Thurs 18 Feb - Some Unexpected Clarity

[MercianDabbler]

Clear Outside was unexpectedly promising a few consecutive clear hours last night so I decided to use the opportunity. Since my last decent session I've bought a used 9mm TV DeLite from Andrew Robertson of Kelling fame and was keen to try it out.

It wasn't a completely clear picture and the clouds didn't really disperse on schedule and it was a good while after 8PM when I finally got outside. I went with the grab and go setup of Skywatcher ST80 and Manfrotto camera tripod... plus the luxury of a folding chair. While I was waiting indoors I spent some more time working on my target list and preparation for finding the targets. This time I took some Stellarium ocular view screen shots on the laptop and downloaded the images to the tablet.

The Moon was pretty prominent so that was the first obvious target. There was plenty on view around the terminator but nothing particularly stood out to me as being the obvious thing to concentrate on so I fired up Moon Atlas 3D on the tablet and found the Apollo 11 and 17 landing sites and found my way around the nearby features. The bottom edge of the Sea of Serenity was looking like a particularly sharp line to me.

Mars and the Moon were fairly close so I decided to see if the 32mm Plossl could get them both in. It couldn't - not even close. A brief stop-off at the Pleiades before shifting to Ursa Major. One big advantage of the grab and go setup in the garden is that I can just pick the whole thing up and move it to avoid obstructions and unwanted light sources whenever I shift targets.

The setup has disadvantages too - no setting circles naturally and at the moment I don't have a finder fitted. Instead I'm aiming at prominent stars by eye and then checking the view by comparing the ST80 with a 32mm Plossl against the view through my Zeiss 10x50 binos. The ball head is also pretty unsuitable for a telescope but it's what I've got so until I find something better it's what I am using.

First target was M109. It wasn't on my prepared hit list but I'd tried it a week or so beforehand with the SP102. That whole session had been a disappointment because although moonless, the lying snow amplifying the LP and I suspect some haze too meant that there was very little contrast on offer. I spent a good while on M109 but to no avail. The Stellarium image had been done for the SP102 so it was not perfect for the ST80. I'm pretty sure I was in the right place but apart from the presence of Phecda the other stars were pretty faint and I could not honestly be sure of any patterns.

Next target (on the list this time) was Alcor/Mizar and I managed to split Mizar with the 15mm SLV (26.7x) without difficulty. Next was M101, star hopping from Mizar. The star hopping started out OK but got a bit sketchy towards the target. I think I was in the right place but could not make out M101. I also figured out that my Stellarium screenshots were not mirrored so must see if there is a way to do this in future.

Having had a couple of galaxy fails I decided to stop by M81/82 just to prove that I could actually see a galaxy. This time I started hopping from Dubhe. I'm fairly familiar with the steps now and managed to get to M81 without too much difficulty. The 15mm SLV and 9mm DeLite both showed M82 as well - an improvement on the moonless night a week ago when I could not make out M82 through the 4 inch scope regardless of which EP I tried. I tried the 5mm StarGuider with the ST80 as well. This kinda worked but was hard work. Getting the scope aim right, keeping it steady and getting the focus right were tricky to achieve all at the same time. I also tried the 26mm S4000 but the view was disappointing for reasons that became apparent later.

After success on two galaxies M109 was still bugging me so I tried again. I could pick out the chain of 4 faint bright spots below Phecda and knew from the screenshot that one of those spots should actually be two but I still couldn't do better than that with either the 15mm SLV or 9mm DeLite. I then tried the 26mm S4000 and noticed that Phecda was looking abnormally blue... which clued me in to the fact that I'd left the UHC filter attached to it last time out. Removing the filter restored the S4000 to its usual clarity but still no M109.

To finish off the evening I moved over to Leo. Not a constellation with which I am very familiar. First stop was Algieba which I had little hope of splitting with the ST80 and sure enough I couldn't... but I've never visited it before so it was still good to have a look. The final target was also something of a forlorn hope - the M65/66. I found the star hop from Chertan very easy indeed and there was no doubt I was in the right place. After a lot of trying with the 15mm SLV and 9mm DeLite the best I could do was to see something in the vicinity of M66. Whether this was M66 or the mag 9.8 star next to it I'm not sure.

By now it was getting on for 11PM so time to pack up. The final advantage of the grab and go setup is that packing up doesn't take long.

[Kon]

Very nice report. It sounds like a successful night wit some nice targets. I have managed M109 with the moon out (8" Dob) so it should not be washed out too much but I have also failed to see it when there is high altitude haze/thin clouds (not obvious by eye). 

[MercianDabbler]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Very nice report. It sounds like a successful night wit some nice targets. I have managed M109 with the moon out (8" Dob) so it should not be washed out too much but I have also failed to see it when there is high altitude haze/thin clouds (not obvious by eye). 

Thanks. It's tricky to know what is realistic to put on the target list with the ST80 but I still think it's useful to get familiar with the locality of the target faint fuzzy... even if I don't actually see it. That way I might stand a better chance when the bigger scope is out and the conditions suit (good conditions will happen one day... I hope!)

[Kon]

10 minutes ago, MercianDabbler said:

Thanks. It's tricky to know what is realistic to put on the target list with the ST80 but I still think it's useful to get familiar with the locality of the target faint fuzzy... even if I don't actually see it. That way I might stand a better chance when the bigger scope is out and the conditions suit (good conditions will happen one day... I hope!)

I do not have experience with this telescope but this might give you an idea of what it may look through it: 

http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

[MercianDabbler]

9 hours ago, MercianDabbler said:

I also figured out that my Stellarium screenshots were not mirrored so must see if there is a way to do this in future.

It's cloudy tonight so at least I could get this question sorted... it turns out that there are horizontal and vertical 'flip' options stored with each the telescope in Stellarium (which makes sense... well it does once you have seen the answer). I had both the SP102 and ST80 set incorrectly. Neither was set the same but both were wrong.

Now I need to redo the screenshots but hopefully that's one more problem solved.

It's amazing just how many ways there are to get things wrong in this hobby.

[Epick Crom]

I enjoyed reading your report 🙂 It's true there are lots of ways in which you can get things wrong in this great hobby of ours. This makes the times when things go right all the more satisfying! Clear skies mate👍