Observing Report 3rd May 2010 - 'The long and winding ode'

[Moonshane]

Observing Report 3rd May 2010

Location Stockport, England Latitude: +53.42 (53°25'12"N)

Longitude: -2.17 (2°10'12"W)

Equipment – f5.3 300mm Orion Optics UK Dobsonian, TV Radian and Panoptic /Powermate / WO 33mm SWAN

Main Target: Galaxies in the Constellation of Leo

Apologies - for going on for too long as usual.

The skies finally cleared after a pretty dire period for observing over the last week or so in Stockport. Transparency was good with occasional patches of relatively dense cloud that increased as the night went on. I observed from 9.30pm to around midnight by which time the sky was beginning to cover over. Seeing was reasonable to poor with magnifications restricted to around 160x but perhaps just over 200x achievable on Saturn and double stars, without the image being greatly affected. Ultimately, if you get the chance, you've got to get out there and observe; those perfect nights are unlikely - I've never seen one.

As Leo is now well over to the south, bordering on south-west, of my garden it is moving towards the area of sky I cannot see well from my observation point. Therefore I decided to have a look at the double stars and galaxies in this constellation before it moves too far west to be surveyed. As always, I have other targets on my ‘would like to see tonight list’ which provide both a contingency plan and also something else to target once/if I have managed to observe the main targets.

Even by midnight, the sky was not particularly dark and I therefore had some concerns about being able to see my main targets – M105, M95 and M96; these would all be new Messier objects for me. Thankfully these concerns were allayed as described below.

I live in a bad area for light pollution (LP); my home town is in a magenta area according to a recently viewed LP map of the UK which is the second or third worst category. Thankfully, my garden faces about due east and the worst of the LP is to the west and north-west of my house. Furthermore, we built an extension on the house a couple of years ago which effectively blocks all street lighting from my viewing area and creates something of a ‘black hole’ around the back of the house. This is only spoiled by people turning on their kitchen lights etc but this is only a temporary problem in most cases; I may invest in a light blocking blanket at Mick’s (Doc) suggestion. My ‘street cred’ could not be lower with my kids anyway – and I reckon secretly they admire my ‘individuality’. After all, is that not what teenagers really crave? Sorry, my mind wandered a little there……..

As usual, I used Polaris to align my Telrad and 6x30mm right-angled finder. For some reason there seemed to be a little more separation than normal on this lovely ‘diamond ring’ double but I am sure this was just an optical illusion. That done and after a short look, and as it was still quite early I turned the Dobsonian onto what must be most people’s favourite planet, Saturn, intent on observing as many of the moons as possible. Earlier in the day I had used Stellarium to establish where the moons would be and produced a child-like sketch of which even a two year old would be ashamed. Despite its imperfections, this enabled me to put names to the moons and see a total of five – Titan, Rhea, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys were all seen with direct vision. Enceladus was more easily seen with averted vision – I find that up a bit to the right works best for me for some reason. According to Stellarium, Mimas was in-between Tethys and the main planet disc, but unfortunately I failed to resolve this moon despite concentrated effort and using various combinations of eyepieces. The planet showed quite good levels of detail with the Cassini Division just apparent and darker bands either side of the paler banding just each side of the almost edge-on rings.

Over to my main target area of the evening, the constellation of Leo. This is obvious in the southern sky at the minute with the reversed question mark, forming the head and neck of the Lion and the remainder of the constellation off to the east. Before searching for the new galaxies referred to above, I did a bit of a field test with two galaxies I can now find relatively easily – M65 (apparent magnitude (am) of 10.25) and M66 (am 8.9). These are also in Leo in between the stars of Theta Leonis (Chort or Chertan) and Iota Leonis. Although not as bright as I have seen them previously, both of these galaxies were very visible and I therefore had some hope in finding my targets that have an am which is not too dissimilar (see below). As a double check I swung around to M81 (am 6.94) and M82 (am 8.41) in Ursa Major as these are somewhat brighter and easily located. These were quickly located and confirmed that I should be able to see the three Leonid galaxies. One of the reasons for taking this somewhat circuitous route was that I wanted to ensure my eyes had regained full dark adaptation after viewing the bright disc of Saturn, before trying to locate the dimmer galaxies.

I needn’t have worried. Using the Telrad I pointed the scope to the approximate spot directly between Iota Leonis and Alpha Leonis (Regulus). My first find, scared the hell out of me. I was just putting my eye to the eyepiece when a plane flew straight across the field of view! If anyone has not has this experience while observing at night it’s really quite bizarre. After my heartbeat had slowed again, and with my widest field eyepiece, the 33mm 2” Optics SWAN, I scanned the area and soon found the two galaxies M95 (am 11.4) and M96 (am 10.1) close together in the same field – result! There were obviously more faint than the other galaxies referred to above but clearly observable fuzzy patches with a bright core. With these secured, I slowly moved the scope up the constellation and then located another faint cloud with a bright centre that is M105 (am 10.2). It is important to remind yourself that what you are looking at is an amazing subject matter because the actual view of such targets can be disappointing to the new observer. They really are just faint whiffs of cloudy sky with a bright core and nothing much to look at compared with the fabulous images we all see. It is the fact I can even see them at all which always amazes me and the challenge of finding them in my own garden is what drives me on to seek them out.

With some careful nudging of the scope, I could just about get all three galaxies in the same field of view with this eyepiece. Although it has to be said that this eyepiece is much better in my refractor for star sharpness across a wider field, it is excellent for low power finding in the dob. I may eventually replace it with a 35mm or 40mm Skywatcher Aero, in order to improve the view through the Dob, but for the time being it’s an excellent and well-used tool.

Feeling really pleased with myself, I now turn to the double stars within this constellation. There are four main targets, three of which I have not looked at before. The first one is the dot at the bottom of the reversed question mark, Alpha Leonis (Regulus). I have of course seen this star before but not realised it is a multiple system before planning tonight’s session. This is actually a triple system with a very bright blue white primary and a well-spaced yellowish secondary. The secondary also has a companion which is quite faint (am 13 approximately) and all three components were seen clearly and form a pointed hat when viewed together – I need to check this as the notes in the book suggest I may have seen a fourth visual only companion rather than the companion of the secondary.

Next up was another easy split of a bright pair of close deep yellow stars, Gamma Leonis (Algieba). I have seen this before but as I was doing a tour of the constellation and it is such an attractive binary, I had to return for a further look.

Zeta Leonis (Adhafera) was next on the list and showed a white primary with a wide, to my eyes, slightly orange secondary.

Finally I moved over to Tau Leonis which was such a wide binary that I had to take out the Powermate and use just the 24mm Panoptic for this one. This is a binocular split according to the book I have, so this is perhaps understandable.

My tour of Leo completed I then set about looking at some ‘old’ favourites (ha! – I have only been observing for about 8 months but what I mean is that I have seen them previously and enjoyed them greatly) and could not resist the easier options as time was pressing on. M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules was first. This was getting higher in the sky now and really glistened with stars, using the 14mm Radian at 114x. As the seeing zoomed in and out, different sections of this globular cluster came into view. You could look at this for hours and still not see everything. By comparison, M3 in Canes Venatici, which is also a really beautiful sight, does seem to be rather less spectacular. They both have their own beauty though and are both worth a long inspection if you get the chance. In the same constellation as M3 is the beautiful double, Alpha Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli). This is a quite close pair of bright stars and well worthy of visiting repeatedly. I have seen this each session recently and cannot resist returning again.

Over into Coma Berenices, and close to Alpha Comae (Diadem) I had a quick look at M53, another globular cluster which whilst not in the same league as the other two, has its own beauty.

My final stop of the night was going to be the Dumbbell Nebula, M27 but unfortunately Vulpecula is not yet high enough in the sky by the time I packed up. Therefore I had another look at my last old favourite and the first thing other than the moon and planets that I turned my scope on – the Ring Nebula, M57 in Lyra. This was again easy to track down and still makes me gasp when I find it; sitting in space just like someone smoking a pipe has blown a smoke ring.

As the clouds were well and truly in control now, I packed up after a really successful and enjoyable night of observations. Despite less than perfect conditions, I hope you enjoyed tonight as much as I did.

Best wishes

Shane

[DarkerSky]

Fantastic report Shane. Really enjoyed reading that. I always find M95 and M96 quite tight little galaxies in the EP that give little away. I last studied them mid March and found both tough objects to get any detail out of. M96 I remember had a slightly elongate core compared to M95, and it seemed like it had a slightly bigger diffuse halo around it too compared to M95.

Algieba has been one of my favourite double 'discoveries' this spring

[Moonshane]

Thanks Seb

I agree with all you say - I love Algieba too - nice!

I am definitely at the starting point with galaxies and find it difficult to see any detail at all. I think with more observing time, I'll start to teach my eyes how to fine tune the detail and extract a little bit more about the things I see.

I'd love to get to a dark site.

cheers!

[mdstuart]

Fine report....You could Try NGC 2903 in Leo..I think this compares with those M galaxies...See what you think???

Also could you see NGC 3384 which is right next two it??

Mark

[Moonshane]

ha ha leave it out Mark!

let me get to grips with the Messiers first

thanks for the tip - I'll be looking for those two next time I am out as well as the one near to M13 that Doc mentioned recently too. that's assuming I get a chance in the next month or so with the weather as it is

cheers for the comments. I enjoy writing up my findings and I always print a copy off so I can read through them in due course to sigh and huff when it's cloudy again. they will be a great aide memoir in the future too.

[Doc]

Great report Shane. The Leo triplet is a fantastic sight to see, as Mark says try Ngc2903 it's also pretty impressive.

[Moonshane]

Thanks Mick

I certainly will be doing. hopefully it will be a bit darker too next time and I might get a little more detail.

[Nexus 6]

Great read shane.

I have seen both M95 and M96 only recently for the first time, it really gets you when you view two distant objects in the same fov, now having just accuired a 2" 32 Panaview I will be checking again to try and get all 3 objects in the fov. I have realised that patience is a great rewarder for any novice observers. At first when I used my 6se I did not take enough time to properly scan the area of the sky I was observing. That was 2 years ago, I have learnt so much since then, the forum has been especially helpfull, a big thankyou to you and other members of SGL for some excellent help,advice and general observations that have helped me get to where I am now.

Alan

[Moonshane]

cheers Alan - glad you liked it. totally agree about patience - it definitely rewards and certainly on a par is having a plan for the night - it's easy to waste it otherwise if you are like me and don't get more than a couple of chances every fortnight or so.

by the way, as mentioned in the report, I have been observing a lot less time than you so I bet I'll be learning off you too

[Nexus 6]

Shane

I have got a way to go to be able to give such a considered and detailed report than yourself! I really do need to make some better logs, I have viewed many objects but not really put down enough detail on my thoughts and how the object was looking that particular observing session. Look out for my first report to appear soon I hope.

Alan

[Moonshane]

nice one Alan - go for it - you'll be surprised. waffling on is what I do for a living (well almost - I write credit reports among other things). I'll look forward to it mate.

don't forget that like photographers, what you see is not the first draft :0)

[Nexus 6]

Shane thanks.

I have considered the fact that no matter how many times you may observe a particular object it is always different, due, as you would know, to various reasons. For this reason I find its always worth checking out a familier one to see how it compared last time you viewed it.

Remember, I am only reading your reports,from what you said I'm lucky your not telling me them:D

Clear skies

Alan

[Moonshane]

Indeed, especially as my wife often tells me I have a completely monotone voice when I start talking about my hobbies

I can honestly confirm that what I write down is what I see and I then try and confirm it later - hence there are bits where I refer to checking again next time etc.

this hobby has so much to offer - just a shame we mainly do it when it's blumming freezing!

[Nexus 6]

Good point about the weather! The past winter was a real drag and made my first one ,after I got my 6se, seem like a stroll in the park.

I'm sure the wife must be,if she's anything like my girl,really content that your OUT but are only in the backyard and not the pub with the lads,though she'd never admitt it!

Alan

[Moonshane]

true - also stops me interrupting the soaps :0)

she does bob out occasionally to have a quick look but complaints that things are upside down or back to front ensue along with '[removed word] this I'm freezing'.

after 20 years together though (18 married) she knows me by now, staggering from one obsession to another - what appropriately named scopes they are I have just realised!

[Nexus 6]

Why do they watch the soaps? What a waste of energy!

I was amazed last winter when late one weekend night around 1 in the mornin my other half said she was gonna get wrapped up and come out! Ye I showed her a good few sights and could'nt get over that she was out with me!

Next morning she told me she had filled a hot water bottle and put it under her top!

[Moonshane]

I don't know mate but I suppose at least it rhymes with scopes.........

women and hot water bottles - they are sneaky - my wife just uses me as one - especially her cold feet on my back in the night - (oi, no not that!!) I am sure that's all she sees in me (warm feet)