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In and around Orion on a cold Boxing Day


badhex

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Hello all,

Thought I'd share a report of my last observing session of 2021 on Boxing day. I had planned to pop out for an afternoon walk and a cheeky Glühwein from the stand in the park and realised that the just below freezing skies were almost completely clear, so put my 102 ED on the balcony to cool in anticipation. It was still clear when I returned home, and I finally had access to the shared roof terrace again, allowing me a much bigger window of sky.

I was hoping to catch Jupiter for the first time in my 102 ED before it disappeared amongst load of rooftops. By the time I was up and running I got about 5 mins of poor seeing before it descended into thick murky bands of heat from a nearby chimney - wobbling out of the FOV in some cases! Better luck next time.

As Orion was now well placed above the giant crane behind my flat, I spent some time with the nebula, again using my Astronomik Oiii to bring out the detail but experimenting with various eyepiece combinations; Panoptic 41mm, Morpheus 17.5mm and 4.5mm, XW 10mm. I've read reports that sometimes orthos can show good results with some nebulae + filters, so thought it might be interesting to try my BCOs. Aside from the usual eye relief issues, a quick go with the 10mm gave pleasing results. More investigation and a side by side comparison needed I think.

I also found that despite the good to excellent transparency and the sub-zero temperatures (-8˚C) , seeing fluctuated between below average to good, but a clear night is a clear night!

Backing down the magnification and dropping the filter from the optical train, I spent the next while poking around the edges, studying NGC1980 and NGC1981, to which I'll admit having previously paid little attention.
NGC1980 was particularly fascinating and I had recently read that there were a number of doubles to be found, so again changing up the magnification I found and split the three components of Iota Orionis at 71x with the XW 10mm. Initially I actually spent a little while assuming Iota Orionis to only be a double, but after a short time (and confirmed by a quick bit of research) I realised there where in fact three visible components, with what I assume to be component C being quite wide of the other two.
Seeing was still a bit of a challenge at higher mags, and I found that the split between the two closest components A (and I assume) B became a little less clean. I picked up quite a strong orange hue to component B.

Whilst in NGC1980, I also spent some time on the nearby easy split Struve 747 and slightly trickier Struve 745. I am not sure at this point if I knew Struve 754 was in the area at all, or if I searched for it and couldn't find/ couldn't split it. Another one for next time.

The temperature was starting to become a bit of a challenge so I finished with a couple of favourites and the Pleiades was pretty high up at this point but still fairly well positioned. To be honest, I don't know if it was the cold, the slightly uncomfortable viewing position, or just getting used to the changes that more aperture brings, but for whatever reason I found it a little less impressive than usual. I stayed with it for a while before attempting the double cluster at near zenith.

Short story - I couldn't quite locate it - perhaps a combination of the altitude, LP, my rusty star hopping skills and the dawning realisation that I really need a RACI finder to complement this setup. Regardless, at this point the scant warmth from my hands was creating little clouds of condensation on the scope and mount which instantly frosted over - a sign to call it a night!

Edited by badhex
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A quick follow up session a few nights ago on the same Orion targets as above.

I had just selected EPs and started to locate the first target when a huge thick cloud rolled in - literally the only part of sky it was blocking was Orion! It ended up taking about 15 mins to clear, leaving me a mere 15 before the majority of my intended targets disappeared behind a building. 

I looked again for Struve 754 but was unable to split it. I have read that it can be tricky so I will have to try again when I have more time. 

Iota Orionis A and B were a much easier split this time, with separation seemingly wider. Not sure if it was due to the pair orbiting that it seemed wider? 

With Orion rapidly disappearing, I moved on to Altinak and friends for a few moments. Again I have never really spent time on this lovely collection of stars and I do not understand why. Hopefully there will be plenty more occasions to spend time with this group. 

Although all my planned targets were now hidden, it was still clear elsewhere so I grabbed a couple more doubles - 38 Lyncis and Mizar/Alcor to round off a short session. 

 

Edited by badhex
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12 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Brilliant report to read, look forward to more 👌

Thanks Lee! Look forward to getting out again myself so I can write one 🙂Nothing but total cloud cover here for a while 😭 

Edited by badhex
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23 minutes ago, badhex said:

Thanks Lee! Look forward to getting out again myself so I can write one 🙂Nothing but total cloud cover here for a while 😭 

Hopefully it won't be long for you to get out with the scope again, looking forward to another report 👍. I've been blessed with 3.5 nights in a row for imaging, so looking forward to seeing what the 294mc pro did for me 😊

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