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.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
16/17th October 2009 - Report
This was a day were emotions were running high because I was looking forward to having a really long observing session with a list of objects the length of my arm to try an observe and also because there were so many members of the club coming down as well.
The day started of very dull and great but by afternoon the conditions improved to mostly clear skies, with only a few small patches of white cloud drifting past. By evening time the sky looked fantastic with only some haze to be seen in the horizon, it was the kind of haze that told me it was going to be a cold night and a possibility of fog - which sadly turned out to be accurate.
It was a great start to the night with everyone having some of the best views they've had in a long time and Jupiter was outstanding in Eamonn's 16" Lightbridge but as midnight arrived the conditions started to deteriorate, and fast too. From that point on most of the night was completely fogged out and it was by far the worst night I've ever had with moisture and dew. I could understand Eamonn and Stevie's Lightbridge's primary mirrors misting up as they are trusses but even my own Newtonian was covered in a thick layer of mist.
In the end it was just Stevie and myself, we hung on waiting patiently, hoping for a break in the clouds - while my scope was drying off in the car with heating blowing on full into the OTA - but it never came so we called it quits near or just after 4am.
My night ended off in a real emotional low. I guess I let my expectations and excitement for some great observing get too much. Still though, when I look back we all got to observe some great objecst, including myself. Also it is that time of year where fog and hard to predict weather is a-plenty and it certainly. Well until next time and may it be soon.
Thanks to Darren for giving me fist offer on a 17mm Hyperion. That give me a lovely new eyepiece and focal length to add to my eyepiece box. I look forward to trying it out.
Location - Bragan
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 4
Trans = 2/3
Start Time = 21:00
The observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 676 - Not much to look at here, nothing more than a fuzzy looking star. There was no hint of a disk at all.
NGC 488 - This was a better sight. Strong looking nucleus and averted vision showed a reasonable looking disk.
NGC 7626/7619 - A really lovely pair of galaxies fitting nicely into the FOV of my 8mm Hyperion. I managed to see good structure, in the already hazy sky. A great fist observation and the object of the night for me in my scope.
NGC 604 - This looked great tonight and with no filter, it was very prominent and easy to see with some detail and also with M33 looking bright to the edge of the FOV.
NGC 891 - This looked decent but couldn't compare to my previous observations over the last month or so but it was still looking lovely with its long disk, just no sign of the central dust lane.
Finish Time = 02:54
Credits go to Eamonn for the photographs taken of the night, which are below.
The day started of very dull and great but by afternoon the conditions improved to mostly clear skies, with only a few small patches of white cloud drifting past. By evening time the sky looked fantastic with only some haze to be seen in the horizon, it was the kind of haze that told me it was going to be a cold night and a possibility of fog - which sadly turned out to be accurate.
It was a great start to the night with everyone having some of the best views they've had in a long time and Jupiter was outstanding in Eamonn's 16" Lightbridge but as midnight arrived the conditions started to deteriorate, and fast too. From that point on most of the night was completely fogged out and it was by far the worst night I've ever had with moisture and dew. I could understand Eamonn and Stevie's Lightbridge's primary mirrors misting up as they are trusses but even my own Newtonian was covered in a thick layer of mist.
In the end it was just Stevie and myself, we hung on waiting patiently, hoping for a break in the clouds - while my scope was drying off in the car with heating blowing on full into the OTA - but it never came so we called it quits near or just after 4am.
My night ended off in a real emotional low. I guess I let my expectations and excitement for some great observing get too much. Still though, when I look back we all got to observe some great objecst, including myself. Also it is that time of year where fog and hard to predict weather is a-plenty and it certainly. Well until next time and may it be soon.
Thanks to Darren for giving me fist offer on a 17mm Hyperion. That give me a lovely new eyepiece and focal length to add to my eyepiece box. I look forward to trying it out.
Location - Bragan
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"
Seeing = 4
Trans = 2/3
Start Time = 21:00
The observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 676 - Not much to look at here, nothing more than a fuzzy looking star. There was no hint of a disk at all.
NGC 488 - This was a better sight. Strong looking nucleus and averted vision showed a reasonable looking disk.
NGC 7626/7619 - A really lovely pair of galaxies fitting nicely into the FOV of my 8mm Hyperion. I managed to see good structure, in the already hazy sky. A great fist observation and the object of the night for me in my scope.
NGC 604 - This looked great tonight and with no filter, it was very prominent and easy to see with some detail and also with M33 looking bright to the edge of the FOV.
NGC 891 - This looked decent but couldn't compare to my previous observations over the last month or so but it was still looking lovely with its long disk, just no sign of the central dust lane.
Finish Time = 02:54
Credits go to Eamonn for the photographs taken of the night, which are below.
Monday, 12 October 2009
11th October 2009 Report
I had been looking forward to a night like this ever since I cleaned the mirrors in my 10". The weather in the morning was dull, mainly overcast and with some light showers but as the day moved along things started to brighten up by mid afternoon but a lot of breaks in the cloud. Could started to rapidly disperse around the same time as sunset and as darkness fell the sky was crystal clear.
I from looking out of my window I could tell that the seeing and transparency was very good so I felt excited about getting out and doing some galaxy hunting.
I headed to Bragan so I could make the most of the good conditions and when I got there I was not disapointed. Transparency was very good and seeing was on par. The only let down was the breeze. Most of the time is was calm enough to not cause any shake in the scope but it made the air icy and the cold went straight to the bone, even while wearing all my thermal clothing.
Location = Bragan
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 10" Orion, 15x70 Binoculars
Seeing = 3/4
Trans = 4
Start Time = 21:55
The observations for the night are as follows:
M33 = A great sight tonight, with NGC604 easy to see (unfiltered) but the binoculars showed this objected at it's best.
M31 =The best view I've ever had and it was through the binoculars. A gorgeous disk almost filling all of the FOV that was very rich and M110 was very easy to see with great contrast against M31
NGC 7331 = A good view with really strong structure. The disk extended out into faint wisps along it's edges. Not much detail and no spiral arm structure but still a fine sight and certainly the observation that has shown me the most.
Stephen's Quintet = An absolute mind blowing view! I need to use A LOT of averted vision (to the point where my eyes were hurting) but it allowed four galaxies to be revealed to me and during moments where the transparency improved more they would become brighter in the eyepiece and some small amounts of structure, shape and detail could be seen.
NGC 6946 = My best view of this galaxy. At medium power a faint milky patch fills the FOV with some star forming regions visible throughout as small blurry patches. Sadly there was no sign of spiral arm structure.
NGC 404 = I wanted to look at this for fun but it turned out to be the best observation I've ever had of this great sight. The contrast between NGC 404 and Mirach was startling at 150x and the beautiful goldish orange colour of Mirach itself was the icing on the cake for this view. The detail in NGC 404 was quite decent too.
M82 = Remarkable detail and very bright with the disk filling the FOV perfectly at 150x. I also looked at M81 and then started slewing the scope around when I stumbled upon another, small, galaxy about a degree or so away from M81 that turned out to be NGC 3077 after looking at my star maps. That was a lovely surprise find and it looked well too.
Finish Time = 23:20
In the end the terribly cold wind got the better of me and had to call it a night. Just at that time some light cloud started to develop so it made me feel ok about packing up but sods law would have it, it was brilliantly clear by the time I had all away and ready to leave.
It was a very short but a very sweat night, I can't wait until the next and get a proper full nights work done.
I from looking out of my window I could tell that the seeing and transparency was very good so I felt excited about getting out and doing some galaxy hunting.
I headed to Bragan so I could make the most of the good conditions and when I got there I was not disapointed. Transparency was very good and seeing was on par. The only let down was the breeze. Most of the time is was calm enough to not cause any shake in the scope but it made the air icy and the cold went straight to the bone, even while wearing all my thermal clothing.
Location = Bragan
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 10" Orion, 15x70 Binoculars
Seeing = 3/4
Trans = 4
Start Time = 21:55
The observations for the night are as follows:
M33 = A great sight tonight, with NGC604 easy to see (unfiltered) but the binoculars showed this objected at it's best.
M31 =The best view I've ever had and it was through the binoculars. A gorgeous disk almost filling all of the FOV that was very rich and M110 was very easy to see with great contrast against M31
NGC 7331 = A good view with really strong structure. The disk extended out into faint wisps along it's edges. Not much detail and no spiral arm structure but still a fine sight and certainly the observation that has shown me the most.
Stephen's Quintet = An absolute mind blowing view! I need to use A LOT of averted vision (to the point where my eyes were hurting) but it allowed four galaxies to be revealed to me and during moments where the transparency improved more they would become brighter in the eyepiece and some small amounts of structure, shape and detail could be seen.
NGC 6946 = My best view of this galaxy. At medium power a faint milky patch fills the FOV with some star forming regions visible throughout as small blurry patches. Sadly there was no sign of spiral arm structure.
NGC 404 = I wanted to look at this for fun but it turned out to be the best observation I've ever had of this great sight. The contrast between NGC 404 and Mirach was startling at 150x and the beautiful goldish orange colour of Mirach itself was the icing on the cake for this view. The detail in NGC 404 was quite decent too.
M82 = Remarkable detail and very bright with the disk filling the FOV perfectly at 150x. I also looked at M81 and then started slewing the scope around when I stumbled upon another, small, galaxy about a degree or so away from M81 that turned out to be NGC 3077 after looking at my star maps. That was a lovely surprise find and it looked well too.
Finish Time = 23:20
In the end the terribly cold wind got the better of me and had to call it a night. Just at that time some light cloud started to develop so it made me feel ok about packing up but sods law would have it, it was brilliantly clear by the time I had all away and ready to leave.
It was a very short but a very sweat night, I can't wait until the next and get a proper full nights work done.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
6th October 2009 - Report - A date with the Moon
It was the first clear night in what felt like ages so I was excited at the thought of getting out again. I really want to get trying out my reflector with its clean mirrors but with the moon out and in the mood for imaging I decided I would get the refractor out and challenge myself to my first mosaic image of the moon.
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 4" Refractor, Laptop and Toucam II Pro
Seeing = 2/3
Trans = 1/2
Start time = 22:00
It was a bitter cold night but I dressed warmly so I felt comfortable and after a 15 minute cool down time and some visual observations of the Moon and Jupiter I was ready to image at 22:15.
The seeing conditions for the moon were decent but Jupiter was terrible looking, probably because of heat dissipation from the forest, so I focused on the moon and got to work.
I took a total of 20 AVI exposures but only needed to use 18 and thought I had captured every bit of the lunar surface but after processing all my images this morning I saw that I miss two small parts of the moons disk, what a shame but otherwise I thought I did pretty well. I had some trouble blending together the lines created by images aligned and also some brightness trouble with some of the images but I am sure this is something I will get better at as I go along.
Each AVI is composed of 500 frames, all stacked and processed in Registax 5 with the mosaic being compiled in Photoshop CS4 with some brightness adjustment and unsharp masking.
For a first attempt I am very pleased with this but I shall try again during another lunar phase and try to capture the entire surface for a complete image.
It has been a long time since I spent time with the moon and I enjoyed it but I am really looking forward to clear moonless nights so I can get DSO hunting with my 10" again.
Finish Time = 23:55
Location = Parents back garden
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 4" Refractor, Laptop and Toucam II Pro
Seeing = 2/3
Trans = 1/2
Start time = 22:00
It was a bitter cold night but I dressed warmly so I felt comfortable and after a 15 minute cool down time and some visual observations of the Moon and Jupiter I was ready to image at 22:15.
The seeing conditions for the moon were decent but Jupiter was terrible looking, probably because of heat dissipation from the forest, so I focused on the moon and got to work.
I took a total of 20 AVI exposures but only needed to use 18 and thought I had captured every bit of the lunar surface but after processing all my images this morning I saw that I miss two small parts of the moons disk, what a shame but otherwise I thought I did pretty well. I had some trouble blending together the lines created by images aligned and also some brightness trouble with some of the images but I am sure this is something I will get better at as I go along.
Each AVI is composed of 500 frames, all stacked and processed in Registax 5 with the mosaic being compiled in Photoshop CS4 with some brightness adjustment and unsharp masking.
For a first attempt I am very pleased with this but I shall try again during another lunar phase and try to capture the entire surface for a complete image.
It has been a long time since I spent time with the moon and I enjoyed it but I am really looking forward to clear moonless nights so I can get DSO hunting with my 10" again.
Finish Time = 23:55
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Clean Mirrors
I spent some time today cleaning my 10" Euopra's mirrors with fantastic results.
During my last two session out observing I noticed that my primary mirror was quite dirty looking with a some scummy patches also so over the weekend I searched my memory on how I did it the last times I cleaned them. I went over the methods that worked well and mistakes I made so during the weekend I came up with good plan and put it into action today. Normally it would take me 2-3 hours to clean them but today it only took me 45 minutes to clean the primary and secondary.
I feel very confident doing the work now, where as in the past I'd feel nervous of making a scratch on the mirrors surface or something else.
The amount of dirt on the primary was shocking after I had removed it from the tube but with a combination of Isopropanol, distilled water, 100% cotton pads and an ultra high quality cleaning cloth for special glasses and the job was over.
My mirrors look brand new and I was able to get perfect collimation in 10 minutes so I can't wait for the next clear night and see the difference.
I wonder if I will get to see all five members of Stephen's Quintet...
During my last two session out observing I noticed that my primary mirror was quite dirty looking with a some scummy patches also so over the weekend I searched my memory on how I did it the last times I cleaned them. I went over the methods that worked well and mistakes I made so during the weekend I came up with good plan and put it into action today. Normally it would take me 2-3 hours to clean them but today it only took me 45 minutes to clean the primary and secondary.
I feel very confident doing the work now, where as in the past I'd feel nervous of making a scratch on the mirrors surface or something else.
The amount of dirt on the primary was shocking after I had removed it from the tube but with a combination of Isopropanol, distilled water, 100% cotton pads and an ultra high quality cleaning cloth for special glasses and the job was over.
My mirrors look brand new and I was able to get perfect collimation in 10 minutes so I can't wait for the next clear night and see the difference.
I wonder if I will get to see all five members of Stephen's Quintet...
Sunday, 20 September 2009
19/20 September 2009 - Report
It was a mixed day of weather, starting of wet and windy in the morning to a partly sunny afternoon with broken cloud. By evening things really improved with cloud becoming less and less until it reached the point of clear blue skies from horizon to horizon.
I did make a silly mistake that didn't end in disaster. I started adjusting my tripod legs, forgetting that I didn't have my mount head securely screwed in, and after a bit of pushing and pulling my mount head feel off but lucky I my reflexes were fast and most of the mount landed on my hand. I had very sore fingers for a while but my hand will heal my mount wouldn't. The worst of the damage was some minor cosmetic chips.
The drop kind of turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it messed up polar alignment so I had to redo it from scratch and ended up with my best polar alignment yet.
The night sky was beautiful with a dominant milky way running from east horizon to west. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze that eventually died down to an infrequent breeze for most of the night.
Some light cloud did role in around 01:00 spoiling views but this gave a welcome time out to get the kettle on and warm up with some hot coffee and good conversation. It took slightly over an hour for the cloud to clear and when it did the beautiful skies returned with awesome Orion in the sky with Sirius creeping above the eastern horizon.
These exceptional skies gave me a chance to learn some new constellations that I normally wouldn't see very well and with help from Stevie I can now see Pieces, Lacerta and Monoceros.
There was some very light meteor activity through the whole night.
I also took some time out to try imaging Jupiter again and my best image results are at the bottom.
Stevie and I stayed on after Mark and Jonathan left for home to do an all nighter and didn't call it quits until sun rise had started. We slowly packed up and then watched the sky brighten with beautiful colours on the east horizon and fog filling the low lying ground in the distance.
It was great and another memorable night.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3
Trans = 4
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 10" Orion Europa, Toucam II and Laptop.
Start Time = 21:33
My observations for the night are as follows:
M22 = A really beautiful sight, filling the FOV marvellously with the stars appearing rich and very well defined. A really good and memorable open cluster.
M8 = This is the first time I've been able to see the nebula itself. Even without the UHC-S filter it looked good, filling half the FOV. A real delight to see this.
M20 = Not much to see here. A very faint haze was all I could pick out, even observing with the filter or low power made no difference.
M21 = A spare, scattered open cluster that showed up nicely.
M23 = A beautiful, wide, open cluster giving wonderful views in the 25mm (56x). I never looked at this object before and I am so glad I did now. Certainly one to remember.
M9 = A faint globular cluster with average detail but a fist time see for me so I am very pleased in the respect that I have nailed another new Messier object.
M18 = A small and sparse open cluster with only a handful of stars to count but still a nice sight.
M17 = A breathtaking view with stunning detail and the UHC-S filter gave a great amount of extra contrast with in the nebula. Without a doubt a treasure of the sky.
M14 = This globular cluster looked large in the eyepiece but stars were not resolving well and could only really see individual stars with AV.
M26 = Looking as good as always. This is starting to become one of my favourite open clusters.
M11 = Another stunning view of this magnificent open cluster. I honestly do think I could look at this all night.
NGC 6781 = What a surprise this planetary nebula was. A large nebulous disk filling a lot of the FOV and showing good detail.
NGC 6804 = A small but nice planetary nebula. Not much detail to see but well defined.
M94 = A good view considering how low this was in the sky. The galactic disk was bright and easy to see.
M51 = Not a good view but even when so low down the nucleus of this and the background galaxy was visible and a faint airy disk surrounding M51.
M63 = Very faint and not much to see. One to leave until spring time.
M101 = The disk was fairly noticeable but no detail or spiral arms to be seen.
M97 = An average view, the structure was decent and some detail was there but nothing near as good as the last observation on a previous night.
NGC 7331 = A very nice view. A long disk with a bright core. I could also clearly see a fuzzy patch slightly south (visually) that looked like another galaxy to me. I believe it to mostly likely be another member of the deer lick group.
Stephen's Quintet = Two of the galaxy members were to be seen with a hint of a third.
NGC 891 = For a few moments I had a fantastic view with the galaxy easily seen from edge to edge along with the dust lane running right through the centre of the disk.
I took another look later on in the night and the view was more consistent and the details slightly easier to see.
M34 = A lovely scattered looking open cluster that comfortably filled the FOV of my 25mm.
NGC 752 = A vast open cluster extending beyond the FOV. A very nice cluster but one for binoculars.
NGC 1023 = I never seen this galaxy before and a beautiful sight it is. Appearing almost edge on with a bright nucleus and a nice wide airy disk with hints of spiral arms towards the south of the galaxy using AV.
NGC 1275 = Another first see and not much to look at. Just the appearance of a small nucleus and a very faint small disk.
NGC 147 = Disappointing. Just a vague, very faint, fuzzy looking object.
NGC 185 = This galaxy appeared face on and was faint but the disk could be seen with out AV.
NGC 457 = Another one of my favourite open clusters and looking great. 175x in the 8mm allowed the cluster to fill the FOV perfectly.
NGC 1501 = My first time seeing this rather pleasant planetary nebula, with its nice airy disk easy to see - even unfiltered.
M82 = Almost looking as good from the previous night.
M81 = Looking very nice with spiral arms easy to pick out around the edges of the galaxy's disk.
M1 = A decent view. Well defined and strong structure but not much detail.
M78 = An average view. Nebulosity was, even when filtered. The star that lights up this reflection nebula could be seen well.
M42 = A breath taking sight. Long arching arms extending outwards from each side of the nebula and extending well beyond the FOV and dark regions and lanes was visible around the trapezium area.
IC 424 (Horse Head) = For a few moments I was getting vague impressions of nebulosity but I can't be 100% sure so it's one to retry again on the next good night.
NGC 2244 = A lovely open cluster in the heart of the Rosetta nebula but sadly no sign or hint of the nebula itself.
NGC 2261 (Hubbles Varible) = A really fine sight on a nebula I thought I wouldn't be able to see. A nice irregular shaped nebula. It was quite faint but the shape was easy to make out.
Finish Time = 05:45
I did make a silly mistake that didn't end in disaster. I started adjusting my tripod legs, forgetting that I didn't have my mount head securely screwed in, and after a bit of pushing and pulling my mount head feel off but lucky I my reflexes were fast and most of the mount landed on my hand. I had very sore fingers for a while but my hand will heal my mount wouldn't. The worst of the damage was some minor cosmetic chips.
The drop kind of turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it messed up polar alignment so I had to redo it from scratch and ended up with my best polar alignment yet.
The night sky was beautiful with a dominant milky way running from east horizon to west. The wind had died down to a gentle breeze that eventually died down to an infrequent breeze for most of the night.
Some light cloud did role in around 01:00 spoiling views but this gave a welcome time out to get the kettle on and warm up with some hot coffee and good conversation. It took slightly over an hour for the cloud to clear and when it did the beautiful skies returned with awesome Orion in the sky with Sirius creeping above the eastern horizon.
These exceptional skies gave me a chance to learn some new constellations that I normally wouldn't see very well and with help from Stevie I can now see Pieces, Lacerta and Monoceros.
There was some very light meteor activity through the whole night.
I also took some time out to try imaging Jupiter again and my best image results are at the bottom.
Stevie and I stayed on after Mark and Jonathan left for home to do an all nighter and didn't call it quits until sun rise had started. We slowly packed up and then watched the sky brighten with beautiful colours on the east horizon and fog filling the low lying ground in the distance.
It was great and another memorable night.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3
Trans = 4
Equipment = EQ6 Pro, 10" Orion Europa, Toucam II and Laptop.
Start Time = 21:33
My observations for the night are as follows:
M22 = A really beautiful sight, filling the FOV marvellously with the stars appearing rich and very well defined. A really good and memorable open cluster.
M8 = This is the first time I've been able to see the nebula itself. Even without the UHC-S filter it looked good, filling half the FOV. A real delight to see this.
M20 = Not much to see here. A very faint haze was all I could pick out, even observing with the filter or low power made no difference.
M21 = A spare, scattered open cluster that showed up nicely.
M23 = A beautiful, wide, open cluster giving wonderful views in the 25mm (56x). I never looked at this object before and I am so glad I did now. Certainly one to remember.
M9 = A faint globular cluster with average detail but a fist time see for me so I am very pleased in the respect that I have nailed another new Messier object.
M18 = A small and sparse open cluster with only a handful of stars to count but still a nice sight.
M17 = A breathtaking view with stunning detail and the UHC-S filter gave a great amount of extra contrast with in the nebula. Without a doubt a treasure of the sky.
M14 = This globular cluster looked large in the eyepiece but stars were not resolving well and could only really see individual stars with AV.
M26 = Looking as good as always. This is starting to become one of my favourite open clusters.
M11 = Another stunning view of this magnificent open cluster. I honestly do think I could look at this all night.
NGC 6781 = What a surprise this planetary nebula was. A large nebulous disk filling a lot of the FOV and showing good detail.
NGC 6804 = A small but nice planetary nebula. Not much detail to see but well defined.
M94 = A good view considering how low this was in the sky. The galactic disk was bright and easy to see.
M51 = Not a good view but even when so low down the nucleus of this and the background galaxy was visible and a faint airy disk surrounding M51.
M63 = Very faint and not much to see. One to leave until spring time.
M101 = The disk was fairly noticeable but no detail or spiral arms to be seen.
M97 = An average view, the structure was decent and some detail was there but nothing near as good as the last observation on a previous night.
NGC 7331 = A very nice view. A long disk with a bright core. I could also clearly see a fuzzy patch slightly south (visually) that looked like another galaxy to me. I believe it to mostly likely be another member of the deer lick group.
Stephen's Quintet = Two of the galaxy members were to be seen with a hint of a third.
NGC 891 = For a few moments I had a fantastic view with the galaxy easily seen from edge to edge along with the dust lane running right through the centre of the disk.
I took another look later on in the night and the view was more consistent and the details slightly easier to see.
M34 = A lovely scattered looking open cluster that comfortably filled the FOV of my 25mm.
NGC 752 = A vast open cluster extending beyond the FOV. A very nice cluster but one for binoculars.
NGC 1023 = I never seen this galaxy before and a beautiful sight it is. Appearing almost edge on with a bright nucleus and a nice wide airy disk with hints of spiral arms towards the south of the galaxy using AV.
NGC 1275 = Another first see and not much to look at. Just the appearance of a small nucleus and a very faint small disk.
NGC 147 = Disappointing. Just a vague, very faint, fuzzy looking object.
NGC 185 = This galaxy appeared face on and was faint but the disk could be seen with out AV.
NGC 457 = Another one of my favourite open clusters and looking great. 175x in the 8mm allowed the cluster to fill the FOV perfectly.
NGC 1501 = My first time seeing this rather pleasant planetary nebula, with its nice airy disk easy to see - even unfiltered.
M82 = Almost looking as good from the previous night.
M81 = Looking very nice with spiral arms easy to pick out around the edges of the galaxy's disk.
M1 = A decent view. Well defined and strong structure but not much detail.
M78 = An average view. Nebulosity was, even when filtered. The star that lights up this reflection nebula could be seen well.
M42 = A breath taking sight. Long arching arms extending outwards from each side of the nebula and extending well beyond the FOV and dark regions and lanes was visible around the trapezium area.
IC 424 (Horse Head) = For a few moments I was getting vague impressions of nebulosity but I can't be 100% sure so it's one to retry again on the next good night.
NGC 2244 = A lovely open cluster in the heart of the Rosetta nebula but sadly no sign or hint of the nebula itself.
NGC 2261 (Hubbles Varible) = A really fine sight on a nebula I thought I wouldn't be able to see. A nice irregular shaped nebula. It was quite faint but the shape was easy to make out.
Finish Time = 05:45
Thursday, 17 September 2009
16/17 September 2009 - Report
The weather was mostly broken up cloud allowing sunny spells during the day. The was minimal to non exsistent. As the eveing hours came closer the cloud broken further to give large areas of clear sky and as night closed in cloud started to evaporate away. The wind did pick up to a strong breeze for a short time but then died away to a completely still night.
Seeing conditions started off good and became excellent as the night progressed. Transparency never really got above average but after midnight any remaining haze - mostly caused by aircraft - did clear away to give an exceptional sky and tranparency conditions were very good towards the zenith.
It was a really good night with some fantastic observations and also some poor ones but all in all I had a great and another very rewarding night.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3/4
Trans = 3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and 10" Orion Newtonion
Start Time = 22:28
My observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 6781 = My best view yet of this tricky PN. Showing good detail with AV and strong looking structure. The view was just a pleasing without the UHC-S filter.
NGC 6760 = A rather faint cluster but appearing well and covering a nice amount of the FOV in the eyepiece. Averted vision only showed signs of the stars resolving.
M71 = A lovely open cluster with resolving nicely indeed. Very pleasing to the eye.
NGC 6888 = A rather poor view of this nebula. Even with filtered and at low magnification it was barely visible. It was a dissapointing object tonight but I can't complain, I've had some fine veiw over the past few months.
IC 1318 = Still no luck on this nebula. The view that appeared to me was only a hazy like cloud around the Gamma Cygni - almost the same kind of haze you'd see when looking at a bright star through a misted up eyepiece. This is one to try again on a night of better transparency.
NGC 6826 = A lovely view of this and further enhanced by using the UHC-S. Quite bright looking with nice structure and detail.
M15 = Sadly I only got an average view of this amazing globular. Haze, mainly caused by aircraft, moved in over the east sky covering much of Pegasus which, as a natural result, took down the seeing conditions a fair bit.
NGC 7331 = A nice white, long, disk appearing well but very little detail showing. I was going to try and look for Stephen's Quintet after his but I decided to wait until the hazy mess moved away.
M92 = A stunning looking beauty tonight. Stars resolving really well and filling almost all of the FOV at 175x
M13 = A very pleasing sight too with strong detail but not my better views.
NGC 7008 = A fantastic PN that turned out to be a nice surprise to me. A lovely shape with a decent amount of detail.
NGC 40 = Not my vest view but still looking well though not much detail.
M52 = A stunning open cluster. Filling all of my FOV at 175x. A shear delight of varying star brightness throughout the cluster.
M27 = A fantastic sight tonight with amazing structure and more nebulosity extending further out from the dumbbell shape - which in itself was very bright in the eyepiece.
M57 = Another fine view with easy to see detail but no sign of the central star.
NGC 891 = At last!! After years of trying to observe this galaxy I finally have been able to. With transparency conditions improving as the night got colder I decided on giving this a try and there it was. A beautiful edge on disk filling the FOV with a delicate buldge in its center.
Stephen's Quintet = After my success of NGC 891 it was a clear sign to me that transparency had improved so I slewed the scope to this group of very challenging galaxies - for any scope.
For the first time ever I could see two members of the galaxy group, they were very faint but I could pick them out. Using AV for a while I could also get the hint of a third galaxy and had repeat looks at the eyepiece in case my imagination was getting the better of me but I really don't think it was.
I really hope I get even better conditions again soon so I can take another look at this fine group.
M82 - An excellent view with beautiful detail. Dark lanes and patches running through the centre of the galaxy.
Finish Time = 00:20
Seeing conditions started off good and became excellent as the night progressed. Transparency never really got above average but after midnight any remaining haze - mostly caused by aircraft - did clear away to give an exceptional sky and tranparency conditions were very good towards the zenith.
It was a really good night with some fantastic observations and also some poor ones but all in all I had a great and another very rewarding night.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3/4
Trans = 3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and 10" Orion Newtonion
Start Time = 22:28
My observations for the night are as follows:
NGC 6781 = My best view yet of this tricky PN. Showing good detail with AV and strong looking structure. The view was just a pleasing without the UHC-S filter.
NGC 6760 = A rather faint cluster but appearing well and covering a nice amount of the FOV in the eyepiece. Averted vision only showed signs of the stars resolving.
M71 = A lovely open cluster with resolving nicely indeed. Very pleasing to the eye.
NGC 6888 = A rather poor view of this nebula. Even with filtered and at low magnification it was barely visible. It was a dissapointing object tonight but I can't complain, I've had some fine veiw over the past few months.
IC 1318 = Still no luck on this nebula. The view that appeared to me was only a hazy like cloud around the Gamma Cygni - almost the same kind of haze you'd see when looking at a bright star through a misted up eyepiece. This is one to try again on a night of better transparency.
NGC 6826 = A lovely view of this and further enhanced by using the UHC-S. Quite bright looking with nice structure and detail.
M15 = Sadly I only got an average view of this amazing globular. Haze, mainly caused by aircraft, moved in over the east sky covering much of Pegasus which, as a natural result, took down the seeing conditions a fair bit.
NGC 7331 = A nice white, long, disk appearing well but very little detail showing. I was going to try and look for Stephen's Quintet after his but I decided to wait until the hazy mess moved away.
M92 = A stunning looking beauty tonight. Stars resolving really well and filling almost all of the FOV at 175x
M13 = A very pleasing sight too with strong detail but not my better views.
NGC 7008 = A fantastic PN that turned out to be a nice surprise to me. A lovely shape with a decent amount of detail.
NGC 40 = Not my vest view but still looking well though not much detail.
M52 = A stunning open cluster. Filling all of my FOV at 175x. A shear delight of varying star brightness throughout the cluster.
M27 = A fantastic sight tonight with amazing structure and more nebulosity extending further out from the dumbbell shape - which in itself was very bright in the eyepiece.
M57 = Another fine view with easy to see detail but no sign of the central star.
NGC 891 = At last!! After years of trying to observe this galaxy I finally have been able to. With transparency conditions improving as the night got colder I decided on giving this a try and there it was. A beautiful edge on disk filling the FOV with a delicate buldge in its center.
Stephen's Quintet = After my success of NGC 891 it was a clear sign to me that transparency had improved so I slewed the scope to this group of very challenging galaxies - for any scope.
For the first time ever I could see two members of the galaxy group, they were very faint but I could pick them out. Using AV for a while I could also get the hint of a third galaxy and had repeat looks at the eyepiece in case my imagination was getting the better of me but I really don't think it was.
I really hope I get even better conditions again soon so I can take another look at this fine group.
M82 - An excellent view with beautiful detail. Dark lanes and patches running through the centre of the galaxy.
Finish Time = 00:20
Monday, 14 September 2009
13 September 2009 - Report
It was another great sunny day with no wind or cloud. The sky conditions during the day were better than the last two days but when the skies got dark they weren't as transparent as the night before.
After two nights of observing I was too tired to stay out for another full night so I decided to trying to image Jupiter again.
I had the pleasant company of my mother at this session and she seemed to enjoy what I showed her and liked the site at Bragan.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3
Trans = 2/3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro with 4" Refractor, Toucam II and Laptop.
Start Time = 22:17
Jupiter = There was a lot to be seen on Jupiter tonight, a transit and shadow transit of Europa, the GRS and the emergence of Europa after its transit.
Spent almost all of my time capturing AVIs. I got some good results and some poor ones.
Visually the detail was superb. The seeing conditions really became excellent for a while so I got my 5.1mm eye piece out and sure enough the image was very crisp and detailed. I saw other bands between the zones, lovely fine lines of cloud running along the disk. The shadow of Europa was a fantastic sight and even more thrilling to watch the moon slowly drift off Jupiters disk and standing out against the blackness of space.
I observed Jupiter for just over an hour and had so much fun and enjoyment from doing so.
The best of my images are below:
After two nights of observing I was too tired to stay out for another full night so I decided to trying to image Jupiter again.
I had the pleasant company of my mother at this session and she seemed to enjoy what I showed her and liked the site at Bragan.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 3
Trans = 2/3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro with 4" Refractor, Toucam II and Laptop.
Start Time = 22:17
Jupiter = There was a lot to be seen on Jupiter tonight, a transit and shadow transit of Europa, the GRS and the emergence of Europa after its transit.
Spent almost all of my time capturing AVIs. I got some good results and some poor ones.
Visually the detail was superb. The seeing conditions really became excellent for a while so I got my 5.1mm eye piece out and sure enough the image was very crisp and detailed. I saw other bands between the zones, lovely fine lines of cloud running along the disk. The shadow of Europa was a fantastic sight and even more thrilling to watch the moon slowly drift off Jupiters disk and standing out against the blackness of space.
I observed Jupiter for just over an hour and had so much fun and enjoyment from doing so.
The best of my images are below:
After I had finished imaging I gave my mother a short tour of some other fine objects, which were:
Almach
Albireo
M57
M27
M31, 32
M11
M31 was a fine sight in particular but objects like M11 and M57 just don't show well on this scope when compared to my 10", especially M11.
All in all another great and very rewarding night with some more experience in imaging.
I just hope for more clear skies this coming weekend.
Finish Time = 23:45
Sunday, 13 September 2009
12/13 September 2009 - Report
Another fine day , very similar to yesterday. No clouds, no wind and there was considerably less horizon haze than yesterday too, giving the feeling of an even better night ahead.
A night started to close in the conditions kept looking more promising every passing minute.
I went to Bragan and waited in Clogher to meet up with fellow club members and then we all left for the observing site.
Upon arrival the sky was beautiful with any high altitude haze evaporating quickly and later in the night the horizon haze made a hasty retreat to the lower ground as fog.
The seeing conditions for the first half of the night - before the moon rise - were excellent and the transparency was very good too but as the moon did rise the transparency was reduced by quite a but and seeing started to fluctuate between good and poor.
During the night I got to borrow a 17mm 2" Nagler eyepiece of Neil and I was very impressed with the sharp images I was getting. Thanks to Neil for allowing me to use this and further enhance my night of enjoyment.
There was also good meteor activity. I counted 14 meteorites during the course of the night and also got to see two very impressive fireballs. One that Neil also saw and the other was also seen by Mark.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 4
Trans = 4 (became less as the moon rose)
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newtonian.
Start Time = 21:16
The observations for the night are as follows:
M108 = A lovely view and is has been a very long time since I observed this galaxy. It has a lovely wide disk but detail was average at time of viewing and there was a bright star of our own galaxy places almost center of the M108 giving a pleasing view and giving an extra sense of depth.
M97 = A fine view withe the dark gaps, that make the owls eyes, clearly visible and observing through UHC-S didn't really improve anything so I knew at this point the night was very good.
M109 = Not a great view but with the UHC-S I got to see the nucleus and some scattered structure. One to try again on a night with excellent transparency.
M106 = I got a nice view of this galaxy through the 17mm Nagler. Lovely long elongated disk that appeared to be almost edge on.
M63 = Not much too look at. I've never had much luck observing this galaxy. Even with the UHC-S it just appeared as a smudge with no detail or structure of any kind.
M10 = A beautiful sight, almost filling the FOV in the 8mm. Stars resolving really well from the core right out to the edges.
M12 = Another fine sight. Resolving just as finely as M10 making it a pleasurable observation.
M11 = A stunning view of this cluster. One of my best observations of this. A sea of stars to drift away and get lost in, heavenly...
M26 = My first time seeing this cluster and so pleased I did. A lovely small group of stars that, for me, created the asterism of a candy cane. One to remember.
NGC 6712 - I never looked at this globular before. It was very faint with stars only appearing with AV.
NGC 7331 - Not my best view and eve with mixed magnifications and trying the UHC-S there was no change in detail or contrast. I think it was around this point that the moon had made and appearance on the horizon and conditions started to degrade a little.
NGC 7662 - Very bright and easy to see with good detail under UHC-S. One of my best views for this PN.
NGC 7009 - This was my best veiw I'd had of this PN in years. With out a filter the detail and brightness was excellent, with the small extending globules of nebulous matter extending from either side of the PN seen well with AV and under UHC-S the contrast and detail improved a bit allowing for a higher magnification view. My highlight of the night.
NGC 6946 - This was very faint with only a vague hint of the galaxy at low power.
NGC 7023 - The best view I've ever had with this very tricky reflection nebula. My UHC-S helped a great deal in cutting down the brightness of the central star, allowing me to see the surrounding nebulous cloud with AV, even some hints of structure was visible from time to time.
M2 - A decent view with stars resolving quite well but overall looking faint due to the moon being higher in the sky at this point.
M72 - Very faint and difficult to see with only a hint of stars using AV.
M73 - I never looked at this open cluster before and I now knew why I never bothered to. Very disappointing with just a hand full of faint stars.
Caldwell 19 - The stars around the nebula could be seen well but I got not hint of any nebulosity, even when filtered.
E2816 Cepheus - A stunning triple system that I bumped into while having a failed attempt at observing IC1396. It's a fine sight under any magnification above 50x
Finish - 03:48
It was a very memorible and enjoyable night for me. Neil and Mark left just after 01:00 but Stevie and I stayed on for a few hours more and left just after 04:00.
I really appreciate them travelling down all this way to observe at this site and I hope they enjoyed the night as much as I did and that we will get to observe again soon.
Today is another fine day so I am looking forward to getting out again tonight.
A night started to close in the conditions kept looking more promising every passing minute.
I went to Bragan and waited in Clogher to meet up with fellow club members and then we all left for the observing site.
Upon arrival the sky was beautiful with any high altitude haze evaporating quickly and later in the night the horizon haze made a hasty retreat to the lower ground as fog.
The seeing conditions for the first half of the night - before the moon rise - were excellent and the transparency was very good too but as the moon did rise the transparency was reduced by quite a but and seeing started to fluctuate between good and poor.
During the night I got to borrow a 17mm 2" Nagler eyepiece of Neil and I was very impressed with the sharp images I was getting. Thanks to Neil for allowing me to use this and further enhance my night of enjoyment.
There was also good meteor activity. I counted 14 meteorites during the course of the night and also got to see two very impressive fireballs. One that Neil also saw and the other was also seen by Mark.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 4
Trans = 4 (became less as the moon rose)
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newtonian.
Start Time = 21:16
The observations for the night are as follows:
M108 = A lovely view and is has been a very long time since I observed this galaxy. It has a lovely wide disk but detail was average at time of viewing and there was a bright star of our own galaxy places almost center of the M108 giving a pleasing view and giving an extra sense of depth.
M97 = A fine view withe the dark gaps, that make the owls eyes, clearly visible and observing through UHC-S didn't really improve anything so I knew at this point the night was very good.
M109 = Not a great view but with the UHC-S I got to see the nucleus and some scattered structure. One to try again on a night with excellent transparency.
M106 = I got a nice view of this galaxy through the 17mm Nagler. Lovely long elongated disk that appeared to be almost edge on.
M63 = Not much too look at. I've never had much luck observing this galaxy. Even with the UHC-S it just appeared as a smudge with no detail or structure of any kind.
M10 = A beautiful sight, almost filling the FOV in the 8mm. Stars resolving really well from the core right out to the edges.
M12 = Another fine sight. Resolving just as finely as M10 making it a pleasurable observation.
M11 = A stunning view of this cluster. One of my best observations of this. A sea of stars to drift away and get lost in, heavenly...
M26 = My first time seeing this cluster and so pleased I did. A lovely small group of stars that, for me, created the asterism of a candy cane. One to remember.
NGC 6712 - I never looked at this globular before. It was very faint with stars only appearing with AV.
NGC 7331 - Not my best view and eve with mixed magnifications and trying the UHC-S there was no change in detail or contrast. I think it was around this point that the moon had made and appearance on the horizon and conditions started to degrade a little.
NGC 7662 - Very bright and easy to see with good detail under UHC-S. One of my best views for this PN.
NGC 7009 - This was my best veiw I'd had of this PN in years. With out a filter the detail and brightness was excellent, with the small extending globules of nebulous matter extending from either side of the PN seen well with AV and under UHC-S the contrast and detail improved a bit allowing for a higher magnification view. My highlight of the night.
NGC 6946 - This was very faint with only a vague hint of the galaxy at low power.
NGC 7023 - The best view I've ever had with this very tricky reflection nebula. My UHC-S helped a great deal in cutting down the brightness of the central star, allowing me to see the surrounding nebulous cloud with AV, even some hints of structure was visible from time to time.
M2 - A decent view with stars resolving quite well but overall looking faint due to the moon being higher in the sky at this point.
M72 - Very faint and difficult to see with only a hint of stars using AV.
M73 - I never looked at this open cluster before and I now knew why I never bothered to. Very disappointing with just a hand full of faint stars.
Caldwell 19 - The stars around the nebula could be seen well but I got not hint of any nebulosity, even when filtered.
E2816 Cepheus - A stunning triple system that I bumped into while having a failed attempt at observing IC1396. It's a fine sight under any magnification above 50x
Finish - 03:48
It was a very memorible and enjoyable night for me. Neil and Mark left just after 01:00 but Stevie and I stayed on for a few hours more and left just after 04:00.
I really appreciate them travelling down all this way to observe at this site and I hope they enjoyed the night as much as I did and that we will get to observe again soon.
Today is another fine day so I am looking forward to getting out again tonight.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
11 September 2009 - Report
It was a fine day with blue skies, no wind and warm air. As sunset closed in some light upper atmospheric haze developed but started to evaporate away or fall to lower ground as night started to fall, leaving a fairly decent sky.
I was in the mood for trying some imaging with my Toucam again and since I was going to the Bragan site I knew I wasn't going to get a better spot and conditions for imaging so I brought the laptop and cam with me.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 4
Trans = 3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro with 4" Refractor, Toucam II Pro, Laptop and 15x70 Binos.
Start Time = 21:35
The observations for the night are as follows:
Jupiter = I started off the night trying to image Jupiter with my Toucam and got some decent results. I processed the AVIs when I got home and the best result is below to see. Visually the view was fantastic, with strong contrasts in the bands and in between the zones with a lot of detail. One of my finest views.
M57 - The finest view I've ever had of this through my refractor. Very crisp image with good contrast but detail cannot compare to my 10".
M101 - I decided to have a go with my binoculars now and I wasn't disappointed. The view was decent, the galaxy easy to see with most of the disk visible. This alone proved the good conditions of the night, before the moon made an appearance.
M31 - A stunning sight in the binos. Filling most of the FOV with M110 easily seen to the north. I can't remember having such a pleasing view of this galaxy in binos.
M51 - I was very surprised to see this in the binos but there it was and fairly easy to see with its bright nucleus catching the eye even with out AV.
Eta Cas - I now got back to using the scope and resuming my double star observations with Cassiopeia and who better to start with than Eta Cas. My finest view yet with great sharpness and pin point stars. The secondary star radiating an obvious shade of brown.
Alpha Cas - A decent looking double wiht quite a wide separation. This is a double I've overlook and am glad I didn't this time, certainly worth a look.
E3053 Cas - A lovely faint pair. Goldish central star with a blueish companion.
h 1088 Cas - The companion star was very faint which added to the delight I felt observing this system, very pleasing.
NGC 663 - This cluster was very close to h 1088 so I couldn't move in with out having a look. At low power this open cluster is rather nice with bright stars running through the cluster making a pleasing view.
NGC 654 - A complete reversal. Faint. not much to see and medium power (125x) revealed the best that this cluster had to offer, and it wasn't much.
h 1000 Cas - A strange but nice pair to view. The secondary being very faint, making it easy to over look. A thin wisp of haze passed over, probably a jet engine chem trail, causing the star to blink in and out of view.
Psi Cas - A fine double with a golden primary star and a very faint secondary and tow other fainter member of the system further out, and at at equal distances, making this a quadruple system.
Moon - The moon was about 15 degrees high now and still in an imaging mood I got the cam out again and started shooting. My best result is below to view. Visually it was a stunning sight. The great seeing conditions allowed for amazing resolution of small craters and peaks. I spent a while touring around the moon and then decided to call it a night.
Finish Time = 23:55
I was in the mood for trying some imaging with my Toucam again and since I was going to the Bragan site I knew I wasn't going to get a better spot and conditions for imaging so I brought the laptop and cam with me.
Location = Bragan
Seeing = 4
Trans = 3
Equipment = EQ6 Pro with 4" Refractor, Toucam II Pro, Laptop and 15x70 Binos.
Start Time = 21:35
The observations for the night are as follows:
Jupiter = I started off the night trying to image Jupiter with my Toucam and got some decent results. I processed the AVIs when I got home and the best result is below to see. Visually the view was fantastic, with strong contrasts in the bands and in between the zones with a lot of detail. One of my finest views.
M57 - The finest view I've ever had of this through my refractor. Very crisp image with good contrast but detail cannot compare to my 10".
M101 - I decided to have a go with my binoculars now and I wasn't disappointed. The view was decent, the galaxy easy to see with most of the disk visible. This alone proved the good conditions of the night, before the moon made an appearance.
M31 - A stunning sight in the binos. Filling most of the FOV with M110 easily seen to the north. I can't remember having such a pleasing view of this galaxy in binos.
M51 - I was very surprised to see this in the binos but there it was and fairly easy to see with its bright nucleus catching the eye even with out AV.
Eta Cas - I now got back to using the scope and resuming my double star observations with Cassiopeia and who better to start with than Eta Cas. My finest view yet with great sharpness and pin point stars. The secondary star radiating an obvious shade of brown.
Alpha Cas - A decent looking double wiht quite a wide separation. This is a double I've overlook and am glad I didn't this time, certainly worth a look.
E3053 Cas - A lovely faint pair. Goldish central star with a blueish companion.
h 1088 Cas - The companion star was very faint which added to the delight I felt observing this system, very pleasing.
NGC 663 - This cluster was very close to h 1088 so I couldn't move in with out having a look. At low power this open cluster is rather nice with bright stars running through the cluster making a pleasing view.
NGC 654 - A complete reversal. Faint. not much to see and medium power (125x) revealed the best that this cluster had to offer, and it wasn't much.
h 1000 Cas - A strange but nice pair to view. The secondary being very faint, making it easy to over look. A thin wisp of haze passed over, probably a jet engine chem trail, causing the star to blink in and out of view.
Psi Cas - A fine double with a golden primary star and a very faint secondary and tow other fainter member of the system further out, and at at equal distances, making this a quadruple system.
Moon - The moon was about 15 degrees high now and still in an imaging mood I got the cam out again and started shooting. My best result is below to view. Visually it was a stunning sight. The great seeing conditions allowed for amazing resolution of small craters and peaks. I spent a while touring around the moon and then decided to call it a night.
Finish Time = 23:55
Thursday, 10 September 2009
09 September 2009 - Report
Weather wise the day was very nice. Mostly sunny with little cloud around and next to no wind. Conditions improved as night skies got closer, leaving a very clear night. There was some light atmospheric haze towards the horizons, probably caused from the high pressure system itself.
Overall I found the short observing session to be very rewarding and felt happy with all the new objects I observed.
The light haze in the atmosphere caused the light of the moon to scatter making it look brighter than it actually was but just polluted the sky and visual magnitude of the stars, so as it rose above the roof of my parents house I decided to call it a night.
Location = Fivemiletown
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and 4" Refractor.
Start Time = 21:14
My observations are as follows:
Jupiter = A fine view tonight with a lot of detail to be seen all over the disk. Europa and Ganymede's orbits brought them very close together providing a lovely sight itself.
Almach = I thought I would start of my double star night with my personal favourite. The colours are even richer through my WO Star Diagonal (which was first light for it)
5 Ursa Minor = A very wide pair with a vibrant gold coloured main sequence star, other than that not much to look at.
Pi 1 Ursa Minor = Not an exciting pair. Both appearing similar in size, brightness and colour.
40/41 Ursa Minor = A fairly pleasing view with the pair being relatively close to each other and like Pi 1, similar in size, brightness and colour - which has the look of a washed out shade of gold.
Kappa Cepheus = A stunning pair! A nice tight double with the secondary star significantly fainter than it's main sequence star. One to remember.
Beta Cepheus (Alfirk) = Another delightful pair and very similar to Kappa in appearance and seperation with the only visual difference being the secondary giving a hint of colour in the light blue shade.
E2883 Cepheus = A fine faint pair. The parent star a pale goldish shade with a pale blue companion.
E2923 Cepheus = Quite faint and small but a pleasing sigh all the same. The secondary appeared very faint and flickered in and out of view due to the poorish seeing conditions.
Omicron Cepheus = A very tight pair and very pleasing to observe. 196x splits the pair very nicely, revealing the parent star to have a nice gold look and the secondary to have a plae blue shade. I think I observing this for more than five minutes.
Xi Cepheus = Another nice pair and fairly tight. Colour was hard to pick up but gave the impression of even paler shades to that of Omicron.
Garnet Star = I couldn't finish my night and leave Cepheus without a look at this gorgeous star. A colour so rich it just draws you in.
Finish Time = 23:34
Overall I found the short observing session to be very rewarding and felt happy with all the new objects I observed.
The light haze in the atmosphere caused the light of the moon to scatter making it look brighter than it actually was but just polluted the sky and visual magnitude of the stars, so as it rose above the roof of my parents house I decided to call it a night.
Location = Fivemiletown
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and 4" Refractor.
Start Time = 21:14
My observations are as follows:
Jupiter = A fine view tonight with a lot of detail to be seen all over the disk. Europa and Ganymede's orbits brought them very close together providing a lovely sight itself.
Almach = I thought I would start of my double star night with my personal favourite. The colours are even richer through my WO Star Diagonal (which was first light for it)
5 Ursa Minor = A very wide pair with a vibrant gold coloured main sequence star, other than that not much to look at.
Pi 1 Ursa Minor = Not an exciting pair. Both appearing similar in size, brightness and colour.
40/41 Ursa Minor = A fairly pleasing view with the pair being relatively close to each other and like Pi 1, similar in size, brightness and colour - which has the look of a washed out shade of gold.
Kappa Cepheus = A stunning pair! A nice tight double with the secondary star significantly fainter than it's main sequence star. One to remember.
Beta Cepheus (Alfirk) = Another delightful pair and very similar to Kappa in appearance and seperation with the only visual difference being the secondary giving a hint of colour in the light blue shade.
E2883 Cepheus = A fine faint pair. The parent star a pale goldish shade with a pale blue companion.
E2923 Cepheus = Quite faint and small but a pleasing sigh all the same. The secondary appeared very faint and flickered in and out of view due to the poorish seeing conditions.
Omicron Cepheus = A very tight pair and very pleasing to observe. 196x splits the pair very nicely, revealing the parent star to have a nice gold look and the secondary to have a plae blue shade. I think I observing this for more than five minutes.
Xi Cepheus = Another nice pair and fairly tight. Colour was hard to pick up but gave the impression of even paler shades to that of Omicron.
Garnet Star = I couldn't finish my night and leave Cepheus without a look at this gorgeous star. A colour so rich it just draws you in.
Finish Time = 23:34
Sunday, 30 August 2009
29 August 2009 - Report
It became unexpectedly clear. BBC were forecasting cloud and the Met office images from a few hours earlier in the day didn't show anything promising but looking out after 20:30 hours should excellent looking skies and with my head buzzing with wonder over what this mysterious object was near M33 I had to fight my fatigue and force myself out to get a second look at this object.
The classic astronomers jinx predictably happened too. I got setup and ready to observe, slewed to Jupiter and to M15 to observe, while I waited for the Triangulum to rise a bit higher over the roof of my parents house, and just as I did it clouded over.
I waited it out and was rewarded with very clear skies afterwards.
I went straight for M33 and could barely see it due to poor transparency and a rather bright moon. So I got my UHC-S filter into action and the view improved quite a bit. I could see bright blobs through out the center of the galaxy but I started to slew the scope to the direction of where I saw the object from the previous night. Using a lot of AV I could manage to see it, the poor transparency and moon were making it more difficult to see and as I was fighting fatuige so staying out until the moon passed below the horizon was not an option for me.
I really spent a good bit of time looking at this object, something close to 15 minutes of constant staring and breathing in and out deeply to get plenty of oxygen to my brain and eyes to try and give me that extra bit of better vision.
After that I wrote down the RA and DEC and called it a night.
I started up Starry Night this morning and went to the coordinates I wrote down and to my shock I have been observing NGC 604! I thought I had observed this from my night out on the 21st but obviously not.
I never in my life thought I would ever see another nebula, or another object for that matter, in another galaxy through armature equipment.
The UHC-S filter is starting to become an invaluable accessory to me.
The classic astronomers jinx predictably happened too. I got setup and ready to observe, slewed to Jupiter and to M15 to observe, while I waited for the Triangulum to rise a bit higher over the roof of my parents house, and just as I did it clouded over.
I waited it out and was rewarded with very clear skies afterwards.
I went straight for M33 and could barely see it due to poor transparency and a rather bright moon. So I got my UHC-S filter into action and the view improved quite a bit. I could see bright blobs through out the center of the galaxy but I started to slew the scope to the direction of where I saw the object from the previous night. Using a lot of AV I could manage to see it, the poor transparency and moon were making it more difficult to see and as I was fighting fatuige so staying out until the moon passed below the horizon was not an option for me.
I really spent a good bit of time looking at this object, something close to 15 minutes of constant staring and breathing in and out deeply to get plenty of oxygen to my brain and eyes to try and give me that extra bit of better vision.
After that I wrote down the RA and DEC and called it a night.
I started up Starry Night this morning and went to the coordinates I wrote down and to my shock I have been observing NGC 604! I thought I had observed this from my night out on the 21st but obviously not.
I never in my life thought I would ever see another nebula, or another object for that matter, in another galaxy through armature equipment.
The UHC-S filter is starting to become an invaluable accessory to me.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
28/29 August 2009 - Report
It was a day of mixed weather, heavy showers of rain and spells of stunning along with strong gusty winds but as the day progressed the weather improved with skies clearing as the night drew nearer.
I got invited up to observe with some of the members at the Killylane site. I've been looking forward to getting back to observing at the site as the last night I was there wasn't a good night to get a proper feel of the place.
I left early to meet up with Stevie and get a bite to eat so I was fueled up for the night ahead.
There was quite a little party of members observing, seven in total, giving the night an atmosphere of fun.
It took me a while to setup, mostly because I just took my time, but I did have some problems at the start. The EQ6 kept refusing to do a 3 star alignment, failing every time. Eventually I got it sorted out but after trying to slew to Jupiter the mount refused to slew anywhere else after settling on Jupiter so I had to turn all of and reset the "Parke Mode" data and do everything from scratch. It took a while but it paid of and everything was working well again.
There was a lot of objects observed from everyone there and I had some great views through Neil's Mak Newt and Stevie's 12" Light Bridge. I was also captivated and really enjoying the gorgeous wide field views through Jonathan's 100mm Binoculars, a really fantastic instrument.
Towards the end of the night a fantastic fireball was seen by myself and Mark. It's brightness grew wonderfully and then broke up, leaving a smouldering smoke trail behind it.
Location = Killylane
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing = 4
Trans = 2
Start Time = 22:04
My observations for the night are as follows:
Albireo = After the nonsense my mount gave me I thought something nice, simple and beautiful to look at was a fine way to make sure that tracking and slewing was working fine. As always, looking lovely with rich colours.
M13 = A great view at 155x and thanks to the good seeing stars were resolving very nicely indeed.
M57 = A great view with nice detail and the UHC-S really made the nebula look brighter but no sign of the centeral star tonight.
M51 = Very poor, barely visible even when filtered only the necleus could be seen. Not a night for galaxies due to the poor transparency no doubt.
M27 = Very bright with UHC-S filter but little detail showing through. Fine structer though.
Jupiter = Good view with great cloud detail showing and the positions of the moons was quite beautiful. I also reobserved later in the night to take a look at the GRS
M97 = Not much to see here, even when filtered it is an undiscernable blur with no signs or hints of the gaps that make the eyes.
NGC 6826 = A lovely view with a very bright image filtered or unfiltered. Displaying a large airy disk and the centeral star showing well.
M15 - A stunning view. This richness of this globular is striking at anytime but, again, the seeing was allowing so many stars to resolve. This was a view to capture the imagination and get lost in daydreams. One of my best views on this globular cluster and the night in a whole was excellent for globular observing.
M76 = A decent view. Pleasing structure and even better under UHC-S.
Epsilon Lyra = A fair view and splitting well at 155x, proving that the seeing was better than usual.
M74 = Faint but lovely to see for the fist time, it's a Messier object that I've over looked but thanks to Stevie for challenging me to observe it I can now mark it off the list. The nucleus was clear with AV.
NGC 404 = Very obvious and detail was fairly good. It's been a year or so since I observed this again it's thanks to Stevie for bringing it up. A fine sight to observe.
M33 = Surprisingly good views considering it was a poor night for galaxies all round. Observing with UHC-S really changed the view to something great but what struck me the most was a faint fussy object about half a degree from the galaxy in the 3 O'Clock position on the eye piece. I let Stevie take a look but do not know what it is.
I have taken a look through my star maps, starry night and widefield images searches on google and can find nothing that fitted.
Looking a Starry Night shows that it could have been NGC 614 I was seeing but the distances look too far apart to fit in the FOV of view at 155x.
I will most certainly be taking another look on the next clear night and write down the RA and DEC of this object.
Finish Time = 02:53
I got invited up to observe with some of the members at the Killylane site. I've been looking forward to getting back to observing at the site as the last night I was there wasn't a good night to get a proper feel of the place.
I left early to meet up with Stevie and get a bite to eat so I was fueled up for the night ahead.
There was quite a little party of members observing, seven in total, giving the night an atmosphere of fun.
It took me a while to setup, mostly because I just took my time, but I did have some problems at the start. The EQ6 kept refusing to do a 3 star alignment, failing every time. Eventually I got it sorted out but after trying to slew to Jupiter the mount refused to slew anywhere else after settling on Jupiter so I had to turn all of and reset the "Parke Mode" data and do everything from scratch. It took a while but it paid of and everything was working well again.
There was a lot of objects observed from everyone there and I had some great views through Neil's Mak Newt and Stevie's 12" Light Bridge. I was also captivated and really enjoying the gorgeous wide field views through Jonathan's 100mm Binoculars, a really fantastic instrument.
Towards the end of the night a fantastic fireball was seen by myself and Mark. It's brightness grew wonderfully and then broke up, leaving a smouldering smoke trail behind it.
Location = Killylane
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing = 4
Trans = 2
Start Time = 22:04
My observations for the night are as follows:
Albireo = After the nonsense my mount gave me I thought something nice, simple and beautiful to look at was a fine way to make sure that tracking and slewing was working fine. As always, looking lovely with rich colours.
M13 = A great view at 155x and thanks to the good seeing stars were resolving very nicely indeed.
M57 = A great view with nice detail and the UHC-S really made the nebula look brighter but no sign of the centeral star tonight.
M51 = Very poor, barely visible even when filtered only the necleus could be seen. Not a night for galaxies due to the poor transparency no doubt.
M27 = Very bright with UHC-S filter but little detail showing through. Fine structer though.
Jupiter = Good view with great cloud detail showing and the positions of the moons was quite beautiful. I also reobserved later in the night to take a look at the GRS
M97 = Not much to see here, even when filtered it is an undiscernable blur with no signs or hints of the gaps that make the eyes.
NGC 6826 = A lovely view with a very bright image filtered or unfiltered. Displaying a large airy disk and the centeral star showing well.
M15 - A stunning view. This richness of this globular is striking at anytime but, again, the seeing was allowing so many stars to resolve. This was a view to capture the imagination and get lost in daydreams. One of my best views on this globular cluster and the night in a whole was excellent for globular observing.
M76 = A decent view. Pleasing structure and even better under UHC-S.
Epsilon Lyra = A fair view and splitting well at 155x, proving that the seeing was better than usual.
M74 = Faint but lovely to see for the fist time, it's a Messier object that I've over looked but thanks to Stevie for challenging me to observe it I can now mark it off the list. The nucleus was clear with AV.
NGC 404 = Very obvious and detail was fairly good. It's been a year or so since I observed this again it's thanks to Stevie for bringing it up. A fine sight to observe.
M33 = Surprisingly good views considering it was a poor night for galaxies all round. Observing with UHC-S really changed the view to something great but what struck me the most was a faint fussy object about half a degree from the galaxy in the 3 O'Clock position on the eye piece. I let Stevie take a look but do not know what it is.
I have taken a look through my star maps, starry night and widefield images searches on google and can find nothing that fitted.
Looking a Starry Night shows that it could have been NGC 614 I was seeing but the distances look too far apart to fit in the FOV of view at 155x.
I will most certainly be taking another look on the next clear night and write down the RA and DEC of this object.
Finish Time = 02:53
Monday, 24 August 2009
23/24 August 2009 - Report
It was a terrible day with prolonged heavy rain and wind which caused quite a bit of flooding around low land. The met office showed good looking clear sky to move in for about 21:00 and to last the whole night.
By about 19:30 the sky started to break and as the minutes went by things began to look more promising.
By the time I got to the site, which was about 21:50, it was reasonably clear but after setting up all my gear cloud moved in, with it's usual style, and didn't blow over until after an hour of waiting.
Once the cloud did clear things looked fine. The milky way was looking great and NGC 7000 was naked eye again but no sooner did I start a yucky haze came in a lurked around with braked in between but it killed transparency quite a bit so I didn't get to see an awful lot as my nights planner was full of emission and reflection nebula to stress test my UHC-S and the OIII filter.
I had a terrible scare half way through my observing. Dew was rather bad, leaving the OTA soaking wet, and I had not fully tightened the tube rings after balancing my scope - I just forgot from being scundered about the haze - and while observing NGC 6888 the OTA fell to the ground! My heart was in my mouth and nerves making me shake but luckily the rings were tight enough to stop it at the focus mount, so I turned the power off to the mount and got the OTA back on securely and resumed my observations.
In the end I gave into frustrations and the weather and packed up just after 01:00
Anyway, the night was as follows:
Observing Site = Carrin Rock
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing = 3
Trans = 2/3
Start Time = 23:54
NGC 9481 = A first time observation for me on this object. It was faint but apparent with AV, showing a lovely thin ring. The UHC-S did bring out more detail but also reduced brightness, thus making it hard to see.
NGC 6888 = Appearing nicely at low power with OIII. The crescent Sharpe arching nicely around the near by stars in the center of the FOV. Not my best observation but still a thrill to see this object visually.
IC 1318 = Not much to see - probably due the bad transparency of due to the haze - at any magnification or any filter. Just a bright circular shaped haze could be seen around the brightest star in the FOV
Finish Time = 01:07
By about 19:30 the sky started to break and as the minutes went by things began to look more promising.
By the time I got to the site, which was about 21:50, it was reasonably clear but after setting up all my gear cloud moved in, with it's usual style, and didn't blow over until after an hour of waiting.
Once the cloud did clear things looked fine. The milky way was looking great and NGC 7000 was naked eye again but no sooner did I start a yucky haze came in a lurked around with braked in between but it killed transparency quite a bit so I didn't get to see an awful lot as my nights planner was full of emission and reflection nebula to stress test my UHC-S and the OIII filter.
I had a terrible scare half way through my observing. Dew was rather bad, leaving the OTA soaking wet, and I had not fully tightened the tube rings after balancing my scope - I just forgot from being scundered about the haze - and while observing NGC 6888 the OTA fell to the ground! My heart was in my mouth and nerves making me shake but luckily the rings were tight enough to stop it at the focus mount, so I turned the power off to the mount and got the OTA back on securely and resumed my observations.
In the end I gave into frustrations and the weather and packed up just after 01:00
Anyway, the night was as follows:
Observing Site = Carrin Rock
Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing = 3
Trans = 2/3
Start Time = 23:54
NGC 9481 = A first time observation for me on this object. It was faint but apparent with AV, showing a lovely thin ring. The UHC-S did bring out more detail but also reduced brightness, thus making it hard to see.
NGC 6888 = Appearing nicely at low power with OIII. The crescent Sharpe arching nicely around the near by stars in the center of the FOV. Not my best observation but still a thrill to see this object visually.
IC 1318 = Not much to see - probably due the bad transparency of due to the haze - at any magnification or any filter. Just a bright circular shaped haze could be seen around the brightest star in the FOV
Finish Time = 01:07
Saturday, 22 August 2009
21/22 August 2009 - Report
The day as a whole was very mixed with sun, rain, wind and even lightning but as the evening drew closer the breaks in the clouds became more consistent so a nights observing was afoot.
I had the pleasure and great company of two members from the club to join me, Stevie and Mark, so Carrin Rock was the observing site for the night.
The night didn't start off looking good with wall to wall cloud and showers of rain to be seen all over the country but a slow walk up to the viewing point, with a full panoramic view of the country to be seen - from the Mournes to the Wicklow Mountains in Dublin - and after spending a few minutes up there breaks in the clouds could be seen forming and headed our way.
Upon coming back to the site it started to rain lightly so it was into the cars for shelter and warmth but not very long after it stopped and begun to, slowly, clear up.
I took my time setting, paying extra attention to my polar alignment, which I am glad to say paid of with great results of excellent tracking through the whole night.
After setting up it clouded over again but 10 minutes or so later the sky exploded with clarity along with a wonderfully vibrant and stunning milky way, running from horizon to horizon.
So, the night, for me, went as follows:
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing - 4
Trans - 3
Start time - 22:58
Jupiter - WOW! That really is the word to use here. Such a crisp and highly detailed image with so much detail to be seen in the bands and zones in the atmosphere. I missed the transit of Io and Europa but it was a beautiful site to see them appearing so close to each other.
M17 - A remarkable view with superb detail, while using the UHC-S filter. The wonderful swan like shape easily seen along with excellent contrast showing depth and texture to the nebula's look.
M27 - Very nice view with decent detail while using the filter. It was equally as good with out the filter.
NGC 7000 - Not my best view but the Mexican region of the NAN was easily seen with some pleasant detail to take in.
NGC 6960 - Absolutely stunning. Beautiful intricate web/filament like detail running all throughout the nebula. This is definitely a great nebula for an OIII filter.
M33 - Using the UHC-S reveals the H-II nebulous regions within the galaxy which were a sheer delight to see and never thought I could. With out the filter the galaxy was barely visible.
NGC 40 - Using the filter showed a nice bright central region with good out lying nebulosity. Not my best view of this object though.
Jupiter - I had to have another look now that the GRS was in view and I also decided to keep in the UHC-S filter for the fun of it and the results were shockingly good. The contrast boost was amazing, allowing me to see details of the atmosphere I never saw before and the GRS stood out like a sore thumb. The filter also did a fantastic job on the moons, giving them unique hues of colour and making them pin point sharp. The king was certainly showing of tonight.
NGC 7009 - A nice view and a long time since I observed this PN and strangely it was best viewed unfiltered. Very bright with a darkish central area.
During the whole session there was regular passing of cloud but we did get an awesome window that lasted about an hour, however we did get an overcast spell of equal length later on, but between the gaps and cursing at the sky some great observing was done and great fun all around.
A night to remember for me and I hope the next clear night won't be so far away.
Finish time - 03:26
I had the pleasure and great company of two members from the club to join me, Stevie and Mark, so Carrin Rock was the observing site for the night.
The night didn't start off looking good with wall to wall cloud and showers of rain to be seen all over the country but a slow walk up to the viewing point, with a full panoramic view of the country to be seen - from the Mournes to the Wicklow Mountains in Dublin - and after spending a few minutes up there breaks in the clouds could be seen forming and headed our way.
Upon coming back to the site it started to rain lightly so it was into the cars for shelter and warmth but not very long after it stopped and begun to, slowly, clear up.
I took my time setting, paying extra attention to my polar alignment, which I am glad to say paid of with great results of excellent tracking through the whole night.
After setting up it clouded over again but 10 minutes or so later the sky exploded with clarity along with a wonderfully vibrant and stunning milky way, running from horizon to horizon.
So, the night, for me, went as follows:
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and Orion 10" Newt
Seeing - 4
Trans - 3
Start time - 22:58
Jupiter - WOW! That really is the word to use here. Such a crisp and highly detailed image with so much detail to be seen in the bands and zones in the atmosphere. I missed the transit of Io and Europa but it was a beautiful site to see them appearing so close to each other.
M17 - A remarkable view with superb detail, while using the UHC-S filter. The wonderful swan like shape easily seen along with excellent contrast showing depth and texture to the nebula's look.
M27 - Very nice view with decent detail while using the filter. It was equally as good with out the filter.
NGC 7000 - Not my best view but the Mexican region of the NAN was easily seen with some pleasant detail to take in.
NGC 6960 - Absolutely stunning. Beautiful intricate web/filament like detail running all throughout the nebula. This is definitely a great nebula for an OIII filter.
M33 - Using the UHC-S reveals the H-II nebulous regions within the galaxy which were a sheer delight to see and never thought I could. With out the filter the galaxy was barely visible.
NGC 40 - Using the filter showed a nice bright central region with good out lying nebulosity. Not my best view of this object though.
Jupiter - I had to have another look now that the GRS was in view and I also decided to keep in the UHC-S filter for the fun of it and the results were shockingly good. The contrast boost was amazing, allowing me to see details of the atmosphere I never saw before and the GRS stood out like a sore thumb. The filter also did a fantastic job on the moons, giving them unique hues of colour and making them pin point sharp. The king was certainly showing of tonight.
NGC 7009 - A nice view and a long time since I observed this PN and strangely it was best viewed unfiltered. Very bright with a darkish central area.
During the whole session there was regular passing of cloud but we did get an awesome window that lasted about an hour, however we did get an overcast spell of equal length later on, but between the gaps and cursing at the sky some great observing was done and great fun all around.
A night to remember for me and I hope the next clear night won't be so far away.
Finish time - 03:26
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
New Equipment
I decided to get ready for the dark skies again by ordering a few pieces of new equipment from FLO.
I decided to upgrade my refractors diagonal to a WO Carbon Fiber 1.25" Dielectric.
Also to enhance my view of emission nebula and planetary nebula I ordered a Baadar UHC-S 1.25" Filter.
I was shocked to see them delivered to me today considering I ordered them late yesterday afternoon so top marks to FLO.
It is all about waiting for the weather to clear up, which will probably be a week or more looking at the forecasts, sigh...
I decided to upgrade my refractors diagonal to a WO Carbon Fiber 1.25" Dielectric.
Also to enhance my view of emission nebula and planetary nebula I ordered a Baadar UHC-S 1.25" Filter.
I was shocked to see them delivered to me today considering I ordered them late yesterday afternoon so top marks to FLO.
It is all about waiting for the weather to clear up, which will probably be a week or more looking at the forecasts, sigh...
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
One blink and it's over.
It cleared up fairly nicely last night with very good seeing so I set up my gear for some quick imagine and then some observing.
Jupiter was looking very nice with good detail and the GRS also visible.
No sooner has I started though it night was turning. I more or less just looked down to my eyepiece box, looked back up and cloud covered almost everything.
Oh well, very short but at least I got lovely views of the planet king.
Jupiter was looking very nice with good detail and the GRS also visible.
No sooner has I started though it night was turning. I more or less just looked down to my eyepiece box, looked back up and cloud covered almost everything.
Oh well, very short but at least I got lovely views of the planet king.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
28 July 2009 - Report - A new world
My Toucam arrived the other day. I was expecting it to be an SPC900CN but turned out to be a Toucam Pro 2 with the Sony CCD chip and mono mod so all is still fine.
I was able to get out last night and try my hand at how it works.
I was completely exhausted from several days of long distance driving so instead of setting up my 10" I went for the easy option and setup the 4" Refractor.
The conditons were poor too, with bad seeing and a lot of broken heavy cloud floating by quite often.
Well here is my first planet image if Jupiter. It consisted over 1200 frames and all stacked and processed in Registax.
Considering the conditions and the average optical quality of the scope for photography I am some what pleased with it. When looking between the two equatorial belts I seem to have captured the shadow of Io's transit!
I was able to get out last night and try my hand at how it works.
I was completely exhausted from several days of long distance driving so instead of setting up my 10" I went for the easy option and setup the 4" Refractor.
The conditons were poor too, with bad seeing and a lot of broken heavy cloud floating by quite often.
Well here is my first planet image if Jupiter. It consisted over 1200 frames and all stacked and processed in Registax.
Considering the conditions and the average optical quality of the scope for photography I am some what pleased with it. When looking between the two equatorial belts I seem to have captured the shadow of Io's transit!
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Wait, wait... Say cheese!
I bought myself an early birthday present last night. I went ahead and made a payment for a SPC900NC cam so I can dip my fingers into trying out some planetary and lunar imaging. I did, after all, buy the EQ6 Pro with some intentions on trying out some exposure photograhy so I am looking forward to it.
I only wish I had it already to try and capture the impact mark on Jupiter.
I got the cam from a nice chap over on the AstroChat forum.
It will probably be a week or two before I have anything to show, no doubt I will make a lot of beginner mistakes but as always with astronomy, patience is the key.
I only wish I had it already to try and capture the impact mark on Jupiter.
I got the cam from a nice chap over on the AstroChat forum.
It will probably be a week or two before I have anything to show, no doubt I will make a lot of beginner mistakes but as always with astronomy, patience is the key.
Monday, 20 July 2009
19/20 July 2009 - Report
It was a day that didn't seem to hold much promise for a clear night. Windy wiht breaking cloud and the odd shower of drizzley rain but as the sun begun to set the clouds cleared away leaving a stunning looking sky with clear air.
Some cloud did being to form again but it mostly stayed towards the horizon with only small parts of cloud passing by fast.
Seeing = 4
Trans = 3
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and 10" Orion Optics Newt
Start time - 23:17
Albireo - It has felt like an age since I used my newt last and was blown away with the very sharp and crisp imagages I was getting. The colours of the pair were more striking that usual and much richer than that of the 4" Refractor views. The night is of to a might good start.
M13 - It wasn't all that dark yet but the view was great with a feast of stars resolving easily in the eyepiece at 155x
M29 - Looking very nice and I was able to count 18 stars around the cluster region.
M39 - A nice yet dispersed open cluster. It was best viewed in my 26mm 2" eye piece and a faint meteor also passed the FOV, which is always a pleaser.
NGC 6960 - The sky was still on the bright side but with the help of the OIII filter the view was exceptional. Long arching arms of nebulosity. Not my best view but still a fine sight.
52 Cyg - Staying in the same FOV I increased my magnification to 155x to try and split this stars' companion and at 155x it did so beautifully. The primary star itself a lovely topaz and the secondary, being very small, appearing to exhibit a darker shade, more orange than gold. A fine double.
M71 - Surprising to say but one of my best views of this cluster. Stars resolving nicely with AV in a plesantly rich starry porton of the sky.
M27 - My vest view all summer, with the bell structure bright and with good shape but no arching arms of nebulosity that I have observed in the past.
Observing under OIII showed faint lobs of nebula extending outward from the brighter part of the dumbell, lovely!
M56 - A fantastic globular. Small yet showing countless stars at 155x and set amongst the richness of the milky way. The view was more than just pleasing.
M11 - One of my best views. This cluster is ro rich it is nothing short than breath taking. A real corker for sure! And an emotional observation for me.
M10 - The best I have ever seen this globular. Countless stars resolving that I never saw before and so sharp thanks to the really good seeing.
M12 - A tricky glob and probably my best view of it. AV showing bags of detail. Direct vision makes you think that you are seeing an open cluster, a fun object for playing eye tricks.
M14 - The only disapointing view of the night so far. Apearing bright but fuzy with no stars resolving at any magnification. This is one to try again on a darker night.
NGC 6760 - Small and faint with not many stars to be seen but still a nice object to see.
M26 - A nice open cluster with varying magnitudes of stars and I also had some fun creating my own asterisms.
68 Ophi - A wide double star and both of a similar white colour.
70 Ophi - A beautiful golden pair, splitting perfectly at 274x and still looking good at 155x
67 Ophi - A wide pair with a white primary and, what seemed, a blueish white secondary.
M57 - I got stunning views at 274x with strong structure in the ring and the surrounding stars were easily seen but so sign or hint of the centeral star. It is my best view of the summer.
Elipsion Lyra - A fine sight tongiht, proving the good seeing condition as but double were split and very sharp looking at 274x
Jupiter - A stunning sight and one of my best views in years. So many bands and zones I lost count and with the good seeing the image was sharp and steady at 274x and when the seeing steadied out more it allowed the GRS to jump out at you and make itself obvious.
Shadow transit of Io started to become visible at 02:04 and coming nicely into view by 02:25.
Almach - What can I say. My favourite double star and on a steady night at high magnification it blew my socks off - not literally no.
Eta Cas - My best view yet of this gorgeous double, with the colours showing best and most striking at 155x
Finish time - 02:37
Some cloud did being to form again but it mostly stayed towards the horizon with only small parts of cloud passing by fast.
Seeing = 4
Trans = 3
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and 10" Orion Optics Newt
Start time - 23:17
Albireo - It has felt like an age since I used my newt last and was blown away with the very sharp and crisp imagages I was getting. The colours of the pair were more striking that usual and much richer than that of the 4" Refractor views. The night is of to a might good start.
M13 - It wasn't all that dark yet but the view was great with a feast of stars resolving easily in the eyepiece at 155x
M29 - Looking very nice and I was able to count 18 stars around the cluster region.
M39 - A nice yet dispersed open cluster. It was best viewed in my 26mm 2" eye piece and a faint meteor also passed the FOV, which is always a pleaser.
NGC 6960 - The sky was still on the bright side but with the help of the OIII filter the view was exceptional. Long arching arms of nebulosity. Not my best view but still a fine sight.
52 Cyg - Staying in the same FOV I increased my magnification to 155x to try and split this stars' companion and at 155x it did so beautifully. The primary star itself a lovely topaz and the secondary, being very small, appearing to exhibit a darker shade, more orange than gold. A fine double.
M71 - Surprising to say but one of my best views of this cluster. Stars resolving nicely with AV in a plesantly rich starry porton of the sky.
M27 - My vest view all summer, with the bell structure bright and with good shape but no arching arms of nebulosity that I have observed in the past.
Observing under OIII showed faint lobs of nebula extending outward from the brighter part of the dumbell, lovely!
M56 - A fantastic globular. Small yet showing countless stars at 155x and set amongst the richness of the milky way. The view was more than just pleasing.
M11 - One of my best views. This cluster is ro rich it is nothing short than breath taking. A real corker for sure! And an emotional observation for me.
M10 - The best I have ever seen this globular. Countless stars resolving that I never saw before and so sharp thanks to the really good seeing.
M12 - A tricky glob and probably my best view of it. AV showing bags of detail. Direct vision makes you think that you are seeing an open cluster, a fun object for playing eye tricks.
M14 - The only disapointing view of the night so far. Apearing bright but fuzy with no stars resolving at any magnification. This is one to try again on a darker night.
NGC 6760 - Small and faint with not many stars to be seen but still a nice object to see.
M26 - A nice open cluster with varying magnitudes of stars and I also had some fun creating my own asterisms.
68 Ophi - A wide double star and both of a similar white colour.
70 Ophi - A beautiful golden pair, splitting perfectly at 274x and still looking good at 155x
67 Ophi - A wide pair with a white primary and, what seemed, a blueish white secondary.
M57 - I got stunning views at 274x with strong structure in the ring and the surrounding stars were easily seen but so sign or hint of the centeral star. It is my best view of the summer.
Elipsion Lyra - A fine sight tongiht, proving the good seeing condition as but double were split and very sharp looking at 274x
Jupiter - A stunning sight and one of my best views in years. So many bands and zones I lost count and with the good seeing the image was sharp and steady at 274x and when the seeing steadied out more it allowed the GRS to jump out at you and make itself obvious.
Shadow transit of Io started to become visible at 02:04 and coming nicely into view by 02:25.
Almach - What can I say. My favourite double star and on a steady night at high magnification it blew my socks off - not literally no.
Eta Cas - My best view yet of this gorgeous double, with the colours showing best and most striking at 155x
Finish time - 02:37
17/18th July 2009 - Report
The day was mostly cloudy with breezy winds and as the evening drew nearer the clouds begun to break leaving a night that was partly cloudy with average skis but as the night progressed the skies really improved and less cloud was around.
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and 4" Refractor.
Start time - 22:45
I started my night of by looking out for a -1 iridium flare at 22:45 and flaring in cygnus, according to Heavens Above but the skies were too bright to see anything visually and the camera didn't capture anything in a time exposure.
I soon afterwards saw an ISS pass at 22:53. I forgot my remote commander so I had to take my captures by pressing the button manually which resulted in the start of all my shots having a wobbly ISS.
I then moved onto observing with my scope and my night was as follows:
Albireo - Lovely as always, with its rich colours, a nice way to start the night.
Theta Sagittae - A nice pair with the primary a diamond white and the secondary a blueish white.
Delta Sagittae - A wide pair, and similar in colour to Theta.
STF 2634 - This stars secondary was very hard to see under the poor seeing conditions but during moments of improved seeing it could be seen.
M29 - Oddly it as fairly easy to see under medium power in a not so dark sky. All the main stars could be seen but there was no other details and not even a hint of the milky way surrounding it.
Jupiter - I observed this for a long time - 25 minutes I think. The seeing was dreadful and the heat of my town was probably to blame for most of it but during good moments the bands and zones on the planet showed up nicely but seeing was never good enough to permit me to see the GRS.
Almach - Stunning! Felt like an age since I saw this last and the eye smacking rich colours were a joy to see again.
M11 - An exceptionally good view for the conditions. The sky had improved a bit more and was at its darkest. The cluster really stood out and was resolving nicely.
M10 - Not a bad view considering... A fair amount of stars to be seen in the FOV.
M12 - I could barely see a thing, even with AV, very dissapointing.
M57 - An average view, well defined but next to no detail or fainter structure.
I finished my night of with another look at Jupiter and the seeing had improved a bit. Good detail could be seen in the clouds but the GRS had moved out of view by this time so was out of luck.
Finished - 01:35
Seeing = 2
Trans = 2
Equipment - EQ6 Pro and 4" Refractor.
Start time - 22:45
I started my night of by looking out for a -1 iridium flare at 22:45 and flaring in cygnus, according to Heavens Above but the skies were too bright to see anything visually and the camera didn't capture anything in a time exposure.
I soon afterwards saw an ISS pass at 22:53. I forgot my remote commander so I had to take my captures by pressing the button manually which resulted in the start of all my shots having a wobbly ISS.
I then moved onto observing with my scope and my night was as follows:
Albireo - Lovely as always, with its rich colours, a nice way to start the night.
Theta Sagittae - A nice pair with the primary a diamond white and the secondary a blueish white.
Delta Sagittae - A wide pair, and similar in colour to Theta.
STF 2634 - This stars secondary was very hard to see under the poor seeing conditions but during moments of improved seeing it could be seen.
M29 - Oddly it as fairly easy to see under medium power in a not so dark sky. All the main stars could be seen but there was no other details and not even a hint of the milky way surrounding it.
Jupiter - I observed this for a long time - 25 minutes I think. The seeing was dreadful and the heat of my town was probably to blame for most of it but during good moments the bands and zones on the planet showed up nicely but seeing was never good enough to permit me to see the GRS.
Almach - Stunning! Felt like an age since I saw this last and the eye smacking rich colours were a joy to see again.
M11 - An exceptionally good view for the conditions. The sky had improved a bit more and was at its darkest. The cluster really stood out and was resolving nicely.
M10 - Not a bad view considering... A fair amount of stars to be seen in the FOV.
M12 - I could barely see a thing, even with AV, very dissapointing.
M57 - An average view, well defined but next to no detail or fainter structure.
I finished my night of with another look at Jupiter and the seeing had improved a bit. Good detail could be seen in the clouds but the GRS had moved out of view by this time so was out of luck.
Finished - 01:35
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