M27 in a Sea of Stars

[PeterC65]

It rained most of yesterday but the Met Office Cloud Cover Map assured me that it would be clear after dark, so I setup the 72mm refractor alongside the 55mm Pentax lens. This was the second outing for the Pentax 55mm and this time I’d fitted it with a UV/IR cut filter and a dew strap, and set the aperture to F5.6 at the suggestion of @Elp. It worked much better this time and I was rewarded with some amazing widefield views.

I tried using the new SynScan Pro auto align feature again, this time with 4 alignment points, but the mount decided it needed an alignment point behind the house so I aborted and tried a 3 point alignment again. Like last time, the mounts initial position was bottom left of a rectangle and the furthest slew was through 60° azimuth and 30° altitude to the top right. After that the alignment was not great so I did a manual 3 star alignment which was better. Still, this is where plate solving comes to the rescue.

All of this alignment faff meant that much of the Milky Way had disappeared behind the hill, but I could still see M11 and the Pentax 55mm showed it within the context of the Milky Way.

M11

Next up were two clusters, NGC6633 and IC4756. NGC6633 was too big for the refractor but I could see both together with the Pentax. Since the Pentax seemed to be working well I tried for a couple of dark nebulae, B142 & B143. B143 filled the field of view of the refractor with an obvious C of darkness, but with the Pentax I could see both it and its companion, and the star cloud that contains them both.

B142 & B143

The previous EAA session had been great for observing emission nebulae with the L-eNhance filter, and this time I’d swapped the x0.6 reducer for the x1.0 field flattener which gives much more pleasing (round) stars. So I slewed to NGC6823 and sure enough there it was.

NGC6823

But what blew me away was the view through the Pentax 55mm as I could see M27 to the side. I slewed to it next and there it was, centred in the field of view surrounded by a sea of stars from the Milky Way.

M27

This got me wondering just what else the Pentax might be able to pick up so I slewed to Sadr. I could see the star within the arm of the Milky Way, surrounded by emission nebulosity. Right at the bottom centre of the field of view was the Crescent Nebula, NGC6888, which I’d had centred in the refractor just before, and a third of the way up just left of centre was the Cooling Tower Cluster, M29. So many objects seen together (highlighted when I did a plate solve and annotation).

SAO049528 Sadr

Now I was on a mission. Could I observe the whole of the Veil Nebula? Yes I could, and again, great to see it in some context.

NGC6960 & NGC6974 & NGC6992

I also tried widefield views of M31 and M33 which weren’t so impressive, and finally settled on the Heart and Soul Nebulae, IC1805 and IC1848, together with the Double Cluster, NGC884 and NGC869.

IC1805 & IC1848 & NGC869 & NGC884

The session wasn’t entirely dominated by the Pentax widefield though. It was interesting to compare the view through the refractor and to match the detail shown by that with the widefield context shown by the Pentax, and I managed to observe Stephan’s Quintet, NGC7317/18/19/20, for the first time. Surprising what I could see of it with the small refractor. It will be much better with the Explorer 200 I expect.

NGC7317 & NGC7318 & NGC7319 & NGC7320

 

[bosun21]

Very nice Peter and a very productive night it seems. I may consider adding a lens or two in the future as I have enough on my plate learning how to use all my existing equipment.

[PeterC65]

@bosun21 I know how you feel! I'm being very good and haven't yet ordered the Star Analyser diffraction grating that is on my wish list until I've got to grips with the kit already in hand.

 

[Paul M]

A man after my own heart. I liken myself to a child in a sweet shop   I wan't a bit of everything!

I particularly like the Stephan's Quintet, something my own efforts with have been dissapointing.

[PeterC65]

I still need to try the Newtonian's after fitting them with fans over the Summer to help keep the dew at bay, and I'm picking up an electronic focuser at IAS on Saturday which will hopefully improve the focus when I use filters and will let me make more use of the IR pass filter which is very obviously not parfocal with the rest.

 

[Elp]

This is one of the reasons I prefer short FL, you can take in more of the sky, have a better sense of scale and your place in relation. When I attempted Rho Ophiuchi it was stark to see just how large the region of sky was, it felt like an eighth of the sky when seeing it in person (more so the main stars bordering Antares).

Edited September 11 by Elp