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Meade Lightbridge Observing report as of 20.8.2009 Salisbury Star Party

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Doc

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Meade Lightbridge 16" F4.5 FL1829mm

Thursday 20th August 2009

Limiting Magnitude 5.0

No Moon

Salisbury Star Party

Started observing about 21.30 and the Milky Way was already clearly visible from Sagittarius through to Perseus. It looked stunning and reminded me of a milky river.

First port of call was the Andromeda Galaxy otherwise known as the M31. This stood out extremely well with a very bright core and at least one dust lane visible when the seeing was good. M31's companion galaxies M32 and M110 was very easily seen, especially M110 that was very bright indeed.

Next onto the mighty Double Cluster. This is a favourite of mine and consists of two open clusters namely Ngc 869 & 884. using my 21mm Hyperion at x87 the double cluster just fitted into the same FOV. Having never seen this from a dark site this to my eyes was amazing. To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. There were just so many stars of all sizes and a few colour ones thrown in for good measure. The 8mm Hyperion at x228 made the view glisten like the stars were jewels in the sky. They looked so close you could reach out and touch them.

Next was an object I have seen many times before but tonight it looked awsome. The M27 also known as the Dumbell Nebula in Vulpecula. With a magnitude of 11.2 and a size of 8.0' x 5.7' it appeared so much brighter then under my light polluted skies back in Nottingham. The dumbell shape was very evident with clear dark lanes seperating the ends of the nebula in both the 21mm and 8mm hyperions. I took the time to sketch this object and hopefully bring out the beauty that I saw.

Steve my camping partner then decided to wander over to a fellow stargazer called Owen who owns a mighty impressive 20" Dobsonian to borrow his Televue 13mm Ethos. Having never looked through an Ethos before I didn't know what to expect and as the M31 was higher we tried that. I don't know how to put this but I was not bowled over. The views were fantastic and the contrast and clarity the Ethos produced was outstanding but I found myself moving my eyes around trying to encompass the whole 100° FOV of the eyepiece. In fact it didn't feel right to do this. I did get that spacewalk feeling but is it really worth the £440 price.

I handed the 13E to Steve and inserted my beloved 21mm Hyperion and went hunting for the M101 in Ursa Major. I have tried so many times to see this from my light polluted back garden but under dark Salisbury skies this galaxy just popped out. According to Cartes du Ceil it has a surface brightness of 14.9 mag so I was amazed how bright it was. It's pretty large being about 28' in diameter and through the 21mm Hyperion the circular shape was evident and maybe just a hint on at least one arm using the averted vision technique. I was so impressed I have sketched this object and hopefully can do it justice.

By now quite a queue had formed and I moved the scope to the M13 in Hercules. As we all know a wonderful jaw dropping Globular Cluster. The 21 mm was fantasic and showed so many stars it

was amazing. The 8mm hyperion at x228 gave you the sense off being inside the globular looking out, eerie but very serile. The best sight was through the 12.5 Ortho at x146 the FOV was smaller

but the view was so crisp and detailed and loads of stars were resolved. Spent the next 20 minutes showing other stargazers this lovely globular cluster and after they dwindled away I decided to

sketch it. This was maybe a task or should I say a sketch to far as it was almost impossible to accurately plot every star one saw, but you can judge this for yourself.

Next over to another new discovery for me and that is Ngc 7331 a mag 13.3 galaxy in Pegasus. It appeared as a elongated oval smudge. Pretty large in size and had a halo surrounding it but no dust lanes were seen. Still very pleased to have witnessed it as it's almost impossible from my back garden.

A short hop of only 1 degree from Ngc 7331 is Stephan's Quintet. This consists off 5 galaxies that are Ngc 7320,7319, 7318b, 7317, and 7318a. They are very small and shine about mag 13.5. Steve and myself tried for a good 30 minutes but found nothing definite. We at times thought we were in the right place and maybe we did as we saw a group of out of focus stars but putting in a higher magnification eyepiece only made the view degrade. So I'm putting this down as No we didn't observe Stephan's Quintet.

Next was one of the best views I have had, it was the transition across Jupiter of the moon Io. The shadow the moon cast was fantastic, so bright and clear that I couldn't stop looking at it. Four

moons were easily seen and they were left to right in the eyepiece Calistro, Io (transit), Europa and Ganymede. A very pleasing sight and one I will not forget.

After another little break I went hunting for Uranus. It's 3.6' disk was easily resolved using my 12.5 mm ortho and it's colour was a blue/green. With the 9mm ortho at x203 I could see little tiny pin

pricks of light surrounding Uranus. These little specks of light vanished with poorer seeing but were the right distances away from Uranus so highly possible I detected the moons of Uranus.

Next down to a little Globular Cluster I had not seen yet and that was the M75 in Sagittarius. My 21mm hyperion struggled a bit on this one as it's pretty dim at mag 11 and also small at 6' in diameter. No outer stars were resolved and even when changing to a 8mm hyperion only a few stars popped out. At a distance of 60,000 light-years, it is one of the most remote globular clusters in the Messier catalog. It is believed to be around 100 light-years in diameter.

Along the same lines was M72 in Aquarius, this object is one of the more remote globular clusters in the Messier catalog. It has a diameter of about 90 light-years, and is located over 53,000 light

years from Earth. Although its apparent magnitude is only 9.3, this cluster's extreme distance means that it is one of the brightest globulars yet discovered. I actually found it a bit boring but it's

at least another one marked off.

Staying in Aquarius I moved just one degree West of M72 and found the M73. A very small cluster of stars dominated by 4 bright stars and maybe 20 much smaller and dimmer stars. It appeared pretty bright in the 21mm Hyperion. A very pretty open cluster.

By this time a few more people had gathered and someone ask to see the M57 so of course I obliged and moved the scope up to Lyra and found it straight away. All one can say is WOW did this object stand out against the dark sky. It was awesome and the people that saw it also commented how great it looked.

By this time it was getting late so I went over to Owen's 20" Obseesion and looked at Uranus and Jupiter through it. Owen whacked the magnification up to x750 on Jupiter and I have never seen a planet that big before. Even though it was very bright alot of surface detail could be made out, it was such an amazing sight and will be etched on my retina for a long time.

I noticed my mirrors were becoming a little dewed up by now but for final target of the night I went hunting Comet c/2006 W3 Christensen and I found it embedded in Saggita. It had very bright

core estimated to be mag 6 and a bright halo surrounding it. No tail was detected but that could have been because of the dew build up. I observed it in a few different eyepieces but my 21mm

gave the best views.

Well it was now about 02.00 so packed up as dew was dripping of everything. Very happy with the star party and managed to find a further four Messier objects off the list.

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Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

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Wonderful detailed report Mick. I was particularly interested in your statement on Stephan's Quintet - I have been hoping to view these galaxies with my 10" Dob - I might have to rethink this!!

Very pleased to meet you at Salisbury hope you can make Hereford for SGL5.

Regards

Mark

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Andrew

Andrew

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Excellent report Mick - it's nice to hear about some objects that many people don't go looking for. Also interesting about the Ethos. I've never looked through one, but I find that anything over 70 deg is too much to take in all at once.

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albedo0.39

albedo0.39

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Hi Mick - yet again, a terrificly detailed and entertaining report from Salisbury. As you know, I think we both found Stephans Quintet but need to get that verified...(I'm still not sure !).

I spent about 2hrs with that Ethos and found it as reported -spot on. I'll post my observing report later but will also add my thoughts on the Skywatcher Nirvana which I found to be SUPERB !

Agree - the Dumbell looked epic from Salisbury in the 16"...

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Ben Ritchie

Ben Ritchie

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Great report as ever, I always enjoy reading those - added a couple of things to my "next clear night list" too!

Also interesting about the Ethos. I've never looked through one, but I find that anything over 70 deg is too much to take in all at once.

I found it an acquired taste, and that was moving from Naglers - from a Hyperion i'm not too surprised that the AFOV seems wasted. Spend a few nights with one and it starts to grow on you :)

As for "is it worth it?", that's the unanswerable question of kit - my take is that the money's not exactly spent as such as tied up, as long as I look after it then i'll find a ready buyer for minimal loss if I need the money back. The money's not earning significant interest in savings, so might as well have a top-notch eyepiece :)

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Talitha

Talitha

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Wow, you certainly hit the sky running, Mick! :)

Well, i'm happy that you finally saw M101.. your Messier list is growing nicely. :rolleyes:

Your thoughts on the Ethos are interesting, i've read similar comments in other groups. It's a matter of personal preference but i like seeing the entire fov all at once. If i need to move my head back and forth i might as well move the scope, lol.

One thing which really confuses me is Stephan's Quintet.. are you sure you were on it? I've detected 7320, and 7318a/7318b from here with the 8" SCT. Considering the light loss caused by the central obstruction of the secondary, i'm only working with about 5" of aperture if i did the math correctly. The galaxies were very faint even with averted vision and i had to work long and hard for the sighting, but they were definitely there.

Thanks for a great report, and i'm glad you had such a good time. :)

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John

John

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Great report Mick :)

I really wish I'd been able to get to Salisbury to meet you and the others and see for myself - I'll have to wait until SGL5 now.

I'm hoping to be able to detect at least one dust lane in M31 when it's better placed for me but my scope is 4" of aperture shy of yours so it will be even more of a challenge !.

I agree with what others have said about the Ethos and Naglers - they are beautifully made but some like them and others don't - just like many things I guess.

I'll have to look out for that comet as well !.

Cheers,

John

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Astronut

Astronut

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Great report. You made the most of the available time considering you were sketching too and still able to share the views with others.

You should have looked at the double cluster with the Ethos, its spectacular.

Owen's 20" Obsession was a beauty - I too saw Uranus and Jupiter with it along with magnificent views of the Veil and Swan nebulas. I think I'm next in line for an Argo Navis gadget after seeing it in action.

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Doc

Doc

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Do you find the 16" difficult to transport?

Thanks Amanda and to answer your question. All camping gear, tent, food, rucksack, table, 3x chairs and scope all fitted into Fiat Punto.

Really enjoyed reading this Doc, excellent. :) Those views of Jupiter through the 20" sounded incredible.

Looking forward to seeing the sketches. I'll keep an eye out for them. :)

I've posted them Sam.

And yes the view through a 20" are to die for.

Wonderful detailed report Mick. I was particularly interested in your statement on Stephan's Quintet - I have been hoping to view these galaxies with my 10" Dob - I might have to rethink this!!

Very pleased to meet you at Salisbury hope you can make Hereford for SGL5.

Regards

Mark

Give the quintet a go Mark you have nothing to lose. And btw it was great meeting you to.

Excellent report Mick - it's nice to hear about some objects that many people don't go looking for. Also interesting about the Ethos. I've never looked through one, but I find that anything over 70 deg is too much to take in all at once.

Agree completely on me that extra FOV was wasted.

Hi Mick - yet again, a terrificly detailed and entertaining report from Salisbury. As you know, I think we both found Stephans Quintet but need to get that verified...(I'm still not sure !).

I spent about 2hrs with that Ethos and found it as reported -spot on. I'll post my observing report later but will also add my thoughts on the Skywatcher Nirvana which I found to be SUPERB !

Agree - the Dumbell looked epic from Salisbury in the 16"...

Look forward to your report Steve. And I agree that Nirvana was fantastic.

Great report as ever, I always enjoy reading those - added a couple of things to my "next clear night list" too!

I found it an acquired taste, and that was moving from Naglers - from a Hyperion i'm not too surprised that the AFOV seems wasted. Spend a few nights with one and it starts to grow on you :rolleyes:

As for "is it worth it?", that's the unanswerable question of kit - my take is that the money's not exactly spent as such as tied up, as long as I look after it then i'll find a ready buyer for minimal loss if I need the money back. The money's not earning significant interest in savings, so might as well have a top-notch eyepiece :evil6:

True I only gave it an hour or so. It needs a proper run, who knows I might love it.

Wow, you certainly hit the sky running, Mick! :eek:

Well, i'm happy that you finally saw M101.. your Messier list is growing nicely. :)

Your thoughts on the Ethos are interesting, i've read similar comments in other groups. It's a matter of personal preference but i like seeing the entire fov all at once. If i need to move my head back and forth i might as well move the scope, lol.

One thing which really confuses me is Stephan's Quintet.. are you sure you were on it? I've detected 7320, and 7318a/7318b from here with the 8" SCT. Considering the light loss caused by the central obstruction of the secondary, i'm only working with about 5" of aperture if i did the math correctly. The galaxies were very faint even with averted vision and i had to work long and hard for the sighting, but they were definitely there.

Thanks for a great report, and i'm glad you had such a good time. :D

It does sound strange that your 8" founnd them OK and a 16" from a dark site could not. I thought they were very close to 7331 and I was looking around the 1° to 2° away area. What mag did you use?

Great report Mick :D

I really wish I'd been able to get to Salisbury to meet you and the others and see for myself - I'll have to wait until SGL5 now.

John

Shame you missed it Joh, I really wanted to meet you. Oh well roll on SGL5

Great report. You made the most of the available time considering you were sketching too and still able to share the views with others.

You should have looked at the double cluster with the Ethos, its spectacular.

One of the main parts of the star party that I enjoyed was meeting everyone and showing them the views through a big dob, I hope you enjoyed it.

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bish

bish

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Great report, you've got me fired up for Kielder now (assuming the sky is clear!). Sounds like a cracking night - Jupiter through a 20" Obsession, I'm jealous.

I've seen Stephens Quintet through a 10" dob at Kielder. I could only see 4 though. 3 were not too hard to see (they made a triangle shape) but the 4th was only visible for brief moments with averted vision. M13 through a 16" scope is amazing. If only I had a 16" scope and dark skies rather than a 6" scope and light pollution!

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Doc

Doc

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Mick, you were too far. :) The Quintet is only 30' (1/2 degree) SSW of 7331. I was at 144x with a 24' fov. The star in the 10:00 position in my sketch is mag 11 TYC 02743-06201.. it's halfway between 7331 and the Quintet.

Thanks Carol I will continue my quest for this elusive quintet.

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