23rd March 2011 - Report

With an amazing week of weather to kick start spring, today was the best day with beautiful blue skies and excellent viability so of course I felt excited after waking up and seeing this kind of weather. Observing was the first thought that came into my mind and the buzz of excitement soon followed.
I finished work early so I could get some gardening done and cook early so I could leave on a good time so I could spent as long as I could before moon rise.
My father came with me as he never saw through my 14" yet. He enjoyed a lot of the view I showed him but Saturn was clearly the favourite of the night for him.
The night was wonderfully mild and no wind. It's the most comfortable I have been up at Bragan since the end of last summer.

Equipment = 14" Skywatcher

Location = Bragan

Seeing = 5
Trans = 3

Start Time = 20:42

Rigel = I forgot that Rigel is a double star but I choose it as my last star in aligning the scope and looking in the eyepiece soon made me remember how pretty this double is.

M51 = It's not even dark yet nor are my eyes fully dark adapted but this was already striking out it's spiral arms.

NGC 4244 = Lovely needle like shape, though oddly faint.

M46 = Truely stunning looking tonight. The best view I've had this year. The stars rich and wondrous along with the planetary nebula sitting there like a glorious painting with fantastic contrasts through the nebula.

NGC 2392 = No doubt again, the best I've ever seen the Eskimo. Jaw dropping detail in and around the nebula. It was so close to being picture like and the pin point sharpness of the central star added a dramatic effect. This will stay in my memory forever.

Saturn = Well what can I say. She was still low on the horizon at this time but what a beautiful sight. The excellent seeing of the night kept atmospheric aberration to a minimum, giving me some stunning moments of clarity and detail. I looked at this again before leaving and was almost at prime position for viewing, the rock solid image - even at 323x magnification - showing super details in the cloud structure of the planets atmosphere and the rings were full of details too. For moons were visible.

M3 = Amazing depth of field among the sheer amount of stars visible. Globular clusters like this really do have that kick in the ass WOW! factor.

M105 & NGC 3384 = Decent details and bright. The third unknown galaxy was very obvious and nice.

M96 = Quite fuzzy to look at but the core and disc were seen well.

M95 = Barely visible. Disappointing this time.

Leo Triplet = Excellent view to say the least. M66 being the star of the show. Nice delicate details.

M53 = An amazing globular cluster, highly underrated. The core is so dense yet beautiful and the scope was splitting and resolving the stars magnificently in the 8mm, giving me a very memorable view indeed.

M64 =  The finest view I've every had after spending 10 years of looking at this galaxy on and off. The black eye feature was really prominent.

NGC4631 = The whale shape wasn't as prominent as it usually has been form previous observations. Still very nice though with it's satellite companion easy to see.

NGC 4656 = The hockey shape was very easy to make out and the was also lovely star cluster like feature scattered through the length of this irregular galaxy.

M94 = Bright with a decent detail around the core.

NGC 3190 & 3193 = Small but  a pretty pair, with a fainter third galaxy in the field of view that is not listed on my maps.

NGC 4565 = One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! Words are too pale to describe what I was looking at and the detail that was there. It really was just like looking at the image of it you see in magazines.
A small bright bulb shaped core with a gorgeous needle shaped edge on disc with an even more prominent dust lane running along the whole length with remarkable detail of knotted shapes and bumps like features along the edges of the dust plane. I will never forget this sight, truly moving and an emotional one for me.

Finish = 22:46

 

1st March 2011 - Report

My first proper night out with the new base for the 14". Tests in the back garden were excellent but now it was time for some proper observing with it.
The scope preformed really well during the session, getting all targets into the field of view, requiring only minor manual adjustments.

Equipment = 14" Skywatcher

Location = Farmyard

Start Time = 20:26

NGC 2300 & 2276 = An interesting pair to say the least. 2300 has a very bright core, 2276 looked more like a faint irregular nebula.

NGC 3403 = A beautiful sight indeed... A large bright disk with lovely detail. Averted vision showed lovely groups of stars.

M109 = A fair view. The barred spiral structure was visible but a fair amount of averted vision was needed.

NGC 2460 = Faint with no discernible shape.

NGC 2805 = Barely visible but just off on a 2 oclock position is a very small and pretty edge on galaxy that isn't listed on my star map.

NGC 2768 = Very pretty! Appearing as a a semi edge on galaxy with a lovely disc.

NGC 2683 = Average

NGC 2681 = Average

NGC 2841 = Quite nice. A bright core and a large disc.

NGC 3310 = Looks more like a planetary nebula than a galaxy and an attractive red star shares the field of view.

NGC 3359 = Quite faint but has an interesting irregular shape.

M51 - A truly stunning sight, in full glory with the spiral arms showing strongly with good details and bands of dust running along and through this beautiful galaxy.

NGC 3190 & 3193 = A nice group with a third galaxy in the field of view but, again, is not listed on my star map.

M65 & M66 = A stunning sight. Details all over with both having large discs on display with superb looking shape and structure.

Finish = 21:48