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4th clear night in a row!

pvaz

By pvaz
in Observing - Reports

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pvaz

pvaz

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As the tittle says I got the 4th clear night. Over the last 3 I managed to get a few more Herschel's and some Caldwells as well.

The 1st night of this series was on my last report, it was probably the best night I ever had in all aspects. Tonight the seeing was poor, anything about 70 or 80x was too much as stars ware twinkling like lights on a Christmas tree even at zenit. So I stored the scope and grabbed the binos hoping the seeing wouldn't have much effect at 15x.

It worked! I looked at the North America nebula for a long period letting my eyes adapt and it seamed to grow after a while. This nebula is faint and can only be seen as a lighter patch in the sky when compared to the darker surroundings. The area known as florida/mexico is the easiest to notice and easy to locate if you imagine a right angled triangle with Deneb in the far vertice and Xi Cyg and Nu Cyg as the other vertices. The florida/mexico area starts within that triangle close to Xi Cyg. Starting there, where it's easier to detect, you can follow it up as it extends over a wider area. On the 15x70s it almost fills the FoV. At 38x (lowest mag I can achieve with the XT8 and my current EPs) it's much harder to detect as it fills the FoV and there's no dark surroundings for contrast.

Then I tried the veil nebula. I could see a wide brighter round area which was the Eastern side of the nebula. With a more careful look the west area was also visible. No wisps or structure ware resolved, just a dim brighting in the dark sky. This object is a lot more dramatic on the 8" with the OIII.

Then I looked to the Pleiades. This object comes to life in binoculars. I never really liked it much in the dob as I could never frame it quite right but the binos seam to have just the right FoV for it. However the dob reveals hints of nebula and the binos don't.

Following was the double cluster. The 8" + Ethos give me the best views on this, but the binos are quite nice too. One thing I noticed in the binos is a curved line of bright stars extending from them. One of the stars in that line is an intense orange. Does this line have a name?

To end it for tonight I looked at the Orion Nebula, it was nice as ever but still a bit low near the horizon.

After about 1h30m I came back in. I really enjoyed the night taking my time with each object, with a few cups of hot tea and a port in between. :eek:

I'm very happy with the 15x70s, they are sharp across 90-95% of the FoV and are a great complement to my scope. Originally they ware meant for travelling but now I believe they'll see much more use. Using them with a monopod makes them work as if weightless and very easy to hold steady (enough) without compromising mobility.

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pvaz

pvaz

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Thank you for the report I just took delivery of my 15x 70s and I am waiting "first light" with them, your report excites me even more as I may be able to see more than I imagined with them

here's to clear skys

It's a great piece of equipment at a surprisingly low price. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

But to clarify I must point out I live in a remote area with virtually no artificial light, as in: I see the Andromeda galaxy naked eye a little wider then the full moon. Even so, some of the objects I mentioned on this report are very faint and hard to detect to the untrained eye and almost certainly not detectable under light pollution.

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pvaz

pvaz

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I'm in Azores islands in Portugal. We get plenty of cloud here too but I just had a good spell. Today it was another clear one: 5 in a row! I honestly can't remember more then 3 in the past.

The weather ain't perfect, it's a bit windy with gusts and the seeing is quite bad this last 2 nights. However, transparency is excellent. I just tested naked eye limiting mag on Orion at about 40º above horizon. The faintest star I could see there was 52 Ori at 6.00 mag!

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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The cloud stream charging over seems to have no end in sight. I've had solid cloud cover here (s. england) and looks like it's going to continue.

Looking up at the cloud, it looks like a big orange peel moving through the sky - such is the effect of the light pollution bouncing back down to us.

My main target this month is M45 (I really need to image it for my Christmas cards this year :eek:) and by the time the clouds part the moon will be right on top of the target, shining brightly.

This has to be the most frustrating hobby in the world!

post-18683-133877498988_thumb.png

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pvaz

pvaz

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Paulo, i'm starting to wonder why i have you on my list of friends. Now, if you invited me to stay with you over Christmas.......all would be forgiven.

LOL.

LOL, feel free to come but I can't promise good weather. :eek:

I wish you all can have some decent nights soon. Last month I only had one half decent, so I know how it can be frustrating sometimes...

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SiriusB

SiriusB

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Funnily enough full moon was the last thing i saw in the night sky...other than sodium lit clouds that is!:eek:

Don't be envious peoples, at least someones getting to enjoy the heavens.

Now, if Paulo discovers a new naked eye comet because he's the only one in western europe with clear skies, THATS the time to

envy :)

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