Messiers with a Mak 127 on the South Downs

[SuburbanMak]

I was in two minds whether to observe Saturday night after a very late astro-night on Friday and quite a few sessions over the last week - all hampered by transparency to a greater or lesser degree. A glance at this week’s forecast however showed that the run of clear nights is sadly coming to an end, convincing me to forego (or at least postpone!) my Saturday night red wine and drive out to my darkest local site to see if I could even the odds a bit with this haze. 
 
I loaded the car with both the Mak 127 on AZGTi/Berlebach 312 and the ST80 on a Manfrotto 55.   The main weapons of choice were the Baader Hyperion 24mm in  the Mak giving 63x and just over a degree fov occasionally dropping in the BCO 18mm for 83x and with the Baader Mk IV zoom on hand for alignment and higher power. Had a Celestron 40mm Plossl in the ST80 all night giving a crisp, bright 4.3 degree field with 10x.  

Having got the backpacks to my usual spot  around 10pm, I switched off my red head torch and took in the surroundings.   There was a weird sky glow from the lights of Southampton docks and away to Portsmouth in the East. Naked eye was a Mag 2 sky up to 30-40 degrees but above that, much better - all of Ursa Minor visible and the Beehive and Coma star clusters easily visible naked eye.  
I took my time levelling the scope and using high magnification to align on Arcturus & Capella. 
While waiting for my eyes to fully aclimatize, I took a quick GoTo tour of M36/7/8 in Auriga and then on to a spectacular view of M35 in Gemini. Then on to the familiar lost-in-space view of the M44 Beehive and the, to me at least, mysterious M67 both in Cancer. 
All of this verified year the GoTo was smack on tonight and a combination of the slightly darker site (normally SQ 21.04, solid Bortle 4) and I would say somewhat better transparency than earlier in the week encouraged me to get to the intergalactic business in hand. 

M65/6 - immediately apparent fuzzy cores in the same field and some wider  nebulous form on a long look. Hunted in vain for NGC3628 to complete the trio but couldn’t pull it out. Weird as I would say it was immediately apparent in a worse night earlier in the week. 
M95/6 faint grey ovals, slightly brighter at the core. 
M105 - detectable again with some extent beyond the core no detail & couldn’t confirm its companion NGCs tonight. 
Mizar- good seeing, lovely clean split & starfield confirming alignment still accurate before going after… 

M101 - got myself in the right spot looking at the bisecting line of 3 7th Mag stars just  below 86UM.  A faint fuzzy core and in AV a wider mottled patch. Couldn’t see a spiral but confirmed my dim view from earlier in the week. 

M106 - better view tonight and noted it’s position in the middle of reasonably prominent triangle of 6th-8th Mag stars. Reminded me of a dim M82. 

M108 - identifiable as another faint grey stripe within a dogleg line of stars. Another Messier ticked but really just list checking this one as no detail.  Also picked up the circle of M97 just off the edge of the same field. Both really faint - the Owl jumped out a little more due to its distinctive circular shape which registers more easily. No sign of the Owls eyes for me. 
Was done craning at the Zenith by this time and given how faint these last few had been didn’t fancy my chances on M109 tonight so swung in search of targets at a more comfortable elevation.

 
Re-centred on  Spica then Porrima and dropped into the haze at 25 degrees with low expectations. Delighted to immediately make out M104 the Sombrero galaxy! Super view with a prominent quadruple star group as a pointer to the NW & sitting in a rich field. Clear “flying saucer” form and a hint of dust stripe in AV. Thrilled, I even went back to the car for my notebook & made a (very) rough sketch. Looked at this for a long time. 

M84/6 & Markarian’s chain - drank in the view of multiple smudges, picking up 5 in the field tonight. I reckon were M84, M 86, NGC4435,4438 & 4388. Not the most I’ve picked up here but a mind blowing view nevertheless. 
Getting cold by now I swept some clusters with the ST80 - Berenices Hairclip in Coma Berenice looking great & it’s yellow stars contrasting with the white of the Beehive M44. 
Had a quick tour of some favourites - great AV resolution on M13, mistier M3, nice crisp ring on M57.  
Went back to the Leo Trio but was still unable to definitively claim the Hamburger, NGC 3628, hints only. 
 
Finished with another visit to M104, definitely on my Messiers for the Mak 127 highlights list from now on. 

Cold but really pleased I drove slowly home at 01.30 only to discover it was 2.30! (I find I always drive really slowly back after a good session, this time listening to the slow movement of Brahms 
1st piano concerto on the radio, whose last note died away as I pulled into my drive. Perfect.) 
 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[Davesellars]

Great report of a very productive evening!  It sounds like a very nice place to observe.

[SuburbanMak]

42 minutes ago, Davesellars said:

Great report of a very productive evening!  It sounds like a very nice place to observe.

It’s a lovely spot, quite high up with daytime views from Portsmouth to the Purbeck Hills & across the Isle of Wight. A place of skylarks by day and big skies by night. Can be breezy though. 
Mind you there’s some nice spots round Belper (a Derbyshire lad here, grew up in Long Eaton). 

[Stu]

Nice report, some not dissimilar targets to my session the other night, but you had more success in Markarian’s chain and other galaxies. Well worth the trip out by the sounds of it. I’ve done lots of observing down on the Purbeck peninsula, good skies down there.

[Zermelo]

An excellent read, perfect indeed.

In particular, your success with the Sombrero down in the murk, in spite of the earlier NGC3628 no-show (I assume you meant 3628, not 2628, as the third member of the trio), was interesting. The only time I tried for the Sombrero, it was a barely detectable smudge - like many Messiers in my scopes! But I have seen the Hamburger a couple of times from my garden, so I'll definitely have another go at M104 soon.

[Kon]

Very nice report and great set of targets. I like your sketch as well. Your transparency seems to have been a lot better than most of us.

[SuburbanMak]

12 hours ago, Kon said:

Very nice report and great set of targets. I like your sketch as well. Your transparency seems to have been a lot better than most of us.

Thank you - it’s a good solid Bortle 4 and I’ve noticed before what a difference I can see from there on galaxies in particular - finding a trace of those that are invisible from my semi urban site & seeing some form in those that are mere smudges from the park & undetectable from the garden. 
Although I was cursing the breeze at the start of the session I do think it was helping transparency vs down in the valley.   I don’t normally report better transparency than most, in fact Winchester’s maze of rivers from the valley site and closeness to the mist generating Solent usually mean I struggle a bit.  Based on what I could see in Ursa Minor and Berenice’s cluster NELM was deeper than 5, quite good down to around 45 degrees elevation where is did worsen toward the horizon.  When hunting M101 I also noted the line of stars down from Mizar to 86 UM was visible naked eye and these confirm that Mag5+ Sky at the zenith.   

[SuburbanMak]

On 28/03/2022 at 19:22, Zermelo said:

An excellent read, perfect indeed.

In particular, your success with the Sombrero down in the murk, in spite of the earlier NGC3628 no-show (I assume you meant 3628, not 2628, as the third member of the trio), was interesting. The only time I tried for the Sombrero, it was a barely detectable smudge - like many Messiers in my scopes! But I have seen the Hamburger a couple of times from my garden, so I'll definitely have another go at M104 soon.

Corrected the NGC number thank you, quite right. 
I was really surprised by how good a view M104 was - galaxies that show some form vs. just being detectable are at a premium for the Mak 127 and I fully expected this to be a “ticking off” object. But it’s not just the galaxy itself, I found it a really great field around. 

[wookie1965]

I am so jealous from home I cannot pick out M66,M65 or M51 for that matter and I have a 5" refractor I must go to a dark site if I can find one close enough especially now with fuel prices.

[wesdon1]

On 28/03/2022 at 14:55, SuburbanMak said:

I was in two minds whether to observe Saturday night after a very late astro-night on Friday and quite a few sessions over the last week - all hampered by transparency to a greater or lesser degree. A glance at this week’s forecast however showed that the run of clear nights is sadly coming to an end, convincing me to forego (or at least postpone!) my Saturday night red wine and drive out to my darkest local site to see if I could even the odds a bit with this haze. 
 
I loaded the car with both the Mak 127 on AZGTi/Berlebach 312 and the ST80 on a Manfrotto 55.   The main weapons of choice were the Baader Hyperion 24mm in  the Mak giving 63x and just over a degree fov occasionally dropping in the BCO 18mm for 83x and with the Baader Mk IV zoom on hand for alignment and higher power. Had a Celestron 40mm Plossl in the ST80 all night giving a crisp, bright 4.3 degree field with 10x.  

Having got the backpacks to my usual spot  around 10pm, I switched off my red head torch and took in the surroundings.   There was a weird sky glow from the lights of Southampton docks and away to Portsmouth in the East. Naked eye was a Mag 2 sky up to 30-40 degrees but above that, much better - all of Ursa Minor visible and the Beehive and Coma star clusters easily visible naked eye.  
I took my time levelling the scope and using high magnification to align on Arcturus & Capella. 
While waiting for my eyes to fully aclimatize, I took a quick GoTo tour of M36/7/8 in Auriga and then on to a spectacular view of M35 in Gemini. Then on to the familiar lost-in-space view of the M44 Beehive and the, to me at least, mysterious M67 both in Cancer. 
All of this verified year the GoTo was smack on tonight and a combination of the slightly darker site (normally SQ 21.04, solid Bortle 4) and I would say somewhat better transparency than earlier in the week encouraged me to get to the intergalactic business in hand. 

M65/6 - immediately apparent fuzzy cores in the same field and some wider  nebulous form on a long look. Hunted in vain for NGC3628 to complete the trio but couldn’t pull it out. Weird as I would say it was immediately apparent in a worse night earlier in the week. 
M95/6 faint grey ovals, slightly brighter at the core. 
M105 - detectable again with some extent beyond the core no detail & couldn’t confirm its companion NGCs tonight. 
Mizar- good seeing, lovely clean split & starfield confirming alignment still accurate before going after… 

M101 - got myself in the right spot looking at the bisecting line of 3 7th Mag stars just  below 86UM.  A faint fuzzy core and in AV a wider mottled patch. Couldn’t see a spiral but confirmed my dim view from earlier in the week. 

M106 - better view tonight and noted it’s position in the middle of reasonably prominent triangle of 6th-8th Mag stars. Reminded me of a dim M82. 

M108 - identifiable as another faint grey stripe within a dogleg line of stars. Another Messier ticked but really just list checking this one as no detail.  Also picked up the circle of M97 just off the edge of the same field. Both really faint - the Owl jumped out a little more due to its distinctive circular shape which registers more easily. No sign of the Owls eyes for me. 
Was done craning at the Zenith by this time and given how faint these last few had been didn’t fancy my chances on M109 tonight so swung in search of targets at a more comfortable elevation.

 
Re-centred on  Spica then Porrima and dropped into the haze at 25 degrees with low expectations. Delighted to immediately make out M104 the Sombrero galaxy! Super view with a prominent quadruple star group as a pointer to the NW & sitting in a rich field. Clear “flying saucer” form and a hint of dust stripe in AV. Thrilled, I even went back to the car for my notebook & made a (very) rough sketch. Looked at this for a long time. 

M84/6 & Markarian’s chain - drank in the view of multiple smudges, picking up 5 in the field tonight. I reckon were M84, M 86, NGC4435,4438 & 4388. Not the most I’ve picked up here but a mind blowing view nevertheless. 
Getting cold by now I swept some clusters with the ST80 - Berenices Hairclip in Coma Berenice looking great & it’s yellow stars contrasting with the white of the Beehive M44. 
Had a quick tour of some favourites - great AV resolution on M13, mistier M3, nice crisp ring on M57.  
Went back to the Leo Trio but was still unable to definitively claim the Hamburger, NGC 3628, hints only. 
 
Finished with another visit to M104, definitely on my Messiers for the Mak 127 highlights list from now on. 

Cold but really pleased I drove slowly home at 01.30 only to discover it was 2.30! (I find I always drive really slowly back after a good session, this time listening to the slow movement of Brahms 
1st piano concerto on the radio, whose last note died away as I pulled into my drive. Perfect.) 
 

 

 

What a perfect night! I was recently doing a brief visual of Andromeda galaxy/M31 and what really struck me was the difference I was seeing when using the AV technique! I would hazard a guess that using AV increased M31's core brightnes by atleast two Magnitudes!? I wish I would have sketched what I saw like you did! I used my 38mm Panaview 70afov EP. Tbh I am not the biggest fan of that particular EP, but it does still do a decent job of larger nebulae and M31.  I didn't have dark adapted eyes, and was viewing literally in the middle of a major city, with street lights all around me, so not bad at all, considering!

Thank You for a great post, and Clear Skies! 

Wes, Liverpool UK.