20/08/09 15x70 Observing Report

[JamesK]

Cloud cleared up well last night leaving only quickly moving, patchy clouds to contend with. Got set up and focused, and managed to get in a couple of hours before more heavy cloud moved in. Also it's the first session I have made proper notes for, so have just copied them in, and the first session in my Messier object hunt.

Conditions: Clear, some patchy, fast moving low cloud. Relativly warm and comfortable. Obstructed horizons, especially to the south. Lights from sorrounding housing estate somewhat annoying, some light pollution.

NELM: 4 rising to 5

Seeing: Fair to Good.

Alberio in Cygnus 21:50

This is a stunning, bright, double star. Both coponents are colourful and the split is distinctive altough narrow in 15x70 binoculars. The primary is a distinctive corn-goldc olour, with the secondary, which was somewhat dimmer but still obvious and easily visable was steely blue. The effect provided by the starry background, altough the sky was not yet fully dary, was spectacular. This is probably the best double star visable to binoculars and small telescopes.

M13 The great Globular Cluster in Hercules 22:05

The bright central core of this large and bright globular cluster was distinctive and easy to find. The centre of the cluster is a little way north of the mid-point between two well matched stars the flank the object. The object was easy to find thanks to the distinctive “Keystone” asterism. The core is immediatley very bright and reveals some extentsion after minimal time observing it. Averted vision reveals much more extension, and a somewhat “grainy” texture becomes noticable, especially on the boundry of the core. The cluster is very visually impressive, and darker skies would, in my opinion, bring out a more spectacular sight. However, this object is spectacular and easy to find in binoculars, perhaps more than any other globular cluster I have observed so far.

M92 in Hercules 22:20

A nice bright globular cluster, however much fainter and less visually spectacular than it’s famous neighbouring cluster M13. Altough easy to locate by refering to the famous “Keystone” asterism, it took a few minutes of sweeping the local stars (none of them bright or distinctive) to find. However, it is given away by it’s bright central core. It did not, however, show much expansion beyond the core, even with averted vision, and the blob of light did not show any hint of graininess. However it did seem much brighter after prolonged observation, and also revealed itself to be not perfetly circular or eliptical, and was infact a rather irregular shape.

M57 The Ring Nebula in Lyra 22:45

The location of this planetary nebula was easily identified by refering to one of my personal favorite constellations for observation - Lyra, which is distinctive and contains many bright stars. Identified as a rather out of focus star, this object is wholly unspectacular in 15x70 binoculars and should, in my opinion, by saved for a good deep-sky scope. However, the outer edges of the tiny, bright blob did seem brighter than the core with averted vision, evidence that this is the “ring” nebula. I was however, somewhat distracted by the many binocular-friendly charms of Lyra, which far surpassed this telescopic object.

Jupiter 23:10

Jupiter was very bright and although not at it’s best, the planet did show a slightly “squashed” disk and lighter and darker regions, evidence of banding on the planet. It was the moons, however, that gave the most interesting point of the observation. Castillo was wide to the left of the planet, and Io was invisable to my binoculars as it passed over Jupiter’s disk, but Ganymede and Europe were very close, and seperating, I may have missed an eclipse by less than a few hours. The colour differences between these two close moons was marked.

Got my brother and my dad out to look at Jupiter, my brother pointed out the disk being squashed and the banding before I even mentioned it!

So, the hunt for the Messier objects has begun. 3 down, 107 to go!

[ashenlight]

Really enjoyed that James Definitely agree with you on m57, it isn't too magnificent in my 5" newt, but it is still a thrill to find something, no matter how faint it is.

Your notes are really informative and provide great reading, keep them up, would love to see some more

[Taff]

Weldone James' thats a very nice write up on what you have found,Happy hunting.Mark

[Talitha]

Well done indeed, James.. thank you for the very descriptive tour!

"the many binocular-friendly charms of Lyra" .. Love it, just love it.

[JamesK]

Thanks all. It feels good to have someone quote me.

[bish]

Nice report. I use 15x70's quite a lot and have had many hours of observing with them. Alberio always looks great, and I can just about make out the grainy appearance of M13. Well done for spotting M57 with them, I need my scope for that where I live. M81 and M82 are also great under dark skies with the 15x70's.