Mostly Ursa Major Galaxies: OO/Helmerichs 12": 5th Feb 2022

[Captain Scarlet]

Lately it’s been very windy, but last night promised to be a relative lull before resumption of gales (45mph gusts as I write at midnight Sat 6th Feb), and forecast mostly clear with occasional bands of cloud. Strong wind was only due to die down around 8pm so I only started setting up then, and decided to go the whole hog and get the 300mm newt out (Helmerichs carbon tube, OO 1/10 300mm mirror). I wanted to look at galaxies in Leo and possibly Virgo, i.e. East to South, so I dragged my Berlebach Planet tripod, AZ-EQ6 and all the gubbins round to the clearing at the back of the house. My stuff is stored in a repurposed garage on the NW corner of the house, i.e. totally opposite side from where it's stored, and the set-up process takes about 20-30 minutes involving multiple trips around the house for counterweights, tube-rings, cables, eyepiece case, finders, Nexus, battery pack, collimation kit, observing chair, and of course the OTA itself. I'd decided that there was to be no dew, so I risked not bothering with running power leads for the hairdryer. Luckily, there was no dew.

I’d got almost everything out and was about to start the final trip for the OTA when I heard a pitter-patter on my jacket. A bit of rain from a band of passing cloud, fine no bother. Very soon it turned into rather heavy rain, then deluge and it was clear everything had to go back in, FAST! Once I’d got everything back in, quite annoyed, I posted a frustrated few words on the “what did you see tonight?” thread.

An hour or so later I went outside and (of course!) it was clear again. Could I be bothered to go through all that effort again? No. Yes. No. OK yes, but only on to the patio outside the ex-garage, much closer and quicker to set up. My unobstructed view from there is NW around to E, anything else has to be above about 35 degrees, so Leo was out  of the question, or so I thought (wrongly, luckily ).

Once set up, I aligned on Polaris and Alcyone, forgetting that my last outing with the Nexus DSC had been with my AYOii, and it was trying to tell me that Alcyone was below the horizon. I did this twice before realizing I needed to select the AZ-EQ6 in the Nexus. That done, and aligned successfully, my GoTo was unusually accurate the whole night. Every target went almost bang on. OK time to start observing. I put in my Ethos 13, giving me 141x and 0.71 degrees FoV, and actually didn’t use another eyepiece the whole session.

I started off by going through the list of objects I’d last found in Ursa Major through my 15x56 binoculars on a windy night a few nights previously: M51, M101, M108, M97, M109, M63.

M51 was astounding. Clear spirality around the brighter half and lots of nebulous structure around everything. I won’t forget that for a while. I think the best I've ever seen.

M101 was also surprising. I can find it quite readily in the 56mm binoculars but it’s very diffuse. At 141x magnification, even with 300mm of aperture, I was expecting it to be stretched out so much by the long focal length as to be undetectable. Not a bit of it. Its core leapt out and seemed rather bright. Hints of structure.

M108 appeared as a bright elongated mottled smudge, quite different from my few-days-prior barely detectable smear.

Very nearby, M97, the Owl Nebula, similarly was also (obviously) far far brighter than through the bins. Brightness notwithstanding, the owlishness was on the edge of discernment. I tried my Oiii filter and couldn’t decide if it made a difference, which means it didn’t.

M109 which I hadn’t observed before, was a “tick”, nice, not too much to see except definitely a galaxy, and definitely on the bright side.

I’d tried for M63, the Sunflower Galaxy through the binocs the other day and didn’t find it. No doubting it through the 12”, of course, though being another face-on type galaxy, detail was hard to come by.

Leo Triplet - I’d run out of my Ursa Major list, so I moved on to Leo, which I was surprised to see had now topped my southern-aspect roof and might be good. I found M66, with M65 just nearby and both were prominent and lovely. However, only two out of three (Leo Triplet). Last time I observed these through this scope, which IIRC was early January, I couldn’t find the third component NGC 3628, but tonight there was no doubt. Almost as bright and prominent as M’s 66 and 65, I could even just about imagine the meat in the burger (aka Hamburger Galaxy). A very nice view and one I’ll be returning to as Leo gets higher through the season. I didn’t quite have the FoV to see all three in one go and I couldn’t be bothered to change eyepieces.

M42 - My Western view suddenly became clear, clouds had up to then been obscuring that direction, so I turned 90 degrees to look at M42. As ever through this 300mm scope, the nebulosity was entrancing, 3D-like. Immediately too the Trapezium E was there, and F came and went, mainly as it was still a bit gusty so I had to be patient for the still moments. Seeing seemed decent though.

Next up was W Orionis, a carbon star, and yes it was decidedly orange, leaping out and no doubt which it was in the star-field. I do enjoy the very red stars. W Orionis and others were from a list of doubles and carbon stars I’d made up from SGL reports. But it’s been so long since starting the list, that most were by now too low to see properly. The only exception, aside from W Ori, was WZ Cas, another carbon star with a blue nearby. Again no mistaking!

My final target for the night was Uranus, and then to bed.

Quite glad to have been stubborn and set up my alt-az + biggish newt up TWICE in an evening, and I had some memorable views.

Cheers, Magnus

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Captain Scarlet

[cajen2]

Wow, quite a session, Magnus and shows how persistence can be key! I think I'd have been able to view about a tenth of what you managed.....😥

That newt of yours sounds a bit tasty, btw!

Edited February 6, 2022 by cajen2

[RobertI]

Great session, fantastic to hear what you can see with a 12”. I guess transparency was really good after rain, perfect for galaxies. 👍

[Kon]

Great report and your perseverance paid off! It seems that galaxy season is upon us soon. I quite enjoy looking at the M97/M108 with a low mag EP since I can have both in the same FOV.

[ShrewView]

Lovely write up. Sounds like you were rewarded for your persistence. I'd have probably given up. I really like the Leo triplet but like you I sometimes have found the third member either really elusive or really obvious. A good indicator of conditions, and great if you can squeeze them in the same field of view.

[Len1257]

Time to invest in a 4 wheel trolley perhaps Trolley ? Would certainly help with all the gubbins! Well done and an ispirational writeup. 

[Mr Spock]

Great sounding session. I'm looking forward to my 300 arriving though I feel light pollution will spoil my views somewhat.

[Stu]

Fantastic session Magnus, well done for being bloody mindedly persistent, it certainly paid off.

I’m sure, as Robert said, the rain probably help clean the skies and improve the transparency. I’ve only ever seen M51 spirals in @mapstar’s lovely 22” dob but it was a very poor night so whilst amazing, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Perhaps the 16” will do it from here, or near here.

[faulksy]

wow ace report magnus. 00 do make great mirrors 😄

[Captain Scarlet]

12 hours ago, cajen2 said:

Wow, quite a session, Magnus and shows how persistence can be key! I think I'd have been able to view about a tenth of what you managed.....😥

That newt of yours sounds a bit tasty, btw!

Thanks ... it started off life as my first upgrade, as a SW 300p. Over the years since I've replaced the secondary, primary, focuser and the tube itself. All that remains of the original are the spider and the primary cell, which has seen better days. The spider is fine, though I plan to build a better primary cell myself. Trigger's Broom as someone christened it!

11 hours ago, RobertI said:

Great session, fantastic to hear what you can see with a 12”. I guess transparency was really good after rain, perfect for galaxies. 👍

That hadn't occurred to me at the time, Rob, but yes you're likely right. You take it for granted at the time and only when looking back realize that something was very good about the session.

3 hours ago, Len1257 said:

Time to invest in a 4 wheel trolley perhaps Trolley ? Would certainly help with all the gubbins! Well done and an ispirational writeup. 

I was thinking wheelbarrow, actually, as there are steps and a rough change of gradient. I'll just have to avoid the temptation to put garden waste or soil in it though!

M

Edited February 6, 2022 by Captain Scarlet

[Captain Scarlet]

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Great sounding session. I'm looking forward to my 300 arriving though I feel light pollution will spoil my views somewhat.

When is it due?

[Captain Scarlet]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Fantastic session Magnus, well done for being bloody mindedly persistent, it certainly paid off.

I’m sure, as Robert said, the rain probably help clean the skies and improve the transparency. I’ve only ever seen M51 spirals in @mapstar’s lovely 22” dob but it was a very poor night so whilst amazing, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Perhaps the 16” will do it from here, or near here.

Thanks Stu. I'm looking forward to a report of how your 16" gets on in your new place. I was about to suggest you "nip" over to The Lizard as a dark sky site, but on looking it up I realized it's still a further 3 hours drive from you!!

[Mr Spock]

3 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

When is it due?

Forecast is mid February. But, it's been saying due 15-20 working days for the last two weeks  So who knows 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Thanks Stu. I'm looking forward to a report of how your 16" gets on in your new place. I was about to suggest you "nip" over to The Lizard as a dark sky site, but on looking it up I realized it's still a further 3 hours drive from you!!

Must sort myself out and have a good session with it. I think it will be worth going 15 or 20 mins out of town as it’s quite a lot darker there. It’s crazy how far it still is down there from here!

[jetstream]

Excellent report Magnus- great observing!

[mapstar]

A nice swirl around the messier objects and an enjoyable read.

As you say the wind around this new moon has been terrible and the December new moon was clouded out.

My scope has sat in storage since it's last outing in November. Hopefully the new moon will be better at the end of the month when I make my usual pilgrimage to the dark skies of the Galloway star party.