2 hours, 100 miles = a sea of stars

[bomberbaz]

The title sums it up as briefly as possible, but let me put some more meat on the bones.

I found, using a combination of the light pollution map and google maps/earth what I hoped to be a superb dark sky site. Great I hear you say, but (there is always a but) this site was 100 miles and nearly 2 hours drive away in Keswick.

Unperturbed by this I decided to give it a go last night, no moon to speak of and forcast clear skies. So packing my TS350 dob, two boxes of glass and a variety of other bits and bobs into the boot of the car and set off. 45 minutes in up the M6 I realised I had forgotten my observing seat yet again, gahhhhhhh 🤬

I managed a workaround to that seat issue using my manfrotto, a picture of this can be seen below. Not the most comfortable but I made use of it a few times. 🤣 Marks for ingenuity?

To the nitty gritty. After setting up well before dark I was concerned that the sky was very cloudy and not at all what clear outside forecasted. My concern (and most of the clouds) evaporated just before dark as it all just suddenly cleared and left me with dark and beautifully starred skies above. See picture below, just a 30 second snap with a small stretch.

So one of my aims was to test out exit pupils on HB and OIII filters. I tried out both the filters on many different nebulae of differing type, emissions and make up and to cut it all short, the 24mm APM with an exit pupil of 4.9mm was for me the most consistant performer. Rather ironic given all my work as it was bought as a HB filter in the first place 🙄It provided the most contrast, definition and brightness of the eyepieces used. (Exit pupil variance from 3.5 to 5.8mm)

Back to the venue, it was selected based upon it having a good allround darkness and specifically a dark southern horizon. The bush in the picture above is due south, remember that picture is 30 seconds at ISO 800 and is stretched, it was super dark in comparison to my previous dark site used.

My second DSO of the night showed just how good the horizon was, I went to M17 Omega/Swan nebula using the APM 24 as the opening eyepiece armed with an astronomik OIII filter and "wow", I mean "WOW". This is without a shadow of a doubt the best view of the Swan I have seen by a country mile.  The shape,  structure and strength of the nebula itself was quite sublime, it gave an almost 3D effect though the depth and variance of the nebula combined with the structure within, the wings were absolutely gorgeous, you get the picture. (This is at 15 degrees on the horizon) Now this was a very difficult object to view as it was, as mentioned so low and even with the boot stool, my back was going crazy but I did find it so very hard to pull myself away from it, it was simply stunning!

I had similar superb results on the whole veil, it just jumped out at you, the crescent was popping readily into view showing a fully joined image, again with good structure around the inner area, the pacman and bubble nebula were firsts at this venue with the former providing the most detail/structure and firsts again for heart and soul nebula. The last two weren't brilliant but I got them as it were.

With the HB my previous venue gave blanks on all but Campbell's hydrogen star & california. Last night I added to that with first sightings of gamma cygni, the cocoon and Sharpless2-91 & 101. None of the four firsts were much to write home about, mainly fuzzing or hazing of the sky although gamma cygni gave a feint amount of structure by running the FOV slowly over the area of nebulosity.

Other viewing were M31, 33, 101, 102, 81, 82, 51. All of these were excellent objects to behold in these lovely dark skies. I was using the Baader 8-24 to zoom in and out to find the best strength to apply to them. x140 seems to be the sweet spot for galaxies using the dob although I went as high as x215 and although I loved the ubiquitous zoom, I missed having the extra FOV that my Nikon gives me when viewing galaxy DSO.

I viewed a few other clusters and doubles, again the zoom excels here (Albireo was a peach) and I have one final object to report on with a question.

I spent a while viewing M57 the ring, I was cranked right in at x215 (no filter) and I am sure I could see a greenish bluish tinge to the nebula. Am I imagining this or has anyone else seen this?

In summary an excellent site that has only been excelled by my visits to Galloway. An overall 9 out of 10 for darkness that produced an SQM reading of 21.15 and likewise a 9/10 for an excellent southern horizon, the one area I have constantly struggled with.

Down side distance but of course you get out of this hobby what you put into it.

I will be back for a couple of goes over the winter viewing during galaxy season where I think it will really excel. Going forward my 25 minute drive (SQM 20.5 ish) site with an average southern aspect will remain my chosen site for the bulk of my viewing. 

I have enjoyed writing this review as I was reliving my exploits of last night whilst doing so.

thanks for reading.

Steve

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by bomberbaz

[Ags]

10 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

I am sure I could see a greenish bluish tinge to the nebula. Am I imagining this or has anyone else seen this?

I have seen the greenish tinge too. I think the Ring is one of the best colored DSOs.

It sounds like a great site. Great seat too - are you filing a patent?

[josefk]

That’s a great report Steve. M17 sounds good especially. I’ve seen it without a filter “at my dark sky site” but “only” very dark grey on an even darker grey background so I’m keen to use a filter as you have done to maximise the contrast. 
 

Per M57 I like The Ring a lot and have spent quite a lot of time with it in the eyepiece but sadly I haven’t seen any hint of colour. So far 🙂  

[globular]

17 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

I am sure I could see a greenish bluish tinge to the nebula. Am I imagining this

My notes for the ring nebula a few weeks ago say the same thing... "WOW it's so big tonight... I'm sure I can see some structure and blueness in the centre... or am I being influenced by images I've seen.... I don't think so..."

[Kon]

Excellent report and lots of nice targets.

[GordonD]

Lovely report. I enjoyed reading this - thanks for posting it. Sounds like great location.

[JeremyS]

Cracking report @bomberbaz 👍🏻

[F15Rules]

Lovely report, Steve👍..

..and, just for that first picture of your makeshift seat I think you should be awarded the O.B.E. (Order of the Boot Extended, of course!)😊

Dave

[jock1958]

Excellent report.
On Monday night I was in my back garden and had some lovely views of the Swan using my 4” Tak, 14mm Delos & Nebustar filter, what surprised me was how big it was and the detail I managed to pull out. 
The Lagoon looked excellent as well showing loads of detail considering how low it is just now. 

[cajen2]

I've only ever observed the Ring once, with my 8" dob in a light-polluted sky with a bright moon and of course I couldn't see any colour. @Mike Q reports seeing it as clearly blue in his 10" dob in much darker skies.

Edited August 31, 2022 by cajen2

[Davesellars]

A really great report Steve!  I'm sure truly dark skies makes the world of difference and well worth the petrol...   it sounds like a good site - I've been up to Keswick many times although before I really got into astronomy .  I can think of a few good accessible places - in fact I believe there's a campsite close(ish) to the stone circle location up there would be a great place for it.

[Guest]

@cajen2, the wife said it was definitely blue.  It looked blue to me.... So blue it is.  Might have had a touch of green in there but under my bortle 4 skies on that particular night it was blue.  This is also a good reminder that i really need to take a pad of paper and a pen out with me so i can make note of what eyepieces, filters and what the overall conditions were that particular evening.  

Edited August 31, 2022 by Mike Q

[globular]

1 hour ago, Mike Q said:

@cajen2, the wife said it was definitely blue.  It looked blue to me.... So blue it is.  Might have had a touch of green in there but under my bortle 4 skies on that particular night it was blue.  This is also a good reminder that i really need to take a pad of paper and a pen out with me so i can make note of what eyepieces, filters and what the overall conditions were that particular evening.  

I dictate into voice notes on my phone while I'm at the eyepiece.  Then write them up the next day.  When you play it back you can do it at increased speed and get it to miss out the gaps.. so it's pretty quick to do.  I find it leaves much more time to observe... when I used to make paper notes I lost a lot of observing time and/or often didn't bother taking notes at all.

[Epick Crom]

Fantastic report Steve! Regarding the Ring Nebula, it maxes out at 20 degrees above the horizon here and I see it as a light blue colour through my 10 inch dob in my bortle 6 backyard. A fantastic ghostly sight!

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, globular said:

I dictate into voice notes on my phone while I'm at the eyepiece.  Then write them up the next day.  When you play it back you can do it at increased speed and get it to miss out the gaps.. so it's pretty quick to do.  I find it leaves much more time to observe... when I used to make paper notes I lost a lot of observing time and/or often didn't bother taking notes at all

I am a pen and paper kind of guy.  Call me old school lol

[Stu]

Excellent report Steve, getting a big dob under a decent clear sky  is always a wow moment.

I bet you looked like someone had kicked you on the backside after using your seat! 😂

[bomberbaz]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

Excellent report Steve, getting a big dob under a decent clear sky  is always a wow moment.

I bet you looked like someone had kicked you on the backside after using your seat! 😂

I could have kicked myself I was so annoyed as this was the second time out I had forgotten my seat. I had even written on the bottom of my observing notes, "Don't forget seat" in bold type, fgs. 🙄

 

11 hours ago, Davesellars said:

 in fact I believe there's a campsite close(ish) to the stone circle location up there would be a great place for it.

My observing site is just off the side of the road very near the stone circle. I was looking at the stone circle area as the southern aspect is more level, next time I go up there I will arrive a bit earlier to see if there is a second spot I can try out. 👌

 

[JeremyS]

22 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

The title sums it up as briefly as possible, but let me put some more meat on the bones.

I found, using a combination of the light pollution map and google maps/earth what I hoped to be a superb dark sky site. Great I hear you say, but (there is always a but) this site was 100 miles and nearly 2 hours drive away in Keswick.

Unperturbed by this I decided to give it a go last night, no moon to speak of and forcast clear skies. So packing my TS350 dob, two boxes of glass and a variety of other bits and bobs into the boot of the car and set off. 45 minutes in up the M6 I realised I had forgotten my observing seat yet again, gahhhhhhh 🤬

I managed a workaround to that seat issue using my manfrotto, a picture of this can be seen below. Not the most comfortable but I made use of it a few times. 🤣 Marks for ingenuity?

To the nitty gritty. After setting up well before dark I was concerned that the sky was very cloudy and not at all what clear outside forecasted. My concern (and most of the clouds) evaporated just before dark as it all just suddenly cleared and left me with dark and beautifully starred skies above. See picture below, just a 30 second snap with a small stretch.

So one of my aims was to test out exit pupils on HB and OIII filters. I tried out both the filters on many different nebulae of differing type, emissions and make up and to cut it all short, the 24mm APM with an exit pupil of 4.9mm was for me the most consistant performer. Rather ironic given all my work as it was bought as a HB filter in the first place 🙄It provided the most contrast, definition and brightness of the eyepieces used. (Exit pupil variance from 3.5 to 5.8mm)

Back to the venue, it was selected based upon it having a good allround darkness and specifically a dark southern horizon. The bush in the picture above is due south, remember that picture is 30 seconds at ISO 800 and is stretched, it was super dark in comparison to my previous dark site used.

My second DSO of the night showed just how good the horizon was, I went to M17 Omega/Swan nebula using the APM 24 as the opening eyepiece armed with an astronomik OIII filter and "wow", I mean "WOW". This is without a shadow of a doubt the best view of the Swan I have seen by a country mile.  The shape,  structure and strength of the nebula itself was quite sublime, it gave an almost 3D effect though the depth and variance of the nebula combined with the structure within, the wings were absolutely gorgeous, you get the picture. (This is at 15 degrees on the horizon) Now this was a very difficult object to view as it was, as mentioned so low and even with the boot stool, my back was going crazy but I did find it so very hard to pull myself away from it, it was simply stunning!

I had similar superb results on the whole veil, it just jumped out at you, the crescent was popping readily into view showing a fully joined image, again with good structure around the inner area, the pacman and bubble nebula were firsts at this venue with the former providing the most detail/structure and firsts again for heart and soul nebula. The last two weren't brilliant but I got them as it were.

With the HB my previous venue gave blanks on all but Campbell's hydrogen star & california. Last night I added to that with first sightings of gamma cygni, the cocoon and Sharpless2-91 & 101. None of the four firsts were much to write home about, mainly fuzzing or hazing of the sky although gamma cygni gave a feint amount of structure by running the FOV slowly over the area of nebulosity.

Other viewing were M31, 33, 101, 102, 81, 82, 51. All of these were excellent objects to behold in these lovely dark skies. I was using the Baader 8-24 to zoom in and out to find the best strength to apply to them. x140 seems to be the sweet spot for galaxies using the dob although I went as high as x215 and although I loved the ubiquitous zoom, I missed having the extra FOV that my Nikon gives me when viewing galaxy DSO.

I viewed a few other clusters and doubles, again the zoom excels here (Albireo was a peach) and I have one final object to report on with a question.

I spent a while viewing M57 the ring, I was cranked right in at x215 (no filter) and I am sure I could see a greenish bluish tinge to the nebula. Am I imagining this or has anyone else seen this?

In summary an excellent site that has only been excelled by my visits to Galloway. An overall 9 out of 10 for darkness that produced an SQM reading of 21.15 and likewise a 9/10 for an excellent southern horizon, the one area I have constantly struggled with.

Down side distance but of course you get out of this hobby what you put into it.

I will be back for a couple of goes over the winter viewing during galaxy season where I think it will really excel. Going forward my 25 minute drive (SQM 20.5 ish) site with an average southern aspect will remain my chosen site for the bulk of my viewing. 

I have enjoyed writing this review as I was reliving my exploits of last night whilst doing so.

thanks for reading.

Steve

 

Going to boot camp, Steve?

[bomberbaz]

Just now, JeremyS said:

Going to boot camp, Steve?

haha, very droll Jeremy

[wookie1965]

Wow what a session I myself is hoping to go to a dark place with a fellow SGLer soon looking through his new Celestron Starsense 10" dob after that if all goes well I may be getting one myself.

[starman1969]

Great report Steve. Wednesday night was pretty epic as well. I don't actually mind the 90+ minute journey from Blackpool because at least it's all main roads. Going to the Ribblehead Viaduct is a bit quicker, but it's a pain in the Bottom to get there with the winding roads, and it's not as dark.

[Whistlin Bob]

Great report Steve- and love the improvised stool! 

It brought back some really happy memories- a few years ago I had a couple of sessions up at Keswick- it's terrific isn't it😁