A few firsts - faint fuzzies and a comet.

[Pixies]

My hopes and plans for Saturday night had been to try and go to a local dark site.  However, lots of things transpired against me and in the end I settled for the usual back garden session. A cloudless night, no moon, plus heavy rain all afternoon meant I was hopeful for clear skies and it certainly turned out that way.

Started with Jupiter, but the seeing was pretty poor. Looking up I could faintly see the Milky Way passing through Cassiopeia and Perseus, which is pretty rare. So it was looking like a very clear night, in the usually best North / East direction. I had been thinking about trying to observe the Mag 10 comet , 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It wasn't going to appear over the rooftops for another 2 hours, so I had plenty of time to pass.

Started with the colourful double, Amlach. Seeing was very average, but an easy split nonetheless.

Then moved up to M76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Haven't observed this one before, so another Messier ticked off the list. Bright and clear even without filters. Oii and UHC improved contrast and showed a little more of the wider parts, but I couldn't say that one preformed better than the other.

Had I been at the dark site, I was hoping to try and find M33 for the first time. I've spent a few nights in the back garden with binos and scope trying to observe it this year, to no avail.  But tonight I found it! After all my practise, I know exactly where to locate it and tonight I could see a faint brightening in the space between a quad of stars in Triangulum. Averted vision and nudging helped confirm. Was using my 30mm Aero ED having left the 35mm inside. I'll try the latter next time.

After that success, I thought I'd go for another faint galaxy that  I've never ben able to find. M110 next to M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. M31 was big and bright, the clearest I've seen it here. M32 was the usual little fuzzy ball, and tonight I managed to observe M110, too! Next to a stretched triangle of stars North of M31's centre, I could see a faint patch of light, even with direct vision. No obvious core but a definite bright patch. About 70x appeared to give the best contrast for me.

As I was in the area, I had a quick peek at Uranus.

There was still a little wait for the comet to appear. Auriga was rising over the roofs, so I spent a little while there:

• NGC 1664. My favourite cluster (if you can have favourites). The kite cluster looked great in the big 2" eyepiece. Lots of stars visible, over the background of the Milky Way.
• M36 - of the 3 main clusters in Auriga, I think this is the least impressive.
• M38 - much better. Still not a patch on M37, though - but that was going to have to wait for another night.

Zeta Tauri rose over the roof around 01:30 - the tip of the  bull's Southerly horn. I forgot completely about M1 (Crab Nebula) - which is a shame, as the sky was so clear. But now I could have a shot at the comet.

Churyumov-Gerasimenko was pretty straightforward to find, using Sky Safari. A round fuzzy ball at the correct spot with averted vision. It was late and cold now, so I wasn't planning on hanging around any more and observing it's movement. But that's my first comet of the season.

So - after my initial disappointment, it was a pretty good night. heaven knows what it would have been like at a dark site!

 

 

 

[Charles Kirk]

Thank you for sharing a very interesting observing report.

[Sunshine]

Nice report, sounds like your session ended better than you had hoped! 

[Nik271]

Well done on M33 an M110! I'm always thrilled to see them myself, becuase it happens very rarely in perfect conditions.

M1 is much easier compared to M33, especially a bit later in the year.

[AL1]

Sadly I have never had a view of the milky way from the northern hemisphere!   Need to change that

[AL1]

Great report.  I find reports like this very motivating to get out again

Edited October 10, 2021 by AL1

[Pixies]

23 minutes ago, AL1 said:

Sadly I have never had a view of the milky way from the northern hemisphere!   Need to change that

It was faint. My skies are supposedly Bottle 6, but it that direction I'm looking out to sea, so it's a much darker view. My southerly outlook compared to that is poor.

[Nyctimene]

Thank you, Pixies, for the vivid report, especially for the reminder concerning comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It seems to be positioned quite favourable in northern Taurus, and I'll revisit it, perhaps tomorrow morning. A fascinating thought, that Rosetta sent down the lander "Philae" to it's surface in 2014, and that this fridge-sized space probe is still there. According to the 2020 evaluation of it's two "bounces", the comet's surface ice is very soft and fluffy, softer than cappuccino froth or bath foam bubbles. Should be visible readily with the 12" (the comet, of course; neither Philae nor cappuccino ice...;-) )Stephan

[RobertI]

 I’ve report. Well done on catching the comet. 👍

[Epick Crom]

Good report Pixies. Must have been a great night to see two comets! I'm still waiting to see my first comet through a telescope. Can't wait! Clear skies