Nice Mixed Bag Of Targets

[cloudsweeper]

7.10pm, Thursday.  Still, mild, clear.  I had the ED80 and the big AR 127L on the Skytee II, and lined the whole lot up with Venus.  The FOVs to start were 2.16 and 5.69deg.  Nice to get such different views, and (looking around Procyon) the 127 showed fainter stars better of course.  The little ED80 was mainly used as a guidescope and for tracking (esp. at high mag).

Double star Algieba (Leo) – x100 – nice orange pair, nearly matched, still quite close at that mag.  Sharper separation at x150, with signs of diffraction rings.

Over to Acubens (Cnc) – the Golden Eye Cluster M67 was just about in the same 2+deg FOV.  Dense, faint, beautifully sharp at x33.  ( Not as clear in the ED80.)  Nicer at x60 with a Plossl.

I then aimed at the region of the Beehive Cluster M44 (Cnc).  The wide view in the little frac helped pinpoint it.  Bigger, brighter, less dense.

Wasat (Gem) – hopped to C39 Eskimo Nebula (planetary) – star-like, but fuzzy, and close to the nearby sharper HIP36370.  The neb was magnified at x100.  UHC and OIII filters gave no great improvement.  At x150 – bigger, bright fuzz.

Next I aimed at the region of galaxy M105 (Leo).  At x33 it was a small faint fuzz in AV.  Going up to x60, nearby galaxy NGC3384 appeared, but was very faint.  (Another fainter galaxy in the region, NGC3389, evaded capture.  Likewise galaxy M95, in the same FOV.)

On to Chertan (Leo) – hopped to HIP55262, and noticed the elongated fuzz of galaxy M66.  Clearer x60.  The fainter and more elongated fuzz of galaxy M65 was close by.  (The third of the Leo triplet of galaxies, the Hamburger Galaxy, did not show up.)

Almost 2.5 hours of enjoyment – two clusters, four galaxies, a planetary nebula, and a colourful double.  Lovely!

Doug.

Edited March 27, 2020 by cloudsweeper

[Ciaran Meier]

21 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Almost 2.5 hours of enjoyment – two clusters, four galaxies, a planetary nebula, and a colourful double.  Lovely!

Agreed 😀. 

[Littleguy80]

Lovely report, Doug. Hope you and Mrs Sweeper are keeping well!

[cotterless45]

Lovely full report.

NGC 2392 , the "Eskimo Nebula" is a fabulous planetary nebula. Even with poor skies , the central white dwarf is visible at high magnification. From dark skies , the fuzz resolves into a lovely hood with different areas of brightness. That was on North Skye with a 10" Dob.

Stay safe , old Nick.

[cloudsweeper]

8 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Lovely report, Doug. Hope you and Mrs Sweeper are keeping well!

Thanks Neil, and best wishes to you and the family.  We're doing well - being very careful - wore masks in a supermarket the other day and got funny looks, would you believe?!  And like many others, we're doing various things we've been putting off for ages.

It's especially good right now to have contacts with so many great folk here on SGL, and I wish you all protection - and clear skies, of course!

Doug.

[Littleguy80]

13 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Thanks Neil, and best wishes to you and the family.  We're doing well - being very careful - wore masks in a supermarket the other day and got funny looks, would you believe?!  And like many others, we're doing various things we've been putting off for ages.

It's especially good right now to have contacts with so many great folk here on SGL, and I wish you all protection - and clear skies, of course!

Doug.

Thanks Doug. Strange times and wise to be safe. Better a few funny looks than getting seriously ill or worse.

My wife works for the NHS, on the maternity ward, and has been up the hospital every day this week. My days have been a mix of working from home and home schooling. With a 13, 11, 8 and 5 year old that’s quite challenging! The nice weather has helped. Clear skies in the evening give a nice escape from reality  

[Ciaran Meier]

45 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

The nice weather has helped. Clear skies in the evening give a nice escape from reality  

Yep. I've my two boys at home now, 8 and 11.   Challenging would be an understatement.  You certainly have my sympathy.  

All the best to you and your wife. 

Ciaran. 

 

 

 

[Littleguy80]

54 minutes ago, Ciaran Meier said:

Yep. I've my two boys at home now, 8 and 11.   Challenging would be an understatement.  You certainly have my sympathy.  

All the best to you and your wife. 

Ciaran. 

 

 

 

Thanks Ciaran. It’s nice to spend time with them but I definitely needed to be more organised with the  schooling plans each day. They’re going to be learning A LOT about space though 🤣

[Paul73]

4 children at home attempting school work AND working!

You must be an expert juggler. 

My 3 are driving me up the wall 😁

[Littleguy80]

8 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

4 children at home attempting school work AND working!

You must be an expert juggler. 

My 3 are driving me up the wall 😁

hehe I never said I was doing it successfully  

We're doing ok though. There's enough room for them to burn some energy off in the garden. Work's quite flexible around work/family life given the present situation.

[domstar]

Great report. I've been looking at the same things.