Kelling Report 11.09.10

[philj]

Kelling 11th September Observation Report

(Please Note Im a newbie to double and planetary observing so forgive any terminology gaffs)

Equipment

Orion Telescopes & Binoculars 102ED on HEQ5 pro, fitted with side by side bar plus guide cam and scope, intended to be used for imaging with the 1000d.

4” F15 Fullerscopes Deluxe (1979) on Thomas Cooke Of York Portable Equatorial Mount (c1883), RA manual slow motion only no drives (and certainly no goto).

11th September 2010

Conditions, semi cloud cover from darkness to approx 23:00 clearing to cloud free skies for the rest of the night/morning.

The old saying of “Don’t fix it if it aint broke” applied to my imaging rig because I had changed a couple of components during the day and after an hour of messing finally got it to guide but then the cloud rolled in.

I therefore took the opportunity to use the 4” F15 between clouds. However I became so engrossed in the views I was getting under this incredible sky that I never went back to the imaging rig all night, despite the clouds clearing so the night was spent using the trusty old F15 on Cooke manual mount.

DSO

As conditions allowed I initially started to look at the old favourite DSOs to compare the views at Kelling with those I get at home. Now a 4” F15 refractor is not really a DSO scope but I must admit I was surprised at the views I was getting under these contrasty skies. The old favourites M13, M57, M27, M82 all gave good traditional views. M31 was just poking out from the tree tops and gave the typical fuzzy blob view at 61x but this time with a difference, allowing my eye to relax on the subject gave a hint that there were definite dark lanes in the object. Wobbling the scope confirmed they moved with the object and I was seeing some of the dark dust lanes in the galaxy, something I cant see from my skies with this scope, wow.

At about 23:00 Jupiter was rising between the trees on my pitch but high thin cloud did nothing for the image but it gave a tantalising view of what was to come.

Double Stars

I kicked up my netbook and opened Skymap Pro and the SAC Double Star database, this was an ideal opportunity to tick off some of the fainter doubles in the list. Delphinus was at an altitude which gave comfortable access to the finder and eyepiece thus I busied myself star hopping to locate a few double stars in the area:

Beta Delph was a nice easy start at mag 4 and 11, the fainter companion was teased out with the zoom quite easily with a separation of 42 arcsecs. There was a definite colour contrast, a yellow bright component with what I thought was a blue/white secondary component.

Kappa Delph took some finding but eventually it was there with fainter pairing 5/11.7 and a closer separation of 28 this was tighter than Beta.

Gamma Delph, STF2727, easy to find with nice bright 4.5/5.5 mag components and the smaller separation of 9.6 made an interesting pair. The database states it’s a yellow / green pair, I could discern the yellow but my eyes showed more of a blue to the fainter component.

A few more lesser doubles were ticked off but by that time Jupiter had cleared the trees and the atmosphere had cleared and steadied. Skymap showed the GRS was to come in view at around 01:00 and it was now 01:30 ish so I stood a chance of catching this event.

Jupiter

1st view with 61x showed a very bright disc with a very prominent NEB plus a few fainter belts with limb and pole darkening, the image was very stable so I swapped to a TMB 9mm Planetary ep to give 170x. The view that greeted me was one I shall remember all my life. The definition of the NEB was superb with a definite reddish / dark brown colour showing good detail and darker areas. This old F15 scope was certainly performing well.

The SEB was there but almost lacking any colour it was picked out with darker lines/belts above and below but there on the limb was a darker area in the SEB, it was the GRS compressed by line of sight. As the night progressed this became more oval with slight brownish tint as it neared the meridian.

The 3d effect of the planet was highlighted by the smaller belts near the poles getting tighter and showing more colour.

By now, 02:30, after showing the view to about 6 other folk waiting to have a look, I swapped the ep for my Meade 5000 5.5mm to give a mag of 278x, conditions had stabilised so that even this mag held very well. The GRS was about a third of the way across the disc and showed a definite oval shape with some darker highlighting evident around the perimeter in places. More belts were evident closer to the poles and the NEB showed more detail and had obvious swirls and markings, (are these called festoons).

I spent the next hour trying different coloured filters I found green/blue gave the better definition of the poles and belts but reduced the GRS.

At about 03:00 I was having difficulty keeping my eyes open so I reluctantly packed away feeling well justified at taking the trouble to pack the 4” F15 for Kelling.

A night to remember

Philj

[Doc]

What a weekend we had. I cannot believe the csharpness and contrasty views your F15 refractor gave.

Jupiter was outstanding and the GRS really stood out. And I think you are correct in calling those little swirls of gas festoons.

A great night and one I hope to do again.

[lunator]

Phil

Very nice report

Jupiter was a great sight

Cheers

Ian

[Talitha]

Great report Phil, well done on the dark lanes.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Interesting report Phil - I really wish I had attended Kelling this year.

Your Fullerscope sounds a dream machine.

Mark

[F15Rules]

Hi Phil,

Loved reading your report, many thanks:)!

I have often wondered how much better the skies at a place like Kelling can be than where I live in the industrial Midlands...although I live on the edge of a country village (Market Bosworth), we are surrounded on all sides, within 10-15 miles, by Coventry, Leicester, Tamworth and Birmingham. Coalville, in Leicestershire, near the M1 north, is about 10 miles away and is the worst source of light pollution I know - it has modern (10 years to 15 years old) industrial units all over the place and the orange glow from hundreds of sodium lights is hideous!

It makes sense, doesn't it, that if our eyes can see so much more in these dark skies, then our scopes will also perform that much better as well. I can only guess how my 6" Frac would work out there, but I am resolved to try to get to Kelling next year and see for myself.

I saw your pitch pictures and your three beautiful scopes. I remember as a lad seeing and lusting after Fullerscopes 4" refractors, they were SO expensive at the time for people like me, but were beautifully crafted.

Thanks for your report, inspiring stuff!

Dave

[DarkerSky]

Nice one Phil. Getting lane detail in M31 is fantastic. I have only detected the broad lane once before.

Gamma Delph is a beauty isn't it. I know what you mean about the blueness in the pairing. When I got it during the summer Gamma Delph A appeared white-yellow, while Gamma Delp B appeared a blue-yellow. I think the contrast between the two hints at green.

BTW, did you happen to notice another double Stuve 2725 close by just to the south of Gama Delp? It makes for a beautiful quadruple in a widefield EP.

[philj]

Thanks guys and gal:D it was a memorable night having my 1st proper look at Jupiter with the F15 and you never know I may have converted some other folk to the joys of long FL.

Darker sky, actually I saw STF2725 1st but it didnt register straightaway. It was only when I did a search on Skymap from the SAC database that I realised what I had seen. Its a nice sight which I will visit regularly from now on.

Dave, that would be good to have another F15 achro amongst the forest of Apos :-) Im definately going to try and get there next year

Cheers

Philj

[brantuk]

Wished I'd come over and had a look now. Great report Phil - but we were just so esconsed with Doc's 16" LB we forgot your rig only 4 pitches away. Thought you were lurking nearby us in the dark somewhere lol