Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums
Privacy Policy |
Please read our Terms
of Service | Signup and
Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Hello all , recently I aquired a 120mm Orion Achro refractor.A week later my member at large re-up packet came from the astronomical league , and I decided to actually do the messier club.
so I printed out the requirements from the astronomical league web site, thne all the log forms from tumol , burned two ink cartridges in the process.
And set out to get first "deep space " light and begin the messier club.
Location my light polluted front yard, using sleeping bags to block neighbors lights.
Only one ep was used a Meade 28mm wa ep.
Ursa major was high in the sky so I started there.
Out of the hole M81 and 82 , two of my favorites , were my target and in a 28mm ep, they fit into a single fov nicely.
The increase in aperature made a huge differance, as both were solid and I think underdark skys might have been spectacular.
Ok on to M40 , using the "year round messier marathon" book and my telrad got me in the area and sure enough there sat a pair of double stars.
Im confused , I thought he was catalogueing nebulas and the like.The Messier book states that Messier himself said" "it is presumed that Hevalius mistook these two stars for a nebula" removing all doubt that Messier saw anything other than two stars".Guess he just wanted to round out his list , lol.
On to M51, now Ive seem M51 in my 102mm refractor but it was usually one part averted vision and at times averted imagination,lol.In the 120mm it was solidly there including the nucleous of its companion and with averted vision the fuzzyness of the two popped into view, very cool.
Up to M101, again using the "YRMM" book and my telrad I got in the area and with only a slight adjustment a largeish fuzzy "patch?" came into view.I sat and looked at it for a few minutes using averted vision and then straight on vision, with averted vision it would brighten then go dim when I looked right at it.I have got to view this from a dark sky site.
Down to M97 again using the "YRMM" charts and my telrad I got in the area and stated sweeping the region I actually fell over M108 first almost mistook it for m97 but the pictures in the book didnt match so I kept looking and sure enough a fov or so later a largeish round fuzzy blob popped into view, ok this looks like the picture in the book.
Ok back to M108 , refound it easily enough , small thin like a lens from the side , right at the edge of being visible with direct vision.
M109 now this puppy was a challenge as before I used the charts and telrad and began sweeping the area, no luck.Ok reset and do over no luck.Retry and go really slow this time and sure enough in a couple of minuites an almost not there ghostly glo(fuzz)w came into view ,wow ,this thing is really dim, still I could see it directly but just barely.
Down to M106 , now this was the surprise of the night, I used the "YRMM" charts and my telrad to get in the area and in only a couple minutes a large bright galaxy popped into view.
Stunned I checked the book and sure enough its bright enough to be seen in binos.Now why I have I never looked at this, it reminds me of thr andromeda galaxy, in a smaller scope of course, still wow. I will revisit from a dark sky site.
Over to Hercules, and naturally enough M13 no charts needed here simply point the scope in the right area sweep a few seconds and bamm there it is the cluster was stunning and one of these nights Im gonna up the power on it.
next M92 , using the charts and the telrad put me in the vicinity, and withen a few seconds smaller very tight and bright M92 popped into view, very cool.
Last but not least M57 , very nicely solid , wish Id have a high power ep for this as it was smallish , yet brighter than Im used to.
ok well thats it I was too dogged to bend and stooped any more a good start towards the messier club award.
12 objects...not the best Iheard of to be sure but ok for me.
Clear skys all.(its been raining most of the week since here)
--------------------
andy
|
MessierScott
super member
Reged: 06/18/07
Posts: 182
|
|
Well, you are off to a good start!
Just remember that it's not a race to get it finished. The record length for completeing the League's Messier Program is currently at 32 years.
Take your time, enjoy yourself, and work on those object descriptions. The work you put in now will pay off later. It may seem like a lengthy process at first, but after a time, your descriptions come almost second nature.
Some questions to ask yourself:
-How bright does it appear?
-How large does it appear?
-What shape is it?
-Are the edges of the object abrupt or do they gradually fade away?
-Are there any other objects in the field of view?
-Are there any areas in the object that are brighter or fainter?
-Does the core of the galaxy spread out or is it a stellar point?
-Are dust lanes visible in the galaxy?
-Can you see the central star in the planetary?
-Try different magnifications. Some details are only seen at higher or lower powers.
-Do you have any filters? Try them out. Do they help or hinder?
-Are there denser areas, or less dense areas, within the open cluster?
-Is any nebulosity involved within the cluster?
Good luck, and I look forward to reading your logs in the future!
--------------------
Scott Kranz
20-inch f/4.3 Starmaster w/Zambuto mirror, Feathertouch focuser, GO TO & tracking
7-inch Starmaster
H-alpha Coronado PST
Denkmeier II binoviewers w/24mm Panoptics
16x80 binos
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Astronomical League Messier, Meteor, Sunspotter, & Asteroid Observing Programs Coordinator
ASKC Dark Sky Site
|
RAKing
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/28/07
Posts: 817
Loc: Clouds-ville, Virginia
|
|
Twelve objects? That's actually a pretty good tally in my book. I like to sit and really look at those things.
M101 has been a bear for me. I've looked at it many times and still don't like what I see from the Golden Dome of Washington, DC. I've got some more on that list: M97, M78, and M83 to name a few. Someday, I'll get to a nice dark site and really get to enjoy them. 
Take care and keep it up.
Ron
--------------------
Time spent looking at the stars is added to your life.
Orion XT10i / Moonlite CR2 -- The New "Time Machine"
"Hi Def" TV-102
C925-CF SCT
Ethos and Naglers
GM-8 GEM / A-P Portable Pier
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Scott; 32 years ....OMG
--------------------
andy
|
astrokwang2
super member
Reged: 05/06/04
Posts: 129
Loc: Florida
|
|
Great report. Looking forward to more! 
--------------------
|
Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
|
|
Quote:
Up to M101, again using the "YRMM" book and my telrad I got in the area and with only a slight adjustment a largeish fuzzy "patch?" came into view.I sat and looked at it for a few minutes using averted vision and then straight on vision, with averted vision it would brighten then go dim when I looked right at it.I have got to view this from a dark sky site.
Andy:
Seeing M101 with a 5-inch refractor suggests to me that the light pollution in your yard cannot be excessive. 
Congratulations on starting your Messier club! Lots of fun, ahead.
The Astronomical League has many other observing club lists appropriate for urban/suburban observers. So when you finish wih the Messiers, or find you have observed all the Messiers currently visible, you still have many observing options.
Like Scott said: take your time. Have fun.
--------------------
Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
|
Cygnus_x1
Sketcher Extraordinaire
Reged: 11/17/04
Posts: 2118
Loc: Isle of Wight, England
|
|
I finally got round to sending off my binocular Messier obs to Mike at the AL. As Fiske said, there's tons of observing progams to do via the AL.
--------------------
Visual Deep Sky Observing
Visual Astronomy blog
Fotopic astronomy gallery My photos from astronomy events, etc
8x42 binoculars 'light thimble'
4" refractor and 4" Meade SCT 'light cups'
12" Dobsonian 'light bucket'
Various TeleVue eyepieces
|
proud uncle
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/22/07
Posts: 1336
Loc: Central Texas
|
|
Andy, excellent report! I have not yet bagged M97, M101, M108, or M109 with my 10" scope, and I do not consider my light pollution excessive. So, I think you are off to a great start.
Quote:
Hello all , recently I aquired a 120mm Orion Achro refractor.
Is your scope the f/5 or the f/8.3 version? Did you notice any CA? What did you use for a finder?
--------------------
Kenneth
Zhumell 10" Dobsonian (f/4.9)
2" 32mm WA eyepiece
9mm, 12.5mm, and 20mm Plossls
6mm TMB/BO Planetary
2" 2x ED Barlow
Nikon 10x50 binocular (6.5 deg FOV)
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Kenneth : I have the f/8.3 model , and no I did not notice an CA around any of the deep space targets, yes on the moon. But I expected that.
I use a telrad as noted in my report, but I also use a 50mm finder and am thinking of replacing that with a 80mm finder.
The key is the " year round messier marathon " book.
It makes finding these objects way easier than Id ever thought possible.
Naturally it has been cloudy , hazy, rainy , or other wise unobservable since.
I hope to finish the messiers within 2 or 3 years.
At my age I aint got no 32 years .... 
--------------------
andy
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Last night the sky cleared between rains ,and I decided to take a shot, after all its rained on and off all week since I got last tueday night.
set up around the corner of the house to block the lights , and went for M56.
Using the "year round messier marathon" book and my telrad,I got in the right area,started sweeping ,within 30 seconds M56 popped into the fov,tight little cluster,some granulatiomn in the 28mm ep,some stars resolved in a 17mm ep.
Next on my hit list was M52 ..... using the "YRMM" book and my telrad, I zerod in on the area, looked in the 50mm finder and slightly off center was a hazy patch.Centerd it and looked in the main scope...very cool.
Some stars resolved ,in the 28mm ep, and lots more hazy, very cool.
Next.... over to M103.Doing this the same way I did M52. I found it in my finder and then the main scope. But.........hold on.
According to the "YRMM" book M103 doesnt show in the finder uh oh.Ngc 663 does though, luckly M 103 is in the same finder FOV, just three stars show though, back to the finder readjust to the only three star "set" i could find(that matched the finder view in the book), with some slight sweeping , I found the real M103, five or six stars were straight ahead visible , with averted vision bring others into view.
My scope finder and telrad were already covering in dew so I called it a night , happy Id figued M103 out.
I hope to get a few more Ms in the coming weeks.
--------------------
andy
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Well gang...hello again, several days have past since last I posted......work, family , holdays etc kept me running and tired.
But tonight the clear sky clock called for better than average skys and I was ready.
location.....my old home stead where I grew up in the country.My brother bought it , and says I can use it any time I want.
Scorpius was my jumping off point tonight.M4 was first on my list as I knew it by heart and pretty much just eye balled the scope onto it.M4 is the largest and easiest to find of the three globulars.
Back to Antares and keep going more or less in a straight line until Im in the area and.......... after a little sweeping M19 pops into view.The second largest of the three globulars, bright easy to see and once found ,I found it could be seen in the 50mm finder as a small hazy ball,Shift down one telrad ring and M89 popped into view easy to see, but I thought not quite totally round? or maybe slight elongated , I dont know, lol. Ok back over to M4, The "YRMM" shows M80 as a second telrad ring on top of the first, with the first ring having M4 centered in it,get the second telrad ring stacked approximately on top of the first look in the ep, nothing.Ok not totally surprising, begin sweeping ,nothing, ok start over restack the rings with the M80 ring slightly more left than before, switch to the ep, still nothing, start sweeping again , I ran right over it and backed up .
I got it , wow its way smaller than the other two, but it is fairly bright, wonder how I missed this on my first sweep attempt.Some granulation but mosly just ball like, I can understand why Messier would add this to a comet list.
Ok a break from the M list to look for the false comet.This object was covered in another thread here on Cloudy nights.This is very cool , though I had to go into the murky part of the sky to see it.
Lots of haze tonight and dew was running off everything.So I took a coffee break and layed the scope and telrad up on the dash with the heater going to warm things up a mite while I had a cup of coffee.After about 10 minutes all the dew was gone from the telrad and finder and main lens and I was back at it.Ok now for the easy goodys M6 and M7.
M6 is also known as the butterfly cluster, now Ill admit I often have a hard time seeing why things are called what they are, but on this open cluster it was really to see why its called the butterfly cluster, it looks a lot like a butterfly.
Shift down and slight left and M7 popped into view oh wow, now the 28mm ortho wasnt doing this cluster justice, so I made a switch to a 2inch super view wide angle 32mm ep, and wow does this cluster pop.Im sure I was seeing well over 100 stars direct vision, way coool.
Ok folks it eye candy time ......over to Sagittarius.
Leaving the 32mm 2inch super view in.....the entire region is simply gorgeous.Using the telrad and the "YRMM" book, I found M24 first, NGC6603 was visible within the "star cloud" ok shift slightly left and down ever so slightly and M25 pops into view, across to the right and up slightly and after a few seconds M23 pops into view.I really should have upped the power slightly ,but have to admit I was charmed bye the low power FOVs .
Down somewhat and looking in the 50mm finder to find M8 , it was really easy in the finder and in the ep it was wow.The stars actually embedded in the cluster give it a really wow look.I also noted the dark lane but didnt really think to much of it until this morning while typing this report and rereading Sue Frenches book "celestial sampler" and it is like duh, of course I knew that it was called the lagoon nebula because of that lane in it.Sure I did really.
Up slightly and we find M20 the trifid nebula.Its haze was unmistakable, the three "lobes" if you will were not visible, the dew was winning the battle.
Another 10 minute "coffee" break to dry everything was in order.
Ok back at it.I really wanted to nail down M21 so I recentered the lagoon in the finder and then swept upwards sweeping gently side to side until the trifid came into view, then I simply nudged the scope left and up a hair till it popped into view, almost seemed attached at the hip to M20.
As I was getting tired and honestly was tired of balancing on a stepstool when the scope was this low in the sky, I decided to test the 32mm super view, bye "scanning" the milky way which bye midnight was popping out of the sky.I mean all I can say is wow, Im sure I stumbled over several Ms but I could not identify any of them,lol.The f/8 optics , with a 32mm super view wide angle 2 inch ep were almost richfield like.The Cygnus region was stunning and I did slow down there in case the veil, which Ive never found on my own,decided to pop in to view.I did see it once at the black forest star party in a 80mm ST refractor.
I then continued downward towards Sagittarius.The scutum star cloud was just wow, the dark lanes running through the milkyway were like roads for me to follow.
Remember the murk I refered to earlier it was a fog bank, and it chose this time to roll over me and my equipment.
I packed it in satisfied ,books were soggy, scope had water running off it, table had dew running off when I folded it up.
All in all a very good night. Clear skys all, and thanks for reading
next project home made dew zappers...lol
--------------------
andy
|
gripweed44
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/12/05
Posts: 905
Loc: PDX
|
|
I started working on the Messier list in 1977. Observed 27 objects. Then High School happened. Fell out of astronomy until 2002. Re-observed and logged all Messier's and finished in 2005.
28 years later!
Cheers
John 
--------------------
John
Omega Centauri is the finest Globular I have seen with my own eyes.
|
Lard Greystoke
super member
Reged: 07/27/08
Posts: 197
Loc: Ohio
|
|
Quote:
The record length for completeing the League's Messier Program is currently at 32 years.
I saw my first Messier in 1971 and I STILL haven't finished (current total 93). (It didn't help that I laid off for 21 years - just back into it this month).
I never signed up for the program (never will) so the official record is still safe; guess I'll have to settle for a 'personal best'.
--------------------
Lard Greystoke
10" Odyssey Compact
"With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask me not."
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Well Im back.......finally.This weekend we got really dark skys for once.I found five other freinds who wanted to make a run to our local observing site with Mag 5 skys to the north down to close to mag 6 in the south.
Scopes used the 120mm achromat f/8.3, and a 8 inch f.6 reflector, a Meade 28mm plossl was used in both scopes.
The Year Round Messier Marathon book was my guide.
Along with Sue Frenches Celestial sampler book.
Well M5 was my first target, I found the triangle of serpens caput first then the star below and made almost a straight drop to M5 per the books instructions, and M5 popped into view,the sky wasnt as dark as it could have been as I wanted to get started early before the dew really set in.So it was only 9:20 pm or so.
One down.
Emboldened by my success I realigned for M107, it took me a few minutes to nail it down, because to be honest Ophiuchius isnt exactly a bright constellation lol,but it finally fell to my mighty optic tube, appeared slightly as a glow with some resolution around the edges.
Moving up and slightly right, I slowly began sweeping the area, the YRMM book said M10 would show in binoculars , so I was glued to the 50mm finder after about five minutes , and two or three rechecks of the guide book, I finally found a faint fuzzy, in the ep M10 showed granulation across, with a unresolved core.
having Sue Frenches Celestial sampler book on hand I knew M12 was in the same finder scope fov as M10, so I carefully moved the finder until the one"fuzzy star" was close to the center , and M12 popped into the fov, granular not as condensed as Id expect for a globular cluster.
M9 was next a little easier to find because its just left of Sabik, only took a few minutes to find this cluster, slightly granular center with a fainter halo of stars around it.
After a dry time ( refractor , finder and telrad set on van dash and heater turned on ) M26 was on my list, ok, I'll admit it..Im not impressed ,lol.Probably 12 to 15 bright stars, with a faint haze stars, is this actually a real cluster??? or a asterism?, any ways........
up to M11 now I stumbled unto this one a week ago by accident from my front yard, but since I didnt know what it was and I had to have freinds here at CN identify it , I didnt count it then,it was still slightly fan shaped with one bright star off center, here in the dark sky I could see some red stars interspersed in the cluster, I should have used the 8 inch on this, oh well I will next time, bank on it.
Ok now on to the star queen, M16 , This one is easy to find, put the telrad circle on the right place, look in the 50mm finder and hey its there,about 30 or 35 stars were visible in this cluster,but.....its supposed to be in a nebulousity, both the YRMM and the "celestial sampler" book say it isnt visible in a small scope.I could swear
I saw a hint of it??? but I could be mistaking dew on the main lense???...has any one else seen the nebulousity in a small scope?
M17.....at this point I gave up on the refractor as keeping the lenses dew free was getting impossible, so I moved to the 8 inch dob, and I have got to say Im glad I did the swan was really bright, and huge...omg. I had to have everyone come look at it.
On to M18, getting the small Sagittarius star cloud in my finder then resetting to the small fuzzy object per Sue Frenches instructions dropped M18 into my fov.about 12 to 15 or so fairly bright stars comprise this cluster.
M22 above the tea pot top, was oh my god stunning, in the 28mm it was really resolved and yet not? hard to explain that lol, what drives me nuts is I love the hercules cluster, but have never seen this one...why ever I did'nt, I dont know.
M28 on the other hand was smaller than M22 and fainter also, but still in its own right cool, there are "arms " of stars here, Im sorry I limited myself to a 28mm ep, mostly cuz all the rest were dewed over as I had left the ep box open, dumb I admit.
To the bottem of the Tea pot are three clusters, M54 , a smallish fuzzy ball , now this one I can understand being mistaken for a comet.
M70 , also a small fuzz ball again I can understand this being mistaken for a comet.
The surprise was M69, I was expecting another faint fuzz ball, and it actually showed a halo of partially to totally resolved stars, 8 inches sure makes a differance over a 120mm scope.
M55 was a bear....no telrad to use cuz it was mounted on the 120mm scope, so I just kept putting it where I thought it should be, after about 10 or so trys I stumbled over M55, first in the 50mm finder as a fuzz ball, yes I said ball, it could clearly be made out as a globular in the finder,in the main scope it is large and loose and resolves well.
M75 was my bear tonight without my telrad I could only "get in the area" and scan.
After about 10 minutes and a few choice words for messier in general.....a coffee break, and a walk around time to see one of the folks who drove in from mentors etx in action I got back to grind stone and about 6 or 7 minutes later , I stumbled upon M75, little more than a fuzzy spot, and had I not slowed down even more I would have ran right over it.This was a real challenge.
Ok up to easier things,M27....in the 8 inch dob , The dumb bell took on the classic apple core appearance, and man was it bright, everyone had to come see this,lol.
Down to the dimmer , and I mean dimmer, M71
M71 shows a bright core area and the beginnings of resolution.
While I was in the area I had to take the time to view the coat hanger, this is so cool, I showed a couple how to find the coat hanger.
Up to Cygnus and the easy M29, the main bright stars of this cluster remind me of a hat with four stars forming a box and two stars forming the rim, lol.
And thn out to M39, Now this is weird, in the finder it was obviously cluster like, but in the scope it was lost on me??
I think I need a rich field scope to do this cluster justice.
Bye the this time The Andromeda galaxy was high enough to find, naked eye, so I didnt have it on my list but it got added to the done list along with M110 and M32.
Andromeda, filled most of my fov, and I thought fleetingly I could make out a dark lane in it, but Im not sure.Moving the andromeda galaxy to the top of the fov, put M110 into the fov, and moving andromeda to the bottem of the fov brought M32 into the fov.
By this time it was nearing 12;30 am and my sweat shirt was soaked with dew, but I took the time to turn my binos to the alpha persei moving association, followed by the double cluster, and then put the double cluster into the reflectors fov for everyone to look at.Well thats it for this trip out, now I'll spend the next two hours filling out log sheets for the messier club ,lol.
Losses..........hmmmm well I never did find m102 (or the alternate M102 that is)
I also never found M83 mostly due to the fact that I couldnt figure out where to locate Corvus, I needed an all sky chart but didnt think to take one with me. 
--------------------
andy
Edited by droid (09/01/08 01:28 PM)
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
ok fter a short session with a planisphere.....I discovered that corvus isnt even in the night sky now, duhh.
I am looking for hints o tips for finding M102, I spent nearly a half hour last night looking for M102.
Id also like ot know what yall think about this M102, seeing as its an alternate, do you all do it?
--------------------
andy
|
MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1107
Loc: Redlands, CA
|
|
Yes, I use NGC 5866 as the common substitute for M102.
Might try about 1/3 of the way between Iota Draco and Theta Arcturus. Or you might move down from Iota Draco with a fairly detailed chart.
There is another edge-on galaxy NGC 5907 which is almost as bright and a little closer to Iota.
You are off to a great start. Telrad and 50mm finder a great combination. I like the 50 "RACI" right angle correct-image finder that is easier for my head to get the star orientations correct.
Mike
--------------------
16" f/4.9 dob
Tele Vue Plossls 32,25,20,15,11
13 Nagler T6
10.5 Pentax XL
Brandon 32, 16
12.5 UO ortho, 9 Circle T ortho
2x TV Barlow
|
David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 6777
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
|
|
Quote:
ok fter a short session with a planisphere.....I discovered that corvus isnt even in the night sky now, duhh.
I am looking for hints o tips for finding M102, I spent nearly a half hour last night looking for M102.
Id also like ot know what yall think about this M102, seeing as its an alternate, do you all do it?
Well, if you are doing the Messier list from the Astronomical League, M102 (NGC 5866) is not exactly an 'alternate', but is considered a Messier Object and can be used in either the 70 object Messier certificate or the full Messier award. It is certainly isn't one of the hardest Messier galaxies, as it is fairly bright (mag. 9.8), and small and compact with a fairly high surface brightness (11.9 mag/sq'min). It looks like a small faint lens-shaped fuzzy patch of light at around 50x, and I have seen it in my 4 inch f/6 refractor, although it was pretty faint. I use the star Iota Draconis to find it, as M102 is only about four degrees southwest of that star. Clear skies to you.
--------------------
David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Ok tack on M41 ,M43 , and M45 , these three fell to me in an early morning "eye candy" jaunt to my back yard.
M45 and m42 fell to my mighty 60mm f/6 refractor, M43 took the 120mm with a 12mm ep to seperate from the main body of nebulousity, enough least wise to convince myself Id actually seen it as seperate.I really need to invest in a Olll filter.
--------------------
andy
|
proud uncle
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/22/07
Posts: 1336
Loc: Central Texas
|
|
Andy, another great report!
I recently observed M11 and M39. My impressions on both were similar to yours.
Did you see dark lanes in M11? You might find a comparison view between the 120mm and 8" Dob interesting on that one. Also try it with various powers -- it appears different with different powers.
M39 was triangular in appearance, but is a loose OC in a rich Milky Way field of stars, so it easily "blends in" until you know what to look for. It was easier to see the "cluster" in a low power wide angle view of my binocular or RACI.
I recommend you get a second Telrad base so you can easily swap your telrad between both scopes.
--------------------
Kenneth
Zhumell 10" Dobsonian (f/4.9)
2" 32mm WA eyepiece
9mm, 12.5mm, and 20mm Plossls
6mm TMB/BO Planetary
2" 2x ED Barlow
Nikon 10x50 binocular (6.5 deg FOV)
|
droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Posts: 3121
Loc: ohio
|
|
Well Im back ........its been a long while coming , weather, moon, family and work conspire to keep me from the eye peice  and now I have a astro dog, a snow white Husky I named Cassiopeia "Cassie" to make me get up two or three times a night "or else",lol.
So this morning when she went off at 3 am I walked her to a crystal clear sky.
I immediatly realized that the Andromeda Galaxy was hanging high enough in the west to get a good look at it, so out came my old C102HD refractor, with a 28mm ortho ep , and a 12mm plossl , the galaxy filled the fov edge to edge virtually.
With all the streetlights and neighbors lights I couldnt make out any other details in it, dust lanes etc.M110 was easy but I had to switch to the 12mm to feret out M32 from the galaxys clutches.
Ok it was like 40 degrees , so I came in and hit the sack.
At 5:30 am Cassie went off again, and this time Taurus was standing on his head, sorta, with M1 at the top right.
Out came the C102 again this time with just the 28mm ortho,it took several attempts to realize M1 was in the fov, but with all the light pollution it was barely a dim fuzzy-ness that I had to look to see.Will check it out from a dark sky some time.
As long as I was there, Auriga beckoned so I ran in and grabbed my YRMM book and using the directions almost immediately fell upon M37,in the finder it was easily visible.Moving the scope sideways using the telrad, then the finder and finally the scope, M36 popped in to view, and moving M36 in the telrad so the circle for M38 over lapped then moved the scope around, M38 popped into the fov.Now according to the YRMM book this cluster exibits a cross "asterism" , I have to confess I did not see it, probably partly light pollution, and partly using a small scope??.
Ok Orion is riding high , but it is only slightly right of a pole light.
None the less I set about observing M42, it showed a familiar winged view Ive gotten used to, it looks a lot better in my 8 inch sct, but she was tucked safely in her warm home, and I didnt have cool down time to spare.
A trip into the house for a 10mm plossl , and a 17mm plossl plus a barlow, and using the 17mm and the barlow I managed to see M43 as a seperate nebulousity, I had to use averted imagination,cover my head with my hood and block stray light with my hand but , the seperation was there.
Ok up to M78, after 20 minutes I finally gave up on M78.This object frustrates the you know what out of me, Ive never seen it.Ive got the books the scopes and the eps, but this object(like the veil) eludes me.
Oh well cant have a perfect night can we.... 
scope used: Celstron C102HD
EPs used: 28mm orthoscopic (primary) , 12mm plossl , 17mm plossl, 10mm plossl, and a shorty barlow.
Seeing : 6 or 7 out of 10
Location : Rose Observatory
--------------------
andy
|
|
4 registered and 3 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: matt, Olivier Biot
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 528
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 