Meade Lightbridge Observing report as of 19.02.2010

[Doc]

Meade Lightbridge 16" F4.5 FL 1829mm

Friday 19th Feb 2010

Crescent moon very low in Western sky

Very cold

Seeing magnitude 4.2

First up was M67 a lovely open cluster in Cancer, It is one of the oldest known open clusters and is believed to be over 3 billion years old. It is also the oldest cluster in the Messier catalog. This cluster is located about 2,700 light-years from Earth. It contains around 500 stars, some 200 of which are believed to be white dwarfs. I can fit most of it into the FOV of my 28 Uwan which is 1.26°. Through this eyepiece I can see at least 100 stars which are mostly whilte except for one very bright yellow star. A lovely cluster to view and one I often revisit.

Up to Gemini next and of course Ngc 2392 a brilliant little planetary nebula called the The Eskimo or the Clown Face. I love looking at this little PN. It shines at mag 8.6 and is 0.7'x0.8' in size and is so easy to spot. It takes magnification well and through the 7 Uwan at x261 I can see that the outer shell is slightly diffuse and the inner shell seems more prominent. There is a definite blue hue to the planetary and the central star is clearly visible.

Staying in Gemini I went hunting for a planetary that has always baffled me, and after reading a few articles on this I now know that this planetary has two designations, one for each lobe the planetary contains. I always thought that Ngc 2371 was the same as Ngc 2372 but this is not the case. The PN resembles a dumbell in shape and is extremely hard to find. Invisible in the 28 UWAN at x65 but insert the 16 UWAN at x 114 and use a O111 filter it does become visible. With this combination two seperate lobes are just visible, no central star is seen and no colour detected. The 7 Uwan does not really improve on the view.

By now it was already 23.30 so I headed over to Canes Venatici and the Whirlpool Galaxy which is M51. This was one of Messier's original discoveries. He found it in 1773 while observing a comet. M51 is a beautiful example of a face-on spiral galaxy. The obvious spiral shape of this object is what gave it the name, Whirlpool. It was the first spiral galaxy to be discovered. Careful observation reveals that this object is actually two galaxies. The second, known as Ngc5195, is interacting with M51. The outer regions of the two galaxies actually touch each other. M51 is located about 37 million light-years from Earth. Through my 28 UWAN I can easily see the two cores of the seperate galaxies and can also see the oval smudge which is the spirals but cannot detect any spirals, also the bridge was unseen at this time. By inserting the 7 Uwan and using a Baader 2" Neodymium filter I could detect a mottling effect within the smudge but once again no spirals were detected.

Next upto a new one for me and that is M106, It is located about 25 million light-years from Earth and is receding from us at the rate of 537 km/sec. This galaxy is rotated to our line of sight, which gives is an elongated appearance. It shines at mag 8.4 and is very easily seen in my 16 Uwan at x114 with a 2" Neodymium filter in place, the core is very bright and the elongated smudge seems brighter around the northern edge. Very nice indeed and another one ticked off my messier list.

I tried to find M109 next, another galaxy I have yet to see, I know I was in the right position but now way I could I see this galaxy in Ursa Major. I will have to save this one for darker skies.

Located in the constellation of Leo is a small triplet of galaxies that consist of M65, M66 and Ngc 3628. They are roughly 35 million light years away from Earth and M65 and M66 are easily seen in my 16 Uwan and take the shape of oval smudges with a brighter core but once again I failed on spotting Ngc 3628, this galaxy is about 0.5 of a mag dimmer then it's neighbours so this will have some impact on why I cannot see it.

Next over to the Leo Triplet which consists of M95, M96 and M105 these vary in mag from 9.3 to 9.7 funny thing is M95 is dimmer then Ngc 3628 but i have no problem seeing this one. All three reside about 38 million light years from Earth and are easily seen as oval smudges with brighter cores through my 16 Uwan.

Next over to Coma Berenices and M64, this is the famous Blackeye galaxy. It has also been called the Sleeping Beauty galaxy. The name Blackeye comes from a dark dust lane that obscures the light near the center of this galaxy. This dust lane is believed to be a site of active star formation. The distance of this galaxy is not very well known, but best guesses place it at around 20 million light-years from Earth. Through the 16 Uwan this is a stunning galaxy to observe, very bright, and gradually getting brighter towards the centre.

Staying in Coma Berenices and the globular cluster M53 this is among the more distant globulars, situated about 60,000 light-years from the galactic center. This would put it at about 62,000 light-years from Earth. The cluster has a diameter of around 250 light-years. M53 has a magnitude of 7.6, and makes a special sight through the 16 Uwan, I can resolve quite a few stars and would estimate there to be at least 30 stars visible. Through the 7 Uwan at least 50 were visible.

A very small hop away we come to another Globular cluster called Ngc 5053 this one is smaller and dimmer then M53 and actually took some finding as it has a very low surface brightness, once found it looked more like an open cluster then a globular cluster. Through the 16 Uwan I could detect maybe 30 very dim stars I would estimate them to be mag 13.

I now had a 30 minute sweep of the Virgo cluster of galaxies but without a detailed galaxy map this was really an impossible task but I could see quite a few mottled background smudges but did not know which one was what.

By now it was 01.30 and I was frozen solid and so was the scope, once again the dew controller worked a treat.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mick

I had a look around Gemini last night. I had cleaned the secondary mirror and bought a 22mm Panoptic so I had to test every thing!

I also had a look at the PN NGC 2371/2372 and like you saw both sides using the 13mm and 8mm Ethos. Things did not appear better with the O111 filter.

The Eskimo was also very clear last night with the central star quite bright.

Mark

[Doc]

Mick

I had a look around Gemini last night. I had cleaned the secondary mirror and bought a 22mm Panoptic so I had to test every thing!

I also had a look at the PN NGC 2371/2372 and like you saw both sides using the 13mm and 8mm Ethos. Things did not appear better with the O111 filter.

The Eskimo was also very clear last night with the central star quite bright.

Mark

I cannot recall looking at it without the O111 filter, so you maybe right. If I remember right I inserted the O111 as I couldn't find it without one, and then it appeared.

Btw how is the 22 panoptic?

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mick

I was going to buy either the 20 or 22mm Nagler but they are quite expensive. The 35mm Panoptic that I have is brilliant with a fantastic FOV so when the 22mm Panoptic came up last week in the sale thread I thought it would be ideal. I read several reviews and everyone classed it as exceptional - so I bought it.

Well the image quality is excellent and I am very happy with the 68 degree FOV and the eye relief is so comfortable to view through. So a big plus for this EP.

Mark

[Rusty Strings]

Hi Mick

Excellent report as usual, your observations always make for an inspiring read.

Mark

I have the 24mm panoptic and it spends more time in my newt than anything else, a wonderful ep.

John

[Doc]

Hi Mick

Excellent report as usual, your observations always make for an inspiring read.

John

I do try to please John

[jarbi]

Thanks for your report Doc, I have noted again some new targets for myself ;-).

Yesterday evening I was also out wiht my 16" LB, but I had to give it up soon. It was so strong wind that I couldn't keep the scope quiet.

cheers,

Janos

[Doc]

Thanks for your report Doc, I have noted again some new targets for myself ;-).

Yesterday evening I was also out wiht my 16" LB, but I had to give it up soon. It was so strong wind that I couldn't keep the scope quiet.

cheers,

Janos

Cheers Janos.

I agree the 16" dob really moves by itself when it's windy, acts as a large kite.

[DarkerSky]

Excellent write up as always Mick

I never realised how old M67 was, or how many of its stars are white dwarfs! Good stuff. Always think it adds extra spice to an observing session when you're looking through the EP and realising some of these amazing facts about what you are looking at.

NGC 2371/2 sounds interesting. I will have to have a go at that one (both of them!)

[lunator]

Mick

Nice report

it sounded an excellent session

Cheers

Ian

[dobserver]

What a brilliant session you had Mick, and as always a cracking read. I got to see quite a few of your targets with the 20" - report coming up. There'll be a test in there for you too......