24" on DSO

[jetstream]

Atfer a few great nights of transparency the far off fires have reduced it a bit. The Milky Way showed light structure and the spur around Cygnus was weak. It did not stretch from horizon to horizon.

The 24" excels on DSO. The first target was Veil- stunning, just stunning. The 20 APM/Lumicon OIII is a great combo and a newly noticed feature in that offset bubble in Wisp was seen- a very nice almost vertical streak on the "right" side of it- why didn't I notice it before?

Anyway- the Witches Broom tips had the "DEVIL FORKS" firing off the end of 2 of the split tips! this feature is amazing in my eyes and the level of detail this scope shows in this object is staggering.

Up for a few galaxies, with reservations. NGC 7331 showed OK as a longish streak with a core but over to Stephans Quintet highlighted my less than good transparency- they were OK, direct vision and all but weak, weak enough where I didn't pursue my galaxy list.

So, plan B... planetary nebula.

The 2 highlights were NGC 7027, the Magic Carpet and NGC 6543, the Catseye. I could only go 250x because of seeing and possibly remnant thermals (mirror) but the brightly coloured Pn were very nice to revisit. The Magic Carpet showed its lobe in the 10BCO and the Catseye has 2 shells just starting. The unfiltered colour in these 2 are super!

The summarize- no matter what scope, how big the scope, how good the glass if conditions are not top notch views will suffer. I picked bright targets because of sub par transparency and was rewarded, If I had stuck with galaxies it would have been a disappointing night.

But it was not- it was a great night out with a nice telescope!

Edited September 23, 2020 by jetstream

[dweller25]

Great report Gerry, I can only imagine what the views are like through your Dob - do you use the 120mm as a finder ? 😂

[Barry-W-Fenner]

12 minutes ago, jetstream said:

The 2 highlights were NGC 7027, the Magic Carpet and NGC 6543, the Catseye. I could only go 250x because of seeing and possibly remnant thermals (mirror) but the brightly coloured Pn were very nice to revisit. The Magic Carpet showed its lobe in the 10BCO and the Catseye has 2 shells just starting. The unfiltered colour in these 2 are super!

The Catseye is a favorite of mine, Its almost at the zenith here, It looks stunning through the 12" dob, The nebula forms two shell like structures and you can see the central star. I bet it looks unbelievable under dark skies with a 24" dob!

The Magic carpet is  a new one on me, if it is as good as the cateye I will certainly have to give this a look next time out.

 

Great report.

Baz

[jetstream]

9 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Great report Gerry, I can only imagine what the views are like through your Dob - do you use the 120mm as a finder ? 😂

Thanks David!

I wish I had the 120 on the truss poles! Mars was taunting me and the large aperture did show features like the ice cap and albedo-but- the 120 would have punched through this...for sure.

[jetstream]

6 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

The Magic carpet is  a new one on me, if it is as good as the cateye I will certainly have to give this a look next time out.

Thanks Baz, I had a list of a few good bright and coloured Pn somewhere but the Magic Carpet is always favorite!

For some reason the 24" has me going for bright objects eventhough its vg on faint ones. Yes give the Magic Carpet a go!

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Just now, jetstream said:

Thanks Baz, I had a list of a few good bright and coloured Pn somewhere but the Magic Carpet is always favorite!

For some reason the 24" has me going for bright objects eventhough its vg on faint ones. Yes give the Magic Carpet a go!

I have just had a look for NGC 7027 but it would appear I need to purchase an upgraded version of SkySafari as it is not listed 😞

 

[jetstream]

6 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I have just had a look for NGC 7027 but it would appear I need to purchase an upgraded version of SkySafari as it is not listed 😞

 

If you put 58 Cyg and 62 Cyg on the edge of your telrad outer cirlce you will find it, its just off the NAN- not too hard to find and use an OIII first to find it IMHO.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If you can have a go at the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009). I once had a look at this one through Olly's 20" Dob (Sir Isaac), and the vivid blue-green colour was just amazing

 

 

[John]

Great report Gerry

I think being able to adapt to the conditions is a very important part of creating an enjoyable session.

Until you put your eye to the eyepiece you never quite know what the conditions will serve up - having a plan B and being able to move over to that is much better than banging away on targets that will not be seen too well.

 

[Littleguy80]

Great report, Gerry. The Instellerum Deep Sky Guide has a number of sketches of planetary nebula seen at high powers in very large scopes. The details that can be seen are truly draw dropping. I do love planetary nebula  

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, John said:

Great report Gerry

I think being able to adapt to the conditions is a very important part of creating an enjoyable session.

Until you put your eye to the eyepiece you never quite know what the conditions will serve up - having a plan B and being able to move over to that is much better than banging away on targets that will not be seen too well.

 

Thanks John, it was nice to get the big scope out after a long hiatus.  I made a small concrete pad for the scopes and the Sky Commander loves it ( no scope shifting).

Yes I usually have a bunch of different targets on the list just in case but I do remember the days when I flailed away at targets not suited to the conditions lol! Oddly enough I really like the brighter objects in the 2 footer, man some of the objects are photo like. Those little fork splits in the Broom make me smile.

I truly wish some one would make an Ethos quality 25mm eye piece! I must add- there is zero doubt that the Paracorr II "adds" contrast, I did many comparisons last night. Test were on the Veil and Little Veil primarily. The Little Veils bright Wisp was very easy, no skills required last night, but the poor trans did make the other section near it almost invisible.

[domstar]

Great report. My repertoire is expanding but still too small to change tack like you did. Once or twice I found myself at a loss for targets this summer. I need to make sure my research is solid. It's exciting to hear about a 20 inch dob. 

[RobertI]

The views sound fantastic Gerry. Those planetaries are tiny, literally the size of Mars, would love to see them through a big dob. I tried to recall the largest scope I have looked through - it was a large dob at a star party - I needed step ladder to get to the eyepiece so it must have been big. I think it was aimed at the Veil but I don’t think I appreciated how good the view was at the time! Apart from that, the largest scope I have viewed through is pretty much my 8” SCT - pretty poor state of affairs really. 

[jetstream]

6 minutes ago, RobertI said:

the largest scope I have viewed through is pretty much my 8” SCT - pretty poor state of affairs really. 

Not at all Robert, an 8" scope is capable of so much, but like I mentioned nothing beats good skies. My VX10 gave me a view from town of Mars years ago that is still burned in my brain. The 24" gave a view of Stephans Quintet in the past- same thing. I keep comparing that view to subsequent views (like last night) hoping for another chance at the grail lol!

I use an 8 foot step ladder for this scope but it all works out.

We all have goals, some realistic and some at the far end- I see Pisces from up on my hill...a stark reminder that just over a bit resides Einsteins Cross- is it year 2 or 3 that I've been hammering at this one? Ah well it will be there a long time. I always finish observing on a good note, saving a favorite object that I'll be able to see easily for the conditions.

Thanks Btw Robert!

[RobertI]

13 minutes ago, jetstream said:

saving a favorite object that I'll be able to see easily for the conditions.

That’s a great piece of advice - I’ll remember that one! 🙂

[John]

40 minutes ago, RobertI said:

That’s a great piece of advice - I’ll remember that one! 🙂

It is excellent advice - if possible always end a session on a positive note

I've observed through 20 inch scopes a few times. On one notable occasion, under dark skies, M13 and M51 were the targets. My goodness those views stayed with me for some years I can tell you

The slight downside was going back to view the same objects with my 10 inch scope from home - they seemed a little "lacking" for a while

It's a great experience to get even a moderate aperture scope under a really dark sky though. One year I had a 6 inch mak-newtonian at the SGL star party and had a fantastic night with my SGL friend Mark and his 6 inch newt going from galaxy, to galaxy to galaxy. 

[globular]

Nice thread this.  Thanks all, especially @jetstream

[bish]

Great report. I expect detailed sketches too next time!😃

[RobertI]

21 hours ago, John said:

It is excellent advice - if possible always end a session on a positive note

I've observed through 20 inch scopes a few times. On one notable occasion, under dark skies, M13 and M51 were the targets. My goodness those views stayed with me for some years I can tell you

The slight downside was going back to view the same objects with my 10 inch scope from home - they seemed a little "lacking" for a while

It's a great experience to get even a moderate aperture scope under a really dark sky though. One year I had a 6 inch mak-newtonian at the SGL star party and had a fantastic night with my SGL friend Mark and his 6 inch newt going from galaxy, to galaxy to galaxy. 

I'm really excited to be going to Kelling Heath for a couple of days in October and I'm hoping for clear skies and the opportunity to look through a big dob (COVID rules permitting).   I'm also debating which scope(s) and mounts to take  - possibly one for a separate thread! 

Edited September 24, 2020 by RobertI

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

- possibly one for a separate thread! 

Feel free to discuss anything in my threads as I just like astro talk in general. It doesn't "freak" me out when a thread goes wandering around and usually interesting information surfaces out of them.

I hope you can get great skies for your trip Robert!