Out comes the 16" Lightbridge

[Sam]

The weather has finally delivered a break in the clouds from the last few weeks which has given me the chance to get the 16" out of it's corner and into the backyard. The conditions weren't the best with a thin layer of high cloud hanging around.

The highlight of the evening was seeing Saturn and it's nearly edge on rings. Unfortunately there was no real detail on the planet other than just a hint of banding but the rings were visible. I tried a range of different eyepieces but it didn't really improve a great deal. It certainly looked different than last year.

The first stop on the DSO tour was to visit some old friends from last year starting with M108. This galaxy stood out very well and was obvious in it's orientation being towards edge on. There was a slight brightening at the core but generally fairly uniform across it's length. The next stop just a little down and to the right was M97, the Owl nebula. This was quite a bright circular blob with the hint of the darkening patches that give this nebula it's name.

Heading up from the Big Dipper and a little to the left were the familiar sights of M81 and M82. M81 was very bright with it's very prominent core and a hint of structure around the core. M82, close by, was also very bright and uniform in it's brightness across it's length with quite a bit of detail visible in the middle. Whilst in the area I also had a look at NGC 3077 which, though considerably smaller than M81, was quite bright and certainly stood out against the background. In the area is also IC2574 but I didn't have much luck in spotting it.

Back to the Big Dipper I had a look at M109, another edge on galaxy but with not much detail visible. To the right of M109 is NGC3953 another edge on galaxy that looks very similar to M109 in both size and brightness. The next stop for the evening was the Leo Triplet. The two Messiers stood out very well initially and then NGC3628 jumped out of the eyepiece with it's distinctive shape giving all three of them visible in the eyepiece.

Another great evening of galaxy hunting!

Sam

[Talitha]

Glad you got a break in the clouds Sam, thanks for your report. If I ever get my hands on a big Dob, M82 would be the first target. The central mottling shows a bit with the 8" SCT.. can't imagine the detail your 16" pulls in.

[Taff]

Hi Sam' reading what you wrote sounds like you had a great night with your scope catching up with old friends.With the weather being bad you got to grab the chance when you can to get outside with the scope.Mark

[Starjumper]

Hi Sam,

That is a great report of your nights viewing.

John

[Doc]

Lovely report Sam. You seem to see galaxies alot better then I do. Your skies must be darker then mine. Some great targets there. Well done.

[mdstuart]

Lovely review....next time try NGC 4026 just down from M109. It is actually quite bright and pretty in my 10 inch..

Mark

[Sam]

Thanks for the comments folks. Mark, I'll have a look at that one next time the clouds clear - thanks:)

[athornett]

Sam, where are you observing from? How much light pollution do you have to contend with?

Andy

[Sam]

Sam, where are you observing from? How much light pollution do you have to contend with?

Andy

Andy, I observe from my backyard and don't have too much LP so it's pretty good.