazy globular that starts to become resolved at mid to high power. Next I aligned to look at the Planetary NGC 7027, The Magic Carpet Nebula. Bright and blue, it is stellar like at low power and will take high power retaining its brightness and pleasing at 267X.  

Coasting through Cygnus I decided to have a try for the Little Veil Sh2-91. Accurately aligning along and close to 12 Cygni, I attempted to see its fine ghostly presence. I couldn't quite make it this time, a few factors perhaps; but for brief periods, transparency on the whole was very good, but I was not able to fully concentrate perhaps the wind chill, perhaps because I was not at my darkest location; ave SQM-L readings were 21.11, (gaining later to ave 21.23). Also I had quite simply not been out much and was instead enjoying this rare opportunity with everything else that was present. later I tried again with my 31T5 concluding with the same uncertainty.

Moving away from Sh2-91, I replaced the OIII for a UHC and reached up again towards Sadre, drifting onto the emission nebula  IC 1318, Gamma Cygni or Butterfly Nebula. This profile pleasingly filled the view through the 21E. After which M27 The Dumbbell was very bright and welcoming, in my slightly fatigued mind, it resembled the underbelly of a stingray deep in the blackness of the ocean. An equally bright and pleasing M27 The Ring Nebula followed.

The cold wind was beginning to have an effect, therefore I switched to low power with 31T5, encountering the Veil again, before placing the filters away. Turning my back more to the wind, the Andromeda group of galaxies brightly filled the view. The Pleiades was steadily rising in the east, I swung around to face this and could trace the faint Merope Nebula, which will gain in prominence as it gains altitude. Approaching 1am it was enough combatting the cold, the milky way was punching across brightly particularly arcing towards the western horizon as I was packing up.  Still I would rather have some wind than midges and dew, the perfection of the sky as I started to depart, making me feel a little guilty, how long will it be until the next time.

Finally just to mention that for this trip, I took along a jumbo sized magnifying glass to assist with positioning details on my sky atlas under a dim red torch. This was a resounding successful and is a subject highlighted in another thread. 

 

  

 

[Piero]

Lovely report, Iain! I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing. 

[Littleguy80]

Excellent report, Iain. Great to have the 14” out again. Windy conditions seem to go hand in hand with good transparency. I understand the sentiments of feeling out of practice. I often feel the same way even after just a few short weeks of not observing. Equally I understand the sense of guilt. Tiredness takes over but you look across the sky thinking of all the objects you could be observing. Another session always comes along though. Better to stop while you’re still enjoying it and leave wanting more. 

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Next I aligned to look at the Planetary NGC 7027, The Magic Carpet Nebula.

Excellent report Iain!

Sh2-91 is such a transient object, any one of numerous things happen and its just not visible.

The Magic Carpet- did you see the little wag of an extension- the carpet feature? That feature just makes this object for me, that and the color.

[scarp15]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

Excellent report Iain!

Sh2-91 is such a transient object, any one of numerous things happen and its just not visible.

The Magic Carpet- did you see the little wag of an extension- the carpet feature? That feature just makes this object for me, that and the color.

Thanks for pointing that out Gerry. Yes of course, the Magic Carpet is considered to be a photo planetary nebula. At high power I noted that it had begun to misshape, becoming a bit more oblong in appearance. I had forgotten the research on this, another time I will aim to apply increasing more higher power. 

[jetstream]

16 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Thanks for pointing that out Gerry. Yes of course, the Magic Carpet is considered to be a photo planetary nebula. At high power I noted that it had begun to misshape, becoming a bit more oblong in appearance. I had forgotten the research on this, another time I will aim to apply increasing more higher power. 

In the 24" around 250x-300x it looks like a little waving carpet lol! Glad you got out to obs Iain.

[Paz]

Great report, thanks for posting.

[Whistlin Bob]

Excellent report- live the description of m27 and you've provided some new targets for me to add to my list, so thank you 😁

Whereabouts were you?