The First Frost

[Stardaze]

Having spent the last few months watching the dance of the Galilean moons, whenever the cloud allowed, I'd been looking forward to a longer session back observing some DSO's. I'd taken a few days off work to coincide with the new moon and whilst there's plenty of jobs to get done in the day, the weather looked to be really good for the evening. A little hiccup with CO suggested some cloud, typically dashing the hope all week of a clear night, but it turned out perfect on dusk, to my delight. The plan was to have an early start around 7pm (suits me at this time of year!) and get myself ready for a longer session. 

The first hour was spent whizzing around some of the familiar things that the autumn has delivered with the hope later of seeing some of the winter constellations - though Orion would still be too Eastward no doubt for my garden. I had put a little list together, some of which were forgotten - I must stick to a plan better next time! 

I started with a glance at Jupiter, more to see how the 'seeing' stacked up. Looked pretty good. Nothing really exciting to observe tonight, the Galilean moons were evenly spread either side. I quickly followed with Neptune. Not the most exciting thing to observe granted, but I do like dwelling on how far away that blob of blue actually is. Uranus would be up later, which I am yet to see. 

Pegasus was nicely above the house at this time, the only problem being, the amount of light coming from it. The wife was busy getting set up for our daughters birthday today and so it left me wondering about the next DIY project, a black-out blind maybe. I dropped the finder onto M15 and settled in to allow my eyes to adjust. Still, quite a dim glob in my 10" but I could make out some crisp stars relatively close in. 

I had a quick look at Almach, which has become a favourite this autumn and then for some reason Epsilon Lyrae came to mind and so I found myself spinning the dob to the NW. Lyra was dropping quickly now but the 7mm split both doubles perfectly. It didn't seem as clean as I have seen, but it's been a long time since I had done so. 

Right, Back on track. I was still being plagued by the obtrusive light but I wanted to see whether I could see any definition in Andromeda. I used the hood to shield the light and sat there for over 10 minutes soaking it in. Nope, still can't see any dust lanes...

I couldn't find M33 last time out so really wanted to tick this one off too. The finder suddenly clouded over. I had a dew band at the top for the main objective but the eyepiece had been exposed for a good while whilst I badly tried to navigate myself around the nearby stars. It's fair to say that I probably could do with a little hairdryer, the rocket blower did the job, but took a while. I couldn't be certain for sure and so a much needed brew to warm and revitalise got me back out for 9. 

The temperature really started to fall. I scouted out the Blue Snowball neb in Andromeda, which looked great at 182x, the colour really popping. 

NGC 752 was easily found too, I really like open clusters. That led me to wander a little and drop in on the Perseus double. I've been watching this old favourite show again in the binoculars, but first time this year and it really doesn't disappoint. 

Whilst in Perseus I felt the need to see the little dumbbell neb, is it me, or does it look similar to the Blue Snowball? Maybe it was still etched into my mind?

It was around now that I saw The Plaeides rising above the tree, with a little walk to the bottom of the garden, so too was Taurus. I moved the chair over there and sat down with the binoculars, completely being distracted. The hour change last weekend has made a big difference to what I see in the 'normal hours' before bed.

When the binos glazed over with dew, I headed back for Uranus. The star hop was pretty straightforward here, which had me finding her quickly. Another small blue disc notched off the list.

I got a little distracted with the dew, having to add a band to my eyepiece. I couldn't give up on M33, but having spent another 15 frustrating minutes, I did just that. I'm not sure why this one is being so stubborn for me, can't be that difficult surely!

By the time I remembered Stephan's Quintet, after the wife had turned the lights off, Pegasus was dropping and not as favourably positioned as she was before, so I gave it a miss. By now it was gone midnight and I'd had nearly 4 hours , which is by far the longest session this year. There was a light layer of frost on top of the OTA so rolled the dob into the shed for the night and wondered why a Pinwheel could be so damn elusive? Maybe next time...

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Stardaze

[Hayduke27]

Great report.  Almach has been one of my favorites this autumn as well, and I always love looking at the Perseus Double.  M33 was one of the first DSO's that really eluded me for a while.  I finally found it, and since then we have become good friends and I can spot it pretty readily.  However, in those early days I just couldn't find it to save my life.  I know the pain!

[Stardaze]

14 minutes ago, Hayduke27 said:

Great report.  Almach has been one of my favorites this autumn as well, and I always love looking at the Perseus Double.  M33 was one of the first DSO's that really eluded me for a while.  I finally found it, and since then we have become good friends and I can spot it pretty readily.  However, in those early days I just couldn't find it to save my life.  I know the pain!

I found M101 (why are there two ‘pinwheels’?) the same, maybe it’s the spread out luminosity? I’ll find her soon enough.

[Hayduke27]

3 hours ago, Stardaze said:

I found M101 (why are there two ‘pinwheels’?) the same, maybe it’s the spread out luminosity? I’ll find her soon enough.

It's certainly the spread out luminosity.  When I was first looking for it, being that it is so proximate to Andromeda, I thought I was looking for a medium sized, equally bright galaxy.  Once you find it and if skies allow you can see how big it is, but it is far more faint than Andromeda.  I use Triangulum, Mirach and Andromeda as my navigation starting points.  Good luck!

[Pixies]

It's only Sky Safari that refers to M33 as the 'pinwheel', I think. Everywhere else calls it the Triangulum galaxy! I found  it for the first time earlier this year, in Bortle 5-6 skies on a good night. It's very faint in these conditions but I've looked for it so many times now, I know exactly where it should be, located within a quadrilateral of 4 8th-magnitude stars.

I intend to observe it with binos or the ST80 from  a dark site as soon as conditions allow. Hopefully it'll be a little easier!

[Stardaze]

1 hour ago, Pixies said:

It's only Sky Safari that refers to M33 as the 'pinwheel', I think. Everywhere else calls it the Triangulum galaxy! I found  it for the first time earlier this year, in Bortle 5-6 skies on a good night. It's very faint in these conditions but I've looked for it so many times now, I know exactly where it should be, located within a quadrilateral of 4 8th-magnitude stars.

I intend to observe it with binos or the ST80 from  a dark site as soon as conditions allow. Hopefully it'll be a little easier!

I think I need to recce the area with binos, was certain that I was very close, but the stray light probably didn’t help either. 

[domstar]

Very nice report. Like most people, I found it hard to find M33 for the first time. It is easier in binoculars and even my 9x50 finder. It's an intriguing galaxy, always on the verge of giving up some detail in my scope but I've never quite managed it. Stephan's Quintet is another favourite of mine. I've spent a lot of unsuccessful time on it. It's the first thing I'm going to look at when I get a big dob.

[Space Hopper]

M33 is a non starter for me from light pollution central.

But given a dark site its a piece of cake with just a pair of good binocs.

[Stardaze]

4 hours ago, domstar said:

Very nice report. Like most people, I found it hard to find M33 for the first time. It is easier in binoculars and even my 9x50 finder. It's an intriguing galaxy, always on the verge of giving up some detail in my scope but I've never quite managed it. Stephan's Quintet is another favourite of mine. I've spent a lot of unsuccessful time on it. It's the first thing I'm going to look at when I get a big dob.

I'm betting that a darker site would help me no end, but I'm bottle 5 (20 sqm) so it should be do-able I think.