Return to the Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews home page
   · Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article   

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

Observing >> Deep Sky Observing

Pages: 1
Hrundi
Pooh-Bah


Reged: 02/06/08
Posts: 1237
Loc: Estonia
Horizon/twilight DSO hunting
      #3348174 - 09/22/09 01:27 AM

Let's share stories of DSO's we've snagged in just about the least favorable conditions.
The globular threads here reminded me of the globular cluster M4.
Somewhere around this April, I noticed something before 4am that Antares had risen over the horizon. Back then I didn't even know that the star was capable of crossing the horizon at all, so seeing it, and the fan asterism at the end of scorpius was exhilarating on its own. I pointed my 12" at the star and then simply scanned the area, and found what was a large, fairly dim, but unmistakable mottled/grainy glow. Later I discovered that this was the globular cluster M4, at somewhere around maybe 3 and a half degrees altitude. To make the observation even more borderline, I figure the sun was perhaps less than 14 degrees below the horizon.
So that's a glob that'll forever be etched in my mind, although probably not because it was a particularly pretty sight

--------------------


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
rocco13
Got Milk?


Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 2648
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
Re: Horizon/twilight DSO hunting new [Re: Hrundi]
      #3348816 - 09/22/09 11:36 AM

Congrats on M4! It's difficult for me due to my southern skies being terribly light-polluted, even though it's somewhat higher in the sky than at your latitude.

As for twilight DSO hunting, I was able to nab both M97 and M108 during twilight a few months back with my 12. The sky wasn't even dark in the west yet, and with Ursa Major getting lower in the NW, I figured I'd try for them anyway. Very pleasantly surprised I could see them under those conditions, but there they were!

--------------------
Rocco

Zhumell Z12
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
Pages: 1


Extra information
6 registered and 2 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator:  Olivier Biot 

Print Thread

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      UBBCode is enabled


Thread views: 64

Jump to

CN Forums Home



Cloudy Nights Sponsor: Astronomics