Observing in Canes Venatici 10/04/23

[Ratlet]

Bit lastminute with this session.  I'd tried fitting furniture sliders on the dob earlier in the day but they didn't really work well and I couldn't get them off.  Made small adjustments challenging, but probably save the session as there were some strong gusts.  

I did a 1 star alignment on Arcturus with my 10" Stellalyra Dob and set both my altitude and azimuth on my setting circle and inclinometer.  This was sufficient for the whole session and everything ended up in the FOV of my 16mm nirvana.

Seeing was initially poor, or the scope hadn't cooled sufficiently (M3 looked atrocious) but after a while it was acceptable.

I started of with sketching M63 I have no ide what it was supposed to look like before this.  It was quite nice though.  Not too happy with the star placement, but it was a bit of a learning process with the dob.

Next up was M94.  This was very nice to sketch.  The core was quite bright with fainter nebulosity extending out from it.  Not quite as bright as my sketch shows but pretty bright.

Finally I moved up to M51.  I had checked it out earlier but the seeing wasn't up to it.  It was much better by just before midnight.  I couldn't say for absolute certainty that I saw the bridge between the two galaxies but it might have been popping in and out.  I need to have a bit of a dig as there was something bright to the left of the core but I'm not sure if it was a field star or what.  I managed to see some of the dark lanes which I was well chuffed about.

It was getting late and cold so I thought I'd have a look at M92 maybe do a sketch of it.  Immediately decided I just don't have the skills.  It was incredible.  It was noticeably not circular which I found surprising.  Bright chains of stars sort of wandering to the centre and dark areas in between.  Just stars upon stars.  Where there isn't stars there is granularity like gubby sugar grains on black.

Based on this I cast my eye at M13 which was one of the first objects I observed.  From my memory of it last year in the 130pds, it might have been a different object entirely.  Incredible.  Faint fuzzy is not how I would describe it at all.  I think M92 might be the nicer of the two in a larger scope though.

I concluded with M3.  This was a great idea as the view was much better than earlier.

A fantastic night.  Globular clusters are incredible.  I think taking in the 3 of them gave me the best idea of the benefit of the bigger dobsonian compared to the 130pds.  Sure faint things get a bit brighter, but the resolving power with the bigger tube just transforms globs into totally different beasts.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Ratlet
Corrected nirvana focal length

[JeremyS]

Great report and super sketches 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[John]

Excellent report and sketches 🙂

I agree 100% that globular clusters benefit hugely from additional aperture, perhaps more than any other type of deep sky object. The views with 10 and 12 inch scopes of the brighter GC's really do start to resemble images taken of them. I observed two of the targets you mention (M51 and M13) quite a few years back with a 20 inch dob from a dark site and the views were simply jaw dropping - I can clearly recall them even now. 

With M13, it is worth backing off the magnification slightly and trying to spot the magnitude 12 galaxy NGC 6207 which should be in the same field of view at lower powers. NGC 6207 lies around 1 degree to the NE of M13 and at a distance of 30 million light years.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by John

[wookie1965]

I'm really jealous even with my 10" dob I have not viewed M51 from home so well done brilliant report and read. 

[Ratlet]

Forgot to mention that Actual Astronomy Podcast have a great episode yesterday on M51.

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/9f2f6454-5577-49a2-8744-4ae169f000b3/episodes/8dbc9111-b89d-4e06-82e3-113918799970/the-actual-astronomy-podcast-314---m51-with-alister-ling?ref=dm_sh_7Qtj2dpqPKjE3MzXStPMilBeH

[MalcolmM]

Great sketches, I especially like M51, and fabulous descriptions! Almost makes a refractor man want to go out and buy a big dob  

Malcolm 

[Sunshine]

I love sketches, these are wonderful!

[Epick Crom]

Fantastic sketches and report @Ratlet. Agreed, aperture and globs go together like hand and glove. 

Clear Skies

Joe

[jetstream]

@Ratlet These are excellent sketches, great observing!! Out of curiosity how dark are your skies you think? A 10" dob can be one of the best scopes to have, nice choice.

Gerry

[Ratlet]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

@Ratlet These are excellent sketches, great observing!! Out of curiosity how dark are your skies you think? A 10" dob can be one of the best scopes to have, nice choice.

Gerry

According to Clearoutside, it's Bortle 4.  I suspect looking North it's more towards Bortle 5 as that is more into town.  I keep meaning to do the SQM check with NINA (as well as some acutal astro imaging) however everytime I go out I decide I'd much rather do visual lol.

[mikeDnight]

19 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Bit lastminute with this session.  I'd tried fitting furniture sliders on the dob earlier in the day but they didn't really work well and I couldn't get them off.  Made small adjustments challenging, but probably save the session as there were some strong gusts.  

I did a 1 star alignment on Arcturus with my 10" Stellalyra Dob and set both my altitude and azimuth on my setting circle and inclinometer.  This was sufficient for the whole session and everything ended up in the FOV of my 18mm nirvana.

Seeing was initially poor, or the scope hadn't cooled sufficiently (M3 looked atrocious) but after a while it was acceptable.

I started of with sketching M63 I have no ide what it was supposed to look like before this.  It was quite nice though.  Not too happy with the star placement, but it was a bit of a learning process with the dob.

Next up was M94.  This was very nice to sketch.  The core was quite bright with fainter nebulosity extending out from it.  Not quite as bright as my sketch shows but pretty bright.

Finally I moved up to M51.  I had checked it out earlier but the seeing wasn't up to it.  It was much better by just before midnight.  I couldn't say for absolute certainty that I saw the bridge between the two galaxies but it might have been popping in and out.  I need to have a bit of a dig as there was something bright to the left of the core but I'm not sure if it was a field star or what.  I managed to see some of the dark lanes which I was well chuffed about.

It was getting late and cold so I thought I'd have a look at M92 maybe do a sketch of it.  Immediately decided I just don't have the skills.  It was incredible.  It was noticeably not circular which I found surprising.  Bright chains of stars sort of wandering to the centre and dark areas in between.  Just stars upon stars.  Where there isn't stars there is granularity like gubby sugar grains on black.

Based on this I cast my eye at M13 which was one of the first objects I observed.  From my memory of it last year in the 130pds, it might have been a different object entirely.  Incredible.  Faint fuzzy is not how I would describe it at all.  I think M92 might be the nicer of the two in a larger scope though.

I concluded with M3.  This was a great idea as the view was much better than earlier.

A fantastic night.  Globular clusters are incredible.  I think taking in the 3 of them gave me the best idea of the benefit of the bigger dobsonian compared to the 130pds.  Sure faint things get a bit brighter, but the resolving power with the bigger tube just transforms globs into totally different beasts.

What a wonderful report, and very inspiring. I imagine a few here on SGL will follow your lead and give these targets a shot. And your sketches are superb, and again inspiring to everyone else. Truly top class observing!  🏆🏆🏆

[Ratlet]

Thanks for the feed back folks, glad you enjoyed it.  I might scan and reupload the sketches in a bit as my phone has made them a bit blurry.

Any other newbies out there, I highly recommend you get yourself a couple pencils and a pad of paper and go out and sketch.  Tremendous fun and it's not often you can get so much enjoyment in astronomy with something you get from home bargains!

[jetstream]

13 hours ago, Ratlet said:

According to Clearoutside, it's Bortle 4.  I suspect looking North it's more towards Bortle 5 as that is more into town.  I keep meaning to do the SQM check with NINA (as well as some acutal astro imaging) however everytime I go out I decide I'd much rather do visual lol.

Excellent. I can tell by the look of M51 that you have vg skies, possibly better than the Bortle indicates- I dislike that scale myself. A quick NELM does very well, but takes some practise to get the faintest stars available. Great work sketching, but more importantly observing👍