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nyc_nurse
sage
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 254
Loc: nyc
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I decided last week to start on the Herschel 400 with my TV-102. I've been observing a hand full here and there but I wanted to plan something more systematic. Weather finally cleared up last night and with my observing plan in hand I went out to a ~6.2 mag site. Transparency 7->5 (1/10), seeing 5, 1st quarter Moon out for half of session.
I'll detail just the highlights of the night.
6826 - Blinking Planetary - showed as distinct non-stellar disk @ 67X with 13T6. 220X with NZ3-6@4 "FLIERs" seen as slight elongation; central star seen with averted vision.
7008 - Fetus Nebula - oval shaped @ 67X. At 220X Double star seen to SW and star seen in NE area of nebula with A/V.
6888 - Crescent Nebula - not on the Herschel list but was in the area. Appeared completely stellar in appearance except for looking like it's not in focus @ 147X and 220X. 298X showed a soft disc, but still very small.
7009 - Saturn Nebula - At 11:45pm EST Aquarius was low in the sky but @ 67X a distinct disc seen. Took magnification well. 220X showed larger image scale but no further detail.
7606 - 11.5 vmag galaxy was surprisingly easy to see with direct vision. 13T6 showed faint but distinct diffused glow.
7723 - 12.0 vmag galaxy seen with A/V with 13T6.
7727 - 11.5 vmag galaxy lower in the sky than 7606. Faint elongation seen with A/V with 13T6.
7662 - Blue Snowball - Coming towards the end of the observing session. No color seen - might be due to aperture or fatigue.
246 - Skull Nebula - soft non-stellar appearance @ 67X. 176X showed slight disc shape.
Ended the night with a view of M42. Was tired and had a 1.5 hour ahead of me so I didn't try to see E and F - seeing and its low position in the sky probably won't have let me see it anyway. Beautiful way to end the night after logging 37 Herschel objects.
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Sam P.
www.agirlandaguy.blogspot.com
Pentax 7X50
TV-102 APO w/ (Starbeam - on backorder  )
Ash Gibraltar w/ SkyTour DSC
NZ3-6, N9T6, N13T6
TV 20 Plossl
Pan 24, 35
Pentax XW10, XW14
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peter k
super member
Reged: 02/03/07
Posts: 172
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Quote:
6888 - Crescent Nebula - not on the Herschel list but was in the area. Appeared completely stellar in appearance except for looking like it's not in focus @ 147X and 220X. 298X showed a soft disc, but still very small.
I don't think you were looking at the Crescent--it's big (almost 20 arcminutes), but fairly (but not extremely) dim.
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JakeSaloranta
sage
Reged: 09/18/08
Posts: 237
Loc: Sisu, Sauna, Sibelius...
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Not a bad session from a mag 6.2 sky and 4" telescope! Most of those galaxies are invisible in my 8" under mag 5.8 skies so I assume your skies are only estimated at mag 6.2 as indicated by the ~.
Here are updated values of the visual magnitudes of your galaxies:
NGC 7606 - 10.8 (v) mag
NGC 7723 - 11.2 (v) mag
NGC 7727 - 10.6 (v) mag
Also like Peter said, if you describe NGC 6888 as "298X showed a soft disc, but still very small" you were surely looking at the wrong object.
/Jake
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nyc_nurse
sage
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 254
Loc: nyc
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Quote:
Also like Peter said, if you describe NGC 6888 as "298X showed a soft disc, but still very small" you were surely looking at the wrong object.
Oops. Looks like I wrote the description for M1-92 instead of 6888. 6888 was indeed larger and was dimmer than the Veil in the 4-inch. Yup, the ~ really is a rough estimate. I'm the the best at coming with a tight number but it's a dark site to say the least. Thanks for the updated vmags. That makes more sense since it wasn't too hard seeing them with the conditions.
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Sam P.
www.agirlandaguy.blogspot.com
Pentax 7X50
TV-102 APO w/ (Starbeam - on backorder )
Ash Gibraltar w/ SkyTour DSC
NZ3-6, N9T6, N13T6
TV 20 Plossl
Pan 24, 35
Pentax XW10, XW14
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Dain
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/24/05
Posts: 1596
Loc: N.Y. Adirondack Mnts. NGC 4565...
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Nice observing session with the 4"! I've observed most of those right here at my home front in my semi-LP skies. M42 looked absolutely beautiful last night at 2am to say the least. It was still a bit low at that time but it showed stunning results none the less. The Herschel list is a fun one, so good luck with it!
Clear Skies to All!
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Best,
Dain
Adirondack Mountains (my true dark sky site)
@ Cedar River Flow
Local Site
Clear Skies?
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4122
Loc: Ireland
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Sam --
M1-92 (Minkowski's Footprint) is indeed very small. In fact, it still looks stellar to me all the way up to 350X (although I'm using a centrally-obstructed scope). I did this sketch of it at 600X:
Quote:
M1-92 Minkowski's Footprint 8/21/2009 23:30 UT; Pickering 7, NELM 6, SQM 20.6
400mm Mak-Cass @ 600x
Wow, is this one tiny! Completely stellar in appearance up to 335X; hints of elongation at 450X; with bipolar nature only apparent at 600X. Looks like a fairly fuzzy notched double with the ESE component about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the WNW component.
You're starting out with some really good targets there. I found that stuff fun, but got a bit bored when I got to the 200-some-odd open clusters. Then again, I haven't even finished the Messier's yet, so I might not be much to go on. 
Cheers,
-- Jeff.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-100 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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Erik Bakker
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/10/06
Posts: 534
Loc: Haren, The Netherlands, Europe
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Nice report Sam. Looks like you've got a wonderful sample of the TV102 and are thoroughly enjoying it.
Keep up that good work!
Clear skies,
Erik
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Visual astronomer, main instruments:
Fully mounted Questar 7 P-BB
Celestron C 102F f/8.8 fluorite
Vixen FL 70S f/8 fluorite
Celestron C 55F f/8 fluorite
Sets of Zeiss, TeleVue and Brandon eyepieces
Zeiss 7x50 Marine B/GA
Zeiss TM german equatorial
Gitzo 224 with Manfrotto 501 fluid head
Unitron alt-az mount
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nyc_nurse
sage
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 254
Loc: nyc
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Quote:
You're starting out with some really good targets there. I found that stuff fun, but got a bit bored when I got to the 200-some-odd open clusters. Then again, I haven't even finished the Messier's yet, so I might not be much to go on.
I hear you there Jeff with the open clusters. I was getting a little bit bored with the 14 that's just in Cas. But it does help with learning the skies, not to mention being patient @ the EP to see the really dim stuff.
Hey Dain. My wife and I are planning on doing the Adirondack 540 next year - an ultracycling event. It's truly beautiful up there. I noticed on cleardarksky that there's a dark grey area in the park - Wakely Mountain. Does your club observe there at all? It seems like a good dark site - although I'm guessing transparency can be a problem up there.
Hi Erik. Thanks. Yes, I really did get lucky with the TV-102. It's still only 4-inches but I'm never been disappointed in what it has shown me, including the barely visible stuff.
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Sam P.
www.agirlandaguy.blogspot.com
Pentax 7X50
TV-102 APO w/ (Starbeam - on backorder )
Ash Gibraltar w/ SkyTour DSC
NZ3-6, N9T6, N13T6
TV 20 Plossl
Pan 24, 35
Pentax XW10, XW14
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Dain
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/24/05
Posts: 1596
Loc: N.Y. Adirondack Mnts. NGC 4565...
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Quote:
Hey Dain. My wife and I are planning on doing the Adirondack 540 next year - an ultracycling event. It's truly beautiful up there. I noticed on cleardarksky that there's a dark grey area in the park - Wakely Mountain. Does your club observe there at all? It seems like a good dark site - although I'm guessing transparency can be a problem up there.
Sam,
That grey spot ( Bortle 2 ) thats in the Adirondacks covers a range from as far east as Indian Lake ( yep, right next to Wakley Mountain/ Cedar River Flow ), as far south as the Moose River Plains, hitting west just beyond Raquette Lake and as far north as Blue Mountain Lake region near Forked Lake. The skies are beautiful up there! Folks I've talked to here have gotten SQM readings of ~21.50^ which is excellent. The Cedar River Flow area is where the observing is, except I'm looking for more of a permanent location since part of the Cedar River Road gets closed down for the winter and the only traffic that can use it is snowmobiles. There is a golf course that I may be able to get permission to use but that's still up in the air at the moment. There are a few folks who come down to observe from Canada (that set up the Wakley Mountain CSC ) whom I've never met or even ran into that use the campground off the same road. I'm usually up there with a friend or family member, but no club as of yet, although I'm interested in setting one up for that area. Get in touch when the time comes. And good luck on the Adirondack 540!!
Clear Skies to All!
--------------------
Best,
Dain
Adirondack Mountains (my true dark sky site)
@ Cedar River Flow
Local Site
Clear Skies?
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nyc_nurse
sage
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 254
Loc: nyc
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Wow. ~21.50 SQM is impressive, especially since it's my understanding that the readers aren't able to minus out the light index of the Milky Way efficiently thus the numbers at a dark site are actually under-represented a bit.
The area you describe is much larger than I thought. Would definitely make for a great semi-permanent observation spot - if you don't have to go anywhere during the winter storms 
We'll certainly get in touch when we're up there. Thanks!
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Sam P.
www.agirlandaguy.blogspot.com
Pentax 7X50
TV-102 APO w/ (Starbeam - on backorder )
Ash Gibraltar w/ SkyTour DSC
NZ3-6, N9T6, N13T6
TV 20 Plossl
Pan 24, 35
Pentax XW10, XW14
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