463 replies to this topic

[theApex]

Mine was M2 last night.

Rated 4: Very bright with averted vision. I think I could single out a star or two (not sure it was in the foreground though) plus its rather elliptical shape.

Yep, I'm waay behind my Messier list (54 still to go) after 7 years with my scope!

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Edited by theApex, 30 October 2018 - 06:29 AM.

[Dynan]

I had gotten my first Goto telescope, 8SE, last March. Aligning was a short study and easily done. I then punched up M104 and was stunned that it centered perfectly with a 12mm EP.

 

See was good and I understood from childhood days that it wasn't going to be a Hubble image. But there it was in MY telescope. Image was a 4. The rush of seeing the cosmos opening up was a 10 on the scale of 1-5. 

[Augustus]

Minkowski's Footprint with my 10" Starfinder the other night (have since flocked the scope). Would rate a 3/5, cool but not that visually appealing.

[Tony Flanders]

Interesting question. The weather has been so bad for the past few months that I've stuck entirely to warhorses for quite a while. For me, a warhorse includes any Messier object plus the hundred or so most obvious non-Messier objects. Those are all things I have observed at least a dozen times.

 

Anyway, my last night with new objects was on July 11th, when I was chasing down objects on the Herschel 2500 -- the complete set of objects observed by William Herschel. The last galaxy of the night was NGC 6103, a 13th- or 14th-magnitude barred spiral in Corona Borealis. Here's what my notes say:

 

Thought at first that I could not see  it at 59X in my 12.5-inch Dob, but caught a strong glimpse just as I was removing the eyepiece. Switched up to 151X, better than 227X because wider FOV makes it much easier to locate faint galaxies. Not small, about 0.8', perhaps 1:2 or 1:1.5 aspect ratio, elongated east-west. Uniform, fairly low surface brightness.

 

From the fact that you rated M2 as a 4, I assume that your scale runs from 1 as worst to 5 as best. (Personally, I would have done it just opposite!) Anyway, if 1 is worst, I would rate this around 1.5. Considerably more character than many faint ellipticals, but not an object I feel any particular urge to revisit.

Edited by Tony Flanders, 30 October 2018 - 08:01 AM.

[petert913]

The Blinking Planetary.   It really does wink on and off as you use averted and direct viewing !

[theApex]

From the fact that you rated M2 as a 4, I assume that your scale runs from 1 as worst to 5 as best. (Personally, I would have done it just opposite!) Anyway, if 1 is worst, I would rate this around 1.5. Considerably more character than many faint ellipticals, but not an object I feel any particular urge to revisit.

Sorry. I forgot to specify it:

1 (bad) to 5 (great)

Or, for that matter, any synonym he/she sees fit to use in the accompanying description, such as "disappointing" or "breath-taking" - no need to be precise, methinks.

PS: Nice one on breaking the rating down do decimals, as it fits the bill (i.e, subjectivity) perfectly!

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Edited by theApex, 30 October 2018 - 09:06 AM.

[theApex]

The Blinking Planetary.   It really does wink on and off as you use averted and direct viewing !

How you would rate it then, please?

[theApex]

Minkowski's Footprint with my 10" Starfinder the other night (have since flocked the scope). Would rate a 3/5, cool but not that visually appealing.

Thanks. This is one I had to look up on Wikipedia to know more about.

If their data is right, its surface brightness is 16.71 - just a iota within my Bortle 6-to-7 sky's capabilities - so it's going straight to my "to observe" list straight away.
 

[Nebula27]

Mine was also m2. I was looking at it with a small 66mm apo and when I started to take images with my camera clouds rolled in.

I would rate it 2, it was bright for a DSO, but due to much light pollution and the small apeture no details were visible. With a 4s exposure of my camera almost all the individual stars were visible. With a larger scope and a darker sky, I would rate it a 4.

Edited by Nebula27, 30 October 2018 - 09:29 AM.

[Ed Wiley]

1956: 60mm refractor, no finder, no adult help: M42. It was the only one I could find and I would rate it +5 just because I could find it. 

Ed

[Augustus]

Thanks. This is one I had to look up on Wikipedia to know more about.

If their data is right, its surface brightness is 16.71 - just a iota within my Bortle 6-to-7 sky's capabilities - so it's going straight to my "to observe" list straight away.

I live in Bortle 6 skies. It’s tiny and magnitude 12. Easy with a 6” and doable with a 4”.

[havasman]

Due to the all-time wettest September AND October ever recorded in Dallas my last session was August 6 but it was a fine session. I observed the PGC62207/PGC62191/PGC62173 galaxy trio in Draco including observed shape and mottling in the brighter PGC62207. PGC62191 presented as an extremely faint smudge whose observation was facilitated by m13.3 and m14.4 field stars. PGC62173 appeared as VERY small but showed some slight elongation. The in-line arrangement and plentiful field stars in the field of this faint and less famous Draco Triplet helped with the observations, my 1st of each of these galaxies.

 

Number rating? No, I'll pass on that. It is a highly recommended observation for medium-large and large apertures.

[Jeff Morgan]

1969, 7x35 binoculars - the Pleiades Cluster, sometimes know as M45.

 

I was hooked from that point on.

 

Edit - I guess that means a rating of 5 

Edited by Jeff Morgan, 30 October 2018 - 12:43 PM.

[Adun]

I think the OP was actually asking about DSOs that we just recently observed, and we had not observed before.

[theApex]

I think the OP was actually asking about DSOs that we just recently observed, and we had not observed before.

That's right, Adun.

I meant it as a way of talking about what we observed - preferably the night before.

 

Bbut, as Tony Flanders put it well, that's not always possible thanks to the weather, so any first-time observation before it (within a reasonable time span) is valid, IMHO.

Though, if fairness, having rather enjoyed the "oldies goldies" reported so far, they just don't fit the bill as one from last night's would.

Edited by theApex, 30 October 2018 - 04:49 PM.

[Jeff Morgan]

I think the OP was actually asking about DSOs that we just recently observed, and we had not observed before.

 

Doh!

 

Weather last cooperated last Saturday, but only had 1 hour between the end of astronomical twilight and moonrise. The plan was to use a 135mm telephoto lens to pick up a few targets too large for my telescopes. Six observations with one nice catch. From my observing log:

 

Object/Type/Constellation/Score 1-5/Date/Equipment/Location/Comments

 

Sh 2-134 BN Cepheus  4 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home: SkySafari shows one object depicted I definitely see two small nebulous condensations in a nebulous glow at that location. Needs more research (another SkySafari chart error?) and observation.

 

Sh 2-178 BN Cepheus  1 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home: Next to Polaris! Extremely large and faint, averted vision required.

 

Sh 2-91 BN Cygnus  2 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home: Large in faint without a lot of structure. Just a patch.

 

Sh 2-94 BN Cygnus  2 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home: Large in faint.

 

Sh 2-118 BN Cygnus  3 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home:

 

Sh 2-124 BN Cygnus  2 Oct 27, 2018, NV 135 Telephoto, Home:

 

The most "interesting" one was the faintest - Sh 2-178. It extends from northern Cepheus and almost seems to touch Polaris! I had no idea it was there until I saw it plotted from my list - never thought to look for a nebula there. It was extremely faint, even with the NV eyepiece and 7nm H-alpha filter. I had to rock the mirror back and forth to move over the edges to confirm it.

[Keith Rivich]

WLM1 in Cetus with its one observable globular cluster.

 

0.1 to look at but a +6 on the challenge/coolness factor.

[WyattDavis]

NGC 7611, 7619, and 7626 -- three small galaxies in Pegasus -- on Sunday night all in the same FOV in a C8 with a Nagler 16mm under 21.2 MPSAS skies:  3 out of 5.

Edited by WyattDavis, 30 October 2018 - 08:37 PM.

[theApex]

I, in my own right, have just added another object to my Messier tally: Globular cluster M30.
 

Unlike M2 the previous night, which, though brighter, had practically undistinguishable stars, this last one had plenty of those - though dimmer overall - so, that's a 3.5. .

[theApex]

WLM1 in Cetus [...]
0.1 to look at but a +6 on the challenge/coolness factor.

I think context is definitely one of the beauties of visual astronomy. So I cannot see anything wrong with taking it into consideration when it comes to rating objects.

 

You definitely slow down and have time to take in whatever is reaching your retina.

Isn't knowing what you're looking at half the fun, after all!?

 

[MikeTahtib]

The last "First time" I can remember was the Helix nebula.  Someone at a star party helped me find it, but it was so late and I was so tired, I really don't remember what it looked like.  I really should start keeping a log.  Although it technically doesn't count, I stumbled across comet Giaccobini - Zinner 21P looking for clusters in Auriga.  That was pretty special.  It also struck me as funny that I was looking for Messier objects and was fooled into looking at a comet by mistake.

[NorthernlatAK]

Last night the skies finally cleared after about 3 weeks of holding onto and eagerly awaiting to use my new dgm npb filter. First target was the veil nebula. Only had about 1.33° fov so had to sweep to see east and west sections. West was about 4/5 & east was about 4.5/5. The west looked like a claw hanging off of 52 cygni that flared upwards fading off. East was a beautiful arc full of filaments with part of it looking like a melted hair brush(?).
Next target was N.A. nebula and pelican. Mexico was most obvious trailing off to a wide swath of nebula. Give it about 3.25/5 for that one. Probably would be higher if I had a wider fov. I have no binocs which would be ideal for this target and filter. Still expanding my ep collection, and I'll try a couple other new targets tonight. My Temps are in the single digits °F so my observing time is limited until I upgrade.
So it's
Western veil 4
Eastern veil 4.5
N.A. nebula 3.25
Eastern veil was quite a treat!

[Dave Mitsky]

Well, Tuesday night was actually the second time that I observed the large open cluster Stock 1 in Vulpecula but it was the first time that I saw it using binoculars.  This coarse cluster was discussed in the binocular astronomy column on page 43 of the October 2018 issue of Sky & Telescope.  I had observed it, well a part of it at least, earlier this month using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and in its entirety with the classical Cassegrain's 5" f/5 finder scope at 45x.

 

Through 15x70s, Stock 1 was easily seen as a sparse collection of stars.  It forms a triangle with Albireo and Alpha Vulpeculae (Anser).  I give it a rating of 2.5.

There's some information on this cluster posted at https://www.univie.a...?cluster=Stock1 and a sketch at https://farm5.static...441a8c326_b.jpg

 

The NSOG lists Stock 1 as being 60 arc minutes in size and having a magnitude of 5.3, with the brightest star being magnitude 7.0.

 

Dave Mitsky

 

[Asbytec]

First DSO ever, or for the first time? First time Jon Issacs turned me onto NGC 1999 was memorable. Close to and overshadowed by M42, this is a little diffuse gem with a nicely presented dark cloud. I worked on it for quite a while at different magnifications until I saw it very well. Rating: memorable gem.

[theApex]

The last "First time" I can remember was the Helix nebula. [...]
I really should start keeping a log.

Absolutely!


For me, having all my observations recorded either on a SkySafari "Journal" list or on a Google spreadsheet for the last 8 years, has been a very gratifying experience.

One of the reasons is that I have had the chance to compare my own impressions of any particular object in my log to those of any blogger's/astro magazine article's or even another fellow CN member's own impressions - as it's been the case in this very thread.

Another more than welcomed flipside to that, has been that l, by telling SkySafari to 'highlight' all objects on said list, can easily pinpoint in the sky which objects I have already observed or not - being able this way to easily decide whether I want to revisit any object or not (under different sky conditions or with a whole new piece of equipment) or then move on to a new one.

In short: keeping a log has been that much rewarding for me!

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