Finally!!!

[Guest]

As most of you have noticed the skies of Ohio don't lend themselves to a lot of good nights for astronomy.  I would have thought today would have been no different.  The days weather was vicious.  High winds, rain, hail, thunderstorms and at least two tornados touched down within about 30 miles of my house, but slowly the skies started to open up, the clouds gave way to the darkest sky I have seen in a year.  Despite the high humidity and thick air the stars shown nice and steady.  The cold front that came in behind the storms cleared out the mess and left us with almost perfect skies.  For the next two hours it was run and gun astronomy with 19 targets hit with the 10 inch and 20mm 80 degree.  I just started at M2 and went up.  M2 thru 7, 9, 11, 13 and 92.  It was a darn good night to knock out some clusters.  Galaxies M81, 82, and 31 and some other faint fuzzy, probably M110 if i was a betting man.  

Then came the nebula, M8, 16, 20, and 37.  

There was nothing tonight that did not look stellar.

The wife had her Stellina going and she asked if i could visually see what the robot was photgraphing.  I asked what it was ..... The Ghost of the Moon.... NGC 6871, a mag 16 nebula.  I laughed at her and said i will try. I grabbed the alt az coordinates and spun around and went looking.  It took me about 20 seconds and there was something round in the center of my eyepiece.  I walked back and looked at the incoming image on the tablet, then back to the eyepiece.  Holy crap i have nailed a mag 16 nebula.  I grabbed a OIII filter and it did help bring it up a little more. Not enough to show much color but enough to know that i was seeing what she was imaging.  

August in Ohio is usually hazy, hot and humid, but this is when we get our best skies.  

Tonight was a good, no strike that, tonight was a great night. 

 

Edit..... Somewhere along the line, either the wife read a number wrong or i wrote it down wrong.  NGC 6871 is mag 11 and not mag 16.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Mike Q

[Sunshine]

Looks like you knocked off a good chunk of Messier objects in one night! amazing experience when the sky allows for such sessions.

[bosun21]

Nice report Mike, although I think you are mistaken about the Ghost of the Moon nebula being Mag 16. If it was even your 16" couldn't see it. It's actually a Mag 11.4. Good to see you eventually getting a good night under the stars.

[maw lod qan]

Nice reading your report.

Glad you finally got a good night!

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Nice report Mike, although I think you are mistaken about the Ghost of the Moon nebula being Mag 16. If it was even your 16" couldn't see it. It's actually a Mag 11.4. Good to see you eventually getting a good night under the stars.

The wife said 16, its what i jotted down.  It would make a whole lot more sense to me at mag 11.

[Epick Crom]

Nice to hear that you finally got a nice clear night Mike👍