Murky at the Helipad

[OK Apricot]

Last night I tried a new observing location 400yds from a police helicopter base. I used to visit this site with Central Midlands Stargazers a number of years back and the sky was always pretty good - quite far from any large light pollution, towns etc and an almost unspoilt panoramic horizon. I thought it'd be interesting to get back over there and compare what I've learned now against my memory. 

When I arrived, however, it was immediately obvious that seeing was poor. Very poor. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but there was a whole lot of murk. I'd planned on observing a few double stars and a deep sky target or two, mainly to test the accuracy of my AZ GTi again (yes! I've finally managed to get a few good alignments 😁). 

Conditions & equipment -  Skymax 127 AZ GTi, 40, 15, 9mm and 2x Barlow. Approx 11°C, slightest breath of a breeze. Very turbulent near horizon, pickering 2-3 at times, zenith approx pickering 6-7. Transparency very poor. Bortle 4-5. To give you an idea, here's a snap I took while waiting for the ISS. Just look at that orange glow 😒. 

First up was Sirius. I seem to have a bash at this every time I go out, so with a bit more purpose this time, at 100x the image was pretty clean, though no split. 167x was a bit more "rough" on the eyes. Sirius was like a set of disco lights - we all know what I'm on about. Barlowed the 15mm for 200x but it was clear that I was not going to catch the pup tonight. 

Next was Rigel. Very low in the sky, sub 10° but did manage to catch the companion. 100x showed a very faint speck of light in close proximity to brilliantly blue/while Rigel. 167x with the 9mm did not happen. It amplified the appalling seeing and with the higher magnification, the speck was gone. 

Castor was much more comfortably high in the sky. At 100x a steady image of two glossy white marbles, with the companion showing slightly but noticeably dimmer. 167x showed a more pronounced separation and retained the colour and gradient of brightness. 

Mintaka was a very easy double, showing a clear split with just 38x. A lovely image due to the lower magnification, clear blue/white tones with a dimmer companion. Well separated at 100x, the companion a dim but definite point of light. 

Algieba showed an elongated white/orange at 38x, while the 15mm at 100x brought out good separation and colour offering a deeper yellow/orange for both similarly bright stars. 

Epsilon Boots (I know its Bootes, but can't wrap my head around the pronunciation so boots is easier, and adds a touch of my childish personality 👀). Not one I've visited before, or knew the location of, so was trusting the AZ GTi entirely to get me there, and she delivered perfectly. At 100x a bright orange marble was on show, teasing a faint speck close by - very faint. I wasn't sure if this was my eyes, an artifact of the seeing or optics, but I'll put this one down as a 'maybe' for now. The 9mm did not improve things. 

The last double was Cor Carol. A beautiful pair at 100x showing a bright white with a blue tinge. The companion was a fair bit dimmer but much more pronounced than a speck. 167x didn't really improve the image, but offered a slightly wider separation. 

With it being a school night, I had to pack up soon but needed my DSO fix. With conditions at the time I was quite limited to brighter targets, globular clusters fitting the criteria. A short hop down to a very lively M3. Viewed best at 100x, a grey grainy fuzz ball with a few darker gradients. I feel like with averted vision I could resolve a star or two... Maybe on a darker night. I couldn't resist getting my phone out for a picture 🤣. A most impressive visual target with lots going on in the image. 

 

I gave nearby M51 a try but was not expecting much given the conditions. Last time I viewed this picturesque object through this scope, I could quite clearly make out its main spiral arms and the link arm to NGC5195. This time I could barely make out any fuzz at all, even with averted vision and wobbling the mount. The cores were reasonably identifiable, but that was about it. Changing eyepieces had no noticeable effect on the image. 

With these conditions and not knowing where M87 was, the AZ GTi was in the spotlight again, and delivered once again. It performed flawlessly for the whole session - excellent goto accuracy and the tracking was spot on. Anyway, M87 was a slightly more nebulous grey smudge against an already nebulous sky. Not much to see here, but galaxy season is upon us, and this murky haze will be gone at some point! 

A decent session considering the circumstances, made all the more enjoyable by a now-working-well AZ GTi.