Equinox Sky Camp 2005
Kelling Heath
28/9 – 3/10
The main instrument used was an Obsession 18” f4.5 Dobsonian reflector.
Session 1 00:30 – 04:30 BST 29/9
A cold front had just passed through at midnight and the rain-washed sky was extremely transparent.
A few boring planetaries and a smattering of open clusters in Cygnus preceded an excellent view of Minkowski 1-79, an oblong with an offset dark hole.
This night started an up close and personal experience with M33. Over 3 sessions starting with a ‘best ever’ view the views got better and better. All the features that I’ve seen in images became visible. All faint but there, six arms, numerous HII knots, stunning. M31 was awesome.
Moving over to Perseus, Stock 6 was a nice expansive resolving haze contrasting with the adjacent and bright NGC 886. Abell 6 a very faint planetary was also picked up. NGC 7331 and nearby galaxies in Pegasus populated a full field of view.
Switching to Mike’s equipment his 10x70 Fujinon binoculars enabled a cruise of the bright granular, frosty Milky Way. Mars was the final object of the morning. At ~x300 through the 14” Celestron S-C the view was unbelievable. The South Polar Cap, Mare Sirenum, Hesperia, Mare Cimmerium, Hyblaeus extension…
Session 2
A short 90 minute evening slot using Mike’s Giro mounted Takahashi Sky 90 refractor. The other arm of the Giro mount carried an 8” Cassegrain-mode Takahashi Dall-Kirkam reflector for high powered views. The Sky 90 combined with a 31 mm Nagler gave a 5 degree field.
This enabled us to zig-zag our way across the Milky Way sharing views. Starting in Ophiuchus and Scutum, and branching out to Hercules. Open clusters, star fields, globulars, nebulae planetary, dark and bright. The Veil was magnificent with an OIII filter.
Session 3
Another cold front, more rain and a pristine clear sky…
…at 03:00, gave a magical through ‘til dawn session.
NGC 891 in Andromeda was a superb large edge-on spiral with mottled central dark lane. M74 a great 2 armed face-on spiral. M33 became bigger and more detailed. The Rosette nebula in Monoceros showed detailed dark lanes and sculpted nebulosity. The Horsehead was picture-like and superbly framed with a 24mm Panoptic and H beta filter. The California nebula was obvious and visible to the H beta filtered eye. Barnard’s Loop was a show-off to attending astronomers.
Session 4
This was a short 60 minute session on the main star party evening followed by torrential squally showers. Abell 48 was picked up in Aquila.
Session 5
A long session under another transparent rain-washed sky started at dusk and finished at 02:00.
The first observation was Palomar 11, a mag. 12 globular on the border of Aquila and Capricornus. This was a tricky observation due to low surface brightness, nearby stars, low elevation and occasionally hazy sky. A nearby grouping of mag. 13 galaxies was also observed.
A quick cruise with the OIII filter picked off NGC 6781, a lovely annular planetary in Aquila, some diffuse glows near the very bright North American and Pelican nebulae and Jones 1 in Pegasus. The Coccon showed up very well with and without the H beta filter.
Use of a nearby 20” gave great views of Stephan’s Quintet.
The 60mm refractor was used to scan the Milky Way end-to-end.
Returning to my 18 I finally got a good view of NGC 7479 to the south west of the square of Pegasus. This is the best barred spiral visible in the northern hemisphere. M33 was even more detailed! Numerous other galaxies followed.
The final observation was of Mars through the 18. The detail was picture-like, Solis Lacus and Mare Erythraeum, magnificent!
Regards
Paul
28/9 – 3/10
The main instrument used was an Obsession 18” f4.5 Dobsonian reflector.
Session 1 00:30 – 04:30 BST 29/9
A cold front had just passed through at midnight and the rain-washed sky was extremely transparent.
A few boring planetaries and a smattering of open clusters in Cygnus preceded an excellent view of Minkowski 1-79, an oblong with an offset dark hole.
This night started an up close and personal experience with M33. Over 3 sessions starting with a ‘best ever’ view the views got better and better. All the features that I’ve seen in images became visible. All faint but there, six arms, numerous HII knots, stunning. M31 was awesome.
Moving over to Perseus, Stock 6 was a nice expansive resolving haze contrasting with the adjacent and bright NGC 886. Abell 6 a very faint planetary was also picked up. NGC 7331 and nearby galaxies in Pegasus populated a full field of view.
Switching to Mike’s equipment his 10x70 Fujinon binoculars enabled a cruise of the bright granular, frosty Milky Way. Mars was the final object of the morning. At ~x300 through the 14” Celestron S-C the view was unbelievable. The South Polar Cap, Mare Sirenum, Hesperia, Mare Cimmerium, Hyblaeus extension…
Session 2
A short 90 minute evening slot using Mike’s Giro mounted Takahashi Sky 90 refractor. The other arm of the Giro mount carried an 8” Cassegrain-mode Takahashi Dall-Kirkam reflector for high powered views. The Sky 90 combined with a 31 mm Nagler gave a 5 degree field.
This enabled us to zig-zag our way across the Milky Way sharing views. Starting in Ophiuchus and Scutum, and branching out to Hercules. Open clusters, star fields, globulars, nebulae planetary, dark and bright. The Veil was magnificent with an OIII filter.
Session 3
Another cold front, more rain and a pristine clear sky…
…at 03:00, gave a magical through ‘til dawn session.
NGC 891 in Andromeda was a superb large edge-on spiral with mottled central dark lane. M74 a great 2 armed face-on spiral. M33 became bigger and more detailed. The Rosette nebula in Monoceros showed detailed dark lanes and sculpted nebulosity. The Horsehead was picture-like and superbly framed with a 24mm Panoptic and H beta filter. The California nebula was obvious and visible to the H beta filtered eye. Barnard’s Loop was a show-off to attending astronomers.
Session 4
This was a short 60 minute session on the main star party evening followed by torrential squally showers. Abell 48 was picked up in Aquila.
Session 5
A long session under another transparent rain-washed sky started at dusk and finished at 02:00.
The first observation was Palomar 11, a mag. 12 globular on the border of Aquila and Capricornus. This was a tricky observation due to low surface brightness, nearby stars, low elevation and occasionally hazy sky. A nearby grouping of mag. 13 galaxies was also observed.
A quick cruise with the OIII filter picked off NGC 6781, a lovely annular planetary in Aquila, some diffuse glows near the very bright North American and Pelican nebulae and Jones 1 in Pegasus. The Coccon showed up very well with and without the H beta filter.
Use of a nearby 20” gave great views of Stephan’s Quintet.
The 60mm refractor was used to scan the Milky Way end-to-end.
Returning to my 18 I finally got a good view of NGC 7479 to the south west of the square of Pegasus. This is the best barred spiral visible in the northern hemisphere. M33 was even more detailed! Numerous other galaxies followed.
The final observation was of Mars through the 18. The detail was picture-like, Solis Lacus and Mare Erythraeum, magnificent!
Regards
Paul
posted by Paul Clark at 6:13 PM
