Observing under nautical twilight.

[Graham Darke]

At my location, of almost 55 degrees North, this time of year is often a barren period for observing. During most of June here the Sun never gets more than 12 degrees below the northern horizon so I am stuck with nautical twilight until the second week of July. That is when brief periods of astronomical twilight begin to return. From my Bortle 7/8 home site, light pollution effectively renders true astronomical darkness as indistinguishable from astronomical twilight anyway so I am happy observing when the Sun dips below the 12 degree line.

 I recently bought an Orion Optics VX12L dob from another member on here and well I’ve been itching to get out with it. I had a few nights last week looking at the Moon in civil twilight and was very pleased with what I saw. This scope is a light bucket, however, and faint fuzzy hunting was the motivation for buying it. 
 

Seeing a clear sky after midnight here last night and really not expecting to see very much at all I set up anyway. The area around the Summer Triangle is a personal favourite. There are more than enough varied targets in and around the triangle to keep an observer busy for several hours.  First target was M13 which was nicely resolved around its edges using a 12mm eyepiece to give 133x. Looking forward to seeing this again in a darker sky next month. Next up was the Ring Nebula M57. It was incredibly bright and well defined. A much better view than I was expecting given the sky conditions and a highlight of the night. Then onto M27 the Dumbbell Nebula. Again very easy to pick out. I tried my Astronomik OIII filter at this point which really helped to darken the sky down and made the definition of the nebula much better. With this filter in place (and always fond of a challenge) I tried for the Veil Nebula in Cygnus next. I really thought I wouldn’t see this but there it was, a few days before the Summer Solstice from 54.5 degrees North! Certainly not the best view of it but it was unmistakably there nonetheless and both sides of the loop were on show. I headed back over to the Ring for another look before rounding off the night by picking off a few double stars in Lyra and Cygnus. Double stars have always been a welcome target for me at this time of year as they can be picked out of the twilight sky with ease. I have a nice refractor that I normally employ for the purpose. I am pleased to say, however, that I now have in my arsenal of scopes one that will give really nice views of bright deep sky objects in the bright skies of Summer.

I have access to dark skies (Bortle 3) about 40 mins drive from home. Appetite duly whetted for when astronomical darkness returns to the Northeast…

[Gonariu]

It would bother me very much that during the summer, which is the period in which one can enjoy astronomical observation without the cold or with milder temperatures like you in the UK, to have problems with twilight or white nights. The winter cold sometimes dissuades me from putting out the telescope as I have a mild chronic pharyngitis and, in these times, even a simple sore throat (which sometimes comes to me) can be a symptom of covid (in normal times not me it mattered nothing). Remarkable is the commitment and tenacity with which you exploit even the least favorable situations with good results.

[Graham Darke]

4 hours ago, Gonariu said:

It would bother me very much that during the summer, which is the period in which one can enjoy astronomical observation without the cold or with milder temperatures like you in the UK, to have problems with twilight or white nights. The winter cold sometimes dissuades me from putting out the telescope as I have a mild chronic pharyngitis and, in these times, even a simple sore throat (which sometimes comes to me) can be a symptom of covid (in normal times not me it mattered nothing). Remarkable is the commitment and tenacity with which you exploit even the least favorable situations with good results.

I too enjoy the milder nights of Summer despite all the challenges of a lack of darkness. Some very interesting parts of the sky are visible at this time of year towards the galactic centre. 

[Gonariu]

Yes, in the summer they are seen among the best DSOs of the year, many of them in Sagittarius. Tonight I think I'll put myself after dinner to see something, I won't wait for the astronomical twilight (around 11pm) because after dinner I get a deadly sleep, a few weeks ago I was about to fall asleep on the telescope (a small achromatic 80/400 on a good photographic tripod) with the risk of combining damage .....

[NGC 1502]

Late to the party here but in response to the opening post-

I’m further south in Essex so that will help a bit with a slightly darker sky.  But for me it’s well worth observing from my back yard in a large town.  As mentioned there’s lots of worthwhile objects as long as I’m patient to wait until late evening. 2 nights ago I was out with my 10” Dob.  From 10.30pm BST lots of great double stars were seen.  Obviously if there had been any bright planets they would have been observed. By 11.30 lots of DSOs, similar to the opening post.

My final objects at around midnight was M13 and M92.  Almost overhead, and in the haze free transparent sky they were fabulous.  Globular clusters take high power well, I used 200/240/300x to good effect, a ball of pinpoint stsrs.

The message is get out there, no need for 6 layers, just a light woolly as the temperature dropped. And yes I did have a pair of jeans on too😁