After a wild week of rain and wind today turned out to be a beautiful day of glorious sunshine and clear skies in the middle of, yet more to come, bad weather.
The clarity and clearness of the air and the blueness of the sky really took my breath away during the course of the day, some of the best I had seen in a long time, which gave me hopes of an excellent night with good transparency but sadly that was not to be.
Skies were promising at first and some fine viewing was to be had but after 30 minutes there were pieces of cloud drifting by, which was fine as large portions of the sky were visible, but then thick haze started to develop spoiling the night and bringing it to an end.
Location = Carren Rock
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Start Time = 19:38
The observations for the night are as follows:
Almach = My good old favourite that never stops wowing me. Looking great, as usual, with strong colour and resolving beautifully in the 8mm Hyperion.
M57 = A very good view, strong structure and good detail.
M27 = Another fine view with, again, strong structure and nice contrast.
NGC 1245 = Conditions were poor by this stage so the view was not good and could hardly see the open cluster.
M82 = A fine view with nice detail runing through the disk of the galaxy.
Finish = 20:45
Sunday 22 November 2009
Saturday 14 November 2009
14th November 2009 - Report
After the down pour of rain and gusty winds from last night the weather turned into a glorious day by mid afternoon with the skies progressively becoming clear, especially so during my drive home down the M1 - after a day out - where I saw the sky looking so nice all the way down until I reached the Clogher Valley where a rather heavy shower of rain greeted me but I could see clear skies and the sunset behind it so I knew it would clear up again.
I spent more time setting up my gear than actually using it and it was time well spent as my mount and scope needed some tuning. The polar alignment had become rather poor so I readjusted and tightened all fittings, though I noticed my polar scope needs collimated so I am going to have to look into how that is done and fix it up.
The collimation in my scope was rather poor and had noticed that I did not fit my secondary mirror in properly after I cleaned my mirrors from last month so I worked on that and also did some star tests. Everything looked fantastic and the star test looked perfect but after I had packed up and had the scope under a bright light and looked through the focuser, without an eyepiece, the angle of the secondary looked off.
I'll spend more time working on that tomorrow I think.
Sadly the shower of rain left the ground soaking wet and also caused a lot of moisture to build up in the air around the town so there was some horrid sky glow to tolerate. Seeing and transparency was less than average, which was a shame as for weeks now I've really been wanting to have a good long night of galaxy hunting so I turned to plan B and decided to observe open clusters that I have not seen before.
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Start Time = 20:04
My observations for the night are as follows:
M76 = The was looking very good indeed, with great structure - some of the best I have ever seen on this PN - and the UHC-S filter really helped brighten the image and also reveal hidden detail. A great start to the night.
NGC 744 = Quite a faint OC and would be very hard to make out without the help of GO-TO. Nice to see a new cluster though.
NGC 957 = Pretty much the same story as NGC 744 but more open with stars all over the FOV and some pleasant star colours showing too.
NGC 1245 = This OC is very faint but also very beautiful, with a lot of stars to be seen - especially so with averted vision. A lovely surprise and would, no doubt, look so much better in a bigger aperture. (A 16" Lightbridge perhaps... hint hint)
NGC 1342 = Nothing very note worthy about this OC. Very bland with the stars sparsely scattered. It would be hard to even know this was an OC if it weren't for the star atlas stating/showing it to be so.
NGC 1664 = Another average looking OC but with a more pleasing amount of star that were easier to see and were in a nice random looking pattern, also the stars were all of a similar magnitude.
Finish Time = 21:05
Due to a busy and hard week of work fatigue and tiredness got the better of me in the end forcing me to call it quits and get some sleep. I really wanted to keep going but my head, eyes and legs were just not cooperating. It turned out that I didn't have much to regret as while I type this I can see that the sky has now clouded over.
Time for sleep and may better skies grace us all very soon.
I spent more time setting up my gear than actually using it and it was time well spent as my mount and scope needed some tuning. The polar alignment had become rather poor so I readjusted and tightened all fittings, though I noticed my polar scope needs collimated so I am going to have to look into how that is done and fix it up.
The collimation in my scope was rather poor and had noticed that I did not fit my secondary mirror in properly after I cleaned my mirrors from last month so I worked on that and also did some star tests. Everything looked fantastic and the star test looked perfect but after I had packed up and had the scope under a bright light and looked through the focuser, without an eyepiece, the angle of the secondary looked off.
I'll spend more time working on that tomorrow I think.
Sadly the shower of rain left the ground soaking wet and also caused a lot of moisture to build up in the air around the town so there was some horrid sky glow to tolerate. Seeing and transparency was less than average, which was a shame as for weeks now I've really been wanting to have a good long night of galaxy hunting so I turned to plan B and decided to observe open clusters that I have not seen before.
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Start Time = 20:04
My observations for the night are as follows:
M76 = The was looking very good indeed, with great structure - some of the best I have ever seen on this PN - and the UHC-S filter really helped brighten the image and also reveal hidden detail. A great start to the night.
NGC 744 = Quite a faint OC and would be very hard to make out without the help of GO-TO. Nice to see a new cluster though.
NGC 957 = Pretty much the same story as NGC 744 but more open with stars all over the FOV and some pleasant star colours showing too.
NGC 1245 = This OC is very faint but also very beautiful, with a lot of stars to be seen - especially so with averted vision. A lovely surprise and would, no doubt, look so much better in a bigger aperture. (A 16" Lightbridge perhaps... hint hint)
NGC 1342 = Nothing very note worthy about this OC. Very bland with the stars sparsely scattered. It would be hard to even know this was an OC if it weren't for the star atlas stating/showing it to be so.
NGC 1664 = Another average looking OC but with a more pleasing amount of star that were easier to see and were in a nice random looking pattern, also the stars were all of a similar magnitude.
Finish Time = 21:05
Due to a busy and hard week of work fatigue and tiredness got the better of me in the end forcing me to call it quits and get some sleep. I really wanted to keep going but my head, eyes and legs were just not cooperating. It turned out that I didn't have much to regret as while I type this I can see that the sky has now clouded over.
Time for sleep and may better skies grace us all very soon.
Monday 9 November 2009
8th November 2009 - Report
It has felt like such a long time since I was last out observing, all thanks to the appalling weather we've been having these past few weeks.
Sunday was a lovely day though, very sunny with no noticeable wind and only some light cloud. It was very cold though so I knew any clear skies I'd have would be hampered early in the night as the moisture levels in the air are very high from the week of rain.
I was able to get just over an hour of decent clear skies before the moisture turned into thick haze and then later into light fog.
I still enjoyed my session a lot, even though it was rather short, as most of the objects I was looking at were completely new to me and some of them were absolute crackers to look at, anyway...
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Start Time = 18:50
My observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 891 = Averted vision allowed me to see the disk but no detail was apparent to me, which wasn't surprising considering the sky conditions.
NGC 1708 = A rather faint and very scattered open cluster. A nice fist see but certainly one for observing again under better skies.
NGC 1961 = Averted vision showed me a fain disk of the galaxy, which seemed to be almost, if not, a face on galaxy but again another one for a night with better skies.
IC 356 = Visible but just barely. The formation of the surrounding stars was quite lovely.
NGC 1502 = A new open cluster for me and quite a beautiful sight, with a delightful double star placed with in the centre of the cluster, with both stars having apparent similar sizes and colour. One to remember.
NGC 1501 - A very nice PN. Much bigger in the eye piece than I was expecting and the observing with the UHC-S filter really improved the view with extra detail and strong contrast . A very pleasing sight.
NGC 1444 = Not much to see here, just a hand full of faint stars but a very nice double star saves this view from being dull.
NGC 1528 = A beautiful open cluster that almost filled the FOV in my newly acquired 17mm Hyperion. Stars of varying magnitude and distances really make this a lovely and memorable sight indeed.
NGC 1545 = Not much to see really, only a few stars with no discernible pattern.
Finish Time = 19:34
So all in all, a very short session but a very fun one and all spent in Camelopardalis for a nice change. A constellation that appears to have little to offer but is full of overlooked and hidden gems. I'll be coming back to get a better look at the objects in this very interesting constellation. One of the best short session I've had in a long time.
Sunday was a lovely day though, very sunny with no noticeable wind and only some light cloud. It was very cold though so I knew any clear skies I'd have would be hampered early in the night as the moisture levels in the air are very high from the week of rain.
I was able to get just over an hour of decent clear skies before the moisture turned into thick haze and then later into light fog.
I still enjoyed my session a lot, even though it was rather short, as most of the objects I was looking at were completely new to me and some of them were absolute crackers to look at, anyway...
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Start Time = 18:50
My observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 891 = Averted vision allowed me to see the disk but no detail was apparent to me, which wasn't surprising considering the sky conditions.
NGC 1708 = A rather faint and very scattered open cluster. A nice fist see but certainly one for observing again under better skies.
NGC 1961 = Averted vision showed me a fain disk of the galaxy, which seemed to be almost, if not, a face on galaxy but again another one for a night with better skies.
IC 356 = Visible but just barely. The formation of the surrounding stars was quite lovely.
NGC 1502 = A new open cluster for me and quite a beautiful sight, with a delightful double star placed with in the centre of the cluster, with both stars having apparent similar sizes and colour. One to remember.
NGC 1501 - A very nice PN. Much bigger in the eye piece than I was expecting and the observing with the UHC-S filter really improved the view with extra detail and strong contrast . A very pleasing sight.
NGC 1444 = Not much to see here, just a hand full of faint stars but a very nice double star saves this view from being dull.
NGC 1528 = A beautiful open cluster that almost filled the FOV in my newly acquired 17mm Hyperion. Stars of varying magnitude and distances really make this a lovely and memorable sight indeed.
NGC 1545 = Not much to see really, only a few stars with no discernible pattern.
Finish Time = 19:34
So all in all, a very short session but a very fun one and all spent in Camelopardalis for a nice change. A constellation that appears to have little to offer but is full of overlooked and hidden gems. I'll be coming back to get a better look at the objects in this very interesting constellation. One of the best short session I've had in a long time.
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