Jump to content

Narrowband

A Deep Sky Session with an 8” StellaLyra Dobsonian


Astro_Dad

Recommended Posts


29th/30th October 2022 

The first opportunity for me to have a really good session with my new 8” Stellalyra Dobsonian (Following a brief first light earlier in the week).  Late Saturday night into Sunday morning - reasonably clear skies with above average seeing.

Without StarSense or GOTO in tow this was going to be a slower but more thoughtful session featuring some relatively easy old favourites and some new challenges as well. I used only two eyepieces throughout - a GSO 32mm Plossl and my 7-21mm zoom. 

I immediately spotted M45 (The Pleiades) by chance (hard to miss!) and so started here, was tempted to pop inside for a 2” wider field eyepiece to frame it better but stuck to the 32 and as always enjoyed the quite pleasing view through the good quality 50mm finderscope supplied with the SL. 

The first target on my list was M52 - open cluster in Cassiopeia - relatively easy to find using the Rigel Quickfinder, extending (doubling) the distance of the line connecting Shedar and Caph. An attractive and relatively dense cluster of mainly white stars.  

Whilst in the area I then accidentally stumbled upon The ET or Owl cluster (NGC 457) a target I haven’t observed since last year - always a treat and once found it was very easy to keep returning to as I scanned around for other targets. 

Next M103, very close to Ruchbah, again in Cassiopeia. The three bright stars that bisect this cluster (with the central star being a red giant) were very clear and confirmed my find. This is an impressive cluster and I’ll be returning to this target again soon to seek out nearby NGC 663 and NGC 654. 

For a change of direction I could see The Plough quite low in the Northern Sky so used this to quickly guide me to galaxy pair M81 (Bode’s) and M82. Both were clear and bright, and for the first time I really zoomed in to higher power (170x) on M82, in an attempt to see the dust lane. I’m not sure I managed that but I could make out some structure and the outer edges of the thin shape were clear. 

My final DSO of the evening was NGC 1664. This is the diamond shaped open cluster featured in the November addition of Sky at Night magazines Deep Sky list. A joy to actually locate! - close to Capella. I chose a different star hopping route to that advised in the S@N feature, but I based that visually on the position shown in Sky Safari. 
 

9B57A118-6643-4D2C-8489-0BBFB78C0AB3.thumb.jpeg.4b578aefaa86c956a3a9ecb91e2bcd4d.jpeg
 

Thanks to @paulastro for the additional information on this one!

I certainly agree with some that this is rather stingray like in appearance and provides an attractive view of a ring of stars with a trail flowing from it - creating its kite like form. 

It was an excellent, enjoyable evening of observing with the new Dob, helped by SkySafari Pro for checking the location of 1664, and  the simple but clear and useful in the field 110 Things to see with a Telescope by John Read - the targets shown with Telrad circles is one of the most effective ways of showing where to point, and having dabbled in the past I’m now totally sold on the Rigel for quick accurate star hopping. 

I miss a little having access to  the Celestron StarSense technology as this is quicker and more enjoyable to use than GOTO in my view, but a back to basics star hopping experience provides its own rewards - though I wouldn’t rule out one of the smaller StarSense instruments for convenient grab and go at some point in the future. 

Edited by Astro_Dad
  • Like 19
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Astro_Dad changed the title to A Deep Sky Session with an 8” StellaLyra Dobsonian

That sounds like great fun. I also took in NGC 1664 this weekend but last night (its also a Herschel H VIII-59). Unfortunately the sky was so horribly hazy and therefore light that my note says "Seen (i.e “detected”) rather than observed (i.e. "studied"). Hazy orange grey sky. No sparkle, no glow." I absolutely didn't see a stingray shape so your observation will make me go back and look again on a better night and with more aperture. Thank you.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice report @Astro_Dad, good set of targets observed there.

Incase you didn’t know, you can easily display TelRad circles on SkySafari and fine tune the star visibility to match either the naked eye or telescopic views. I find this invaluable for star hopping. Particularly if you set the display to match your scope view in terms of fov, orientation and limiting magnitude, it becomes really easy to identify star fields and hip across from your starting star to the target.

eg TelRad view and SL 8” view with a 12.5mm Morpheus showing correct orientation and down to mag 12 (just as an example)

A350B794-0A9E-4423-9B5A-FAF2FA0B387F.png

033EFD7F-E105-452B-8816-0EF8B892CB6E.png

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 30/10/2022 at 21:47, Astro_Dad said:


29th/30th October 2022 

The first opportunity for me to have a really good session with my new 8” Stellalyra Dobsonian (Following a brief first light earlier in the week).  Late Saturday night into Sunday morning - reasonably clear skies with above average seeing.

Without StarSense or GOTO in tow this was going to be a slower but more thoughtful session featuring some relatively easy old favourites and some new challenges as well. I used only two eyepieces throughout - a GSO 32mm Plossl and my 7-21mm zoom. 

I immediately spotted M45 (The Pleiades) by chance (hard to miss!) and so started here, was tempted to pop inside for a 2” wider field eyepiece to frame it better but stuck to the 32 and as always enjoyed the quite pleasing view through the good quality 50mm finderscope supplied with the SL. 

The first target on my list was M52 - open cluster in Cassiopeia - relatively easy to find using the Rigel Quickfinder, extending (doubling) the distance of the line connecting Shedar and Caph. An attractive and relatively dense cluster of mainly white stars.  

Whilst in the area I then accidentally stumbled upon The ET or Owl cluster (NGC 457) a target I haven’t observed since last year - always a treat and once found it was very easy to keep returning to as I scanned around for other targets. 

Next M103, very close to Ruchbah, again in Cassiopeia. The three bright stars that bisect this cluster (with the central star being a red giant) were very clear and confirmed my find. This is an impressive cluster and I’ll be returning to this target again soon to seek out nearby NGC 663 and NGC 654. 

For a change of direction I could see The Plough quite low in the Northern Sky so used this to quickly guide me to galaxy pair M81 (Bode’s) and M82. Both were clear and bright, and for the first time I really zoomed in to higher power (170x) on M82, in an attempt to see the dust lane. I’m not sure I managed that but I could make out some structure and the outer edges of the thin shape were clear. 

My final DSO of the evening was NGC 1664. This is the diamond shaped open cluster featured in the November addition of Sky at Night magazines Deep Sky list. A joy to actually locate! - close to Capella. I chose a different star hopping route to that advised in the S@N feature, but I based that visually on the position shown in Sky Safari. 
 

9B57A118-6643-4D2C-8489-0BBFB78C0AB3.thumb.jpeg.4b578aefaa86c956a3a9ecb91e2bcd4d.jpeg
 

Thanks to @paulastro for the additional information on this one!

I certainly agree with some that this is rather stingray like in appearance and provides an attractive view of a ring of stars with a trail flowing from it - creating its kite like form. 

It was an excellent, enjoyable evening of observing with the new Dob, helped by SkySafari Pro for checking the location of 1664, and  the simple but clear and useful in the field 110 Things to see with a Telescope by John Read - the targets shown with Telrad circles is one of the most effective ways of showing where to point, and having dabbled in the past I’m now totally sold on the Rigel for quick accurate star hopping. 

I miss a little having access to  the Celestron StarSense technology as this is quicker and more enjoyable to use than GOTO in my view, but a back to basics star hopping experience provides its own rewards - though I wouldn’t rule out one of the smaller StarSense instruments for convenient grab and go at some point in the future. 

Brilliant not having the dob back though 😀 just had it out looked at Mars then Jupiter I was just playing with different eyepieces and Barlows when the seeing went funny looked up full cloud. That was 45 mins ago just checked now clear again debating whether to get out again.

Edited by wookie1965
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.