Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Clear Again Tonight

Kain

By Kain
in The Astro Lounge

Recommended Posts

Kain

Kain

Posted
Posted

Looks like it's going to be a great night again tonight for observing, is anyone planning to make use of what the cloud gods are giving us?

Tonight I am going to make it an issue to find M57!! I though last night it would jump out at me, but it didn't!! With the 10" what would be the best EP to view it with? (I still struggle with the mathematics of working out magnifications lol)

I'm also going to try for some of the M-Fuzzies :D I have bought a book today for 'The Works' called 'Practical Sky watching' which shows all the constellations in great detail so I'm going to have a go at a few things I haven't seen before...

Prime targets are M57, M27, M31 (any tips on seeing M31 from a moderately LP area?) M3, M51 and M94.

Its abit of a challenge really..

Any advice for finding these would be gratefully received :D

Kain

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kaptain Klevtsov

Kaptain Klevtsov

Posted
Posted

I'm quite surprised at you not being able to find M31, as I can see it in 10X50 Binos from my highly LP site.

Find the big W of Cassiopeia and the right hand V points at a bright star (Mirach). Up from Mirach you have a less bright star, go up the same amount again and you will see a faint blur. That's it.

Up direction is based on going towards the zenith, as in normal up, shouldn't be too difficult unless Mirach is too low to see.

At 11:20 tonight M31 is straight up from Mirach.

HTH

Captain Chaos

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Astroman

Astroman

Posted
Posted

Kain,

CC has described exactly how I find M31. I've easily pegged it, and described how to find it to others, from downtown Phoenix, right next to a baseball park. Yes, while a game was going on. Shouldn't be too hard for you. I'd suggest finding it initially in binoculars. It is much larger than you expect, and seeing it in binos should help you gauge the size.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted

Tonight I am going to make it an issue to find M57!!

With the 10" what would be the best EP to view it with? (I still struggle with the mathematics of working out magnifications lol)

Here you go Kain:

image.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kain

Kain

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm going to give it a miss tonight, too much lugging about to look though holes in clouds.

Tomorrow up untill monday/tuesday should be clear anyway.

Steve is that a program you have that works out what you would see?

Kain

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Warthog

The Warthog

Posted
Posted

I was up until 11:00 last night, waiting for an Iridium flare, which I didn't see. Turns out I had figured out North correctly, though, so I don't know why. The sky was surprisingly bright at that time, particularly in the Northeast. With the sun not getting 12 degrees below the horizon all night, there isn't much chance of decent observing, is there? I'm surprised you are getting any observing in, so good for you! When you guys said it doesn't get properly dark, you weren't kidding, were you?

My relatives go to bed at about 11:00, and my wife gets antsy about me still being up, so I am not getting to see any stars at all, only Jupiter.

When I come here again, I think it will be in autumn, when there is some dark sky. Going to try for at least one IF tonight, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell

Posted
Posted

Ive downloaded the program, but how do you get the views like Steve did?

Kain

Lo Kain

Steve was using Starry Night Pro which is a planetarium program, Astroplanner is a planning program so you can check whichever type of target you plan to image and see when it is in its best position for your site.

These two images show the observing window and the sky window showing where the targets are in the sky at this particular moment. You can see that M67 and M44 are setting so they are out but M52 and the double cluster are rising so would be good to image in a couple of hours. This was just a random file i made up just to show how AP works, it does take a bit of study to understand how it works but its worth it. :D

image.jpg

image.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted

Ive downloaded the program, but how do you get the views like Steve did?

You will need to enter in your equipment spec's.

Its in the book but if you have difficulties, post again :D

Actually, as you have downloaded it, you won't have the book. If you look in the Help drop-down menu, you should be able to access instructions there.

Enjoy, its a great piece of software 8)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.