Here are my 2008 observing sessions, beginning with February (no observing in January due to endless crap weather)
7th-8th May 2008
Conditions: Clear, slight breeze (this died down after dark), cooler than previous evening, more transparent (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is cloudy and 5 is excellent, this was around 4).
Scope: 12" f5 Dobsonian.
Place: near Sandown, Isle of Wight, UK.
As the conditions were more transparent than the previous night I looked for galaxies in Ursa Major - the 'lollipops' M81 and M82 were superb through the 12" ( a real 'wow' factor with lots of detail) and other, small, galaxies in the vicinity were easy to see: NGC 3077, NGC 2976 and, further away, NGC 2787.
Hercules was rising, so I had the obligatory look at M13 - it was a fantastic sight in the 12" with a dense core and arms of stars radiating out from it. I didn't do a sketch, that can wait until later in the year. While in the area, I decided to have a look at the galaxy near M13, NGC 6207. At low power (37x) both M13 and NGC 6207 are in the same field of view. M13 is a slightly elongated oval smudge, evenly bright.
It was on to NGC 6229 a globular cluster in Hercules. At 37x, this was obvious, next to a couple of bright stars. It's small, condensed, round and bright. Some stars resolved, but only just.
After this it was 1am and time to pack in.
6th-7th May
Conditions: Clear, but milky sky (on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent, this ranked around 2.5 to 3), warm.
Scope: 12" f5 Dobsonian
Place: near Sandown, Isle of Wight, UK
A beautiful day yesterday (6th May 2008) led to a clear, dry night so, so as I didn't have to go to work the following morning it was time for a spot of observing.
Sadly, the sky was fairly milky and a lot of the fainter stuff was not visible but I did do a sketch of M51 whose spiral arms and HII regions were visible. I also located and sketched NGC 4036 and NGC 4041, galaxies in Ursa Major (and objects on the Herschel 400 list). Unfortunately a lot more UMa galaxies I wanted for the Herschel 400 were behind the tree in the garden by the time I got round to them, and will have to wait for another time.
This observing session was not without incident - the collimation went out on the scope (I need to do a few mods, I think) necessitating a lot of fiddling with laser collimater and allen keys (it's the secondary which is being a pain in the arse), I knocked my makeshift observing 'table' (an artist's rucksack cum stool) over scattering charts, pencils and sketchpad all over the adjacent flower bed and then injuring my right knee while kneeling to pick them up (I have a damaged cartilidge and it 'locks' up - painfully - from time to time) which meant I spent five minutes in agony and doing a lot of (quiet!) swearing and no observing. Combined with crappy seeing, this was a slightly frustrating session!
After checking out the Ring Nebula which was rising above the trees it was time to pack up. By then it was 1am and I'd been up since 0630 the previous morning.
2nd May
I only had a short observing session due to having to be back at work today at 0730 (I am ditching this bloody job when I come back from Texas in June as the hours are crap) and I spent an hour poking around the galaxies of Virgo again. I didn't make any sketches though, just looking and seeing what was there. So many galaxies, so little time! Like I said in the previous post my 12" shows me so much more than the old 8" ever did - small faint ones, large faint ones, large bright ones, small bright ones, edge-on spirals, face-on spirals, the lot. Wonderful!
I also added M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, in Virgo to my binocular Messier list - I have observed 70 Messiers with my 8x42s to date so I am going to send them off to the Astronomical League for a binocular Messier pin - you need to observe 50 or more to qualify for the pin - and I also attempted M68, a globular cluster in Hydra, but I totally failed to see it properly, probably due to haze and its low altitude. I'll give it another go at some point soon.
1st-2nd May
Conditions: Cool, clear, very dewy. The odd bit of drifting cloud but otherwise good transparency.
Place: Back garden, near Sandown, Isle of Wight, England
My first object this evening was NGC 4361, a planetary nebula in Corvus. It was extremely easy to find, although not that bright, being low in the southern sky. It was easily picked up as a roundish brightening against the background sky and an OIII filter made it stand out more. At 102x, it was not quite round and brightened in the middle, with fuzzy edges.
I didn't bother with the Antennae, as I have seen these before under better conditions in Texas and Australia.
Next it as up to Coma Berenices and Virgo and the Realm of the Galaxies. I decided - because of an article on Cloudy Nights - to have a look along Markarian's Chain in Virgo. This is a long chain of galaxies and starts with Messiers 84 and 86 and includes NGC 4438, 4435, 4458, 4461, 4473 and 4477. It's ages since I've looked at the Chain, the last time was as far back as 1993, with our local society's 18" Dob.
Also in Virgo I observed and sketched NGC's 4596 and 4608. I've also observed and sketched others, but identification can wait until tomorrow - I mean later today.
With the 12" I can see stuff I couldn't have in my old 8" - galaxies were everywhere and a good proportion of them weren't just dim little ovals like they were before. Ones that were once seen as dim little ovals in my old 8" were bright and full of detail and previously unseen galaxies now made themselves available, courtesy of those few extra inches of aperture.
I eventually packed up at 1am as I was getting cold and also drifting cloud was increasing. It was an excellent session.
8th April
It was another clear one, so it was out with the scope. I set it up early in the evening and decided to have a bash at collimating it properly. I made sure the sling on the primary was ok (it had slipped a little) and, with the laser, collimated the secondary. Perfect! Job done.
The light shroud keeps slipping as, despite measuring before the scope was completed, it's a little too loose. I'm going to have to get a bungee cord or something to help keep it in place.
I spent the time in the galaxies and, as expected the 12-inch showed up galaxies, and details in galaxies, that my old 8-inch never could. I managed to make a sketch of NGC 3953 in Ursa Major before being clouded out - the clouds were temporary but as I had to be up at 0630 I packed in for the night.
NGC 3953 appeared oval, with a brighter nucleus, at 61x and 102x. At 37x it was oval but shows no other detail. Unfortunately drifting clouds hampered the observation.
7th April
A very nice clear night, quite transparent and with good seeing but as I was feeling like crap (got some disease, heaven knows what but I feel tired all the time), I didn't lug the scope out and instead knocked off some more Messier Objects with my binoculars.
I did the entire early Spring group in one session and some of the late Spring group as well. Of course some of the galaxies were a bit difficult and I didn't see M108 at all (this was my second attempt at it) but M44, 48, 81, 82, 109, 101, 40, 3, 51, 94, 67, 106, 63, 64, 53, 65, 66 and 105 are all in the bag (some I have observed before, but I was trying to improve the observations, e.g. M97 I failed to see last time, but last night it was no bother at all). That makes it 69 out of the 109 or 110 Messier Objects I have seen to date during this project.
30th March
The Dob got it's second light (as it were) yesterday evening. I had the best views I have ever had of the Owl Nebula (M97) in Ursa Major; it had a definite greenish tinge to it and, for the first time, I saw the 'eyes' - two dark holes in the nebula - that give this interesting PN its nickname, although these were only really evident when I put an OIII filter into the eyepiece.
It wasn't a deep sky night, due to the high cloud - there seemed to be a 'cover' of very high thin cloud - but the views were not too bad of the brightest objects although the scope needs collimating, as while low magnifications are ok, the view through higher mags is out of focus, with a kind of shift to one side (i.e. one side of a star or planet is good, the other awful). This is due purely to collimation issues, so once I have sorted that out, the views will improve. I have bought a laser collimator for this purpose. Collimation isn't hard, just a bit of a pain in the arse to have to do.
Increasingly bad conditions and the need to have to get up early for work meant I had to pack up at around 9.30 pm. Nearly as irritating (although not a reason for packing up in itself) was a light aircraft that kept flying round in circles - funnily enough, and I have lived under Heathrow's flight path in the past, I never find the noise of big jets anywhere near as annoying as the buzzing drone of a light propeller aircraft.
23rd March
The evening started off clear so I set the 12-inch up on the patio. After letting it cool down for a while, I aimed it at some bright stars in a rapidly-worsening sky (isn't that just typical??) and M81/M82. The collimation could do with a bit of slight adjusting but the view, despite the crap sky, was pretty good and I tried out a selection of eyepieces on it. Sadly, I had to pack up after only half an hour because the sky was becoming increasingly opaque. Annoying, but hopefully we'll get some nice clear nights soon, once Spring gets well underway, and I can test it properly. Anyway, I'm pleased with what I have seen so far.
7th March
Isle of Wight Star Party, Brighstone
As it looked like it was going to be clear, I drove home, picked up my stuff and drove back; Radio Solent's weather forecast was excellent, promising clear skies and a frost. When I got back to Brighstone, Owen Brazell was setting up his gorgeous Obsession 20" Dobsonian and others were getting their gear ready as well. Dusk was falling and it was looking reasonably good.
Unfortunately this state of affairs did not last long. A threatening bank of cloud in the north-west decided to make its presence felt and soon blanketed the sky. Soon all observing was being done through sucker holes that kept opening and closing aound Orion, Canis Major and Monoceros. I managed to get a look at NGC 2359, known as 'Thor's Helmet' in Canis Major, through Owen's Obsession. This is a comparatively bright nebula and, visually, looks more like a referee's whistle more than a Viking helmet.
Of course, the scopes were more engaged looking at the lollipops, because the conditions were no good for serious deep sky observing and, naturally, Orion's famous M42, the Great Nebula, was a main feature. This showed superb detail though a Meade 10" and even more so through the 20" with a UHC filter attached, with filaments and extended nebulosity. You could easily see the structure that 18th and 19th century observers such as the Herschels and Lord Rosse drew and described, with the hatched structure very evident. I'd never seen this structure visually and had always thought the old drawings a little fanciful - but not any more!
Soon the sky was a complete cloud out and, as I'd had to be up that morning at stupid-o'clock to go to work, I packed up and drove home at 9pm. So much for Radio Solent's 'excellent' forecast!
9th February:
Conditions: Clear, a little hazy, much dew and mist. Waxing crescent Moon.
Instrument: 4" refractor, 8x42 binoculars
Place: Near Sandown, Isle of Wight, UK
Tried out OIII and UHC filters with my binoculars on the Rosette Nebula, the nebula is easier seen using the UHC filter. I also had a bash at the California Nebula (NGC 1499) in Perseus, but the sky conditions were not good enough for much of a view - I could see some brightening in the area of the nebula, but that was it.
Telescoping observing with the refractor was a dead loss, because of the amount of moisture in the air (it was pretty misty) causing severe fogging of the optics, despite the dew shield. I managed to see a few brighter galaxies in Leo with it, but as soon as I cleaned the objective it fogged again and the galaxies were reduced to being even more smudge like than usual in the small scope. The conditions were way too dismal to even attempt any sketching. Refractors are good in dry climates, where there is little moisture, but not so good in a damp area like northern Europe, which is one reason I prefer reflectors.
I packed the scope up and used the rest of the session for binocular observing, picking up open clusters Stock 2, Trumpler 2, Melotte 15, NGC 1027 and Collinder 13 in Cassiopeia, and not forgetting NGC 869 and NGC 884 which make up the Double Cluster in Perseus.
8th February:
Conditions: Clear but misty at ground level, +3 degrees C. Seeing very steady. Waxing crescent Moon.
Instrument: 4" refractor and 8x42 binoculars.
Place: near Sandown, Isle of Wight, England
Naked-eye limiting magnitude: around 6.0 to 6.2
For once the weather forecast was accurate. We're currently in a spell of pleasant, quiet weather with clear skies. After the rotten weather of the past few weeks this is a nice change.
I took the refractor out and set it up, but not without a fair bit of swearing as I dropped the tripod screws on the ground more than once.
I spent the time poking around Monoceros, a constellation I have shamefully ignored in the past. Monoceros is a constellation which deserves more attention, overshadowed as it is by its' more illustrious and object-packed neighbours, Orion and Canis Major.
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237-9: Monoceros' most famous feature is the Rosette Nebula. This is a ring of nebulosity around an open cluster NGC 2244. It is large and with a low surface brightness but is visible through binoculars under a dark sky. I used my 8x42 binoculars with an OIII filter stuck in the right eyepiece and could easily see the nebula as a round glow, slightly darker in the middle, around NGC 2244. Without the filter and with averted vision I could just about make out the nebulous glow. I had never previously attempted the Rosette, believing it to be beyond my binoculars' and local sky's capabilities. Obviously this is not so and this goes to show that it pays to have a go at these things.
I sketched NGC 2244 through the refractor at 45x.
There are loads of open clusters in the vicinity and I came across an interesting-looking one while scanning around the area with the binoculars. This was NGC 2301, a pretty group of stars stretched out in a north-south orientation, looking a little like one of those modern longbows used in present day sports archery. I used the refractor for a quick sketch.
The sky conditions were by now beginning to deteriorate somewhat due to increasing mist and the refractor was, despite the dew cap, becoming unusable because of vast amounts of condensation forming. No sooner had I cleaned the moisture off of the objective then the eyepiece fogged and when I wiped the wet from that then the objective fogged so I took down the refractor and resorted to using binoculars only. The mist was also attenuating the light from an upstairs window making life more difficult so I packed in, finishing up with a couple of planetary 'lollipops' - Saturn (with Titan) and Mars.
I will scan and post the sketches sometime in the next few days, plus some from the other evening,
6th February:
Conditions: Cold, misty, sky a bit hazy. No wind
Instruments: 4-inch refractor and 8×42 binoculars
Place: Near Sandown, Isle of Wight, England
A much interrupted observing session (the England football team were in action against Switzerland and it was on BBC1). Sketched the highly unimpressive Collinder 69 in Orion - this thing consists of three stars in a triangle and that’s it, unless the fainter ones in the middle are related and even then it struggles to be anything other than boring. It’s big though and very obvious to the unaided eye. Collinder 69 represents the weapon that Orion the hunter is in the act of bringing down on some unfortunate prey.
The conditions weren’t great and I swapped the scope for the 8×42 binoculars and knocked off a few more Messiers for the binocular project to see all these objects, bringing the total to 61 - M40, M48, M95, M96, M105. What was the deal with M40? It’s two stars - how on earth did Messier think these might possibly be confused with a comet?
1st February:
I actually got off my arse this evening and went outside to do half-an-hour’s observing. I took the tiny scope outside and this provided great views of some lollipops such as M42 in Orion and Mars before breaking on me - the little screw that holds the eyepiece in place became bent and didn’t work. I brought it in and straightened it out before deciding to observe with binoculars alone. Besides, the wind was making life difficult.
Weather: cold (around freezing), clear and very windy. Not scope-using weather due to the wind.
Instrument: 8×42 Leica binoculars
Auriga: this is a rich area, providing great binocular views of several open clusters. Collinder 62, near The Kids is pretty unimpressive but M36, M37 and M38 are great. M38 is large, rich and resolvable, showing many stars on a fainter background glow with my 8×42 binoculars and while it is the largest of the Messier clusters here it is fainter than the others. Averted vision brings out many more stars and the cluster has the appearance of having arms leading off from the centre, pointing north. M36 is small and bright and round, not resolvable while M37 is larger than M36 but slightly smaller than M38. M37’s stars are also resolvable but you need to use averted vision more on this one it is much ‘fuzzier’ looking than M38.
Immediately to the south of M38 is NGC 1907 and this shows up well, with averted vision, as a tiny round glow adjacent to that larger cluster. It isn’t resolvable with binocs.
Gemini: M35 is easily visible to the unaided eye and is impressive with the binoculars. It is a triangular glow, with the thin end of the triangle pointing east. It looks like a fuzzy glow for the most part but with many brighter stars imposed on the fuzziness. NGC 2158 is visible as a tiny round brightish patch just south-west of M35. The unimpressive Collinder 89 is nearby - it’s just a few stars.
By this time I was freezing so I packed it in. It was a nice session and one which just goes to prove that you can see a lot more with binoculars than you think possible. I like binocular observing, it’s minimalist (well not quite as minimalist as naked eye astronomy) and very rewarding.