Meade Lightbridge Observing report as of 12.9.2009

[Doc]

12.9.2009

Meade llightbridge 16" F4.5 FL 1829mm

No Moon

Mag 4.2

At last a clear night, there's been a pocket of high pressure over the UK all week but this is the first night that has turned out clear. I wanted to concentrate on increasing my Herschel 400 count so with this in mind I visited...

Started the night at 20.30 in Vulpecula and Ngc6882 & Ngc6885 both wondeful clusters, Ngc6882 was in a circula,r in shape with one very bright star towards the middle. To the south was a row of white and yellow stars resembling a handle similar to the plough.

Just north of this cluster is a small patch of stars Ngc 6885 I estimate them to be about mag 8 and all white in colour and about 7'x7' in size. Both clusters looked fantastic in my 21mm Hyperion at x87.

Next was Cr399 also known as The Coathanger. This is one asterism that really lives up to it's name. The coathanger didn't quite fit into my widest FOV eyepiece the TAL 32mm at x57, it's pretty large at 140'x50'.

Ngc6802 an open cluster right next to Cr399 was my next target. There are so many stars and clusters around but I think I found it. Shaped like a long bar showing up by row of bright white stars. It shines at a magnitude of around 8 and is really small at 3.2' but there is nothing similar at that position so I'm counting this one as seen. Once again used my trusty 21mm Hyperion at x87.

Staying in Vulpecula I hunted down Abell 74 also known as PK72-17.1. Abell 74 is a pretty large Planetary Nebula at 14.5'x13.2' in size. While sweeping the area I noticed with averted vision a very very slight mottling of the backround so I stuck in my Baader O111 filter and I could see this very dim cloud again only with averted vision . No shape seen but it was pretty large. Studied it for a good 15 minutes. First seen in 21mm Hyperion at x87. I then tried 15mm kellner and 8mm Hyperion but the view wasn't improved.

Next up to 52 Cygni and off to discover the Veil Nebula Ngc 6960. On many occasions this has eluded me but tonight felt special, the skies were really clear so I though lets give it a second chance. Well all I can say is this O111 filter rocks and on the Veil Nebula it was stunning. With the O111 filter attached to my 21mm Hyperion I saw the Veil appear before my eyes as strands of cotton wool or like walking into a spiders web. I have never seen anything so wonderful as this, it made the purchase price well worth it, as I was doubting the filter before. I stayed glued to the eyepiece for ages and wandered over to the Eastern part of the Veil Ngc 6992, this didn't stand out as much as the western side but I could still make out some wispy cotton wool like strands. To say I was bowled over is an understatement, this O111 filter is first class and tonight delivered the goods.

Staying in Vulpecula I had a look at the Open Cluster Ngc 6940, a very rich and large cluster consisting of about 150 stars mostly 11th magnitude, some close double looking stars. Awesome sight in 21mm Hyperion at x87. No background nebulosity detected.

Over to Pegasus and spotted the galaxy Ngc7331 quite easy, the elongated shape was easily seen along with it's bright core. As galaxies go it's pretty big at 10.2'x4.2' and shines at a surface brightness of 13.3 mag. But try as I might Stephens Qunintet evaded me agin. I really need darker skies to see this cluster of gallaxies.

Staying in Pegasus I tried another galaxy Ngc891 but this too eluded me.

On to M31 and it was as stunning as ever, looked brighter tonight and all three components M31, M32 and M110 were visible and even a dust lane hinted at with averted vision.

Moved scope slightly West now to find a planetary nebula called the M76 also known as the Little Dumbell Nebula, found it quite easy with 21mm Hyperion eyepiece. At magnitude 10.1 it is one of the fainter of the Messier objects. The appearance of this nebula is very similar to that of M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. As with most planetary nebulae, its distance it not very well known. Best estimates put it at between 1,700 and 15,000 light-years from Earth. With no filter attached a dim grey smudge was detected but no shape was seen when I inserted the O111 filter the distinct shape of a dumbelll is seen. Not as bright as it's counterpart M27 but very nice indeed.

Northwards to Cassiopeia and Ngc381 a very dim and sparse open cluster. These stars were dim maybe mag 13. I Counted around 25 stars clumped together.

Next in Cassiopeia was Ngc436 a little cluster once again very loose and actually nothing to really see except maybe 20 stars.

While searching for the above cluster I kept stumbling into a fantastic looking cluster of stars known as Ngc 457 known by many names such as the ET Cluster, the Owl cluster. The bright stars are the ET's eyes and the other stars his body. It's pretty large at 13'x13' and shines at a magnitude of 6. I was so impressed I sketched it using my 21mm Hyperion.

Staying in the constellation Cassiopeia I found Ngc 7789 a pretty large 16'x16' cluster of very dim starts amoungst lots of brighter ones. This cluster was dim and I estimate at least 250 stars of mag 12 to 13. There was a background nublosity as well which I imagine were a mass of even dimmer stas invisible to my 16" of aperture. Cartes du Ciel say it contains at least 1000 stars down to mag 18. This is now one of my favourite open clusters now ans I will make sure I return in the future.

Over to Jupiter which by now was due south at an altitude of 20.14°, I could clearly see the moon Io transiting across Jupiters disk which made for a wonderful sight. Tried all my ortho's and the best contrast was ontained by the 12.5mm ortho at x146.

Next was a trip to the constellation Camelopardalis and the planetary nebula Ngc1501. I could detect a round but very dim mottling of the background. The nebula is pretty small at 0.9' in diameter and shines at a magnituse of 13 which is near the limit of my scope. Using the O111 filter this really bought out the circular shape, no details were seen and no colour detected but at least it was spotted. Looked better in my TAL 15mm kelner at x121.

Down to a trio of clusters in Perseus next and Ngc1528 which turned out to be a lovely bright cluster, I could see maybe 50 stars between mag 8 and 12, these were clumped together in circular shapes, no nebulosity was detected.

Moving the scope further down I swept up the second of the trio Ngc1545 which turns out to be a very loose cluster in the shape of an triangle.

Over to Ngc1513 next for the final cluster in the trio, this is the smallest one of the three. I struggled here as it's small and gets swamped by the background stars but I would have seen it without realising it as I scanned the skies all round this trio of clusters.

By now it was about 01.00 and high cloud had started to form so I called it a night.

What a great night, added another 10 Herschel objects to my list, spotted my first Abell galaxy and had the best ever view of the Veil Nebula. Nights like these are what I love about this hobby.

[dark knight]

What a fantastic nights viewing Mick, and I must say your reports are some of the most informative I have read to date. I can almost feel your excitement as you slew around the sky. We too had a good nights viewing, Steph is really getting the hang of it now, But I feel we must get a Wixie and the az setting circle sorted out asap as it will prove invaluable in making the most of our skies, It will also take some of the guess work out of it. Which O111 filter do you use Mick and would that be a compulsive purchase knowing what you do now?? How do you get on with the Hyperions in your fast scope? Steph only has the 2" QX 26mm.

I'm so pleased you had a great night's viewing.

Ok Steph's wish list (well mine also really), in some form of priority; wixie and az setting circle, OIII filter, a couple more eye pieces, coma corrector, 12" Bahtinov mask.

The Hotech SCA has been out of stock at FLO, however Steve reckons they are due in this coming week, can't wait for it's arrival. Will practice using it on my SW 200p first, and then have a go at Stephs.

[lunator]

Mick

Very nice report

Cheers

Ian

[dobserver]

Fantastic report, Mick

It was special last night - I found M15 and can locate it again at will, which is just so cool....

I also THINK I saw the veil nebula....without a filter it was really hard to see, but I'm sure I was on the correct bright star. I could just make out the shape of it as a smoky smudge that waved down and left from the bright star. I'm saving up for one of those OIII filters - I'd love to know for sure that I found it

I am still working without any guidance, so it is hard to know for sure that I am seeing what I think I am seeing!

The light shroud is effective (not to mention finished now) and makes a noticeable difference to the viewing.

I am working on a hardstanding area at the top of the front garden now. I am finding the fence and buildings at the back really limiting - I can't get low enough to observe andromeda for example. Previously we have set mine up on the neighbours lawn, but this IS a bit cheeky! lol

Carl is trying to convince me to house it permanently up on the flat roof......I would certainly get to see more from up there, but I would like a fence round it first.

I really enjoy reading your reports and you are inspiring me to get some kind of locating mechanism on there. So much so that I am ordering a Wixey tomorrow if the car passes its MOT...

Sounds like you had a great night - here's hoping for more of the same before too long.

Steph

[Doc]

Well Carl & Steph I would say the Wixey and Doc's doofer are the best mods you can do. It's so quick to find things, much quicker then go-to and star hopping. But I must admit for those quick views I don't bother with polar aligning and do star hop from time to time.

As for eyepieces get the best you can afford. The hyperions are good but in a fast scope they do show little comet tails on the outer edges. A coma corrector might correct this but it's best to buy more expensive well corrected eyepieces and then use a mpcc to eliminate the optical faults.

As a lot of you know I've moaned about my O111 filter being green and not worth the price, but after seeing the Veil and Abell74 like I did I take it all back. yes it's a compulsive buy, something you don't really need but when you see the Veil like I did it's worth every penny. Btw it's a Baader narrowband O111 filter.

I've finally decided that my baader laser is not the way to collimate, it must be out as I collimated with just a collicap and my collimation I think was damn close to spot on. So I will be interested Steph how your Hotech delivers in the collimation department. But for now I'm buying a cheshire and trying that.

I'm glad Steph is enjoying her new scope and I look forward to any reports you make.

[Andrew*]

I love reading reports including the Veil - what an object!

Thanks for sharing this great report, Doc. You get through a good deal of objects and seem to have mastered that emthod.

I can't wait to get going with the astronomy now - it's been a while, what with lots of other things getting in the way. The report gives me some fresh enthusiasm

Andrew

[red dwalf]

thought you would be out last night, looks like i came round on the wrong night !

best night sky i`ve seen for a long time, very clear, looks from your report that you where very busy, i of course working till 10pm and out at 6am this morning and the sky was still brill, Moon almost gone so fingers crossed for a few more good nights.

was that Mars rising in the east early this morning ? was very bright.

[Doc]

thought you would be out last night, looks like i came round on the wrong night !

best night sky i`ve seen for a long time, very clear, looks from your report that you where very busy, i of course working till 10pm and out at 6am this morning and the sky was still brill, Moon almost gone so fingers crossed for a few more good nights.

was that Mars rising in the east early this morning ? was very bright.

Mars would have been up a while before morning broke. I would say it was Venus.

[SAB]

Fantastic report! Definately among the most informative I've read. Aren't those special nights just the best! Sky is clear here aswell, I might have a shot at the Viel myself, I've always wanted to have a crack at it but keep forgetting!

cheers!

[Talyn]

Great report, Doc. I looked as if you had a more successful night than I did! Mine was 'one of those nights' where things did not come together. Never mind.

What was the dew situation like? Here, it came down heavily and I was constantly wiping my Telrad and finder, which is one reason I spent more time searching for objects than observing them! I need to get a dew heater, but unfortunately my car tax renewal is looming.

NGC 891 is in Andromeda, not Pegasus, but it is notoriously hard to track down and is quite faint as well.

[Doc]

Dew was not a problem at all that night. I have a dew contoller on mine and a telrad heater plugged into it. Just designing my own secondary heater now so should be set up for the winter.