Report 23/7/06 - Dumbells and Dark Nebs

[Kain]

Wow what a night!!

The evening started off with a street BBQ, were a close little neighbourhood and we generally have one a month where 70% of the street all join in.

Anyway as darkness fell I got the scope out, lots of wows! from folds who could see old stripy Jupiter. As the night went on and got darker and people left, I decided to view some things for myself.

First up was M29 in Cygnus. I have seen this loads of times, but I thought it was a good example of a cluster to show off to a few of the folks that were left. From there I showed them all Albireo. I love that binary.

From there I showed them M57 (there was only me interested at this point so I didn't spend long looking at it, I'm getting bored with it now I can fund it instantly lol.

So with that I decided to go after the bain of the skies for me, M27. After about 10 mins swearing and getting annoyed there it was!! It was breathtaking!! I was expecting a little 'thing' like the ring, but in comparison it was HUGE. I could see the little fibrous stands around the edges. I could also make out a tiny star in the middle just about. (very dark skies) so I was pleased with that!

Heres a sketch, it ain't great as I did it in the dark using a red light

Having looked at that for a good half hour (Still amazed at it's size) I went and looked at M13 and spotted that little galaxy on James's picture. I wern't sure how to draw M13..

Next was something totally new B142 and B143 - Double dark nebula in Aquila. Having not seen anything like this before, I thought it was pretty cool! You could clearly see it blocking out the stars in the Milky Way, so that was another new first for me

From there to Sagitta. First stop was the Coathanger (ok so technically in Vulpecula, but I find it using Sagitta). From there to M71 - a mini M13 lol.

Having taken another look at M27, I packed up as dew was forming on the mirrors, so everything was blurry.

I had a really good time with the scope tonight, I'm thrilled to finally see M27 at last!

Kain

[qcdougn]

Kain,

Nice summary of your observations...sounds like you had a good time...and had bar-b-que too.

Nice realistic- visual sketches..

Doug

[MartinB]

More good sketches Kain. You are certainly whizzing round the night sky now. Have you had a look at the I See Stars site where you can log all your Messier observations?

[FLO]

Nice one Kain,

Your progress is astonishing

[Kain]

Thanks guys, it certainly was one of my best nights viewing last night,

Is M57 small for a nebula or something? I really didn't expect M27 to be so big!

On I See Stars, isn't it just for photographic records of the Massiers?

Kain

[geppetto]

Nice report and sketch there Kain 8)

Those faint fuzzies are falling at your feet

[MartinB]

On I See Stars, isn't it just for photographic records of the Massiers?

Kain

No! you can add messier observations as well.

[Astroman]

M57 and M27 are actually pretty large for planetary nebulae, with M57 being extremely bright for one. Most PN's you see on charts are very faint, vary small or both. Anything with a "PK 13+32" type designation is fairly worthless to observe in less that 10" aperture. Rather like the PGC galaxies for their part. M57 and M27 are enourmous comparatively. There are a few very nice PN's to see, the Helix, Cat's eye, Saturn, Blue Snowball, Blinking etc, but there are thousands more that are less than spectacular.

Don't get me wrong, though. I highly recommend going after these difficult targets as much for practice locating as honing your observing skills. One trick I learned is to "blink" using a UHC filter between your eye and the EP. Stars will tend to drop out, while a PN will jump up.