A Pleasant Deep Sky Jaunt - 6th January Report

[Andrew*]

What a wonderful experience to get back into observing after a long break. All sorts of things have got in the way.

It was quite a casual, laid-back affair - I just plonked my EQ5 down and took the Hyperion zoom and a barlow out with me. Nice to keep it simple sometimes. The sky was better than average - crisp and clear, with little twinkling.

I started off around 8pm with a look at Jupiter. It was lovely to see evidence of the return of the SEB - it's very clear now.

I haven't seen a lot of Orion this time round, so that was of course my first point of call, and it turned out to be a long visit. After enjoying the swirling knotted nebulosity of the Great Nebula for a while, I zoomed in on the heart, the (in)famous Trapezium. This multiple star system showed 4 stars at very low power, but it has never before revealed the next two easiest members. To avoid repeating myself, I came, I saw, I conquered.

With that achievement under my belt, I swung northwards to fearsome Betelgeuse. Something of its intense colour and it's overwhelming enormity frightens me about Orion's beacon-star. In fact, I strayed that way on a purely practical mission - to align the red dot finder. But while I was at it, I was struck by the beauty of the de-focused diffraction pattern - perfectly symmetrical, ghostly rings at 225x (8mm Hyperion III zoom with ZAO-II barlow). The outer ring was significantly wider than the others, which seems to suggest some spherical aberration... The seeing was obviously good though.

I then went back south, but not as far this time. I stopped at a rather mediocre Messier known as M78. A faint reflection nebula, illuminated by two faintish stars, of which the S one appeared brighter and warmer in hue. I like the description of M78 as oncoming car headlights through fog, and I would apply it to last night's view if it wasn't for its great faintness. N of M78, NGC 2071 was very faintly observed around two wider-spaced stars. 75x with Hyperion III zoom at 12mm.

Despite poor access to low altitude, I sought a new object in Canis Major. I didn't remember having observed the Little Beehive cluster (M41) before, so I located that quickly enough in the 40mm Aero (23x). I saw it as a very large, medium-rich, quite loose cluster, with a string of stars streaming off to the NW.

When it comes to Taurus, I seem to have a tendency to think only of the Hyades and Pleiades, but as it was placed in the Goldilocks zone of my sky, (opposite the light pollution, not to low as to be in the murk and not too high as to be difficult to access), I picked NGC 1746 from my Pocket Sky Atlas and gave it a go. Without any nearby bright stars to guide me, it proved difficult to locate. Even when in the FOV, it was difficult to decide whether I'd found what I was looking for. The cluster is very sparse of bright stars, it's very spread out, and has no obvious boundary. Looking deeper, lots of faint members pop out and what appears to be a poor cluster becomes quite rich. I noted a distinct line of brighter stars to the NW, and a Y-shape further south. The main body of the cluster has a Casseiopeia-esque W of 5 stars, embracing a buzz of faint members.

It was getting late and cold now, and I decided to finish with a bang. What more suitable object than the Pleiades? Not sure where to start, but I can tell I'm going to get all emotive about this.... I was quite taken aback at how blindingly sharp and clearly defined each star was, and how profoundly black the background sky. The stars were infinitessimal pinpoints, clear and bright. It struck me as I viewed that no digital image can capture the true experience of an open cluster, because no matter how perfectly focused, stars always have a bit of bloat in pictures. As for the background sky, velvety blackness is an inappropriate term for this. Velvet suggests something visible, reflecting ambient light, and with texture; but this black was the intense uniform black of void. The invisible black that gets blacker the more you look, like being in an unlit, locked room, trying to walk around. I just about stopped myself falling into the void and studied the sisterhood closely. I noticed some lovely subtle colour differences in the stars. Using averted vision, I caught glimpses of nebulosity around three members.

And with that I called it a night.

Well, I've said more than enough - I'll leave it at that.

Goodnight!

Andrew

[PortableAstronomer]

Always nice to read reports like this. I feel it very calming to go back to the night sky after some time away, especially after the hum-drum of reality/office work, stress etc.

[zedds]

Nice report Andrew. Good to get out after a long while isn`t it.

[callisto]

I'm sitting here reading this great report with a nice cup of coffee,

Lovely

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. People should read this kind of thing to understand why looking at photographs is just not the same! I rather like M78 though, as it is one of the brightest reflection nebulae (no match for the likes of M42 of course). The little beehive is hard from so far north. I was lucky enough to get an easy view from South Africa, but have not been able to get it from the Netherlands yet. I should check out NGC 1746.

Cheers

Michael

[Andrew*]

Thank you for your comments, folk

Michael, I don't quite know how better to describe M78 than as endearing in a minimalistic kind of way. My description as "mediocre" was more relating to the fact that it's not so popular - people seem to see it as unremarkable. It tends to take a back seat due to its proximity to more exciting targets.

M41 was literally just a glimpse. It was peeping through the branches of foreground trees - not easily accessible at 57°. Thankfully it's very bright. Give it a go - when Sirius is up, there's not much between them.

Andrew

[russ]

Nice report Andrew. And you are right, it's good to keep it basic sometimes.

And great you got to see the E & F stars in the Trapezium. We tried Saturday night with a C11, 12" dob and FLT 98 and failed! Seeing continues to be atrocious here in the South.

We also had a look at M78, not the most exciting Messier but nice to see it.

Anyway, it's good that you had a successful session.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thank you for your comments, folk

Michael, I don't quite know how better to describe M78 than as endearing in a minimalistic kind of way. My description as "mediocre" was more relating to the fact that it's not so popular - people seem to see it as unremarkable. It tends to take a back seat due to its proximity to more exciting targets.

M41 was literally just a glimpse. It was peeping through the branches of foreground trees - not easily accessible at 57°. Thankfully it's very bright. Give it a go - when Sirius is up, there's not much between them.

Andrew

Even Sirius hardly rises over the trees, but I did bag it in SA, so I am happy. Will give it a try through binoculars from outside the garden some time.

[Taff]

Hi Andrew' nice write up with your report.Sounds like you had a great time looking at different deep sky objects.Mark

[QldLiz]

Great report Andrew, enjoyed it.

[Andrew*]

Glad you liked it!