The Moore Winter Marathon

[Jasonb]

Hey Heather...

Yep, it was definitely a bit of a challenge finding it, with no obvious stars nearby to help. Like you I'm sure I saw it once or twice without knowing for sure before I confirmed it. But it was great to hunt it down. Neptune will be a lot tougher, I think I'll need to leave my back garden for darker skies for that one, or at least wait for the New Moon.

That would be excellent if you could send me the foam, I'd really appreciate it. I'll send you a PM, thanks!

[Jasonb]

Another update, but once again not actually part of the Moore Winter Marathon, sorry!

Decided it was time to take my Scope on the road, so I did a little drive this afternoon to find some potential places to observe from. I'm on the outskirts of a town, so a few minutes drive south gets me into the country and from Bortle 5 to Bortle 4.

Found two places to try, so once it was dark and the skies were clear, I packed up everything and off I went. The first place was the entrance to a race course, but unfortunately it had lights on outside etc. so it wasn't much good. The next place was slightly further away and it was a car park for a cemetery! When I parked up and got out, the sky was amazing, so much darker, I could see parts of the Milky Way to the left of Orion as I looked around. So that was where I set up.

It was my first time setting up 'in public' so to speak, though the only spectators I had were dead ones. That said, the cemetery was just beside a road, and unfortunately it was relatively busy. That meant cars going by with full headlights on every so often, and that meant me either stopping what I was doing and covering my eyes, or just putting up with it and seeing less!

Anyhow, as the scope cooled down I had a look around with my Binoculars, so many stars to see, and so many satellites too! M31 was easy to find, and I had a go at a few other favourites as well. I didn't really have a plan for the evening, it was more about trying a different site. But as it was darker I decided to give M33 a go. I spent a good while at it, but had no luck unfortunately. I definitely was in the right place, certain shapes of stars nearby told me that, but I just couldn't see the smudge I was looking for. I got a little surprise though as just when I was confirming I was in exactly the right part of the sky, a satellite went straight through my EP FOV.

I then jumped back into the car to heat up for a while, and on a whim decided to have a look at Skysafari to see where Neptune was. It was in a portion of sky I could see, and it was also close to some stars in Aquarius that would help find it, so back out I went. Unfortunately I'd left my 25mm EP in the scope and it was now dewed up! I had a go with the 10mm, but found it too hard to locate the stars I was looking for (Psi1, 2 and 3 Aquarii which form a nice little flattened triangle shape.) So I dried off the 25mm as best as I could, and then found that shape easily. Then I had a little moment of clarity using Skysafari and the Scope Display settings, which displayed a circle around the FOV of my EP. That meant that after getting those three stars in view, I could see the next bright star on the way to Neptune (Chi Aquarii) and I knew that I'd see it entering the FOV as Psi1 and Psi2 were leaving it, and that's exactly what happened. I used the same system again to get Phi Aquarii entering the FOV as CHi was leaving. So far so good. I was very close to Neptune now.

And then my phone died. Or, as I found out, it didn't die, but it turned itself off. Because it was too cold! It was -3 out and I was feeling it myself it must be said. I went back to the car and charged the phone to make sure it was ok (it gave me a warning saying charging would be slower due to low temperature!) and after a little while I went back out again. Of course by then the earth had moved so I had to go find Psi1, 2 and 3 again, all through rapidly deteriorating conditions due to dew. I spent a good few minutes running back and forth between car (where the phone was plugged in and warming up) and scope, getting closer each time. Finally got back to Phi Aquarii and knew that with it near the top left of my FOV, Neptune should be in the middle, forming a right angle with 96 Aquarii and HR 8879. Both of them I identifed, and through the dewy haze I thought I could see Neptune, but it was touch and go. I then spent a while trying the 10mm, but not having any lucky finding it, and when I thought I had maybe got the planet, I went back to the 25mm to see was I still in the right place, to find that I'm managed to focus on either HR 8879 or 96 Aquarii (6.2 and 5.6 Mag respectively) rather than the 7.9 Mag Naptune. Back and forth I went, finding the correct place with the 25mm, and losing it with the 10mm. 

Eventually though, I got lucky, and either the dew cleared enough, or the skies were kind to me for a second, and with the 10mm in I suddenly saw what I was looking for, an 'elongated parallelogram' shape, with HD 212676 (Mag 9.2) in the top left, HD 219687 (Mag 8.8) in the bottom left, HD 219789 (Mag 8.7) in the bottom right and my target, Neptune, in the top right. I saw it for a couple of seconds or so, and then the seeing went again and it was vague. But it was enough for me (for the moment anyhow!) to say it had been found. Definitely no sense of a disk, or of colour, or anything like that, just a very quick glimpse of a star that was exactly in the same place that Skysafari told me Neptune was.

That was enough for me, I was cold and the telescope was more dew than glass at that stage, so I packed up. A lot of time for basically one main target, but it was good to finally leave the back garden, and well worthwhile. I just need to find somewhere further from a road and headlights! And I definitely improved my star-hopping skills while using the telescope and Skysafari, so that was well worth it too, the more I practice the better I get (surprising that!). And I've had two nights' observing in a row, from an astronomy point of view 2021 hasn't been too bad so far.

Sorry for the long report, I just wanted a record of my search!

[Tiny Clanger]

Neptune, ☑️

👻   ❌

Nicely done !

Heather

 

[Jasonb]

A far more succinct report Heather!

[Jasonb]

Wow, first time observing in well over a month. There's been a lot on, I haven't felt very motivated, and the weather's been crap!

But this evening I looked out and saw pretty clear skies, AND it's actually not freezing out. So I grabbed the Moore Winter Marathon (1-25 Naked Eye/Binoculars) and tried to spot a few more.

I have a few left to get in this list. I quickly found M44 once my eyes adjusted (which I had seen before) and I was able to use that to star hop down to M67, which was faint but visible, and that was another off the list.

Next up was M41, and I was lucky, as while it's low enough on the horizon for me, a gap in two houses gave me a chance to find it, using the obvious guide of Sirius. Once again it was faint in my Bortle 5 skies, but after a min or two I could just about make it out.

Still using Sirius, I was able to star hop up to find M50, another faint one and I definitely couldn't see the heart shape, despite the day that's in it! Using the FOV feature in Skysafari, really helps with star hopping.

That was it I'm afraid, only a short 20 minutes or so, but it was good to get out and do something. Here's what I have left on the this list...

3: Triangulum Galaxy (M33). Still can't find this, and if it wasn't for the fact that I've seen pictures of it here on SGL, I'd start to doubt that it exists. I think this is just down to light pollution where I am, and I hope to spot it when I'm in darker skies.

19: Fornax Constellation. This is just too low on the horizon, I'll need to be able to view very low to the South in the early evening to see it. That won't happen from my back garden, will have to drive to somewhere nearby.

21: M48. I could find the right area, but it's just to faint from my back garden.

24: M93. Too low in the horizon at the moment, will be higher later in the evening, but probably too faint as well!

So that's 4 left out of the first 25, and then the next 25 are waiting for me...

[Tiny Clanger]

Nice to hear you are back outside and looking up 🙂

Clear skies  .... what are they 😉  The lying snow here has been washed away today by rain and a 3 degree C  heatwave. My sum total astro activity : flock the little dob !

Heather

Edited February 14, 2021 by Tiny Clanger
ying ? what happened to the 'l' ?

[Jasonb]

We keep on getting snow warnings, but no snow, and it was 10 degrees outside today! Practically summer!

[Pixies]

Hi  @Jasonb,

Your start to observing sounds very similar to mine, with a steep learning curve, lots of binocular action and successes and failures. I'm sure this is the same for most of us. I'm still new at this and remember what it was like.

2 bits of advice (one of which you have already mentioned). Getting a RACI plus a Telrad (to replace the RDF) was a complete game-changer. As you might have noticed, Sky-safari includes the option to place the Telrad circles on the display. This helps no end with star-hopping, especially as the RACI view is pretty much close to the 4deg outer Telrad circle. 

But you mention the issue you have swapping from 25 to 10mm eyepiece and losing the target. You'll get used to this eventually. Last night I was able to swap between a 30mm and a 6mm 40deg Ortho and still keep the target in view. However, a zoom eyepiece really makes a difference here, and you can get some really good ones now, for not too much cash. Lots of threads on this.

Anyway, keep on with the updates. Observing reports are my favourite part of this forum just now - probably because of the lack of clear nights.

[Jasonb]

Thanks @Pixies Yep, a RACI is definitely on the cards. I don't know if I'd get a Telrad as well, I on;y have a 130 Reflector so both might be overkill on the scope, but I think a RACI (probably the Astro Essentials 9x50) would be a great replacement for my RDF, and would really help with the star hopping. Of course, I haven't used the scope itself in ages, Sunday was my first outing since early Jan and I was only using my binoculars. I have 3 new BST EPs that I haven't even got to try yet!

[Spile]

If I had to chose between a RACI and a Telrad, the latter would come first. 

[Jasonb]

12 hours ago, Spile said:

If I had to chose between a RACI and a Telrad, the latter would come first. 

Interesting, may I ask why? I find star hopping using binoculars to be easy, the magnified view and the right way up and around. The RDF is fine for point the scope at a target, but no use for star hopping. Obviously I've never used a Telrad, but while I'd imagine that the rings on it etc would help with star hopping, I think I'm right in saying it's not magnified?

Anyhow, would love your take on this, as I do realise I've never used either so am just guessing really...

[Spile]

9 hours ago, Jasonb said:

Interesting, may I ask why? I find star hopping using binoculars to be easy, the magnified view and the right way up and around. The RDF is fine for point the scope at a target, but no use for star hopping. Obviously I've never used a Telrad, but while I'd imagine that the rings on it etc would help with star hopping, I think I'm right in saying it's not magnified?

Anyhow, would love your take on this, as I do realise I've never used either so am just guessing really...

My 200P came with a straight through finder. On its own I found bending to use it uncomfortable so I added a sighting tube. This helped.

The addition of a Telrad made targeting much, much easier because 8/10 times I can go straight to the EP.

I am only using the straight through finder to "tweak" where I look. For example looking for a pointer that is not visible to the naked eye. This means that my time looking through the straight through finder is much less.

I am sure a RACI would be easier on my back than my straight through finder but it's no so much of an issue for me now.

[Jasonb]

Cool, thanks for explaining that.

[SuburbanMak]

 

On 18/02/2021 at 23:16, Jasonb said:

Interesting, may I ask why? I find star hopping using binoculars to be easy, the magnified view and the right way up and around. The RDF is fine for point the scope at a target, but no use for star hopping. Obviously I've never used a Telrad, but while I'd imagine that the rings on it etc would help with star hopping, I think I'm right in saying it's not magnified?

Anyhow, would love your take on this, as I do realise I've never used either so am just guessing really...

Why not try your existing RDF alongside your new finder?  

RDF to get you in the general area & RACI to zero in.    I ended up with the Telrad + 9x50 combination and its revolutionised finding objects that are faint or in "no-mans land" away from an obvious star hop. 

Certainly some sort of combo is the most powerful  in terms for satisfaction per viewing hour

[Tiny Clanger]

On 17/02/2021 at 12:49, Jasonb said:

a RACI is definitely on the cards. I don't know if I'd get a Telrad as well, I on;y have a 130 Reflector so both might be overkill on the scope,

You say that

Things change so fast though ... 🙂

[Jasonb]

Funny woman, I've *no* idea what you're talking about...

[Jasonb]

First Light for my Exploter 150P.

The forecast promised clear skies last night so at around 9:30 or so I got my new setup out the back garden and left it to cool a bit. It was kind of hazy clear skies, but I hoped it would improve.

When I got out half an hour later or so, it hadn't really. It wasn't cloudy as such, but it definitely wasn't great seeing. But I couldn't resist finally trying out my new setup.

First thoughts were the tripod/mount is very steady, a big improvement on my previous one. It took a little while to get used to the new locations of the slow motion controls, but when I finished an hour later I was finding them by touch. I'm also able to move the whole setup around the garden if needed, but I wouldn't want to be carrying it far like that! I also tried to get used to using the 6x30 viewfinder, I've only used an RDF before. I really liked having a magnified view and being able to see the sky/stars clearly through the finder, but the view not being erect/corrected brought about some issues, and I used my binoculars as well.

Anyhow, I started with M42 to get my eye in, and really liked how it looked in my BST 25mm, which I hadn't got to use before. Another favourite, the Pleiades also looked good. Both of them were lowish in the sky and the seeing wasn't brilliant. Lights and smoke from nearby houses really didn't help at all. I tried to find the Andromeda galaxy and eventually found a very faint smudge using my binoculars, but it was so low and in the direction of the glow from my nearby town, so it was on the edge of what I could see.

Heading back to the Winter Marathon list, I first decided to find something I'd seen before, the Beehive Cluster (M44). After a minute or two I spotted with with my binoculars but it took a while to get the scope pointing at the right part of the sky. I did get it though and it look really good with the 25mm, and was good practice at star hopping using the finder.

Next up was one I hadn't found before, M48. After a little searching I got this too, and it looked great in the scope, so busy! Managed to positively identify it by spotting two sets of stars close to each other, not exactly doubles but I was calling them that to myself. So that's another one off the list. By this stage I was also really growing to appreciate the Crayford focuser compared to my previous rack and pinion, it's so much smoother and more precise, and also I could see how sturdier the set up was with very little shaking/movement while focusing!

My three remaining items on the list where all not visible, either beneath the horizon, behind a house or too faint in the light pollution. So I had a quick search for Vesta and actually got it pretty quickly too.

Finally, just to see what it was like, I tried a star test on Capella. Using my 8mm and the 2.25x Barlow (giving me 211x) , I was pleasantly surprised to see the star test quite central, with no obvious off centre circles, and when I focused properly I got some very Disney like diffraction spikes. 😀

That was my night, a good first time with the new setup, though the seeing could have been a lot better. I really am going to have to find a good dark site nearby though, the lights from houses around me aren't helping, even just how they affect my night vision. I also think I might have to move on to the Telescope list, from the naked eye list, as the three remaining items are just never visible now. To be fair, it is a winter list, and we are now in spring! I'll have a look at the telescope list and see how many should still be visible to me.

[Tiny Clanger]

Glad it all came together in the end 🙂

Heather

[Jasonb]

Thanks Heather! Great to get out again. I've had a look at the next 25 in the Winter Marathon and most of them are still visible (in terms of their position in the sky etc.) so I should be ok to try that list out once the skies clear again...

[Jasonb]

It was clear for a little while last night, so I got out for about 40 minutes. There were some clouds moving around, but between them was really sharp and clear, not like my previous night when it was hazy.

First thing first, I had a look at the moon, the terminator line was a great place to focus on. Was blown away by the clarity and detail with the new scope and the BSTs. The 8mm showed so much sharp detail. Even my daughter's reaction was 'What the hell, it's so close!'  For the craic my wife took a pic with her smartphone, and it's not too bad for what it is. Some quick searching on a moon map later showed me that the photo is almost centred on the Apollo 11 landing site, so that's a nice coincidence.

 

 

 

After that it was off to the new Marathon list, Telescope (items 26-50). I knew I didn't have long, so I went for the 'easy' ones. First one was M42 (which I'd seen before), looking for some of the details.

Item 32 on the list was the 'Fish's Mouth' part of the Nebula, an easy enough to see 'gap' going towards the centre of the Nebula. And then Item 33 was the Trapezium Cluster inside the Nebula. Nice and easy to find and looking good!

I spent a while looking for Item 36, Caldwell 50, and I was honing in on it but unfortunately some clouds got in the way so I left that for another night. I also had a go at M78, as I knew it would be easy to find the right region, but I couldn't spot the Nebula itself, might need darker skies for that.

I did find Item 42, Beta Monocerotis, a triple star. Easy enough to find the star itself, and I went up to my current max of 211x and could distinguish the three stars, with Mon A a little on its own compared to Mon B and Mon C. I did find the clarity wasn't as great with the Barlowed 8mm, much darker too, I don't know if that's just how it is at that magnification, or if the Barlow really doesn't help. I'll have to take time to compare a Barlowed 25mm (68x) with a non-Barlowed 12mm (63x) to see what the drop in quality is like. And I'm always caught out by how relatively quickly the view changes up at that Mag!

While I was at Beta Mon I took the logical step of Item 47, NGC 2232, which is only a couple of degrees away from the triple star. A little star hopping with my finder scope and binoculars and I soon got it, a nice little collection of stars together. Always such a nice feeling when it pops into view, and a quick comparison with Skysafari confirms you've found your target.

With the clouds increasing and an upcoming Teams call I left it there, 4 targets off the new list. I really can't get over the jump in quality/clarity with the 150P and the BSTs compared to my earlier scope, and the tripod/mount are behaving perfectly. Hoping for some more clear skies soon, and this set up in dark skies is going to blow me away!

Edited March 20, 2021 by Jasonb

[Tiny Clanger]

Great stuff , excellent that the upgrades have made such an easily seen improvement, I wonder what will come next ?! 🙂

I've never liked using my barlow (it's only a cheap skywatcher £25 one though) in the dob, but it seems fine in my little 'frac at modest mag.s. with plossls. Rather than using the barlow,  I bought a 6mm TMB clone as the highest power workable in my mak before my eye floaters become intrusive, great for lunar detail viewing but I've not tried it in the dob yet, It gives 250x in the mak, with an exit pupil of 0.5mm , or 125x in the dob , exit pupil 0.83mm

For helpful lunar feature identification (I've made myself utterly confused between the dob view N/S flipped and the mak view E/W flipped, and rdf view, all correct ... ) and also struggle to identify features when they look so different strongly side illuminated on the terminator vs flat map images  I've found the downloadable virtual moon atlas very handy

https://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/

http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/V35/UK_index.html

You can set your 'scopes view orientation, and the program shows the terminator at your date too .

Heather

[Jasonb]

Managed to get out for an hour these last two nights, and found a couple of things on the list, and some not on it.

Fristly, two nights ago, I found Nova Cass 2021, easy enough to find with the directions on here. Just a faint star really but nice to have seen it!

I had a look for a few nebulae, like the Crab and Little Dumbbell, but my skies weren't dark enough. I did get to see C39, the Eskimo Nebula. It was a faint circular smudge, like an out of focus star (but it wasn't that though!).

Last night I started with ISS, as my phone beeped an alert as I was starting. It was low, under Orion, but I caught it in my scope. I actually accidentally caught 3 or 4 satellites during the session too, at one time I had two different ones passing by my view.

Decided to give the Leo Triplet a go, and while I managed to find M66, the other two were beyond me. Also had a look for the Flaming Star Nebula, but once again the skies were too bright. I had more luck when I moved away from Nebula and on to Clusters. C 13, the Owl Cluster, and found it easily, and for once it actually matched the description! Finally I looked or Caldwell 50, an open cluster in the Rosette Nebula. The cluster was easy to see, the Nebula not so much!

That was my two nights, getting better with the new scope and star hopping etc. I've entered the Winter Items into Skysafari which really helps, just click on the next on the list and go searching for it.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Nice report,

I suspect clusters are the way to go in polluted skies, they certainly seem to be the things I can manage to see ! Like you, I've looked straight at the Rosette Nebula for sometime hoping to perceive it , had a suspicion of a hint of a vague redness, but not confident it was anything but wishful thinking on my part ! I'm not saying anything about the  Leo Triplet either,it's a sore point ...

I we all need to get to darker skies !

Heather