9th March 2010 - Report

The weather over the past several days has been fantastic. Warm sunny days followed by crisp clear nights but due family business and work I had to miss out on some lovely nights but not tonight.
Due to the weather system being a high pressure it was only to be expected that horizon views were going to be a bit hazy but considering some of the nights I have been out in similar conditions the haze was not bad at all, only really reaching 5 degrees above the horizon at the very most.
Seeing was fabulous and the air dead still with only hints of a breeze during the night, I couldn't have asked for better in this regard.
My plan for tonight was to have a quick practise run at the Messier marathon, to give me an idea of when to be at the site, set up and when to start observing for any real chances I get to try the marathon out for real. Also to see how many objects are possible to observe from our latitude.
I also had a few new galaxies jotted down in my notes to observe and had been crossing my fingers that transparency would be forgiving enough to allow decent galaxy observing.

Location = Bragan

Seeing = 4.5
Trans = 2/3

Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt

Start = 20:22

The observations for the night are as follows:

M74 = Almost invisible. Low magnification and prolonged AV showed its ghostly shape. I suppose you could say, expectedly poor.

M77 = Surprisingly this was one of my better views of this galaxy but at the same time not much to see. A bright core with the faint fuzzy disk surrounding it.

M33 = Another surprise. I didn't expect to see very much of the galaxy considering how low Andromeda was to the horizon but the central regions was bright and some spiral features could be seen.

M32, M31 and M110 = Easily seen, nice and bright but very little to be seen.

M52 = A very pretty OC and the stars were looking pin point sharp under the great seeing conditions, along with some lovely subtle colours.

M103 = A real beauty of an OC, one of my favourites, displaying stunning star colours.

M76 = A real delight to look at tonight with excellent shape and structure, thanks again to the great seeing, but not much detail to take in. Still though, one of my best view of this PN in a long time.

M34 = A vast OC, fitting well into the FOV of the 17mm.

M79 = Easy to see but washed out due to be so low in, the slightly hazy, horizon.

M42 & M43 = Breathtaking... Easily one of my greatest views this year and last. I never saw the trapezium so pin point sharp - I could even see the stars E and F - and M43 itself was just stunning on its own with excellent detail and AC revealing much more nebulosity in the surrounding area. Brilliant!

M78 = Not a bad sight at all. More nebulosity could be seen than on most other observations and the two stars seemed to help with the contrast. Though it still doesn't compare to the awesome view I had from several years back.

M1 = A nice view with the 'S' like shape appearing nicely. Sadly not transparent enough to show any of the web like details.

M35 = Looking great, as usual, with the fainter NGC 2158 looking every bit as good and really standing out.

M37 = What a delight. I don't think I have looked at this OC in the last five years and how foolish of me. It's a real pleaser the eye.

M36 = Another OC that is a pleasant surprise. A loose pattern of stars.

M38 = This OC fills the FOV of the 17mm perfectly. Stars that are all of similar magnitude, quite nice.

M41 = Rather washed out looking due to the, still present, haze. A real shame.

M50 = Fairly nice but the haze spoils the view again.

M47 = Pretty. A sparse and scattered looking OC with stars of varying magnitude.

M46 = Very nice, with the PN easy to see but not anywhere as good as the night I observed it.

M93 = An exceptional view considering the conditions and how low down this was. An oddly shaped OC and the odd shape itself adds to the charm.

M48 = Fairly nice and yet again oddly shaped.

M44 = Easily seen by the naked eye and no chance of fitting it into the FOV on any of my eyepieces.

M81 & M82 = Both galaxies looked great, particularly M82, displaying fine details.

M108 = Faint but nice. AV helped reveal a lovely thin disk with a very small but bright core. It's been a long time since I observed this last.

M97 = A decent view. Solid structure and reasonable detail with the hollow looking eyes contrasting well with AV.

M109 = Nothing much to see but a faint disk surrounding a bright core.

M106 = Very much the same story as M109 but with a little more detail.

M40 = very fain and only showing itself with AV and not much to look at even then.

M95 = Disappointing. Faint and poor structure.

M96 = Very much the same thing as M95 only a little brighter.

NGC 4565 = A jaw dropping view! What a superb looking galaxy. A needle thin pillar of light as the galaxys' disk with a compact and very bright core. A must see on a better night for galaxies but even under tonight's conditions it was really good and a very emotional observation.

NGC 4244 = Another gem. Similar to 4565 but with a thicker disk and no brightness difference at the centre of the galaxy.

NGC 4449 = A fairly decent view, with the irregular box shape showing well. Another galaxy to make note of to observe under better transparency.

Finish = 22:07

By the time I had to pack up and head home I had a great feeling of satisfaction from my night out. It was only a short time but it felt I was observing hours for hours and hours and the amount of objects I was able to get through was rewarding which also gave me the chance to study and reacquaint myself with objects I hadn't seen in a long time. Some of the great views I had gave me that emotional buzz that just makes me want to shout out wow.

Powered up.

With the time of month and year moving closer and closer to Messier marathon time excitement builds. My only worry was the chance of my power pack going flat during the marathon so to get rid of that problem I shopped around for another power pack and quickly discovered that Halfords were doing a sale on them. There is a higher model of the current one I have so I reserved that online and picked it up yesterday. 

So now my power problems are a thing of the past and all that needs to happen now is good weather and clear skies when we need them. Here's hoping...