Galaxies & Globulars 30/03/24 - 31/03/24

[PeterStudz]

Skywatcher 200p Dob on DIY EQ platform. Smartphone app PS-Align-Pro as a PushTo finder. Southampton urban garden, Bortle 7. 30th - 31st March 2024.

Since starting out just over 3 years ago I’ve really valued and found the observation reports on this site extremely useful. Other people’s that is, as I’m not great at writing these - eg it takes me forever. And not just those that are full of lists from a totally successful night!

This was my first long/proper night session this year (the weather really has been pants) and it showed as I was a bit rusty. Eg caps got mislaid, eyepieces put in odd places. I couldn’t work out why caps were ending up on the ground, potentially cap-fatal as the dog enjoys chewing these. That’s until I discovered a hole in the pocket of my observing hoody! It was a mild night for the time of year and I didn’t need to wrap up. There did not seem to be a dew problem, so I elected not to use my main dew shield, just one on the finder. Or maybe I was just being a bit lazy. It all started late and my daughter (who often takes part) had gone to bed, which was a bit of a shame. 

M81 & M82. At this time of year in a good patch of sky from my garden. I also enjoy getting both in the same FOV. M82 bright enough to show some detail. As I’m familiar with these two I could tell conditions were decent with good transparency. These two galaxies plus Andromeda are the only galaxies I’ve been able to see from my light polluted back garden.

M51 - I didn’t have much of a plan for the night, but as conditions didn’t seem bad I decided to have a go at M51. So far I’ve never been able to see this. I’d already aligned to a couple of stars plus M81 so I was confident of being in the right place. Always a worry if something is hard to see. With a low power eyepiece I thought I could see something but wasn’t sure. However, using a 15mm a could (almost immediately) spot the main core and the core of its companion. Averted vision and I could see some “fuzz” around the main core too which formed a couple of very faint arcs. I know it’s not much but I was please with this. I spent some time on M51, but things deteriorated when some thin localised and patchy high cloud moved in. So I decided to move on. Maybe return later.

M3 - I do like globulars and I hadn’t seen this for almost a year. I can easily see this in my finder and upping the power started to resolve some stars. When I see these they start to “twinkle” in and out of view which reminds me of a glitter ball. I assume that this is due to atmospherics. At x240 it fills much of the FOV, the EQ platform keeping it central, which makes things more relaxing. The more relaxed the more I see. 

Then I came up with a problem. My trusty EQ platform started to slip. I’ve had this for 20 months now and apart from when I initially set it up (had to really tighten the drive shaft connection) it has never slipped. Thinking things could have loosened up after not using it for a while I got some allen keys out and started to fiddle about, get on my hands and knees, in the dark. Now, don’t try something as it’s asking for problems and could possibly just make things worse. I’m not doing it again! Anyway, this did not fixed the issue. However, I’d almost given up when I found the problem. As the targets were relatively high I’d taken the balance weight off the back of the OTA and placed it onto the ground board (the circular part) of my Dob. base. This was at the opposite side of the drive shaft and as its friction driven was enough to put it off-balance, causing the shaft to slip! Just shows that it needs to be relatively well balanced. 

M13 - By the time I sorted that out M13 (normally a summer target for me) was high enough to be worth a look. Moreover, the patchy thin cloud had dispersed. A bit brighter and seemingly larger than M3 it is a nice sight. Again, I changed eyepieces around and enjoyed the view. 

M92 - I kept the glob theme going by checking out M92. Again, enjoyable, with stars twinkling at higher powers. Appears more dense at its core than M3 or M13. 

M53 - After that a wild card of the globular M53. First time that I’ve tried to view this and it was faint. Whatever I tired I could not resolve any stars and it remained a fuzzy patch. Having said that it was relatively low and not in a good section of my night sky.

The moon was due up soon and I was feeling tired so I decided to take a couple of smartphone snaps (M3 & M13) using the AstroShader app which I still need practice with. Then call it a night. The results can be seen via the link below. All in all a good session. I prefer to concentrate on just a few targets and this was more than enough for me. I enjoy being outside and nighttime is special. Although occasionally a bit of an effort for me to get going, once I’m out I often don’t want to go back in! The picture was taken as I was packing up. Moon in the background shining through tree branches. 

 

Smartphone snaps…

 

[lunator]

Very nice report Peter. 🙂

Glad you found the issue and resolved it. 

Cheers 

Ian