It has been some time since my last report. I am glad to say that I have been out observing, quite simply I've been to lazy to write notes in the cold as I had enough of having my hands frozen. Now I have turned to trying out a dictation app on my smartphone. Even though I cannot stand the sound of my own voice I cannot deny the usefulness of it.
Was a super night with get viewing. Great group of people out at Bragan too as well as another person I invited along too.
Location = Bragan
Equipment = Skywatcher 14" GOTO
Start Time = 22:06
Comet PanSTARRS = Viewed in Stevie's 27mm Panoptic. Very bright core with the stunning tail filling the entire FOV. I wasn't expecting it to look this good and it now being circumpolar for us I was able to get a peak of it in the binoculars a few times during the night. What a great start to the night
M32, 33 & 110 = With the comet being so close I, of course, had a look at the galaxy group in both scope and binocular. View was rather impressing considering it was hugging the horizon at this point.
M65 & 66 = Very strong and bold with pleasing amounts of detail.
M81 & 82 = Quite superb tonight with M82 showing a lot of lovely details around the central areas of the disc.
M3 = Quite low in the sky at this stage but even so it didn't fail to impress. Fantastic sight with stars resolving really well.
M35 = Beautiful, as always, but even more so in the Panoptic as NGC2158 was sharing the FOV and looking quite stunning.
NGC2392 (Eskimo) = Very impressive again. Central star bright and dominant with great amounts to detail but not just quite as nice as my previous observation - which I may not have written notes on.
Jupiter = A stunning sight, as always, with one of the moon appear from behind the eastern side of the planets' disc.
M42 & 43 = The usual stunning I have come to expect with this telescope. Great detail and colour through out the nebula, with M43 well observed too.
M57 = Very low down at this point but well seen, sadly no sign of the central star tonight.
M104 = Surprisingly well seen with a bright central region and the dust lane very easy to observe, filling most of the FOV in the 8mm.
NGC4244 (Silver needle) = Not very bight but good amounts of details to be views with AV.
NGC4565 = A great view, with the central regions easily seen with great detail of the dust lane running through the FOV.
NGC4631 (Whale) = Well defined shape but average amounts of detail. The satellite galaxy was plain to see also.
NGC4056 = Very easily seen with the usual pleasant shape and mixed areas of brightness.
NGC4361 = This PN was somewhat faint but the central star was well seen with some faint knotted features along the nebula.
M68 = A rare view. Faint in the 8mm Hyperion but many of the start well resolved with AV, which was surprising.
NGC4039 (Antenna Galaxy) = Surprisingly good view. Irregular shape is easy observed with AV. I really enjoyed this moment.
M51 = Absolutely sensational! A close to photographic looking that I think you can possibly see. I haven't had the pleasure of such a fine observation of this galaxy in many years and I do honestly think this is the best I have observed it. I had to share this view with everyone else and I think they all enjoyed it too...
Brilliantly bright, with the core glowing. Spiral arms filling the FOV and packed with details of all kinds. You could even see the overlapping of one of arms that obscures part of the background galaxy NGC5195.
M101 = Another great view. Overall brightness was low but packed with detail. This time the galaxy looked just like it does in the images of the magazine I take out with me. Every spiral arm observable and delicious delicate details to take in. A very rare treat indeed.
M64 = Fine view with the black eye feature very prominent and the disc was the biggest I've ever observed filling almost the entire FOV.
M63 = Very bright but not a lot of detail.
Saturn = I almost overlooked this but it caught the corner of my why while I was just taking in the view of the entire constellation of Virgo. It was very low but boy was it a delight to see those rings again. I also a total of three moons but I could only identify Titan.
M94 = Very, very bright. In fact it I found it so bright that it made it hard to pick out any details. It did fill the FOV rather nicely.
Finish Time = 01:14
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