Better transparency = DSO fun !

[John]

Just a short report tonight. Better transparency than last night. 12 inch dobsonian in use.

I won't list all the targets but I observed 40+ galaxies including a great run of 16 along the Markarian's Chain ending with M88. Some 350 million LY's off in Coma Berenices. A slew of the brighter favourites as well.

Added to that a couple of planetary nebulae, a half dozen globular clusters and a supernova 81 million LY's away and it's been a satisfying session.

Most of the time the 13mm Ethos eyepiece has been the one in the drawtube. It's proving a very effective eyepiece for winkling out these fainter fuzzies over the past few sessions with this scope.

It's still dark and clear out there but I'll draw things to a close for tonight and have a nice cup of something warming

 

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by John

[RobertI]

Nice report John, the 12” seems perfect for those faint fuzzies this time of year. Just been out myself and the seeing was really remarkable. I’ll post a brief report tomorrow. 

[wookie1965]

Wow brilliant hoping come winter I have two dark sky sites go to within a 40 minute drive Bortle 4  skies so looking forward to seeing what DSO`s I can catch.

[John]

The odd thing about last night was that the transparency did not look that promising to the casual view. Indicators such as the visibility of Ursa Minor stars were not that good and the sky generally had a slightly milky / yellow look to it. When I actually started to observe with the scope though, things were somewhat better 

The distant galaxies in Coma B that I picked up had a surface brightness of around magnitude 13 I think, which is not too bad from my back yard.

Clouded out tonight so no observing

 

 

 

[Stardaze]

10 minutes ago, John said:

The odd thing about last night was that the transparency did not look that promising to the casual view. Indicators such as the visibility of Ursa Minor stars were not that good and the sky generally had a slightly milky / yellow look to it. When I actually started to observe with the scope though, things were somewhat better 

The distant galaxies in Coma B that I picked up had a surface brightness of around magnitude 13 I think, which is not too bad from my back yard.

Clouded out tonight so no observing

 

 

 

It’s supposedly clouded here, but right now its clear as a whistle. Wasnt planning a session as a lot on tomorrow..

[John]

14 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

It’s supposedly clouded here, but right now its clear as a whistle. Wasnt planning a session as a lot on tomorrow..

It's just cleared here as well !

Popped a refractor out to look at the moon

[Stardaze]

26 minutes ago, John said:

It's just cleared here as well !

Popped a refractor out to look at the moon

Just been out with the 15x70s on the tripod doing the same. Not sure what it is, but the moon doesn’t seem to interest me at all other than a quick look? Probably need to read up a little more?

[John]

49 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Just been out with the 15x70s on the tripod doing the same. Not sure what it is, but the moon doesn’t seem to interest me at all other than a quick look? Probably need to read up a little more?

I find the moon very interesting. So much to see. A book that I've found has fired my interest in lunar observing is the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon by Charles A Wood and Maurice J S Collins. Far from being just another atlas of the Moon

Mind you. I'm not a particularly avid solar observer while others spend a lot of time (and money) observing it so there you go !

Transparency is not bad again tonight - even the little 100mm refractor is showing plenty of galaxies in the Leo / Virgo / Coma area.

 

 

 

[Stardaze]

29 minutes ago, John said:

I find the moon very interesting. So much to see. A book that I've found has fired my interest in lunar observing is the 21st Century Atlas of the Moon by Charles A Wood and Maurice J S Collins. Far from being just another atlas of the Moon

Mind you. I'm not a particularly avid solar observer while others spend a lot of time (and money) observing it so there you go !

Transparency is not bad again tonight - even the little 100mm refractor is showing plenty of galaxies in the Leo / Virgo / Coma area.

 

 

 

I’ll check that book out 👍

Just had an hour, the moon is starting to spoil things now, early on. Struggling to see the Leo galaxies in the bins, only really M81/M82 that looked convincing for me.

Really would like a frac for quick sessions but i’ll make do for now with the bins. Not sure what I’d get, was looking at the TS Optics 80 but probably better going 102. A while away for the moment anyhow.

[John]

I'd go for a 100mm / 102mm if possible. I've seen 11 galaxies in Leo with my 100mm this evening. Plenty more elsewhere too, including M81 / M82 looking nice and bright.

 

[Kon]

Much nicer tonight. I had a quick session with my Dob at around Leo and finished with the moon; i think that's the sharpest i have seen it, very stable.