Observation report, 03/07/09

[Beulah]

8" Dobsonian, 25mm, 10mm, 9mm & 5mm Eps, 2X barlow and O111 filter

Good seeing

11:30pm- 1am

It was the first truly clear night after a week of humid weather.

Object seen:

Dumbell Nebula: The 8” telescope rendered this as a fuzzy circular patch of white, but with the O111 filter, the actual shape and detail of this nebula jumped out! The signature shape of this nebula was clearly defined.

Ring Nebula: Looks stunning with the 25mm EP and the 9MM UWAN SWAN, although rendered dark and unfocused with the O111 filter.

Veil Nebula: Again the O111 filter came to the rescue. I pointed the telescope to the vicinity of Gienah in Cygnus and could not locate the nebula without the filter; but soon as I attached it to the EP, there is was, looking curiously like seagull's wings. With the 8” scope, it is easy to mistake it for very high cloud without the filter, but after careful observation, slight wisps could be made out with the filter attached.

It is not an easy object to find without the O111, it needs to be attched beforehand.

Finally, after visiting M13 in Hercules, I was going to pack up when I saw a bright star in the East. No, that can't be Jupiter, I thought. It was. I was delighted as it was the first sighting of the year!! VERY bright, with bad visibility because of the low position, but could see the two bands very clearly.

My intention was to explore the areas around Saggitarius and Scutum, but obviously the moon hung low in the SW sky, so viewing that area was impossible. However the dew was settling in, so I decided to call it a night!

[iamjulian]

Nice report Sam. I was out at a similar time for a similar amount of time. Glad you didn't miss Jupiter. There was a nice patch of noctilucent cloud at about 1am - did you see it? I also spotted a decent fireball in the north east at about 11.30pm. It blazed for five seconds with sparks coming off it before fading when quite low in the sky. I had my camera in my hand but I was too amazed to react. I have seen a few but that was my brightest so far. Don't suppose you saw it, being just down the road?

[Doc]

Great report Sam keep them coming....

I was also out last night and looked at the same objects as yourself also with a O111 filter.

You seemed to have had more sucess with the Veil nebula then I did. I found it very hard to see the Veil even though I did pick up some willo the wisp type structures of grey.

But it did excell on the M27 and M57.

[Beulah]

Julian,

Thanks. Good seeing wasn't it, last night? Oh yes, I saw the noctilucent cloud - stunning stuff - now and again, I would wander around looking at the rest of the sky. Unfortunately during the fireball, I was facing the opposite way at the time, peering into the south, trying to spot Saggitarius and Scutum to no avail...

Doc,

Thanks - the Veil could be very easily missed - and you are right, a darker night would bring out the best, and in your scope, the detail will be extraordinary with the O111 filter. LOL, it was your musings about the filter some weeks ago that got me interested in acquiring one myself!!

[Talitha]

Great report Sam, sounds like you're very satisfied with the filter.