Stars, Like Dust

[Capt Slog]

Stars, Like Dust is a sci-Fi story by Isaac Asimov.  I must have read it in my youth, because I read most of his stories, and although I can't remember what it's about, the title has always stuck in the back of my mind.

I went out for an hour to try to spot M36  and they were, Stars, Like Dust.  Wow.  Just wow.

With a 32mm EP I could make out the cluster, but although it makes finding easy, with a light sky it also makes the background lighter.  Switching to 20mm plus 2x barlow really upped the contrast, and it was just.........

A little tear came to the eye.  I should have spent a little longer looking at it, but my time was short and I knew the M37 and M38 were in the same region, so I took in those too.  

I used to struggle to find these objects, but i recently purchased a RACI finder via Ebay.  What a difference.  After months of trying to peer up a normal finder, and trying to work out which star was which because the view was reversed, the sky suddenly makes sense.  This, coupled with having a PC close at hand, has really helped during searches.  It was taking several sessions to locate objects, now I'm getting several objects a session. 

I've mentioned before that I'm collecting Messiers, and I realise I'm sort of 'train spotting' at the moment, I'll get over it, promise. 

 

[Kon]

It sounds like you had an excellent night and you found your targets; I think that's big part of the hobby. I can feel your excitement especially when you put in the equation how far these objects are. I agree the RACI is a game changer in finding things in the sky. I personally find that my most used EPs are 25mm and 15mm, occasionally 8mm. Enjoy !

[johninderby]

Soinds like you had a very enjoyable observing session. 👍🏻

Part of Asimov's Galactic Empire series and takes place before the actual founding of the Galactic Empire, 

Edited April 15, 2021 by johninderby

[Capt Slog]

8 hours ago, johninderby said:

Soinds like you had a very enjoyable observing session. 👍🏻

Part of Asimov's Galactic Empire series and takes place before the actual founding of the Galactic Empire, 

Seeing that picture reminded of a conversation between two Sci-fi characters out in space, it could have been Asimov or even that book. 

They were around that region of space, a long way into the future, and speculating on how the nebula had got it's name "Horses Head".  It was so far into the future that they had forgot about Earth and wondered if the name was a corruption of "Horace Head", a supposed explorer.  It wasn't until they had 'that' view that they realised where the name come from.  (it's been an age since I read these, I might have it wrong but that was the gist of it)

[KevinPSJ]

9 hours ago, Capt Slog said:

 I used to struggle to find these objects, but i recently purchased a RACI finder via Ebay.  What a difference.  After months of trying to peer up a normal finder, and trying to work out which star was which because the view was reversed, the sky suddenly makes sense. 

 

I was using my telescope the other evening for imaging with DSLR so switched to my Celestron binoculars (25×70) to have an initial browse around Auriga. I realised it's a great way to get familiar with the layout of the sky without all the frustration of inverted views and slewing. I found M36, M37 and M38 really quickly despite this being my first serious visit to this part of the sky. I don't know why I've not investigated this constellation before though - it really is glorious!

Having had great success with the binoculars on unfamiliar territory I turned to Leo to look for the triplet as I've always struggled to locate them and can sometimes spend 30min looking in the telescope. Located them in 5 min through the binoculars with averted vision - M65 and M66 at least. 

I think the wide field and straight through view are great for getting to know the sky. I'll have a lot more confidence in my search next time I go hunting with the big guns if I've scouted first with binocs. 

 

[Pixies]

RACI's rule, they really do. Of all the 'upgrades' I've made this past year, that one had the biggest impact on my observing.

 

[Zermelo]

5 hours ago, Capt Slog said:

Seeing that picture reminded of a conversation between two Sci-fi characters out in space, it could have been Asimov or even that book. 

They were around that region of space, a long way into the future, and speculating on how the nebula had got it's name "Horses Head".  It was so far into the future that they had forgot about Earth and wondered if the name was a corruption of "Horace Head", a supposed explorer.  It wasn't until they had 'that' view that they realised where the name come from.  (it's been an age since I read these, I might have it wrong but that was the gist of it)

I've not read it for a very long time, but I remember that same passage.

This is the cover version I remember, painted by the peerless Chris Foss:

[Zermelo]

14 hours ago, Capt Slog said:

recently purchased a RACI finder via Ebay.  What a difference.

I'll add my voice to the others - it made a huge difference to me when I finally got one.

Star hopping is much easier, but as I also have goto (when it's behaving itself), I find that - nine times out of ten - I can immediately match the view in the RACI to the star chart, work out exactly where to position the cross hairs, and then find that the target is in the eyepiece, however short it is. I found six doubles in a row the other night, without having to swap out the 150x eyepiece once.

[Mr Thingy]

6 hours ago, Zermelo said:

This is the cover version I remember, painted by the peerless Chris Foss:

 

I have the foundation series in my loft, all bearing his artwork. Absolutely fantastic.