Meade Lightbridge Observing report as of 26.9.2009

[Doc]

26.9.2009

Meade lightbridge 16" F4.5 FL 1829mm

Half moon but very low down in Southern sky.

Seeing mag 4.2

Started obseving 20.55

First off all I wanted to finish my Lacerta entries in the Herschel 400 so picked Ngc7296 an Open Cluster. Very small may be 4' in diameter, only saw 10 stars but detected background nebulosity so definetly more stars but they were to dim to see. Pretty cluster but gets lost amoungst the other star clusters in the area.

Over to Ngc404 in Andromeda, this very hard to spot galaxy, It is sometimes called the Ghost of Mirach as it's hidden in the glare of the star Mirach. At only 4.4' in diameter and at mag of 10 it's very hard to see but with a little averted vision and slight tapping of the scope I could detect a very slight halo with a very dim core. As I said extremely hard to see as it is lost in the reflection of it's parent star. I'm not putting a tick against this one yet as I'm not 100% I saw it.

Next over to Cassiopeia to continue the Herschel 400 and onto Ngc559 a rather small but rich open cluster. Pretty bright at mag 9 and I counted about 25 stars in a rectangle type shape. My 21mm hyperion easily captured it in it's FOV.

Staying in Cassiopeia I tracked down Ngc637 once again a small open cluster at 4' in diameter and mag 8. This one is rather empty of stars and did not really fill me with awe but another one of my Herschel List.

Next M15 which is a globular cluster of stars in the constellation Pegasus. It is perhaps the densest of all the globular clusters in the Milky Way. It is also the only known globular cluster to contain a planetary nebula. M15 contains over 100 variable stars, which ranks it third for variables. It also contains 9 known pulsars. This cluster is 40,000 light-years distant, and with a visual magnitude of 6.2. I just love this globular cluster, I visit it many times and in my 21mm hyperion at x87 I can resolve quite alot of the cluster but insert my 12.5 ortho at x146 I get the tingling sensation that I'm inside the cluster, it's just so awesome that I cannot stop revisiting.

Next over to Triangulum and M33 which is a member of our local group of galaxies. It is a spiral galaxy with a diameter of 60,000 light-years, which makes it much smaller than its neighbor, M31. It is also a little farther away, at about 2,300,000 light-years from Earth. Even though extremely dim as it only has a surface magnitude of 14.2 it is very large and in my light polluted skies appear as a very faint smudge which is easier to see with averted vision.

Over to Perseus and Ngc1245 a pretty large circular patch of stars that make up this pretty open cluster. I counted about 30 stars but I believe there are many more much dimmer stars as slight nebulosity could be detected.

Staying in Perseus I headed for Ngc1342 a large but sparse open cluster that in my eyes looked like a snake with triangle head and a line of stars for the body. I counted about 35 stars.

Ngc7009 the Saturn Nebula in Aquarius was next. This is a first for me and an object that I have wanted to see for a while. I was not dissapointed it turned out to be an awesome sight, it was circular in shape and with a little inverted vision I could make out slight elongation at the edges with the 12.5 ortho. It had a green/blue tint and was pretty big at 0.5'. I tried to see it better by trying the O111 filter but this did not really help as far as I could see. No structure was seen. I'm a very happy man to have seen this and another one of my list.

Staying in Aquarius I found the M2, this cluster is located about 50,000 light-years from Earth. It is believed to be about 175 light-years in diameter. M2 is one of the brightest and largest globular clusters in the sky and was easily resolved in my 21mm hyperion but the best view was with my 12.5 Ortho.

Finished the night off looking at Uranus it was easily seen as a non stellar object with the 12.5 Ortho. It had a light green colour hue to the planet. With a 12.5mm ortho at x146 I could resolve to a disk and with 9mm at x203 a few pin points of light appeared near the planet I persume these were the moons of Uranus.

A great night and I finished about 00.30 after adding another 6 Herschel Objects to my list.

[SAB]

Great Report, sounds like you had a fantastic night! THose are some interesting facts about M15, thanks for posting! Although there are 3 other globulars with planetaries - GJJC1 in M22 , Jafu2 in NGC 6441 and Jafu1 in Palomer 6. Had no idea M33 has a SB of only 14.2 Did you see the "ansae" in NGC 7009?

[iamjulian]

Pretty much repeating the comments above, great report with lots of interesting facts about what you were looking at. Very informative. I too was surprised that the surface magnitude was only 14.2 Forgive my ignorance, but how does surface magnitude differ from apparent magnitude?

[Doc]

Thanks SAB. The SB of M33 came from Info on "CduC." The info on M15 came form "The Messier Catalog"

What I saw on Ngc7009 at higher power was a Saturn like shape with elongation at the sides. This was not very defined but was there. No inner structure was seen. I'm not 100% sure of what you mean by ansae I think it means rays. Are these internal within the structure.

[Doc]

Pretty much repeating the comments above, great report with lots of interesting facts about what you were looking at. Very informative. I too was surprised that the surface magnitude was only 14.2 Forgive my ignorance, but how does surface magnitude differ from apparent magnitude?

As M33 covers such a large area of 68' x 41' it's magnitude of 5.7 is depleted over this large area giving it a surface magnitude of just 14.2. An object's surface brightness gives an indication of how easily observable it is.

[Talyn]

Large extended objects are often dimmer than small ones because they are more spread out. A large diffuse object with a magnitude of 5 can often be harder to see than a small object with a magnitude of 11 (for example).

Great report, as ever, Doc. I always like reading your observing reports as they are very informative and interesting., especially as I am going through the Herschel 400 as well.

I was looking at M15 the other night but I was looking for the planetary nebula in it, Pease 1. As Pease 1 is such a teeny little thing, I am not sure I saw it, even using an OIII filter. I am going to have another go, with some downloaded charts this time.

[albedo0.39]

Great report Mick and agree - having just spent some time @ Kelling [more later] I can only agree that M33 is a very faint object compared with (say) M81 / M82. Also, managed to grab a view of M1 - Crab and was again, a touch underwhelmed. So, looks like you are after the Herschel marathon !

Power to your elbow (and mirror or course)

Steve

[Doc]

SWow Steve sounds like you had a great time look forward to your report.

Talyn very interesting Pease 1 I'll will look for this next time thats for sure. I'll try and find a map to show it's position.

[Craig H]

Briliant report Mick, I enjoyed reading this very much.

As already said ,very informative, which helps newbies like myself a great deal...keep em' comming...

regards craig.

[Talyn]

Talyn very interesting Pease 1 I'll will look for this next time thats for sure. I'll try and find a map to show it's position.

Try this: Pease 1 finder chart