Variety is the spice of life !!

[John]

After some very fine lunar observing with my 12 inch dobsonian, rather randomly I decided that I would like have a look at a couple of the brighter supernovae again to see how they were coming along

SN 2021 hiz is in the host galaxy IC 3322A in the bowl of Virgo. Rather close to the bright moon (which is in Leo tonight) but I managed to star hop to the right location. No sign whatsoever of IC 3322A unsurprisingly but I could see NGC 4365 glowing softly nearby. Apart from the moonglow, the sky transparency is quite good. SN 2021 hiz is still showing up at around magnitude 13.2 or thereabouts I'd estimate.

On to Draco to try and spot SN 2021 hpr which is in the reasonably bright galaxy NGC 3147. Up close to the zenith and further away from the moon in the sky, finding the host galaxy was reasonably straightforward. Seeing the supernova called for more magnification than the 122x that I'd used to locate the galaxy so I went up to 199x and that did the trick. SN 2021 hpr was visible shining dimly in the far edge of the halo of light around it;s host galaxy. I'd estimate it's brightness at 14.1 or thereabouts. I believe this one is the 13th supernova that I've managed to observe.

I was pleased to be able to find these distant points of light (hiz is at around 81 million light years and hpr around 130 million). Quite a contrast to the lunar observing that I'd been doing earlier where my target lay just 1.3 light SECONDS away.

Also had a lovely view of the Cat's Eye nebula, also in Draco, NGC 6543 with it's central star gleaming forth. That one is around 3,300 light years away.

Continuing the session theme of "variety" I decided to have a look at Nova V1425 in Cassiopeia. That one was easy to find and it is still shining away at around magnitude 8 as far as I can see. In the same field of view was the delicate open cluster Messier 52 which showed very nicely indeed with the 12 inch aperture scope.

Switching back to 199x magnification I got a nice split of the lovely showcase coloured double star Izar in Bootes and also the similarly well known and famous "double, double" star Epsilon Lyrae.

Back up and west a bit to Hercules. The two superb globular clusters Messier 13 and 92 were reasonably high in the sky now and were deeply resolved by the aperture and magnification in use. Messier 13's dark lanes, which form the "propeller" feature, were also well defined and a short pan of the scope also picked up the galaxy NGC 6207 as a dim oval of fuzzy light.

Finally and as a prelude to the summer months, I went back to Lyra and found Messier 57, the famed "Ring Nebula". At 199x this looked surprisingly bright and well defined despite not having risen that high above the Bristol "glow" to the north east of me. A nice way to end a very varied session.

Despite covering a rather eclectic mix of targets I really enjoyed my observing tonight. It's great fun being able to switch from our nearest neighbour in space to a cataclysmic event that occurred in a galaxy far, far away and long, long ago and all from my little patch of patio with a good sprinkling of other fascinating sights thrown in for good measure 

I hope others have been enjoying these fine, clear skies

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by John

[Mr Spock]

That's a really good report. Lots of excellent objects. 

[bish]

That sounds like a great session. Sometimes the things that are nothing to look at can be the most exciting - ie tracking down s SN.

[wookie1965]

Not been out because of health reasons not sure in my light polluted skies what is the lowest mag I could go down to. The SN in Cassiopeia I tried over a week ago I meant to check if I had seen it in stellarium. 

Some great objects there and I bet they look great in a 12". 

[John]

4 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Not been out because of health reasons not sure in my light polluted skies what is the lowest mag I could go down to. The SN in Cassiopeia I tried over a week ago I meant to check if I had seen it in stellarium. 

Some great objects there and I bet they look great in a 12". 

Hope you a feeling better soon wookie

[wookie1965]

3 minutes ago, John said:

Hope you a feeling better soon wookie

Thanks John got a bad feeling its going to be months rather than weeks and may have to rethink my scopes especially the 5" being big and hefty. 

Paul 

[Paul M]

It certainly is a great season for Deep Sky and not just galaxies. We're spoiled for Globulars right now. 

I had my electronic eye on a few of the same targets and I got to thinking that the next New Moon will be just about the end of fully dark nights and  these gems will be lost to twilight.

Unlike the winter wonders that hang round for many months.