Impromptu Session 5/6th May 2022

[PeterStudz]

5th to 6th May 2022, Southampton, Bortle 7, Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dob. PSAlign Pro PushTo.

Been busy so it’s taken a while for me to write up anything (I started then stopped) but it was so much fun, if rather tiring, that it might be useful for someone. This, as the title suggests, was completely unplanned especially since I had to get up at 7am for work the next day. 

At about 11pm I had a look outside before I thought I’d head off to bed. The sky looked nice, clear & dark with what moon there was clearing out of the way. A scan around with my binoculars, the forecast for the rest of the week and the fact true darkness was rapidly fading in the near future had me dithering for about 30mins - it did look decent - so I thought I’d take the Dob outside for, maybe, a quick hour session. Now, I kind of knew that it wouldn’t just be 1 hour, it never is!

After having a coffee as the Dob cooled for about 20mins I started observing at about 11:45. And for once it was wasn’t freezing cold, a light coat was enough with no need to wrap up which was nice. For some time I have been playing with the PushTo feature in PSAlign Pro with my phone strapped to the OTA. So I aligned to Arcturus, Sync to Target and pushed-to M3. And immediately there it is was in the 25mm. I used PSAlign Pro in order to find most targets and every time bar one the target was in the low power eyepiece - it was impressive!

M3

It was in my “dark” part of my sky. At low power it was just a smudge and I changed eyepieces to try a tease out more stars. At 12mm I could make out some stars in and around the cluster. I also like using a 5mm eyepiece on globulars. Here I could see a couple of dozen stars “winking” in and out of view as I nudged the Dob.

M13

This was now getting higher in the sky and coming into my “dark” patch. Even though it was significant lower than M3 it was obviously brighter. Individual stars starting to show in my 12mm eyepiece. I decided to leave it for a while and go back later.

M92

This was a bit higher than M13, looked might “tighter” than M13 & M3. Again, individual stars starting to show in my 12mm. 

M81 & M82

These are the only galaxies that I’ve been able to observe from my garden. I have seen them better but they aren’t in a good position now, starting to go over the top of my house. Still, nice getting a view of both in the same FOV  in my 25mm. I also practiced randomly knocking the Dob and then manually (without pushto) star hoping back to target. I did this with other targets too as it’s obviously good practice. 

M3, M13 & M92

I went back and forth between these globules and comparing. The PushTo of PSAligh Pro making this task easy. It was interesting watching the view of M13 improve as it slowly got higher in the sky. Eventually and even with the 25mm I could resolve stars! The first time I’ve been able to do this at such low power. Higher magnification revealed what looked like dozens of stars winking in and out. And at times I could even make out the propeller - another first.

M57

One of my favourites and seems to do well in a light polluted sky. Also the first time I’d since it since last year. I tend to like viewing this at relatively low magnification - just enough to bring out the ring - as to me it looks “spooky” with a background and frame of other stars. I can remember when I first located it last year, just by accident whilst blindly scanning the sky. It immediately jumped out as something unusual and it was a “what on earth is that” moment. 

M27

It was getting late now, about 2:15am, but I decided to have one last blast and  view M27. I’d tried last year, found it, but the few times I’d tried it was rather disappointing - just a very faint smudge. However, this time was different. Even though it still wasn’t that high in the sky I could easily make out its characteristic shape. Looked best in my 12mm. With averted vision I could also make out subtle structure. Had me going “ohhh & ahhh…” in my head.  I was chuffed! 

Finally called it a night at around 2:35am. Packing up I noticed that the telescope did not have any condensation, even after brining it inside for a while. Now that doesn’t happen very often. Got to bed at about 3:15 but with all the concentration wasn’t asleep until around 4am. With just 3 hours sleep I was knackered and it took me several days to recover. Though definitely worth it for what was (so far) one of my best nights of the year. The only negative was that it was a school night and my daughter couldn’t take part. 

Some things that I’ve learned….

My sky is generally darkest between 1 - 3am. Not just slightly but a significant difference. If you can stay up this late and there’s still astro dark, it’s worth it. 

This night definitely had good seeing and transparency. But another impact might have been all the work I’ve put into the telescope - eg flocking, stripping it down, cleaning, collimating etc. Probably a combination of these things. 

Although I’d used PushTo I’d also practiced star hopping. After you get familiar with the space & stars near a target star hoping starts to become intuitive. Often I haven’t a clue what all the stars are called but I can recognise the pattern of stars as find my way around and get closer to target. A bit like finding your around a forest when off path. You don’t need to know what the trees are called but with experience you can recognise the pattern of trees, plants and landscape, eventually navigating with ease - without a map/gps and without much thought. 

[Kon]

Great report Peter and nice targets. In my eyes M57 is a welcome sight to the summer observing season.

[PeterStudz]

Even though it’s not fully dark now I’m looking forward to looking at M57 and some of these other targets during the summer months. Hopefully with a last minute  camping trip to somewhere with less light pollution too!