Astronomy observing session August 10th-11th 2012

Observing session August 10th-11th, from back garden, Rogerstone, Newport, South Wales.
Clear sky all evening. Warm in the day which carried through to the early hours.
I used Sky Atlas 2000.0 as my guide, taking photos of the specific area I required on my phone and using that a a hand held navigation tool, allowing me to stay at the eye piece.

I have just recieved a BST Explorer 25mm so was keen to use it, so I got the scope out in the early afternoon for some solar viewing. Some lovely large sunspots and little clusters, kids enjoyed it too (and the missis said it was ok). Packed it away then ready for the evening.

Eager to get my new eyepiece on some DSOs I aimed at Ursa Major. I know my way around this constellation pretty well now. Got Mizar and Alcor in sight then over to Alkaid and in the hunt for M51. It was still early with a little too much light still from the recently set sun so I had trouble getting there. I did attempt M101, M97 and M108, but it was the same story. So I thought I’d hop off and wait a little longer.

Back out now I noticed Cassiopeia high over the tree line and the top of  Andromeda. Haven’t seen M31 for a while so I was keen to have a look. So I aimed my scope across at a bright star to make sure the alignment was good and noticed an elongated fuzzy patch in my finder scope. I looked through my eyepiece and WOW! I accidentally stumbled upon the Double Cluster. Now, I had only recently read about this so I was  ecstatic to have seen it.  They filled the FOV at x40 and was able to focus on each separately, was great jumping between the 2. Even through my finder scope they are a great sight. I couldn’t resist getting my camera connected and taking a few snaps. Came out pretty well, a bit of trailing in a 4second exposure but nice to be able to see them whenever I want.

So over to Mirach and an easy search up to M31. Nice and clear in the finder scope. Through the eye piece  the core is really pronounced. It was still a little too bright to get the subtle shading of the outer rings, there seemed almost clear space as you approached M110. But it’s still a majestic sight.

After my fill I headed back over to the Double Cluster. I took this in again for a little while. So I got my bearings and hopped over to M76. What a great little nebula, even at x40 you can make out the round shape which appeared slightly oval. Up to x80 and although still small,with some averted vision to help its a great view.
Heading back to the Double Cluster my next target was M103. En route though there are a number of star clusters in the vicinity so I checked a few of these out. I do like star clusters, the thought of all those stars so “close” together, just imagine being in the centre of one and looking out. So up to M103. Quite a small cluster, the brightest stars forming a triangle with a lovely orange coloured star in the middle.

Across now to Hercules. Once Eta Hurculis is located its a simple trip down to M13. Easy to see in the finder scope as a large fuzzy star. I must admit I was a little disappointed with my view at x40 and x80. Easy to make out its a very dense cluster and great to actually get my eyes on it though. Will defiantly be visiting again.
From here I hopped up to M92. Very similar to M13 being a densely populated cluster. A great little view.

Next up was Lyra. Vega is easy to locate as my starting point. A nice small constellation making navigation easy, especially when the main target is M57, and it didn’t disappoint. A beautiful blue/green circle, small but very noticeable at x40 and slightly better at x80. This is my first viewing of this and have wanted to see it for a long time so I was very happy with this one.
After a while I nudged over to Sulafat and hopped down to M56. Another nice little cluster. A nice easy one to spot and great though the eyepiece. Much better at x80 and able to pick out detail with the use of averted vision.

Finally it was over to Albireo. From here I found it quite a tricky route over to M27 following some faint stars, i did attempt it before i visited Hercules earlier but got frustrated. So back again and after a couple of attempts I got there in the end. A great view of the the nebula. Not as big as M57 but it stands out great.

Was finished by 03:20, a great night with some amazing views. My BST is my first eyepiece I’ve bought. Until now I’ve been using the skywatcher 10mm, 25mm and x2 Barlow. The 10mm is not good, the 25mm is ok though but I’m glad to get a better quality one though. So all I was using tonight was the BST 25mm giving me x40 mag and the Barlow, giving me x80 mag. Next on my list is the BST 10 mm, which was really needed tonight. But still managed to make out all of my targets.
Total haul of 9 Messiers and 1 Caldwell.

I got to view 2 planes as well. First was early evening and caught it in my finder scope then followed it through the eyepiece, close up view of the engines and wings. The second I was attempting M51 when out of no where this large wing and engine just whizzed across my eyepiece, it really caught me by surprise! When I looked up it was very surreal to see its path going through exactly where I was observing, all the sky and our points crossed.

Astronomy observing session May 14th-15th 2012

Observing session May 14th-15^th 2012, from back garden, Rogerstone, Newport, South Wales.
Clear sky for most part, occasional groups of clouds came over head but were moving fast so cleared quickly.*
Got scope out at 20:30 to cool, fine adjustment to collimation and then aligned finder scope.*
I used Sky Atlas 2000.0 as my guide, so all chart and star numbers are in respect of that. I would take pics on my phone of the specific parts I require and use that as my guide.

First off was Venus as it was about to set behind my neighbors house so quickly got onto it. Beautiful crescent phase from the 25mm ep. In with the x2 Barlow and 10mm to see a close up of the thin slither crescent, can’t wait for June!
With Venus now below the neighbors roof I aimed at Mars. Great view of the red planet picking up on a little greyness in the center.

Chart 13
First I located Chertan in Leo. Hopped to star No.73 then too M65 and M66. Wasn’t able to get a visual on NGC3628.
Back to Chertan then down to the right following a path of 6 stars of 7-7.5th magnitude that form a sickle shape then over too star No.52. From there it’s down too M105, M95 and M96. All three in the same FOV.*

Leo was getting low now so I fancied a go at*markarian’s chain. From Vindemiatrix in Virgo I went across to star No.33, 30 and 27. Got lost here, but was starting to get a bit cold at this point so I popped inside for a warm up, I’ll probably start off with this next time.

Chart 7
From Alkaid in Ursa Major it’s easy to spot star No.24. Then down to M51.*
Back to Alkaid, across to star No.13 then up to No.21 and No.17. There’s a couple of 7-8th magnitude stars that lead to M101. Although looking back at my charts it looks easier to hop from the Mizar and Alcor system.*

By now Saturn was clear of the neighbours house so I swung the scope over to it. Great view at x200 magnification.

Chart 2
From Merak I hopped down through a couple of 7-8th magnitude stars to a small triangle of the same magnitude stars where I found M97. Back up towards Merak and M108 comes into view.

Still in Ursa Major I started at Dubhe. Hopped up to No.38 then up to VY variable star. Up above those are a triangle of 5-6th magnitude stars pointing to M81 and M82. Great view at low power in same FOV.*

It was approaching 4am by this point and the first signs of light were appearing. But I couldn’t resist going for one more faint fuzzy. So still in Ursa Major I hopped from Phad down to the left following 4 6-7th magnitude stars that curve towards No.5 then down to No.3 and then down further to a 5 star cross made up of 7-8.5 magnitude stars where M106 is located.*

So all in all a great night, although the faint fuzzies are true to their name it just blows my mind as to what im actually seeing. First session using my sky atlas 2000.0 and what a resource it is. As it is a bit big when the charts are unfolded by taking pics on my phone and zooming in was a good way of using it. Total haul of 12 messiers, 11 galaxies and one planetary nebula and 3 planets.