12/11/10 report

[george7378]

The conditions were great, and I ticked a few more objects off the list to be observed with my new scope.

Sights:

- M1 - Crab Nebula

- M42 - Orion Nebula

- M45 - Pleiades

- M82 - Cigar Galaxy

- M81

- M31, M32 and M110

- Jupiter

- Lots of stars and asterisms

Tonight's session started at 21:00, and went on until about 23:30, when Orion was fully above the horizon and in a great observing position.

The night's first object was Jupiter, and I was suprised to see how far across the sky it had treversed since I first saw it this time round - we'd better get it while it's still there! Through the 10" at 120X, the view of the NEB showed some dark spots and large festoons between the light/dark material boundaries, with the north polar zone above it. I am still amazed at how much more detail this new scope shows compared to my old one - I just adore being able to see the intricate swirls on the edge of the belts. The SEB didn't show any notable colour (yet!), although I think I saw a dark spot close to the eastern limb in the region - I doubt it was anything notable. The south polar zone looked beautiful towards the edge of the disc too. I am very happy to be observing Jupiter at such an exciting time - I really feel a part of the global astronomy community when I am using my own personal 'observatory' to do my bit of SEB-watching. There was a conjunction between two of the moons too - and all four were on one side of the planet. I kept periodically returning to Jupiter for check-ups throughout the night.

The next thing I did was a first for me, and I think I am going to try and make it a regular part of my observing sessions - I did about 30 minutes of comet hunting. A 10" scope on a Dobsonian mount is an ideal platform for searching, and although I am not expecting to find anything any time soon, it turned out to be an ideal way to see parts of the sky I would not normally look in. I started in Ursa Major, and worked my way up to the zenith, examining every field of view carefully before moving on. I didn't find anything, but the little star clusters, double stars and asterisms which floated through the eyepiece made the scan worth it - I loved exploring the different arrangements and colours of the stars I had never seen before, plus I also saw a very dim, very slow satellite. It will be a great way to find faint galaxies and nebulae, which I will undoubtedly cross paths with. I would highly recommend a brief sky scan every night for anyone, you will see many objects that you wouldn't normally, and you may even find a comet! One particularly interesting asterism I came across was a very shallow cascade of stars with a regular 'T' below and to the right of it - a small rendition is below. It was in the region of Cassiopeia - has anyone ever seen something similar?

Among the DSOs I targeted were M31, which showed me the 'squashed oval' shape seen in astro-photos, and I also saw a black dust lane or two with averted vision. Both satellite galaxies were very nice too - I can't believe how far M31 has moved across the sky since first observing this autumn.

Two other galaxies I have wanted to observe with the new scope are M81/M82. Finding them was easy, and seeing them both in the same field of view really brought out their amazing shapes - they were low down, but M81 appeared as a very wide glow with a nice bright core, and some faint nebulosity extending outwards, while M82 was a very sharp cigar shape, which clearly showed a slice taken out of it in the middle where the dark dust cut across it. Although they were very nice this evening, it is not really their season yet, and I know I will see even more from them in 2011.

Something else I saw for the first time with the 10" was M1, which was truly amazing - possibly the biggest differences yet between the old and new scopes were shown with this object. I could just get it with averted vision in the SW130, but in the 250PX, it was a very defined oval even without averted vision, and I can see why it got its name - it showed a very characteristic shape. I will be observing this object a lot more.

The jam-packed M45 showed some beautiful blue star colours, and I could see nebulosity around many of the bright members - easily the best view I have had to date. I love observing the whole cluster in the same field of view, and last night's conditions were fantastic.

Finally, I spent some time with M42, which is my new favourite Messier object. It was still low down, but even a 120X, the mottled glowing cloud showed so many intricate details that I couldn't take them all in at once - I had to slew between the textured centre, the glowing mottled arms and the dark pillars, plus the trapezium, which easily showed one other star, but the seeing was not good enough to pick out the other F star. It was like staring at a photo - I never expected to see it like that.

So, all in all, I have had my best night of DSOs to date, and Jupiter's weather systems and clouds were very obvious tonight - I will be watching for the SEB to return whenever I can.

Here's Orion from the end of the night:

[Rob wright]

Nice report thank you

Makes me want a bigger scope too even more now

especialy like the comparison between your old scope and the new one

[jasonp]

Great report! Making me jelous ..I cant wait till the skies clear up down here!

[lukebl]

Great report and an interesting read. Many thanks.

[Doc]

A very enjoyable read George, did you see structure within M1?

[george7378]

Thanks for the comments - Rob - I would highly recommend it! There are so many differences - even when looking at bright objects like the planets and Moon, the images are much sharper. I have never seen festoons in Jupiter's belt boundaries until now. Something I could do is make a little spreadsheet comparing what I see in objects in the old and new scopes - I bet it would be very helpful.

Doc - I didn't see any structure this evening, but I wasn't really looking - what kind of structure am I looking for? Some kind of internal shaping, or mottling? How does it look in the 16"?

Thanks.

[Doc]

You might see the filament structure within M1. It won't be anywhere near picture quality but you should see very subtle lines running within.

[Chris H]

Excellent report, sounds like you had a fantastic night and are loving the 10" Dob.

[Makron]

Nice report.

Thank you