GSP 2022

[mapstar]

It is my 10th year at the Galloway star party and it has started with 2 clear nights. 

I'm here for the week as usual and some of the regulars are here already. We're waiting for a few more to turn up.

After pitching monday I set the scope up and all was going well until I plugged the dew heater battery in and nothing not even the meters came on 😡. A faulty switch was the cause and it was quickly bypassed. 

By this time it was 9pm and very dark so finally viewing could commence.

Gemini was placed well so I hopped up from pollux following the familiar trail of stars to look at NGC 2371. This planetary is split into 3 sections looking like a star wars tie fighter in the 22". No colour but a pleasant view.

Next up a hop down to NGC 2392 the Eskimo neb. Still blue to my eyes, the central star and outer structure easily visible. 

Heading further down the constellation I slid in the UHC filter and paid a visit to the Medusa nebula or Abell 21. Large and taking up 1/2 the field of view in the 13mm E it is probably twice the size of the crab nebula. Sharper and more defined on one side in my notes but didn't note which! Probably my eagerness to view other targets. 

I moved on and M51's galactic bridge was easy to see as were the spiral arms although there wasn't much in the way of fine detail. Transparency was pretty average although the seeing was good which would've been nice had their been any planets about. 

A quick spin of the scope and the Orion nebula was in the eyepiece. The usual easy 4 stars of the trapezium then the E and slightly more difficult F star. After 10mins of viewing I finally pulled out the G star. The H star(s) eluded me. Further out in the mouth of the nebula another faint star kept showing. Overall a nice view agreed by a couple of imagers (Pete and John) who had wandered over for a look.

So for a bit of a tester I fitted the H beta filter and checked if the horsey was about. Sure enough there it was tied to the usual 2 mane stars. Even Peters 70+ year old eye's took in the nebulous notch. 

After extinguishing the flame I moved on from Orion. It was good to be out under the dark galloway skies again. Often through the night I found myself stood staring for 10 mins just using the mk1 eyeball as I picked out another target.

M13 and M92 looked as good as ever and the Leo triplet did. After a few more well known objects I opened the star chart to hunt down some fainter stuff. None of which I noted down as my book was in the van and I didn't want to upset everyone with a Blackpool illuminations display!!! (Sorted before Tuesdays viewing) 

The temperature dropped to a chilly -5°C and the views suddenly began to get dimmer?  after my battery problems I'd forgot to put the secondary heater on and it was like an ice pop hung out there! 

Dew heater on cuppa and 15mins later the 5.25" secondary had cleared enough to view again.

I finally turned in at 5am a healthy frost covering everything. 

Onto Tuesday which I'll post later. 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by mapstar

[Jiggy 67]

Sounds like as amazing night, the clear nights WILL continue 😀

[Stu]

Lovely stuff Damian, great to see you posting reports again 👍👍. Still remember viewing M51 through your scope. The skies were a bit rubbish as I recall but it was still amazing to see those spirals!

[mapstar]

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

Lovely stuff Damian, great to see you posting reports again 👍👍. Still remember viewing M51 through your scope. The skies were a bit rubbish as I recall but it was still amazing to see those spirals!

It's been a while Stu and not a detailed report but had a lot on for the last couple of years and hopefully get another on soon. 

[estwing]

Great start to Galloway....see you Thursday 👍