Visual Deep Sky Observing - FJAstronomy

Moving

2011-07-24T18:53:00.000+01:00

I'm not physically moving (at least I have no plans to) but this blog is. I have imported the whole lot over to my host in order to keep my website and blog under the 'same roof'. I am using a Wordpress template in any case, so I decided that moving was the easiest option, rather than maintaining two different sites.
Please come and visit! You can find the blog at www.fjastronomy.com.
This one will remain 'live' but not updated, unless some disaster befalls my main site.

Sweet Pea

2011-07-08T19:22:00.010+01:00

Last year, while I was in Texas, I got a chance to observe with Jimi Lowrey, Alvin Huey and Jimi's huge 48" dob up at Limpia Crossing, near the ranch where TSP is held. While we were talking over dinner before heading up to Jimi's observatory, Jimi and Alvin told me about a discovery that Jimi had recently made while looking at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images; Alvin had also been there at the time Jimi found it on the Sloan image. It was a small round green object in Draco and, due to its colour, Jimi nicknamed it the Sweet Pea. The Sweet Pea's status isn't certain at the moment although it's believed to be a planetary nebula. The strange thing about the Sweet Pea is that it is in the galactic halo and not the disk, meaning that it could be an object captured when the Milky Way galaxy consumed a neighbour that came too close. Most stars - and planetary nebulae - are in the disk of the galaxy.

Later that night, May 11 2010, when we were observing, Jimi asked me if I wanted to see the Sweet Pea and, naturally, I said 'yes'.

Sweet Pea, planetary nebula(?) in Draco - The Sweet Pea was round and fairly faint. I didn't sketch it, although I wished I had now! I initially saw it without a filter and it was tough, seen as a round brightening against the sky. It was definitely fuzzy, not stellar and a UHC filter helped a bit. 48" Dob @ 488x. Jimi and Alvin had already seen the Sweet Pea before, so that apparently made me the third person ever to visually see it. That's pretty amazing and what hard-core deep sky observing is about.

So, why didn't I mention the Sweet Pea when I wrote about the TSP way back last May? Well, Alvin and myself were sworn to secrecy as, understandably, Jimi did not want anyone else to nip in and steal the discovery for themselves, until the astronomers up at McDonald Observatory had studied it and confirmed it. It has now been confirmed, using the Hobby Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory (although the co-ordinates are not yet released), is now in the public domain and Jimi was awarded the Lone Stargazer Award for the discovery at this year's Texas Star Party.
I understand that the Sweet Pea was a major target for Larry's 36" and others at TSP this year, although I don't know if anyone saw it or not. It was tough with a 48" under dark and transparent Texas skies, it will ~~probably~~ be impossible with an 18" or 20" from the UK.

Jimi and professional astronomer Steve Odewahn from the HET feature in a program on Marfa Public Radio, talking about the Sweet Pea. Click here to listen. Go to Jimi's Page on Dark Skies Apparel for more about the Sweet Pea and some of Jimi's other observations.

I am hoping to catch up with Jimi and Alvin, as well as my other friends, at TSP 2012...

Summer observing

2011-07-03T20:59:00.004+01:00

As those of us stuck at high latitudes know (I'm at 50° North), the long twilights of summer aren't that conducive to deep sky observing. When it does get 'dark' it's only astronomical twilight as the sun is less than 18° below the horizon. But while it may not be good for the really faint fuzzies (and here, I admit that webcam users and imagers have an advantage over us eyeball-only types) it's still dark enough for the bright DSOs. Even Messiers you've seen countless times before are worth repeated looks and, as it is really the only observing you can get during summer at these latitudes, it's better than nothing.
The good news is that sunsets started to get earlier from July 1st and from the 16th true darkness returns, only for 36 minutes on the first night but the hours of darkness soon get longer. With a reasonable 30-day forecast ('reasonable' meaning average for this time of year - warm sunshine, some showers, average/slightly above average temperatures), I should hopefully get in more observing later this month, good news as I am hoping the new 18" will be finished in around 3-4 weeks' time.
I did a little observing last night, going after the supernova in M51, which is still on show, and a little open cluster-hunting in northern Cygnus. There are several on the Herschel II list and real little gits they are too. NGC 7031, NGC 7067 and NGC 7082 were on my list as well as the bright nebula NGC 6857. I also took a look at M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra.

My notes are as sparse as the clusters themselves were!

Date: 2nd July 2011
Conditions: Cloudless, cool (12° C/53.6° F), some dew
Seeing I-II (later)
Transparency: II
NELM: Around 5.5-5.8 due to the astronomical twilight. Definitely less than 6.0. Milky Way visible all the way to Sagittarius but lacking contrast
Equipment: 12" f/5 Dobsonian; Televue Panoptic 22mm (69x), Televue Radian 8mm (190), Televue Radian 5mm (304x)

SN2011dh in M51 has got a little brighter recently. It was definitely easier to see than last time but that's probably as much to do with no Moon in the sky as it is to do with the brightness of the supernova - M51's spiral arms were certainly easier to see this time out. I didn't make a sketch this time.

NGC 7031, open cluster in Cygnus - Small and quite poor. Compressed. 69x, 190x
NGC 7067, open cluster in Cygnus - Faint, adj to 9th mag star. In rich surroundings. 69x
NGC 7082, open cluster in Cygnus - Scattered, large, cluster. In rich area. Not that great and looks more like a richer portion of Milky Way. 69x

I'll come back to these on a darker night, and the same goes for NGC 6857 which I looked for, a little over-optimistically, but didn't see. It was at this point, around midnight, that the observing was interrupted by the kids in a house the other side of the footpath putting an insecurity light on, which encroaches on our garden - although it's worse in winter because of the lack of leaves on the hedge and trees. They'd gone out into the garden do do some camping (I assume they were camping as I heard what sounded like a tent being put up and a tent zipper being opened and closed) and obviously wanted to see what they were doing. I wish they'd used torches though. I decided to pack up, an hour earlier than I'd intended, as the light was a nuisance - and I didn't want to disturb them with 'funny noises' from across the way (it's strange how loud switching eyepieces and moving around can be in the dark) and, more importantly, I didn't want them disturbing me!
At least, when I get the new scope, it will be easier to move to another location in the garden, as it will break down and have wheelbarrow handles on it. I'm intending to move my observing spot further down the garden, although the 'observashed' will remain where it is, although I can move around depending on where I am looking at the time.
I shoved the 12" back into the shed and closed the doors on it. This morning, when I went up there to put it away properly, I found I'd left the Telrad switched on. Fortunately, a Telrad reticle uses up hardly any power so the batteries were far from flat. It's not the first time I've left a Telrad on and I guess it won't be the last!

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

Collimation's one of those weird things that has a reputation for being awkward, annoying and downright difficult and it's viewed almost as being akin to witchcraft, with 'The Knowledge' being available to only a select few individuals. However, observers need to know how to collimate their scopes properly in order to get a decent image in the eyepiece and to achieve focus at high magnifications. There's no real risk of buggering it up as the mirrors, even if they end up miles out of alignment, can easily be put right again. My current scope, a 12", is a real git when it comes to going out of collimation and I have to fix it before each and every session. I am hoping my new 18" won't be as temperamental.
For me, cleaning the mirrors holds far more trepidation than merely aligning the things. That's where things can really go wrong...I've managed to scratch a mirror attempting to clean it in the past.

For those who can't quite 'get' collimation - and in the past I have been among those people - check out the brilliant video tutorial on the website Andy's Shot Glass, which explains visual and laser collimation, simply and perfectly. Click here to see it. I have no association with Andy or his website but it's the best and most simple explanation of the process I have ever seen. Just reading about the process doesn't make it immediately clear and it may take several re-reads in order to make sense of it; seeing it, though, makes it much clearer. There are loads of websites which offer help with collimation, and there are threads about it on Cloudy Nights, but nothing is as helpful as actually seeing something demonstrated such as in the video.
The way to do it (and the best way for a lone observer such as myself) is to use the sighting tube to centre and tilt the secondary mirror, then use a laser collimator to get the beam right into the centre of the primary. Then you go to the back of the scope and adjust the primary mirror itself, getting the beam in the centre of the laser's display window, meaning everything is centered nicely when you look in the sighting tube again and your collimation is spot on. It's not hard and takes a couple of minutes. Pure visual collimation without a laser is more awkward, as that requires two of you to perform the procedure, unless you have arms like Mr Tickle, which most people including me, don't!

Visit to Cambridge

2011-06-19T16:12:00.017+01:00

I was asked to do a talk at the Webb Deep Sky Society's AGM, about my 'Experiences at the Texas Star Party'. The meeting was originally scheduled for December 2010 but, thanks to deep snow and dangerous travelling conditions, it was postponed until 18th June 2011.
I arranged to travel up with Don Miles, who met me at Portsmouth's Wightlink Gunwharf Terminal. It was an early start, as Cambridge is a three hour drive, at least, from the South Coast. After an uneventful drive up, with a brief stop at Clacket Lane Services, we arrived at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy at 0930. I hadn't been to the Webb Society annual meeting since 2005, when it was held at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, simply because of the awkwardness of getting to Cambridge, where it's been held ever since, and back in a day from the Isle of Wight. It's the Solent crossing that makes life difficult, more than anything, as it adds at least an hour to travel times and in the late evening, if you miss one ferry there isn't another for two or three hours. I left home at 0430 on Saturday morning and didn't get back until 0300 this morning, but despite the negatives of the location from a logistical point of view, the IoA is a lovely venue and has plenty of astronomical interest - not least the historic telescopes in the grounds and spectacular posters of galaxies, planets, nebulae and clusters lining the walls of the Hoyle Building.

The meeting was held in the IoA's Hoyle Building

After coffee and chat with people I hadn't seen in ages, it was time for the meeting to get under way. My talk wasn't until the afternoon, scheduled that way in case of any problems getting to Cambridge. The talks were Wolfgang Steinicke - The M51 Mystery: Rosse, Robinson, South and the Astonishing Detection in 1845 of Spiral Structure; Robert Kennicutt - The (Very...) Improbable Universe; Mark Hurn - Star Atlases; Martin Griffiths - New Developments in Planetary Nebula Research; Andrew Robertson - Telescopes and their Capabilities; then me with Experiences at the Texas Star Party and finally David Ratledge - New Developments in Astrophotography.
Of the talks, my particular favourites were Wolfgang and Andrew. Martin was also very good. Andrew's talk was right up my street, with plenty of pictures of large dobs and his sketches, as he is purely a visual observer but I will disagree with his assertion that we visual observers are a dying breed, though! Andrew is a member of Norwich Astronomical Society and they sound like a very active club with a thriving deep sky observing section. Not only that, they mostly have large dobs of between 16 to 24 inches, with one person with a 'minnow' (my description) 14 incher - a few years ago I wouldn't have described a 14" scope as a 'minnow', such is the rapid pace of telescope development - and are among the most active and keenest deep sky observers in the UK. As a committee member of a local society struggling to get our own membership off of its collective arse and out observing, it sounds perfect to me and made me wish I lived in Norfolk - I'm envious! Later, in conversation, Andrew claimed to me that Norfolk has better skies than the Isle of Wight. They're probably a bit drier (depending on the season, our problem here on the island is often sea fog which wipes out the southern horizon as seen from the southern coast) but I doubt they're darker although it does depend on local conditions at any given time.
My own talk went well, I was more fluent than I thought I would be but when you're speaking to like-minded people it's easy. Certainly easier than practising the talk on uninterested relatives and bewildered pets! I even managed to get laughs with stories about skunks and hazards.

I got outside and walked round the grounds at lunchtime. I joined a group having a look round the telescopes but we only had time to see the 12" Northumberland refractor before having to go back inside for the afternoon session.
Here are some photos of the grounds and domes (excuse the poor photos, I was using my Samsung compact whose image quality is not the best).

Statue of Fred Hoyle

Northumberland telescope dome

12" Northumberland refractor

Close up of focusser and eyepiece. Note brass fittings - including the eyepiece! An Ethos or UWA would look totally out of place here. To observe at or near the zenith the observer needs to lie down - sounds like my kind of observing!

Diagram of the 12" Northumberland telescope

Picture of the original Northumberland dome

The observatory housing the 8" Thorrowgood refractor; the pillar at right is one of several for Cambridge AS members to mount scopes on for public observing sessions.

The Institute of Astronomy Observatory Building, which now houses the Library.

There were a few vendors at the meeting, among them Cambridge University Press, Green Witch, a secondhand book dealer (who lost a potential customer when he said 'Faith, Hope and Charity' on learning my name. It may sound trivial and an overreaction but it is guaranteed to piss me off every time someone says it, especially when you've heard it for what seems like 54 billion times since early childhood! Don't do it, it's old, boring, unoriginal and insulting. How would people like it if I made fun of their name? 'Scuse the rant!) and the Webb Deep Sky Society themselves.
I was tempted by Wolfgang's book Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters but was put off by the retail price of £90. The 'show special' was £72 but that was still very expensive so I will wait until I have a bit more disposable income. I am also probably going to get Philip S Harrington's Cosmic Challenge at some point as it looks like an excellent book.
I did, however, buy the Webb Archive DVD which has scanned copies of every Quarterly Journal and Deep Sky Observer since 1968. It also contains the Observing Section Reports. As for the OSRs, I have quite a few back copies of these but when I saw the IoA was offloading two bound volumes of them for a fiver, as part of a clearout of the Library, I couldn't resist them and snapped them up before anyone else could, so they're now sitting happy and loved on my bookshelf. The Library was also getting rid of the Millennium Star Atlas for whatever offer you made but, as it wasn't just the Millennium Star Atlas but the entire Hipparchos Catalogue, I decided against it. Despite being sorely tempted, there's no way I could have carried that lot on and off the ferry!
Something else that came out of the meeting was me agreeing to revise and update An Introduction to Visual Deep Sky Observing. I wrote the original in 1998 and a lot of it is now dated and in bad need of revision. I plan to rewrite a lot of it, plus add more content, including more sketches and photos. I also have another Webb book project (as editor, rather than author) in the planning stages, of which more nearer the time.

When the meeting finished and we'd packed up, the committee and speakers headed for a local pub in Girton for a meal and chat, eventually going our separate ways at 2130. Don and I headed back to Portsmouth, timing it so I didn't have a long wait at Gunwharf. After a mercifully brief wait (it was raining, the Wightlink waiting room smelled bad and there was a tramp asleep on the seats inside! I don't want to be rude but I don't think the tramp and the smell were unconnected!), I got the 0130 ferry home across a stormy Solent, collected my car from Fishbourne ferry terminal and got home just before 3 am.

It was an enjoyable day and it was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while. Out of the people I have known for years I'd only seen Owen Brazell since 2005, at the Isle of Wight Star Party, and this May's VAS monthly meeting when he was the speaker. I would like to go next year, but I will definitely have to sort out more sensible travel arrangements because leaving home at 0430 one morning and not getting home until 0300 the following morning is just stupid. Next year, I will see if I can stay with my sister in Newbury for a couple of nights and go from there, rather than a round trip crammed into 24 hours.
Many thanks to Don for the lift up to and back to Cambridge from Portsmouth. It was a pleasant trip, where we talked about astronomy, life in general and cricket, of which I am also a fan. Don's involved with women's cricket, as photographer, selector and chairman of Sussex Women's Cricket Association. I am more of a fan of the men's game, especially Hampshire and England, but it was interesting hearing about the women's game.

After my blog post about how the UK weather isn't quite as bad as often perceived, it's done nothing but rain and blow a gale since early June and May was also fairly unsettled. I think we can blame Owen for this, as he's bought a 22 inch Obsession UC! Oh well, summer is yet young and June is often unsettled - and is probably the best month to have rotten weather as it's not much use for observing thanks to the twilight!

Supernova SN2011dh in M51

2011-06-09T15:07:00.003+01:00

Despite my knee problem, I decided to get the scope out and look at the supernova in M51. I didn't want to wait until the knee was better (it's improving all the time) or until the Moon was out of the way as the supernova might have faded by then and I didn't want to miss it.

Date: 8th June 2011
Conditions: First quarter Moon, all-night astronomical twilight. Milky Way visible. No dew, breezy.
Seeing: II
Transparency: II
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob. Televue 22mm Panoptic (69x), Televue 8mm Radian (190x), Televue 5mm Radian (304x) and Televue 3mm Radian (507x)

I observed the supernova under less-than-ideal conditions, thanks to first quarter Moon and the all-night astronomical twilight we're cursed with at this time of year - and I have certainly seen M51 better than this. However, the Milky Way was visible and the transparency and seeing were both good. The supernova was best seen at medium to high magnifications. It wasn't immediately obvious but after a minute or two with averted vision, popped into view as an extra star. I made the sketch without a photo to guide me and checked it against a photo of the supernova's position later.
The best views were at 190x and 304x. The view at 507x was terrible, it was just smeared all over the place.

The supernova is arrowed on the sketch.

You what?

2011-06-05T16:03:00.029+01:00

*I had made a post under this title yesterday, but I accidentally deleted it when trying to delete something else! So here it is again, or what I can remember of it*

Being less than mobile recently, thanks to a knee injury, I have been doing a bit more reading than usual. I have been looking through my collection of Deep Sky Magazine and an article by Jeffrey Corder in DSM #6 Spring 1984, titled 'Observing Low Surface Brightness Objects', contained a sentence that caught my eye. The sentence in question read: "The reason old Reverend Webb described M33 as "Large, faint, and ill-defined" was more because his notoriously damp homeland of England is a generally poor site than because M33 is especially difficult".
Er, "...generally poor site"? That's a sweeping statement if ever I saw one and, like all sweeping statements, is actually not entirely true. Okay, England isn't great, but neither is it a 'generally poor site' and, apart from the north-west, a lot of it isn't 'notoriously damp' either, especially in the south.
Arizona is 'great', West Texas is 'great' (when it isn't on fire), the outback of Australia is 'great', Chile's Atacama Desert is 'great' and so on, but most observers - most people - don't live in these observational nirvanas, they live in areas that are as cloudy and as light polluted as England, so it does kind of annoy me when I hear and read remarks such as Jeffrey's and 'Soggy little Britain', which an American friend said to me on Facebook recently.

I used to be under the impression that people in the US, especially, had pristine home skies and spent all their spare evenings observing, so I was a little jealous! My visits to the Texas Star Party, and also reading forums such as Cloudy Nights, actually proved otherwise as most people live in areas which are cloudy and/or light polluted. People have to live in or near towns and cities for work, unless they happen to be rich or retired, and really only get dark sky observing opportunities around new Moon if the weather co-operates and they can get out of town for a night or two.

While 300+ clear nights a year would be nice, we don't do too badly here, with over 100 nights a year, give or take a few, that are observationally usable - if we ignore the Moon's phase - most particularly here on the South Coast where high sunshine levels translate into a decent amount of clear nights. I've been keeping a record of nights that are usuable for observing (partly clear as well as 100% clear) and, so far, in 2011, we've had 69 nights out of 155 that have been clear or partly clear, despite the coldest and cloudiest winter for 40 years. That's 44%, not too shabby for a 'generally poor site'. Out of those 69 nights, 52 have been totally clear. 2010 was 46% clear or partly clear (33% totally clear). Anything less than 50% clear goes down as cloudy! 50% clear is usable and I often observe on partly clear nights, as long as the Moon isn't in the way. I have to admit that even I don't observe as much as I could, as it isn't always possible, particularly in the summer when nights are very short and in mid-winter when sub-zero temperatures make it a test of endurance, and at the age of 41 I'm beginning to find that several nights in a row is hard going, particularly when I am also working during the day.

That said, the weather does have a habit of being inclement when there's an astronomical event on. Planning a public session to view an eclipse? You can bet it will probably be cloudy! However, the same goes for the USA, outside the dry and clear south west, and other countries, too. If you plan your observing around weekends because of work, particular dates or events, then there is a risk it will be cloudy or wet, as such a narrow window of opportunity means the perspective will be skewed. It doesn't mean that it's always or even mostly cloudy and wet.
Even the Texas Star Party this year wasn't an observational success, as they were clouded out for all except two-and-a-half nights. Nearby range fires, caused by lighting strikes, haven't helped either. A few past TSPs have been a bit hit-and-miss, too with 1992, 2005 and 2007 being pretty bad.

It's a bit of a ramble but what I am trying to say here is that people tend to criticise England (and Britain in general) rather unfairly, when the truth isn't as bad and it does annoy me, particularly when it often comes from people who are no better off than we are. It's true that we British do love to complain about the weather but as whingeing is a national pastime here (and, yes, I can moan with the best of 'em!), that doesn't mean much, as sunshine and 90 degree temperatures here bring as many complaints from people as any other type of weather! In short, while we don't have the best observing conditions here by no means do we have the worst either. England is probably about average in the grand scheme of things.

Light pollution is more of a menace than clouds. The UK, especially England, is overcrowded and, as such, is quite badly light polluted and we have a big problem here in that respect. Public ignorance is a major factor in this as they tend to think that turning night into day is somehow a 'good thing' and prevents crime. It isn't and doesn't. It's wasteful, adds to carbon emissions and isn't proven to reduce crime - and criminals need light to see, they don't have superior night vision compared to the rest of us!
Local council street light switch-offs, due to austerity measures, have been greated with bleating about 'blackouts' and claims of increased crime (although that's not supported by facts) and one woman in Northamptonshire claimed she fell over in the dark and injured herself. You don't just 'fall over' in the dark unless you're not taking adequate care and using a torch, unless you have a problem. It's the same with pedestrians walking along unlit roads at night - if they wear light or reflective clothing then they have far less chance of being run over, unless they do something really stupid.

The battle against light pollution is slowly gaining some ground with a lot of councils, including the Isle of Wight, beginning to put new LED lamps in. Apparently, these shine downwards and little or no light actually goes into the sky. I have read reports where amateur astronomers in areas where these have already been installed say that there is a big improvement. It's a step in the right direction and, if these lights shine where they are supposed to but the sky remains dark, then everyone will be happy. Light trespass is now an offence, so badly shielded and directed security lights have to be adjusted if a complaint is made.

Returning to Jeffrey Corder's article, as for M33 itself from here it's certainly large but it's not a hard object to see. It's a naked-eye object on a good night from here and is not that faint or ill-defined, being a nice sight in binoculars. Telescopically there's lots to see such as HII areas and, with a large enough scope, globular clusters.
Rev. Webb's impression of it was more likely down to the quality - or lack of it - of his scopes rather than any shortcomings in the quality of his sky. I daresay that telescopes back in 1984 were superior to those of the 1800s, which was Webb's era.

The sky is clearing, the good weather is returning...

2011-05-30T21:21:00.002+01:00

...and I can't observe thanks to having done some damage to my left knee. It got twisted round at an unnatural angle yesterday morning and I felt something snap inside accompanied by an excruciating pain at the same time. I decided to ignore it in the hope it was nothing serious only for it to get worse and keep me awake last night. So, it was off to A&E this morning for them to take a look. I was in there four hours and, out of that four hours, I was actually only being seen by a member of staff for a grand total of about 10 minutes.
Anyway, when I eventually got seen, they X-rayed it, proclaimed it to be a possible ligament or cartilage tear and sent me on my way with crutches (which have to be the work of diabolical forces, I hate crutches), instructions to keep the knee up and an appointment to see a specialist next week.
This week has not got off to a brilliant start, I already have a ~~slight~~ bad case of the 'I wish I was somewhere else, that somewhere being the TSP' blooz and now this. It also means I can't work this week and no work means no pay. Anyway, I'll keep off it for a few days and see what happens.
Still, it's probably the best time of year to do yourself a mischief - nights are too light for any serious observing, and I was only planning to do some sketching of the brighter Messiers and DSOs anyway. Knee damage definitely rules out using the big scope but I can probably still do something with my little scopes and binoculars. Small scopes can go in bags, although I don't know what can be done about carrying my tripod outside...I must have a spare camera strap somewhere.

While feeling sorry for myself this afternoon, I browsed through some of the astronomy stuff I have gleaned from the net and other sources. There's plenty of material for observing projects when I want a change from the Herschel 2500. I've downloaded some of the TSP observing lists and I already have Larry Mitchell's Advanced Observing Lists on computer and in a paper file I brought home in 2008. I am getting an 18" f/4.5 dobsonian from David Lukehurst, thanks to a tax rebate a couple of months ago (that paid half the cost and my aunt is lending me the other half), so I have a good chance of doing Larry's lists, apart from the stuff that's too far south to be easily seen from here. An interesting project would be to sketch each of the objects on the 'easier' lists. Ok, I won't get an 'observing pin' for it, as the lists have to be completed in situ at the TSP, but it'll be a fun project to do.
The dob, by the way, should be completed by the end of July, just in time for the return of the dark skies after mid-summer. Like most deep sky observers, I have always wanted a big scope >16 inches. Life got in the way of me getting one last year, as the savings I had needed to be spent on something else but the chance came round again, thanks to the tax refund and my aunt lending me money, and I took it.

Mini observing session, 27th May 2011

2011-05-29T13:03:00.004+01:00

After a stormy and unpromising day, Friday night cleared nicely. I was out all evening, not getting home until past 11pm although, given the light nights at this time of year, that's not really a problem. However, I didn't feel like getting the 12" out - and the weather forecast indicated that clouds were soon going to roll in, continuing May's unsettled note (May's weather quite often is rubbish but I hope this isn't the start of yet another lousy summer) so instead I brought out the little 70mm refractor, recently released from its dark prison in the depths of a cupboard. It's imprisonment wasn't intentional, it's just that I don't have a lot of use for such a small scope. Or I didn't think I had, until I decided I want a travel scope just in case I am able to go anywhere next year. Unfortunately air travel restrictions don't allow you to take anything much larger than a small refractor or Mak-Cass overseas. People better at woodwork and metalwork than I am have made collapsible 8" or larger dobs for airline travel, but that's beyond my limited practical capabilities.
Anyway, with the lack of anything else to write about on here, here's a short account (I won't say 'report' like a lot of people do on astronomy forums; I don't like the term when used for descriptions of observing sessions as I think it's too formal, making it sound compulsory and too much like work) of the Friday night mini-session with the Vixen.

Date: 27th May 2011
Conditions: Cloudless, no dew, chilly, breezy.
Seeing: II
Transparency: II
Equipment: 70mm (2.8") f/6 Vixen refractor with Televue 25mm (16.8x) and 11mm (38x) Plossl eyepieces. Lumicon 2" UHC filter.

The summer Milky Way was rising, and Cygnus was beginning to clear the nearby trees, so I aimed the little scope at the various star fields. The beauty of a small rich-field scope is that you don't need a finder to aim it. Because of the wide field views, it's easy to find what you're looking for just by sighting along the tube, something which is all but impossible with a larger, longer focal length instrument.
As well as looking round the rich Milky Way of Cygnus, I looked for individual objects, bright Messiers generally. M29, a coarse and poor open cluster in Cygnus, was easily seen at 16.8x. Despite its sparseness it was an attractive sight at 38x, standing out nicely from the Milky Way. It's seven brightest stars were all easily seen in the tiny scope.
In Lyra, M57 was easily seen at 16.8x as a non-stellar object in a rich area. Putting up the magnification to 38x showed an oval with a darker middle.
Turning to Hercules, M13 was easily seen in the scope, and was resolved, despite being at a neck-twisting angle. No surprise there, as it's a naked eye object on a good night. It wasn't quite naked eye the other night, though, as the sky wasn't quite dark enough for that. I didn't bother with M92, because of the awkwardness of the eyepiece angle - one of the areas where a reflector beats a refractor hands down.
M81 and M82 in Ursa Major provided a lovely view at 38x. M81 was oval, with a slight hint of spiral arms while M82 was a bit brighter and showed mottling.
Scorpius was rising so I decided to see what M4 looked like with the 70mm. Despite its low altitude, the view was surprisingly good and the cluster began to resolve at 38x. If it was higher, it wouldn't be bad at all with the tiny scope.
Meanwhile, Vulpecula had cleared the trees, so I looked for and easily found M27, the Dumbell Nebula, at 16.8x, as a round patch in a rich area. I was expecting to just see M27's 'apple core' shape but, somewhat surprisingly, at 38x, the fainter lobes showed up well.

Back to Cygnus and NGC 7000 and IC 5070/5067, the North America and Pelican Nebulae. NGC 7000 is a pretty easy naked eye object as a shining patch adjacent to Deneb, as by now, it was 0040 and dark enough to see fainter objects. The shape was easy to make out with the help of my Lumicon 2" UHC filter held to my eye, with the dark 'Gulf of Mexico' prominent. IC 5070/5067 was fainter and needed averted vision to see properly. It's a nice sight through my 8x42 binoculars though.

It was getting cold and it was nearly 1am, so I packed up - which was the work of less than a few seconds, another plus factor of a small scope. Unfortunately small scopes don't cut it when you want to view faint deep sky objects and, with a rich field scope such as the 70mm, you can't get enough magnification for detailed views of DSOs or the planets. However, for a 'grab and go' scope and a travel scope, it's ideal. One scope can't do it all; my 12" is way too large and cumbersome to be much use as a 'grab and go scope' (being a one-piece tube it barely fits in my car) and doesn't give wide field views. As noted Arizona observer Steve Coe once said, 'There's no such thing as an all-purpose telescope'.

The Texas Star Party begins today. Hopefully they'll have good clear skies. I wish I was there.

Deja vu

2011-05-24T16:31:00.006+01:00

Volcanic ash. Again. At least, this year, I don't have any travel plans to be potentially disrupted but if I was going to TSP, I think I'd be a bit worried, as it starts on Sunday. I was lucky last year, I dodged the ash as the winds changed direction the day before my flight left and the worst thing that happened then was that we got rerouted north of the Arctic Circle, which turned an 8 hour flight into a 12 hour flight. Who'd have bet on lightning - or, rather, ash - striking twice in the space of 13 months when there's been hitherto years of no disruption despite plenty of Icelandic volcanic activity?

On a lighter note, I am hoping to do some travelling next year, whether the TSP or something else. I am thinking of doing something different and going on an astronomy trip to Arizona. Arizona has a fabulous climate for observers, being dry and transparent with over 300 clear nights a year (which is a lot better than us!), there are observatories you can visit - Lowell certainly has a public visitor centre - and there are, as you'd imagine, lots of amateur astronomers and astronomy clubs there. Also, while I have been to the States three times, all of these visits have been to Texas and I'd like to see a bit more of the place. It's a big country and there is plenty to see. Should I make it out to Arizona, I am hoping I can meet with other observers and clubs. Funds permitting, I would also be hoping to make a side-trip to California.
I'd like to take a little travel scope with me as my 8x42 binoculars don't quite cut it, although they are great for widefield views and I have seen most of the Messiers and quite a few brighter non-Messier DSOs with them. I have a Vixen 70mm guidescope that came in a box of bits given to me a few years ago and that should fit the bill quite nicely. I have found a suitable 1.25 inch diagonal and my Televue 25mm, 15mm and 11mm Plossls plus the 8mm Radian (which give magnifications of 16.8x, 28x, 38x and 52.5x respectively) and it gives nice views of bright deep sky objects and the Milky Way. I am not sure I'd take all four eyepieces with me but it's nice to have a variety.

I tried it out last night, on M4, M57, M81, M82 and the globulars in Ophiuchus and it worked very well indeed.

I also had a fairly unsuccessful session with the 12". Unsuccessful? Simply because the sky was a bit too light (it was 2330 local time) to find much, there was a fair bit of drifting cloud around and there was a stiff breeze (it has been pretty stormy just recently). I was after galaxies in Hercules, knowing full well it wouldn't be that successful. Hercules is best placed for viewing in June but that's precisely the wrong time of year to see it properly from these latitudes, thanks to light nights.
I did, however, find NGC 5970, a galaxy in Serpens (Caput) - it was reasonably bright and stood out well against the background sky. There wasn't much brightening towards the core, it was very slight. Core non-stellar and the edges of the galaxy were diffuse, not sharp. Elongated 2:1 NW-SE. 69x, 190x
I then had a look round some of the brighter Messier globulars in Ophiuchus before putting the 12" away and getting out the little 70mm Vixen.

A 'sound approach'?

2011-05-16T15:49:00.005+01:00

Just recently, because I have several projects on the go at once - the Herschel 2500 among them, plus as much of the NGC as I can possibly do from 50 North as well as some smaller ones - I am just taking notes and not doing any sketching. This is because sketching slows me down far too much. While I am not in a tearing hurry I do want to get through the projects in a decent time frame, so I am just sticking to writing notes down in a lined note book.
However, there are problems with this in that I need to use a light in order to see what I am writing. Even a dim red light affects my night vision and I have found that faint galaxies and nebulae disappear for a good few seconds while my eyes readjust. Not only that, the way things are set up it means that I have to physically move away from the eyepiece to the table where my notebook is in order to write things down. This also slows me down although nowhere near as much as sketching does.Then you have the sheer awkwardness of writing with gloves or frozen fingers during the winter. Finally, my writing is dreadful at the best of times and in the dead of night by red light it goes from merely 'dreadful' to 'barely legible'!
Recently, I read about other observers using digital voice recorders (dictaphones) to dictate notes at the eyepiece, ready to be transcribed into a notebook or onto a computer later. Now, as I detest the sound of my own voice and I don't want our two sets of neighbours, whose gardens are just the other side of a footpath from ours, to think that I am a nutcase chatting away to myself outside in the middle of the night, I discounted ever getting a dictaphone. However, the more I think about it, the more sense the idea makes. Using a dictaphone means I don't have to move away from the scope, apart from when I need to look up my next object on the charts, or even look away from the eyepiece. And I don't have to talk loudly into it, a whisper should suffice which would get around the twin problems of the loathing of my own voice and the neighbours thinking I am a lunatic - I hope! I am hoping this will mean I get more objects observed in a session.
So I've decided to give it a go and went into town this morning to look for a suitable machine. I was surprised at the prices, starting at £39.99 and going up from there as I thought one of these things would be around £20 max. I shopped around and, as I don't want to save my recordings for future posterity, because I'll be transcribing them, I decided against getting one that plugs into a computer on grounds of cost and bought the cheapest I could find.
Instead of saving my inane chatter onto disk, I'll be transcribing my spoken notes into Word, then printing them off, the same as I do now only without trying to decipher my bad writing.
Anyway, here's the 40 quid piece of plastic, made by Olympus, which was somewhat over-priced for what it is. Now I need to read the book and work out how to operate the thing!

By the way, I *will* be going back to sketching, probably during the summer when the skies are not quite dark enough to go after the more elusive NGCs and ICs. I plan to carrying on a globular cluster observing project I began a couple of years back (globulars lend themselves well to light summer nights) and I'd like to sketch most, if not all, of them.

There are a couple of interesting threads on Cloudy Nights about note taking, including the use of digital voice recorders, here and here.

Observing, 8th May 2011

2011-05-09T15:16:00.009+01:00

After getting back from my trip last Wednesday, the weather had turned nasty with thunderstorms and torrential rain (which, admittedly, was much needed, especially as the UK had forest fires everywhere) but yesterday was largely clear, apart from heavy downpours now and again.
I was hoping that the thunder and rain had cleared the atmosphere a bit and the sky was indeed more transparent than it had been for a while. Unfortunately, as night fell, there were more drifting clouds around than there had been during the evening and the waxing crescent moon, at around 30% of full, interfered with the observing session, so it was a shorter one than I'd intended.

Date: 8th May 2011
Conditions: Mild, mostly clear although some drifting cloud about, waxing crescent Moon (30% illuminated), heavy dew, soaking wet underfoot because of heavy rain earlier in the evening.
Seeing: III
Transparency: III
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x).

NGC 4494, galaxy in Coma Berenices - Just SW of an 8th mag star this is bright and oval, elongated NW-SE. Brightens slightly to a non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4725, galaxy in Coma Berenices - Bright and oval, elongated SW-NE. Brightens to a very bright but non-stellar core. There's a hint of spiral arms at 190x but the scattered light from the crescent Moon makes this hard to see properly. I want to have another look at this on a better night - it may have to wait until next spring, as we're into May and the spring constellations will soon be lost in twilight. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4314, galaxy in Coma Berenices - This is a fairly bright oval with a brighter core. The Moon interfered with this one quite a bit. 69x, 101x, 190x.

NGC 4414, galaxy in Coma Berenices - A bright oval, elongated NNW-SSE. It brightens towards the core and has a stellar nucleus. The view at 190x is not good! 101x is much better. 69x, 101x, 190x.

I packed up at 2330 because the dew was a real nuisance and the Moon, despite being a crescent, was really interfering with observations. It was due to set at 0118 but my patience had run out so I called it a night.

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

Back last summer, I posted about older observers who have amassed thousands of observations of deep sky objects and other astronomical objects and how I have a long way to go until I am anywhere near their records, as they have 40+ years observing experience as opposed to my 19 years. I thought about this today and it made me dig out old notebooks and sketchbooks and count up the number of DSO's I have seen.
So far, on going back through these old notebooks and sketchbooks (unfortunately I have two or three missing) I find I have visually observed best part of a thousand NGC/IC objects and non-NGC/IC objects such as anonymous galaxies and galaxy clusters. On top of that, there's all the planets (including ex-planet Pluto), double and multiple stars, the Moon(!), asteroids, a comet crashing into Jupiter, comets, lunar eclipses, partial solar eclipses with one cloud obstructed total in 1999, a transit of Venus, the Sun, occultations, meteor showers, noctilucent clouds, Mir, the ISS, the Space Shuttle and other satellites...but, sadly, no UFOs! All this with equipment of all sizes ranging from the unaided eye, binoculars and small telescopes right up to 36" and 48" dobsonians.
Not too bad, I guess, considering observing opportunites are often limited by weather, Moon and life getting in the way, including a couple of breaks from the hobby in 1999/2000 (7 months) and 2004/5 (16 months) which were the result of life totally interfering with the important stuff!

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

The trip I went on was quite good. Vision of the Seas was a nice ship and the weather was great. We even had clear skies but, as I predicted in a previous post, the ship was lit up like a Christmas tree (globe lights - yuck!) and only the brighter stars were visible but it was fun working out our heading by looking at the stars. Would I go on a cruise again? Unlikely because I much prefer backpacking trips, vacations which involve astronomy and birding and my visits to the Texas Star Party - and I don't like the formal dressing up on some evenings.

The cruise ship, Vision of the Seas, at Amsterdam

Observing, 27th April 2011

2011-04-28T13:23:00.007+01:00

Yesterday, 27th April, was largely cloudy and grey but the clouds cleared during the afternoon to leave a blue and transparent sky. It remained clear throughout the evening so I set up the scope for some observing. Given the largely hazy conditions just recently, I didn't hold out much hope for the transparency but, surprisingly, it was very good.

Date: 27th/28th April 2011
Conditions: Cloudless, chilly, no moon, no dew, slight breeze picked up later on, zodiacal light prominent.
Seeing: II
Transparency: II
NELM: 6.2 - 6.5 later
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 11mm Televue Plossl (137x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x)

NGC 3631, galaxy in Ursa Major - Round and reasonably bright. Diffuse halo brightens to a compact core and stellar nucleus. 69x, 137x.

NGC 4026, galaxy in Ursa Major - Located just SW of a mag 9 star. Edge-on and very bright. Elongated NW-SE, with a bright elongated core. 69x, 137x.

NGC 3998, galaxy in Ursa Major - Located adjacent to 2 stars (mag 9 and 10) 3998 is very bright and round. It has a very bright stellar nucleus surrounded by a diffuse halo. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 3990, galaxy in Ursa Major - Located just west of 3998, this is much fainter and more oval with a brighter core. Elongated NE-SW. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 3982, galaxy in Ursa Major - Moderately bright oval glow, oriented north-south. Brightens to centre and a non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 3898, galaxy in Ursa Major - Bright oval, elongated NW-SE. Fairly faint halo surrounds a much brighter, elongated core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 3888, galaxy in Ursa Major - Lies to the SW of 3898. Much fainter than 3898. Fairly dim oval with a brighter core. There is a distinct row of 3 stars which lie to the NE. 69x, 190x.

A bright meteor went through south western Ursa Major and into Gemini at this point. It was a bright yellow fireball.

NGC 2950, galaxy in Ursa Major - Small, round and very bright. It has a stellar nucleus in the core. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 2768, galaxy in Ursa Major - A bright, flattened oval. Oriented east-west with a bright elongated core. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 5676, galaxy in Bootes - Fairly bright oval with a bright core. Elongated SE-NW. 69xx, 137x.

NGC 5689, galaxy in Bootes - Bright, almost edge-on. Elongated E-W. Brightens to core and has a stellar nucleus. NGC 5682 and 5683 lie just to the SW and NGC 5693 to the SE. 5682/83/93 are all faint and very small. 69x, 190x.

NGC 5248, galaxy in Bootes - Large, oval and bright, oriented east-west. A diffuse halo brightens to the core and a stellar nucleus. At 190x averted vision shows hint of spiral arms. 69x, 190x.
I made a sketch, which is shown at left. Click to enlarge. Excuse the poor quality sketch, by that time my fingers were frozen!

Packed up at 0100 BST. The signs of summer were already there, with Hercules up, Scorpius peeping above the horizon in the south east and Cygnus above the horizon on its side.

Observing, 25th April 2011

2011-04-26T19:18:00.004+01:00

The recent high pressure has led to increasingly murky nights and tonight was no exception. It looked ok as dark fell and there were no light domes visible so I set up. Unfortunately, this state of affairs didn't last, as it got murkier and high clouds moved in, so it ended up being a much shorter session than intended.
I had intended to spend the session in Ursa Major but the combination of the 'dob hole' and high clouds prevented it.

Date: 25th April 2011
Conditions: Clear at first, slight breeze picked up later, slight haze, mild (11C, only needed a hoodie and observing vest on). No Moon. Conditions deteriorated badly less than an hour later, cutting the session short.
Seeing: II
Transparency: III to V (started out okay but deteriorated badly)
NELM: started out as 6.0 but got worse thanks to increasing murk and light scatter.
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 11mm Televue Plossl (137x).

NGC 3726, galaxy in Ursa Major - Large, oval (not quite round) diffuse halo with a stellar core. Oriented north-south, with an 11th mag star on the northern end. 69x, 101x.

NGC 3675, galaxy in Ursa Major - Bright, almost edge-on. Elongated north-south. Brightens to an extended core. A scattering of mag 11/12 stars lies just to the west and a 12th mag star lies on the southern tip. 69x, 101x, 137x.

NGC 5466, globular cluster in Bootes - Faint and large. Dense. With averted vision some stars are resolved with others giving the whole thing a 'granular' appearance on a background glow. 69x.

NGC 5466 in Bootes. Image from http://www.sdss.org/ in accordance with their image use policy (i.e. I haven't just nicked it!)

NGC 5557, galaxy in Bootes - Fairly bright and round with a bright core. 69x, 137x.

By now, the conditions had deteriorated so much that, after just three quarters of an hour and a meagre four objects, I had to pack it in and call it a night. The sky just got murkier and, in the end, it was impossible to continue with any sensible deep sky observing. It was disappointing as I was hoping for two or three hours, but 45 minutes is better than nothing.

We'll soon lose our dark skies for the summer as, from late May onwards, astronomical twilight lasts all night with no true darkness until late July/early August. I intend to carry on observing throughout, weather permitting, but I will go back to sketching the brighter stuff, something I have neglected recently as I have preferred to concentrate on seeing as much as possible because sketching is time-consuming so I get through fewer objects.

I'm off on a cruise on Friday, a four day trip on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas from Southampton to Copenhagen via Amsterdam. I am taking my binoculars so, if the sky is clear, I'll do some binocular observing from any dark spots on the ship's deck I can find. Unfortunately, cruise ships tend to be lit up from just aft of the bridge to the stern and from the waterline to the wheelhouse roof so I don't have high expectations - either for darkness or clear skies! Hopefully by the time I get home next week, some thunderstorms and rain will have cleared out the atmosphere a bit.

Observing, 21st April 2011

2011-04-22T20:57:00.001+01:00

'Hunting for galaxies among the dogs'

Now the Moon's on the wane, it's time to observe again. We've had some glorious weather just recently, with temperatures of 26C/78F, totally unlike April, but this has come at a price with high pressure haze (and smog in the cities). We're not in a city here, of course, but high pressure haze has been noticeable recently, with blue-white skies during the day and noticeable sky glow above the horizon at night (murk never helps the moonlight situation either, scattering it around).
However, I decided to give it a go anyway, as even hazy skies are better than nothing.

Conditions: No clouds but hazy, some dew, cool (10C/50F). Moon not risen (rises at 0048)
Seeing:I-II
Transparency: III-IV
NELM: 6.0
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 11mm Televue Plossl (137x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x)

Canes Venatici. Chart generated with MegaStar5

NGC 4258 = M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici - A nice lollipop, just to get the eye in! Large and bright with a very bright mottled core. Oval, oriented north-south. 69x, 101x

NGC 4248, galaxy in Canes Venatici - Small, faint elongated east-west. 69x, 137x

NGC 4490 = Arp 269 (with NGC 4485), galaxy in Canes Venatici - Bright, irregular galaxy. Broader on southern end than on the northern and has a mottled core. On the northern end, it is much narrower and has a 'tail' which bends towards its companion NGC 4485. Flattened on the east side. 69x, 137x, 190x

NGC 4485, galaxy in Canes Venatici - Seen easily at 69x, this is smaller and fainter than NGC 4490. Irregular with no condensation. Together NGCs 4485 and 4490 make a nice pair. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 4618, galaxy in Canes Venatici - Easily located and seen at 69x. An almost round glow, brighter in centre with a stellar nucleus. 69x, 190x.

NGC 5005, galaxy in Canes Venatici - Bright. Oriented WSW-ENE. Halo surrounding a bright core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 5033, galaxy in Canes Venatici - In the same 69x field of view as NGC 5005. 5033 is slightly brighter than 5005 and oriented SSW-NNE. A faint halo surrounds a bright elongated core with a stellar nucleus. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4914, galaxy in Canes Venatici - Located adjacent to a 9th mag star. Faint halo around an elongated core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4244, galaxy in Canes Venatici - This one is a real beaut. It's a huge, edge-on thin galaxy which cuts SSW-NNE across the field of view. In the 22mm Panoptic, it covers around a third of the diameter of the field of view, and stretches right across the field of view of the 15mm Plossl. It has no nuclear bulge in the middle but brightens slightly towards the core. The galaxy, expecially around the centre, looks mottled. Very nice indeed. It is one of the galaxies I observed at last year's Texas Star Party for Larry Mitchell's 'Super-thin Galaxies' Advanced Observing Pin. 69x, 101x

As I had to be up for work in the morning and the waning gibbous Moon would soon be rising, I packed up not long after midnight.

Observing, 8th April 2011

2011-04-09T19:10:00.003+01:00

It was touch and go whether I'd have an observing session tonight as the antibiotics for a facial infection were making themselves felt in ways other than just clearing up the infection, but it was a reasonable evening so I made myself get the scope out. In the end I was glad I did.
The collimation, for some reason, was miles out, I think it's because generations of molehills have made the ground uneven and bumpy so the tube does get banged and rattled about in the 20 seconds or so it takes to get from inside the shed to the spot I observe from, I try and position myself so an oak tree the other side of the footpath is between me and an upstairs window of a neighbour's house so there's a few feet of bumpy lawn to negotiate. It took ten minutes in the twilight to sort it out but got there in the end, dare I say it but the Moon looked good at 190x and 304x!
I stayed in Virgo, starting in the north and east of the constellation and working my way south and west, in an effort to knock off as many Herschels (400 and 400 II) in there as possible.

Date: 8th April 2011 (into the morning of 9th April)
Conditions: Cloudless but some high pressure haze, waxing crescent Moon 22% illuminated. Some dew but not as bad as the other night.
Seeing: I-II
Transparency: II-III (improved slightly later on)
NELM: I didn't look at the naked eye limiting magnitude, as I knew it'd be a bit crap thanks to the Moon. The Moon was a crescent but was substantially affecting sky conditions so I would say it was worse than 5.8 at least. It improved later, as the Moon set.
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 11mm Televue Plossl (137x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x).

MegaStar 5 chart of the main Virgo area, showing Herschel 400 objects. Click to enlarge.

NGC 4754, galaxy in Virgo - In a very pretty field with NGC 4762. 4754 is oval, elongated SW-NE. Moderately bright. The core is brighter than the halo, but not stellar. Very nice indeed. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4762, galaxy in Virgo - This one is very nice indeed. It is edge-on (edge-on galaxies are my favourites) oriented SW-NE. It has an obvious nuclear bulge and there are three bright stars immediately to the west. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4698, galaxy in Virgo - Located between a pair of mag 10 stars. Round, diffuse-looking halo brightens to a non-stellar nucleus. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4866, galaxy in Virgo - Edge on, oriented east-west. Moderately bright, despite competition from moon. There's a star superimposed on the NW side. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4550, galaxy in Virgo - In the same field as NGC 4551 where they make a nice pair. Elongated east-west. Bright, condenses to bright non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4551, galaxy in Virgo - Just east of 4550 this is smaller, rounder and not as bright. Brighter middle. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4900, galaxy in Virgo - Fairly faint diffuse oval glow elongated E-W. Condenses towards centre. Star on southern end. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4666, galaxy in Virgo - Almost edge on, oriented SW-NE. Brightens somewhat towards an elongated core. NGC 4668 in the same field. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 4668, galaxy in Virgo - This is located SE of 4666. It's a lot smaller and fainter and quite hard to see because of scattered moonlight but appeared as a soft faint glow elongated E-W. Quite small. 69x, 137x, 190x.

NGC 4665, galaxy in Virgo - Bright and round with a bright stellar core. 69x, 137x

NGC 4643, galaxy in Virgo - Small, bright and round with a stellar core. Adjacent to 11th mag star to NE. 69x, 137x.

NGC 4636, galaxy in Virgo - Round halo with bright stellar core. In a nice area. 69x, 137x.

NGC 4179, galaxy in Virgo - Lovely spindle-shaped galaxy oriented N-S. bright non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4030, galaxy in Virgo - Bright oval located between and just to the east of two 10th mag stars. Brightens to non-stellar core. Elongated SW-NE. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4303 = M61, galaxy in Virgo - Large and very bright. Oval, elongated N-S with a bright elongated core running N-S. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4273, galaxy in Virgo - A fairly faint oval, elongated N-S. Brightens gradually to core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4281, galaxy in Virgo - Just east of 4273 this is at 90 degrees to it. Oval, elongated E-W. Slightly brighter than 4273. Brightens to core which is not stellar. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4277, galaxy in Virgo - Next to 4273, this is tiny and faint, elongated N-S. 190x.

NGC 4270, galaxy in Virgo - In the same group as 4281, etc. Oval, elongated SW-NE, with some brightening towards the centre. 190x.

NGC 4261, galaxy in Virgo - Bright, round and with a bright core and almost stellar nucleus. 190x.

NGC 4264, galaxy in Virgo - Located NE of 4261 this is much smaller and fainter. The core is brighter than the halo. 190x.

NGC 4546, galaxy in Virgo - Bright oval, elongated E-W. Bright non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4697, galaxy in Virgo - Bright, oval elongated E-W. Diffuse halo condenses to core and a bright stellar nucleus. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4958, galaxy in Virgo - Bright edge on galaxy oriented NE-SW. Very bright stellar core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 4995, galaxy in Virgo - Round glow with brighter centre. 69x, 190x.

Packed up at 0130. I didn't want to but after standing for nearly four hours, my back and feet were beginning to let me know it was time to quit! Because the Moon is now substantially interfereing, this will be my last session until after Full Moon. I was a little surprised at the fact I saw all my targets, all galaxies although none were fainter than 13th magnitude.

Observing, 6th April 2011

2011-04-07T19:22:00.007+01:00

I hadn't been observing since 23rd March thanks to the weather. The one time it was clear was Friday and Saturday night last week and I couldn't observe thanks to dental problems (infected back tooth and root canal). Pity that because Friday night, especially, was as clear as clear could be with no haze and no light domes from nearby towns.
The weather this week has cleared up, although the high-pressure haze is back, so it was time to get into the galaxies. Among my targets were UGC 5470/Leo I (when Leo got high enough out of the murk), Hickson 44 and Hickson 56, as well as a few Herschel 400, and other, galaxies.

Click to enlarge photos and charts.

Date: 6th/7th April 2011
Conditions: Clear but with some haze, mist forming later, 9% illuminated waxing crescent moon. Chilly, around 9C. Very dewy.
Seeing: I
Transparency: II-III
NELM: 6.0
Equipment: 12" f/5 dobsonian, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), 5mm Televue Radian (304x)

Hickson 56, galaxy group in Ursa Major - Just south of NGC 3718 this is a small faint group. With averted vision and plenty of looking, components 56B (UGC 6527), 56C (PGC 35618; the brightest member at mag 14.8v) and 56D (PGC 35615) all seen as an elongated area of brightening. 56A (MCG+9-19-113) and 56E (PGC 35609) were not seen. 190x, 304x.

Hickson 56, chart generated with MegaStar 5

NGC 3718, galaxy in Ursa Major - Large and bright eye candy after Hickson 56. Oval, not bright. Halo round non-stellar core. Elongated north-south. 190x

NGC 3729, galaxy in Ursa Major - Next to 3718, this is smaller and fainter. Round with non-stellar core. 190x

Hickson 44, galaxy group in Leo - Easily located in the head of Leo, this is eye candy for a Hickson! Three are visible at low power (69x) while all four are visible at higher power (190x). At 190x they all fit nicely into the field of view (31')
44A (NGC 3190/Arp 316) is the brightest member of the group. Oval with a nice dust lane on the south side of the galaxy seen at 190x. 3190 is a peculiar galaxy, Arp 316
44B (NGC 3193) is a round and bright even glow located next to a mag 9 star.
44C (NGC 3185) is oval and quite faint.
44D (NGC 3187) is the dimmest member of the group at mag13.4v. Elongated streak of light just east of 44A.

Hickson 44, chart generated with MegaStar 5

NGC 3185, photo from DSS

NGC 3190 and 3187, photo from DSS

NGC 3193 and 3190, photo from DSS

UGC 5470 (Leo I), galaxy in Leo - Next to, and just above, Regulus this is easy to find but not so easy to see. It is very dim oval glow, barely seen against the sky. 101x, 190x.

Leo I, showing position just above Regulus, concentric circles are Telrad field. Chart generated with MegaStar 5.

NGC 3412, galaxy in Leo - Small, oval, bright. Bright core. 190x.

NGC 4251, galaxy in Coma Berenices - Small and bright. Elongated east-west. Bright core. 69x, 190x

Messier 84 (NGC 4374), galaxy in Virgo - Large, bright and round galaxy in a busy area stuffed with galaxies. 69x, 101x

Messier 86 (NGC 4406), galaxy in Virgo - Next to M84, this is the same size as its neighbour and almost as bright. Also round. 69x, 101x

NGC 4388, galaxy in Virgo - Adjacent to M84 and M86 and is the apex of a triangle with the two big Messier galaxies. Considerably fainter than the Messiers. Flattened oval, elongated east-west. 190x

NGC 4438, galaxy in Virgo - Moderately faint. Oval. Elongated NNE-SSW. 190x

NGC 4435, galaxy in Virgo - Brighter and slightly rounder than NGC 4438. Elongated NE-SW. 190x

NGC 4402, galaxy in Virgo - Very faint, elongated east- west. 190x.

Packed up at 0010 BST after a quick sail around Markarian's Chain. I need to get in there properly to knock off a load of Herschels but with worsening dew I decided to call it a night.

Some photos 'from the archives'

2011-04-03T20:49:00.003+01:00

My posts just recently have been a bit light on the visuals so, in the absence of any recent trips or new sketches, I have dug out some old star party photos, from my TSP visits, and here they are. I don't think I've posted them on the blog before (I don't want to become like one of the cable tv channels that only shows repeats!) but they are, or some are, on my website.
Click on each photo for sharper and, in some cases, larger ones.

Upper field 2008

L-R: Larry Mitchell, Stephen O'Meara, Alvin Huey, 'yours truly' and Robert Reeves, TSP 2006. I have since dyed my hair!!

Lower field 2008

Middle field 2008

82 inch dome at McDonald Observatory

Barbara Wilson's 20" Spacewalk dob

Alvin Huey's 30" Starmaster dob

Me at the eyepiece of Jimi Lowrey's 48". That ladder isn't as scary as it looks...it's scarier.

Upper field, dusk 2008

Dusk falls

And keeps falling

Larry Mitchell's 36" Obsession dob

12" dob, upper field 2006

Gateway to the TSP

Gate made famous in many astronomy magazine articles, books and web sites

Sunset

Fire! The 'Great TSP Fire of 2008'

Valley of the Dobs, TSP 2006

Upper field

Upper field, another view

And another view

Yet another view

Upper field 2010 - no dust! It's green!

Bob Summerfield at the eyepiece of the 36" 'Yard Scope' (originally built by Tectron Telescopes)

I love the TSP, it's definitely my favourite vacation, and I want to go back one year, hopefully in 2012. We'll see what the rest of 2011 brings...

Light trespass

2011-03-31T16:19:00.005+01:00

My observing site is rural with some skyglow from nearby towns, although this is only really noticeable when there's a lot of water vapour in the atmosphere and the sky is hazy. The house and garden are on farmland but we do have a couple of neighbours just across the public footpath which runs alongside the garden.
One set of neighbours, a retired couple, are fine, they only put lights on when needed and they don't have security lights. The ones next to them, however, have an upstairs light which is kept on - unnecessarily, in my opinion - all the time during the dark hours; normally I wouldn't object, because it's their electricity bill, but it faces my observing site. They also have a badly-aligned outside light in their garden which they switch on when they let their dog out, and this blitzes my observing area because the light goes right through the hedge - I don't blame them for lighting the way for their dog, we do the same for our three except our light is better aligned and doesn't shine anywhere else other than where it is supposed to. Our garden hedge that side (north) is quite high but the foliage doesn't cover all the gaps. It's not as bad in the summer because the leaves on the trees block out some of the light (I hope the neighbours don't decide to chop them down!).

I could do what other observers do and ask the neighbours to turn their lights off - and at least the security light isn't on all the time - but I feel awkward doing so. Therefore, I am going to rig up some sort of screen to stop the light trespass. I think the easiest way of doing this will be to put up a couple of easily removable poles and hang blackout cloth, or a large wooden panel, across them. The cloth will be easier to put up and store when not in use.

On a related note, the local council here have got a large grant from the UK government (only two other areas in the UK have got similar funding) to repair the highways, from resurfacing all the roads to renewing bus shelters to replacing the existing decades-old street lights. Apparently the new lighting is to be LEDs which will be brighter but, properly shielded, will not cause skyglow. I have read mixed things about LEDs and how they can make an illuminated area as bright as day, is this necessary? How bright do people need it to be? Is the nation really that scared of the dark? And it won't reduce crime: when living in London and Southampton, both large cities with loads of lights, I witnessed several muggings and was myself the victim of an attempted assault, all which took place at night in the full glare of the street lights. Scumbags need light to see what they're doing, same as anyone else. Night-vision CCTV would probably be more effective than brightly illuminating everywhere. But if LEDs, despite their brightness, are shielded and the horrible orange glow vanishes, to be replaced by dark skies above then I won't be complaining.
In the meantime, as this is a 25-year plan, why don't the Isle of Wight Council do what a lot of other councils are doing and switch off the lights in order to save money and reduce their carbon footprint? The IW Council is broke and having to make massive cuts yet won't turn off the lights after midnight. This makes no sense, it's the easiest way to make savings and reduce their carbon footprint, with the added benefit (and probably most important to astronomers) that we get our dark skies back. I have written to them, yet never received so much as a 'thank you for contacting us' - although I have emailed them again today. There is a so-called 'Eco Island' initiative here, where they want to decrease the carbon consumption of the Isle of Wight and increase our standard of living. This is all good stuff, but nowhere on their site have I found any references to wasteful lighting, so I have written to them, too. It will be interesting to see what their reply is, if they do reply. If they don't then we'll know it's a load of hot air, in more ways than one.

Clear skies 2010

2011-03-27T14:43:00.006+01:00

As some of you might recall, I've been keeping a (admittedly ~~probably~~ unscientific) spreadsheet of clear skies vs cloudy ones (I've had friends and relatives keep a note of sky conditions when I have been away, such as at TSP). I've made a note of clear skies, partly cloudy ones, and totally cloudy ones. Clear and partly clear both mean observationally usable ones as, even when partly clear you can still do some observing, even if it's with a pair of binoculars or half an hour with the scope.

According to my spreadsheet, 2010 had 111 totally clear nights, which is 30% of the total nights of the year. That's nearly one third which, considering a lot of people think the UK has a largely unfavourable climate is better than you'd think, and that's despite the horrible harsh and cloudy winter we've just had.
Clear and partly clear, added together, comes to 169 nights or 46%. That's getting on for HALF of the nights here in this part of England being usable for astronomy during 2010. Quite a surprise. Unfortunately, as ever, there's a caveat - the clearest time is May, June and July when all-night astronomical twilight keeps deep sky observing to a minimum. However, I will make a resolution to use those nights to observe and sketch the brighter DSOs, such as the Messier and brighter NGC nebulae and clusters, rather than just waste them. Maybe I will observe the planets, if any are around, as well. It will be a nice throw back to the time, 19 years ago, when I first got into observing and observed all through the summer twilight - my observing notes throughout the 1990s and early 2000s go right through June and July, no complaints about the twilit nights there!

So far in 2011, 24% of nights have been clear and 29% have been clear or partly clear, mostly during March. I will admit to not taking full advantage of them, mostly because they have coincided with the Moon's gibbous and full phases.

Looking at all the clear skies we've had - and I hope 2011 and beyond follow suit - I am going to make more of an effort to make use of them. It's not always possible to use every clear night, of course, as life tends to get in the way, as does tiredness and - let's be honest - laziness, but using half or more would be great.

Yep, Britain has got a reputation for being fairly useless astronomy-wise but - and it does depend on where you live, as we have a varied climate for such a small archipelago - it's not quite as bad as some people think. Most people work the usual 9am-5pm Monday to Friday routine and, as such, can only observe at weekends and on vacations, so they tend only to look at the sky then. That tends to give the impression that it's semi-permanently cloudy, as they are only looking through a small window of time so, statistically it's bound to give a skewed impression.
I am lucky though, in that I live in one of the clearest areas of Britain. The Isle of Wight, just off the south coast, has got one of the highest sunshine totals of anywhere in the country and this also means more clear nights. No, the UK isn't brilliant and we'd all like 300+ clear nights a year but you'd have to move to somewhere like Arizona for that - although I don't deny that if the opportunity presented itself I'd be off like a shot!

Thursday evening at the local astro society

2011-03-25T14:03:00.007Z

The weather recently has been clear, but murky, and last night was no exception. I went to our local society's observatory last night (every Thursday is the open evening and we usually get a mix of members and sometimes interested members of the public) and we took out some scopes, including a 10" Orion Intelliscope.
Unfortunately the mist and murk were worse than the previous night and we only were able to look at the brightest Messiers. Galaxies, as expected, were worst hit and even normally good Messier galaxies were almost obliterated. We did look at M105, NGC 3384, M65 and M66 (NGC 3628, one of the Leo Triplet with M65 and 66, was utterly wiped out by the murk), M81, M82, open clusters M93 and M46 (not a bad view despite their low altitude in Puppis and the misty conditions), perennial faves M42 and M43, plus the attractive blue and yellow double star Iota Cancri and, later when it rose, Saturn, whose rings have opened up since I last saw it.

I have never used an Intelliscope before. The concept is similar to the Argo Navis system, a digital setting circle. You enter your wanted Messier or NGC number, the display shows some numbers, which are how far you need to push the scope in altitude and azimuth to get to where you are going, along with arrows showing which direction you need to push the scope. The numbers get lower the nearer you are and when you arrive at the location the display will read 0<>0 0<>0. The society's Intelliscope was a little off, with the objects being just out of the field of view, but not by much. It's a neat system and I'd like a similar thing for my scope, maybe an Argo Navis, one day.

Despite the crap conditions it was a nice evening and we also spent the time putting the world to rights as well as observing. It was disappointing though, that only a handful of us were outside, with most people choosing to sit inside the building and chat. It's an astronomy society, so it would be nice if everyone was outside but that seems to be the difference betwen UK and US amateurs. Over there, it seems to be a more vibrant and active scene.

Clocks go forward on Sunday morning. Yuck.

Observing, 23rd March 2011

2011-03-24T11:27:00.002Z

With the waning gibbous Moon not now rising until a minute after midnight (after one of the brightest full Moons in 20 years, thanks to it being at perigee), I hauled the 12" out for a galaxy-hunting session in Leo. We've had a nice run of lovely spring weather just recently, with lots of sunshine and some warmth, which makes a nice change after the coldest and cloudiest winter I can remember. Unfortunately, this has coincided with the rise of the Moon, so deep sky observing has been out of the question, but I've gone out several times with the binoculars for a general look round.

Date: 23rd March 2011
Conditions: Chilly (8C/46F), clear but murky; mist was coming down and making the skyglow worse. Very dewy indeed.
Transparency: III-IV (murk wiped out some of the fainter galaxies)
Seeing: II
NELM: Around 5.8
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x)

NGC 3628, galaxy in Leo - Fairly large, low surface brightness but not too faint. Elongated east-west. Dust lane visible with averted vision. In the 8mm Radian (190x) it stretches across the field of view. One of the 'Leo Trio' with M65 and M66. 69x, 101x, 190x

NGC 3593, galaxy in Leo - Fairly faint, elongated E-W oval. Brightens to a non-stellar core. 69x, 190x

NGC 3379, galaxy in Leo - M105, one of the Messier objects in the H400. Very bright. Round with gradual brightening towards the centre. Makes an attractive pair with NGC 3384. Nice. 69x, 190x.

NGC 3384, galaxy in Leo - Next to M105 this isn't quite as bright and is slightly smaller. Brightens slightly towards its centre. 69x, 190x

NGC 3389, galaxy in Leo - Much fainter than 3379 and 3384. Elongated east-west. Featureless. Not easily seen at 69x, needs more magnification to be seen well. 69x, 101x, 190x

NGC 3379, 3384 and 3389 all fit into the same field of view at all powers (69x, 101x, 190x).

NGC 3377, galaxy in Leo - Bright oval. Oriented east-west. Bright, non-stellar core. 69x, 190x

NGC 3810, galaxy in Leo - Dim. Oval. Slightly brighter core. 69x, 190x.

NGC 3640, galaxy in Leo - Bright and round. Brightens gradually to a non-stellar core. I looked for the tiny companion, NGC 3641, but only suspected I saw it. That will definitely have to wait for a less murky evening. 69x, 190x

NGC 3900, galaxy in Leo - Fairly bright. Oval, elongated north-south. Brightens gradually to core. 69x, 190x

I packed up at 2145 because it was getting mistier, murkier and generally yucky, causing lots of light scatter that you don't normally see here, and the galaxies were getting wiped out. This takes me up to 140 out of the 400 Herschel objects, which is 35% of the total. I still have five objects in Leo to do, so hopefully I can get these remaining ones within the next few weeks. I know that, in order to complete the H400, I am going to have to go further south, either to the Canary Islands or TSP again one year - but that is no hardship!

Here's the so-called 'supermoon' (which is what the media were calling it), one day after full, as it rose. I leaned out of an upstairs window, while handholding my Canon 7D and 400mm lens. It was low down and very golden. Even for a deep sky person it was a very attractive sight!

I haven't given up on sketching, it's because I want to get as much done of the Herschel 400 as possible so, for the time being, I am just finding things and doing written descriptions of them. I will go back to sketching as soon as possible.
I have got exciting news, but more on that soon...

Observing 9th March 2011

2011-03-10T17:56:00.005Z

Date: 9th March 2011
Conditions: Chilly, no wind at first but increased later on. Waxing crescent Moon was a bit of a nuisance and interfered slightly. Some drifting cloud
Seeing I
Transparency III-IV
Equipment: 12" Dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x)

NGC 2129, open cluster in Gemini - Totally dominated by 2 8th mag stars; the rest are much fainter (11th mag) plus some much fainter ones. At 69x it's hazy but is resolved at 101x. Bright, not scattered, quite compact. 69x, 101x

NGC 2266, open cluster in Gemini - Triangular haze with three slightly brighter stars in a line along SE side. One bright star at tip. Compressed, quite rich and partly resolved using averted vision at 101x. 69x, 101x

NGC 2304, open cluster in Gemini - Scattering of stars in semi-circle. There are 4 or 5 brighter stars with more scattered around. Fairly bright. 69x, 101x.

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini - Faint at 69x. Irregular. 69x shows dozens of faint stars on a misty background. At 101x the misty background has a vague S-shape. 69x, 101x.

NGC 2395, open cluster in Gemini - Irregular group of fairly bright stars plus fainter ones. Not rich. About 15 bright stars plus a couple of dozen or so fainter ones. Elongated N-S. 69x, 101x.

NGC 2420, open cluster in Gemini - Moderately faint patch. Rich, concentrated, fairly large. At 69x it's mostly unresolved mist but at 101x there are 14 or so brighter stars scattered across a background of unresolved stars. 69x, 101x.

Packed up at 2100 because the sky was getting murkier. I have now finished the H400 in Gemini, these were what was left over from last year.

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

Space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth for the last time yesterday. The shuttle program is nearly at an end, with only an Endeavour mission and a possible Atlantis mission, both to the ISS, left. It's a shame that, when Atlantis lands for the final time (if her mission gets approved), the shuttles will never fly in space again, instead finding themselves as museum pieces.

Observing 7th March 2011

2011-03-07T21:59:00.010Z

Finally! After five months of endless cloud and the odd clear spell being around a gibbous or full Moon, I have actually managed to do some observing! It's been a totally cloudless day, a rarity in itself over this winter (which has been the cloudiest winter for 50 years, as well as one of the coldest), and the clouds stayed away as it got dark so I opened the shed and pulled out the scope. Everything seemed fine, the collimation was not too far out and the shed and silica gel had done their job of keeping the scope protected during some fierce winter storms and snow and the mirrors mould-free.

Date: 7th March 2011
Conditions: Chilly, cloudless, slight breeze with one or two stronger gusts that banged shed doors, no dew, no frost. That horrible light mentioned in my previous post has now gone!
Seeing: I
Transparency: II-III
NELM: 5.8-6.0
Equipment: 12" dob with 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), UHC, OIII filters.

I decided to knock off the remaining Herschel 400s I had left to do in Orion, left over from last year. The one failure was NGC 1788, no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find this little bugger. I think it had got too low.

NGC 2169, open cluster in Orion - This is an interesting cluster which looks like the number 37, upside down. The '7' is the westernmost part of the cluster. It has three bright stars and four fainter ones which make up the number 7.
The '3' is slightly larger and brighter than the '7', it also has three bright stars plus one slightly fainter one and six much fainter ones. There is a clear gap between the two components with no stars between them.. Very attractive. 69x, 101x

The sketch of 2169, below is not recent. It's a sketch I did some years ago but I thought I'd add it in to give an idea of what it looks like.

NGC 2194, open cluster in Orion - Easy to find. Quite faint but rich. There are a few quite faint, but distinct, stars in front of many, many fainter ones. Partly resolved. Detached - stands out well despite faintness. 69x, 101x

NGC 2186, open cluster in Orion - Awkward to find, especially as it's not shown on my Sky Atlas 2000.0 so I had to come back to the house and print off a MegaStar chart with telrad circles on it. Not easy with one eye tightly shut to preserve its night vision! Located within a triangle of bright stars, which points east. Faint. Poor. Not concentrated. 69x.

Hunted for NGC 1788. Got annoyed with it and gave up as I just could *not* locate the thing, so I moved on.

NGC 1999, reflection nebula in Orion - This was easy to find, as it is located just south of the Orion's Sword complex. Small, round and bright. Fuzzy with brighter middle. UHC does not improve the view much if any while OIII is totally useless. 69x, 101x, UHC, OIII.

It was a short session, slightly under a couple of hours. I'd inevitably forgotten a few items, such as printing off MegaStar charts and other bits I had to return to the house for, but it was a good session and I'm pleased. It's nice to be back, although I'd not been idle because I'd done a lot of birding (my other interest) over the winter. The Moon's on the rise again so, after this coming weekend, it might be a while before my next session. And I managed to avoid trampling the daffodils too badly in my observing patch, there were casualties but only one or two.

This is the sort of weather we've had over the winter (observing shed is the grey one in the background). Cloud, cold and more snow than usual.

I never did get to the Isle of Wight Star Party this year. I intended to, but caught a bad cold so, deciding that I would not be thanked for sharing (as well as not feeling like standing around in the dark with it) I didn't go.

Isle of Wight Star Party

2011-01-14T16:44:00.000Z

Registration for the 4th Isle of Wight Star Party opens on Monday, 17th December. The 2011 star party dates are 3rd to 7th March inclusive. So, if you're a serious observer or - dare I say it?! - imager, and fancy a few days in a picturesque place with dark - and hopefully clear - skies, then you're welcome to register and join in.
I've already bagged a room, no freezing in a tent this year.

2011

2011-01-03T18:51:00.002Z

It seems like ages since I've posted and, indeed, it IS ages since I've posted. The reason is that I have very little to write about; we have had near unbroken cloud cover for over two months and the rare night it has been clear, or partly clear, there's been snow on the ground and it's been too cold and unfavourable for observing.

Added to which, I've developed a potentially serious liver problem (I have an enlarged and painful liver) and find bending around, e.g. to look through the finder or moved the scope in and out of the shed, difficult. It's hopefully not life-threatening or anything like that but it is a nuisance. As to what the problem actually is, time and MRI scans will tell. The annoying thing is I am not a heavy drinker and, apart from getting a bit pissed at parties during my 20's, I never have been.

The Webb Society AGM got postponed due to heavy snow so my talk will have to wait until the late spring or early summer when it is rescheduled.

Watching the news over the last few days made me think back to my trips to Australia. They are having their wettest summer in 100 years and half of Queensland is under water, while it is also raining in Sydney where the first day of the fifth and final Ashes Test is affected by the wet stuff. Last year, it rained a LOT when I was there and it was frustrating both for observing and birding. While it's an awful situation to be in, having your premises flooded and possessions ruined, with no end in sight and I certainly take no pleasure in seeing the disaster unfold on the news, I can't help thinking back to a Greyhound Australia coach driver last year, who could not resist the temptation to brag to the Poms on his bus about how we British 'f**ked up' (his words) by sending the convicts Down Under while continuing to live in the cold wet British Isles. "Mate, we live in paradise" he boasted to me. I am not sure about that at present, especially as his home town is Rockhampton which is currently being inundated by rising water.
Listening to some Australians, you'd think it's endless sunshine there and they certainly like sticking it to us Europeans about how crap our weather is compared to theirs but, in truth, it's not like that, even accounting for freak weather. Southern NSW and Victoria, especially the Melbourne area, has - or can have - very British weather, as does Tasmania.
I also can't help thinking Australia's climate is changing, certainly in the east, although I expect this is likely to be temporary. The years-long drought is over and it's cloudier and rainier more than it used to be. Every time I see posts from Aussie observers on forums such as Ice In Space, clouds and rain seem to be a bigger issue than in previous years with no end in sight.
Anyway, I hope it doesn't get any worse for them and that the weather clears up soon and it goes back to being a little slice of paradise because it is a pretty place. Good luck to the flood victims in Queensland, it is a horrible situation for them.

Now, the Ashes series...despite having already retained the little urn, I now hope England crush Australia in the final Test and win the series 3-1... :-D

'Stargazing Live' starts on the BBC for three nights tonight. Unfortunately the weather does not look as it it will co-operate. The Vectis AS has a public observing night on Wednesday the 5th and we currently have our fingers crossed for a clear evening.

I have no no plans for 2011 regarding travel. I am not going to TSP this year and the only astronomy-related things I have planned are the Isle of Wight Star Party and, depending on when it is re-scheduled, the Webb AGM. I do hope we get some good clear nights as my observing program has stalled, thanks to near-endless clouds, and I have made no inroads into the Herschel 400 or the Herschel II (which I am also doing at the same time) at all this winter.

Anyway, Happy New Year and may we all have many clear nights in 2011.

Still here

2010-11-14T11:57:00.008Z

I am still here, although I have done absolutely zero observing since 11th October, due mainly to near-endless clouds and rain. We've had a month's rain alone this past week and force 9 gales, gusting to storm force 10 on Tuesday and Thursday but, luckily, my observing shed has held up well in the face of the violent weather, it's still standing and has let in no water, despite the combination of force 10 gusts and horizontal, torrential rain.

The only astronomy-related thing I have done recently is, with a fellow member of VAS, a talk at a primary school about astronomy. Children are not my favourite demographic as I don't really have any real rapport with them, but it was an enjoyable evening, nonetheless, with a good turnout despite the atrocious weather and the kids, although they could fidget for England (one was totally hyperactive and slightly annoying) were interested, surprisingly knowledgeable - except one who said that loads of security lights and street lamps were a good thing! - and asked some good questions. Even their parents didn't ask stupid questions! It had originally been planned to be an observing session but conditions were downright dangerous outside with severe gales and flying debris, so it was downscaled to a presentation istead.
The reason I was there was that, during a committee meeting of VAS (the first after the AGM) they needed what is rather grandly titled 'Outreach and events liason officer' and asked for volunteers. None were forthcoming and I - reluctantly, it has to be said as I am not into outreach whatsoever; I can see the value of it, but it is not for me because on a clear night, I'd rather be doing my own thing - agreed to take on the role. So, I have to be seen to go to the events.

It's Remembrance Sunday and I'm watching the Cenotaph coverage on BBC1. The sheer scale of death and destruction caused by war just goes to show how pointlessly stupid war is, and how insanely destructive the human species can be. We trash the environment, we kill other species and we fight endlessly over ridiculous things such as religion, land and one country looking at another the wrong way. It's politicians who are stupid, not the sailors, soldiers and airmen who have to fight the wars; the armed forces are, as someone once said, "lions led by donkeys".
Not only that, we're in constant danger, if the goverment and media are to be believed, of being blown up by brainwashed morons and lunatics with a warped view of Islam. How can a species - us - that does fantastic things such as space travel, science (when it is not abused), astronomy, make music and build great ships, etc, also be such a stupid one? We are obviously not as advanced or as civilised as we like to think we are. Maybe one day, we'll grow up a bit.
And that's my 'deep' bit for this year. And I'm not usually as misanthropic as this either! Oh, and the 'Last Post' gets you *right there* doesn't it?

On a more cheerful note, after the largely downbeat nature of this post, I am tentatively planning a trip to the southern hemisphere at the end of next year or beginning of 2012. I want to see the southern sky again and, as the 20" plans are unlikely to happen for a long time for various reasons, I have decided to do the cheaper option. I'm considering Australia again and I'd like to go during their summer (our winter) for two reasons. Firstly, I'd like to see the southern summer skies, which I have not done and, secondly, escaping least one crappy, dismal UK winter is an appealing prospect if only for three or four weeks. The Aussie weather should, at least, be better in November-February than it was in May last year and, in any case, will be far better than the cold, wind and rain of north-western Europe.

Also, I am giving a talk at the Webb Deep Sky Society AGM in Cambridge on 4th December. Owen Brazell emailed me and asked if I'd be prepared to give a talk about the Texas Star Party so I thought 'why not?' and agreed. I'll do it as a Power Point presentation with loads of pictures of big scopes, scenery and night skies. Getting to Cambridge is a pain from the Isle of Wight but, hopefully, I can get a lift up there. I'm looking forward to it, actually, because I have not been to a Webb meeting since 2005 and it will be nice to catch up with people again.

Bugger

2010-10-28T18:36:00.001+01:00

It looks like the 20" project's on hold for a bit, maybe indefinitely but most probably not. Life's got in the way and I've found I need to put the money I've saved so far to other uses. So, I have to start again from the beginning, which is a bit of a bugger to say the least. The trouble is, while astronomy's my biggest interest, other things sometimes have to take precedence and, being on a low income, such as I am, I have very little spare so when things get chucked at you out of the blue then the savings need to be sacrificed.

Oh well, I'll start again and see how far I get this time before the car breaks, I get hit for a tax demand, the dog gets sick, something else breaks...

Comet 103P/Hartley 2

2010-10-11T22:11:00.002+01:00

It's slightly murkier tonight with clouds moving in, so I decided to just go out with the binoculars and track down the latest comet to grace our skies, Comet 103P/Hartley 2. I have a big soft spot for comets because they look like deep sky objects but are transient, and only visit us for a short time. Comets can go either way, they can either be big and bright and even Joe and Jane Public are aware of their presence or they can be tiny, small, faint and elusive. As comet hunter and deep sky observer David Levy once said 'Comets are like cats. They have tails and do precisely what they want', indeed comets that have been predicted to be bright have been disappointing and vice versa. Sometimes comets that have been predicted to be big and bright have been just that but, comets often prove astronomers wrong!

103P/Hartley 2 is not bright but it is big. It's also obvious in a pair of 8x42 binoculars and I found it quite easily where it presently lies in Perseus. It's heading towards Auriga and is supposed to brighten by the end of the month but, as is usual, the Moon will interfere.
In the binoculars it was large - much larger than I expected, ever so slightly elongated, diffuse and with a brighter core. It also looks quite green.

I took a couple of photos of the comet, and have indicated it with an arrow pointing towards it. The photos illustrate not only the comet but also why I am not an astrophotographer - they are not the best! They were taken with my Canon 40D and a 70-200mm lens at f4. Click for enlargements.

Observing 10th October 2010

2010-10-11T17:33:00.000+01:00

After seemingly endless clouds, gales, rain and murk for the past few weeks, the sky finally cleared and I was able to get out and knock off some Herschels last night, 10th October.
I decided to stay entirely within the borders of Cassiopeia and the list was mostly open clusters, apart from one galaxy. I'd already done some of the H400 objects within the constellation but still had a lot more to do. I also looked at non-NGC clusters that were nearby.

Date: 10th October 2010
Conditions: Cloudless, cool (10C), no dew, a little mist
Seeing: I, excellent
Transparency: II-III
NELM: 6.2
Equipment: 12" f/5 Dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), UHC filter

NGC 129, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Large and fairly rich. Triangular with dark area cutting through it. 69x

NGC 136, open cluster in Cassiopeia - A bit of a bugger to locate as it's faint. Round, nebulous background with a scattering of faint stars on top. Pretty boring. 69x

NGC 225, open cluster in Cassiopeia - A complete contrast to the previous cluster. Bright, large, irregular, loose cluster. 21 bright stars plus some fainter ones among the bright ones. 69x

NGC 381, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Faint, rich and round. Detached. A chain of stars goes north from the main body of the cluster. Nice. 69x

NGC 436, open cluster in Cassiopeia - In same field of view at 69x as NGC 457 (also on the H400 list, but I'd observed this at an earlier date) and they both make a lovely sight. 436 is a small knot of stars and is irregularly shaped. Fairly rich with half a dozen or so brighter stars and many more fainter ones resolved. 69x, 101x

NGC 559, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Quite rich but relatively faint. Compressed. Some brighter stars (around mag 12) superimposed on a hazy background. Nice. 69x

NGC 637, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Compact and fairly bright o.c. There are seven brighter stars, plus more in the background. Crescent shaped. There's a double star just to the east. 69x, 101x

NGC 185, galaxy in Cassiopeia - Elongated glow, NE-SW with some concentration towards the centre. Core's not stellar, more diffuse. Quite large. 69x, 101x

NGC 7789, open cluster in Cassiopeia - This one's an absolute beauty. It's very large and extremely rich in fairly faint stars. There are no bright stars anywhere in this cluster but it's now definitely one of my favourites. The cluster is round, and the stars are all of the same, or similar, magnitudes and there's a hazy background hinting at even more stars - there must be hundreds.
There are also dark areas, semi circular patterns and this makes the cluster look like a rose seen face on. 69x, 101x.

NGC 7790, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Small, compressed, quite faint, irregular open cluster. Extends east-west. 69x, 101x

NGC 7788, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Just north of 7790, this is a larger, looser, brighter, sparser cluster than 7790 is. Irregular. 69x, 101x

Frolov 1, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Not much to write home about! Very small and sparse. The stars are faint and scattered. 101x

Harvard 21, open cluster in Cassiopeia - A scattered faint group of 8 stars. Irregular. 69x, 101x

King 12, open cluster in Cassiopeia - A small, bright knot NW of H21. Two bright stars and a lot of fainter ones. Compressed, not rich. 69x, 101x

NGC 654, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Nice o.c. Not round but irregular. Compressed. Quite bright. Nice. 69x, 101x

NGC 1027, open cluster in Cassiopeia - Large, irregular, bright o.c. Rich. Identified by 7th magnitude star near the centre. Other stars and 5th and 6th magnitude plus many fainter ones. 69x

Melotte 15, o.c. with nebulosity in Cassiopeia - Large, irregular sparse cluster. The nebulosity is only visible with the UHC filter. 69x, UHC filter.

I packed up at 2215, after an excellent session.

Parapher...parerfern...observing stuff

2010-10-01T19:38:00.007+01:00

While I like to keep observing simple, none of that fiddly imaging stuff for me(!), I do still end up taking quite a bit of observing paraphernalia with me every observing session. I keep my eyepieces in the house, as well as my notebooks, etc, for security and also so they don't get damp. My Star Atlas 2000.0 stays in a box in the shed, it's already got damp on numerous occasions, is a bit mouldy in places and is eminently un-nickable.

Here are the items - apart from my scope - that I use each time I go observing:

A bag to put everything (excluding eyepieces) in:

A ring-binder for my observing lists and printed MegaStar charts:

Sketchbook:

Notebook (for those times where I don't do sketches although it comes every session as it's also a logbook for each session):

Sketching/writing stuff. Pens, pencils - mechanical pencils and graphite sticks - chamois for smudging nebulae, etc), tortillon, clip-on red torch, round template for sketches (plastic lid off coffee cup), putty eraser and eraser shield, all stored in a handy artist's case which I got from a local art shop:

The Night Sky Observers Guide; if I do take them out I usually only take one out at a time and I use them for checking observations afterwards, although normally I wait until I get back indoors. Before I had the shed, I would never take them outside, too expensive to ruin!

The all-important dim red torch. This one has adjustable LEDs.

And my case of eyepieces and other scope bits and pieces:

The bits and pieces, except the Night Sky Observer's Guides which stay on my bookshelf, are kept in the bag and it, the case and a flask of tea or coffee, get carried up the garden in one go; I can carry all that lot at once, because the bag has a shoulder strap, so unless I've forgotten something, I don't need to return to the house.

The weather is currently atrocious and I've not been observing for a while. I did get out last week, around full Moon when it was (typically!) clear and looked at Jupiter and Uranus with my 3.5" refractor; with enough magnification I managed to see Uranus as a disk, which was good. That was an interesting diversion but I've done no deep sky since the early morning of September 17th.

This was the dismal view from the kitchen window this afternoon, and there's at least another week of this crap to come, due to deep lows in the Atlantic (sometimes I find myself wishing the damn thing would dry up!). Fortunately my observing shed, in the far distance in the photo, appears to be holding up in the face of the gales and rain. Touch wood!

A blast from the past

2010-09-22T18:49:00.009+01:00

After a break of some years, I have found myself back on the committee of our local astronomy society. We're in the process of tidying up the observatory, a process which we began yesterday evening, and when I looked in the secure storage where the scopes are kept I found a familiar-looking 6" dob. It has an orange tube made from a gas pipe and a plywood base, and it was wearing a very fetching floral-patterned shower cap which I removed for the photos. I am pretty sure it is not my old 6", as I don't remember mine having the aluminium ring around the top of the tube (or the floral-patterned cap!), but otherwise it is identical. Several of these were made and some are still kicking around somewhere, presumably including mine since I offloaded it.

It was nice to see the old thing, it brought back some nice memories of finding my first deep sky objects with my own, very first, astronomical telescope!
During the meeting it was mentioned that it was the society's 35th anniversary coming up. It occurred to me that I have been a member for 18 years, I joined in summer 1992 - I was a 'mere slip of a thing' then, as a member, one of my oldest astronomy friends, jokingly said to me. Nowadays, while I am by no means fat, you can't say that I am a 'mere slip', unfortunately!

Observing, early morning 17th September 2010

2010-09-17T19:30:00.006+01:00

The was taken tonight, not last night, but is otherwise identical. Lovely pink sunset with the promise of things to come.

The forecast looked good but, unfortunately, a waxing gibbous Moon was in the way, not setting until 0020 BST (one of life's mysteries is this - why does a waning Moon seem to take forever getting out of the way, yet the waxing stage seems really quick, only slowing down as it approaches Full Moon?). Because of this I decided not to go outside until it was out of the way, although I can never take a nap in these situations!

Date: 17th September 2010; 0130-0300 BST (0030-0200 GMT/UT)
Conditions: Cool, totally cloudless, no wind, slightly dewy
Seeing: Ant II-III
Transparency: I (excellent) - II (very good) later (M33 visible with unaided eye)
NELM: 6.5+
Equipment: 12" f/5 Dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 11mm Televue Plossl (138x)

NGC 1857, open cluster in Auriga - Faint, fairly rich, irregular. 69x, 101x

NGC 1175, galaxy in Perseus - Faint, not quite round. Diffuse elongated core. 69x, 138x

NGC 1177, galaxy in Perseus - NE of 1175. Very faint indeed. Barely seen. Possibly elongated. 138x

NGC 1245, open cluster in Perseus - Very nice large irregular cluster. Faint, fairly rich. Many faint stars. 69x, 138x.

I packed up at 0300 BST after a less successful session than I hoped for; I couldn't seem to track down most of the Herschel IIs I went for, yet there was nothing wrong with the sky conditions, however I put that down to being tired. An example of tiredness-related cock-ups was when I made some soup and attempted to defrost some bread in the microwave - I ended up nuking it because I pressed the wrong button! Still, an observing session with four objects is better than no observing session at all and a lot better than my sorry effort the other evening (9th September 2010).

However, observing in the early a.m. is a nice way to spend the time, maybe better than evening sessions. There is no-one around at all and it is very quiet, although when I dropped an eyepiece on the shed floor - fortunately without damage - it sounded like an explosion! Likewise when I went back to the kitchen to make the soup, the kettle sounded as loud as a volcano.

Apart from the sound of the horses in the next field, the snoring of my darling dog in her basket, the rustle and squeaks of rats and mice in the hedge and the snuffling of a badger in the lane, there were no other noises. That’s how I like my observing sounds to be. No machines, no loud TVs from the neighbours across the way, no music, just animals and the other sounds of the night.

Observing 12/13th September 2010

2010-09-13T15:36:00.004+01:00

'I got the poison, I got the remedy, I got the pulsating rhythmical remedy'

...so goes the lyric of Prodigy's song Poison, and fairly appropriate as they were coming down the valley loud and clear from the 'Bestival' last night - also appropriate as I found a Death Cap toadstool in the garden yesterday, which I promptly threw in the bin out of reach of the dogs (DCs are the most poisonous toadstools known). I like the Prodigy, but I don't like the light pollution from the festival that was wiping out the north western, and most of the western, sky or Rob da Bank's DJ set of bad music that went on to almost 4am this morning (1am's fine, but later than that is not. I bet they've pissed off the entire Arreton valley). At least that's over for another year.

The weather forecast called for it to clear at sunset, the BBC (Met Office) said it would be clear all night but the others (Accuweather, Metcheck and The Weather Outlook) disagreed, forecasting it to be partly clear, and, in the end, they were right and the BBC were wrong.

Would this clear? Btw, the tree is dead but the birds like it so it stays

Conditions: Cool, but not cold, some drifting clouds at first, becoming murkier later. Slight dew.
Seeing: Ant II, very good
Transparency: III to IV later (III. Clear, some haze visible. Milky Way still visible but not detailed; IV. Milky skies, moderately hazy but observing of brighter NGCs doable/drifting cloud).
Equipment: 12" f/5 dob, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), OIII filter. MegaStar 5 chart printouts, Sky Atlas 2000.0, Pocket Sky Atlas and NSOG Vols I and II

NGC 6996, open cluster in Cygnus - Located within NGC 7000 (the North America Nebula). Spiral shaped cluster of 30+ fairly faint stars. Spiral is anti-clockwise. Fainter stars among the brighter ones. Chain loops off to north before turning west. Quite large. Moderately rich. Observation interfered with by drifting clouds. 69x.

NGC 6824, galaxy in Cygnus - People think of Cygnus as a realm of open clusters, PNes and nebulae, but galaxies lurk here too. Fairly bright and easy to find as it stands out against the background sky. Almost round. Brightens gradually towards the core. Core diffuse, not bright. 69x, 190x.

NGC 6894, planetary nebula in Cygnus - A bit of a sod to find, faint and quite small. Not helped by milky sky. At low power, there is a hint of something fuzzy and oval. An OIII filter brings it out as a filled-in oval. At high power, and with the OIII, it has a darker middle and looks annular. 69x, 190x, OIII filter.

The latter observation was being affected by the fireworks from the festival, I could see the flashes in the eyepiece while looking at NGC 6894, which was hard enough to see as it was. So I abandoned Cygnus and moved over to Triangulum and Aries, which were just clearing next door's oak trees from my position.

NGC 772, galaxy in Aries - Round, quite faint (low), condenses to non-stellar, but obvious, core. 69x, 101x.

NGC 672, galaxy in Triangulum - Quite faint, elongated west-east. No brightening in centre. Faint halo around bar. IC 1727 nearby but very faint that I want another look at it on a better night. 69x, 101x, 190x.

NGC 925, galaxy in Triangulum - Elongated, faint. Evenly bright with halo. Some foreground stars. 69x, 190x

NGC 890, galaxy in Triangulum - Round, bright. Bright non-stellar core. 69x, 190x.

By now, just before 0100 BST (midnight GMT/UT), the sky was getting progressively worse, with a lot of murk scattering light about so I packed in. There were a few other objects I hunted for, among them NGC 1156 and NGC 1012, both in Aries, as well as NGC 6857 in Cygnus and the infamous NGC 6772 in Aquila but these were all wiped out by murk and will have to wait until a better night.

And the award for...

2010-09-10T20:46:00.005+01:00

... 'Fewest Objects Observed in One Session' goes to me for last night's pathetic effort. The forecast wasn't promising although it was predicted to cloud over around midnight, which would have left me with best part of three hours observing time. Unfortunately things didn't work out as intended. Firstly, for some reason, my collimation was way out, probably as a result of wheeling the scope across a rough part of the lawn, so it took me a few minutes to sort that out and secondly, I wasted ages - again - looking for the planetary nebula NGC 6772 in Aquila which, for some reason, I failed to find.
By the time I'd given up on NGC 6772, clouds were moving in, earlier than the forecasters predicted so there was nothing for it other than to wheel the scope back in and shut up shop. The upshot of all this was that I observed precisely zero objects in one hour, with the sole exception of a glance at Jupiter while aligning my finders. And a creepy-crawly fell on me! I hate creepy-crawlies, especially spiders, of which there are a lot around this autumn. All, with the backdrop of sounds coming down the valley from the 2010 Bestival. A cry of "Rock and f*cking roll!!" was heard at one point! At least, I think that's what he said!

So, why have I failed, on two seperate occasions, to find NGC 6772? It's in the Herschel II list so it's not terribly easy but it shouldn't be that hard either and, as someone who has plenty of experience, I would *expect* to be able to find it! NGC 6772 is not marked on Sky Atlas 2000.0 so I printed off a chart from Megastar 5, complete with Telrad circles, and used that. Despite this, I came up empty-handed. The Night Sky Observer's Guide Vol II has descriptions of this from 8/10" scopes so why was I failing to find the little bugger with a 12" with decent, clean optics under dark skies?
I think the problem is that Aquila is getting low and its altitude isn't favourable by the time its dark enough for observing at this time of the year and, as 6772 has quite a low surface brightness any little bit of murk would wipe it out and the past two observing sessions haven't been the most transparent. I will have to wait until next year when Aquila is higher during darkness, or catch it during the early hours in spring.

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

My mum and stepfather moved house from Wootton to Niton last week, so my aunt and me went over to help mum with the last of the packing and the cleaning (steppy had already cleared off!) and it was the end of an era in some ways. We - myself, mum, my sister and stepfather - moved in during November 1984 (I was 14 at the time) and, in the early 1990s, the garden was my first ever observing site where I'd set up my tiny birding scope, my 10x50 binoculars sellotaped(!) to a tripod and, then, my first proper astronomical telescope which was a 6 inch reflector made from a gas pipe, some plywood and a mirror set purchased from David Hinds.
I took my compact camera with me and grabbed a few shots in between packing up and washing floors and walls.

My first ever observing site, looking east. My scope would go where the veg patch is (it was all lawn then)

Looking south (the trees have grown a lot since then)


Many a happy hour was spent in here (the conservatory) planning observing sessions and reading Sky and Telescope, Webb Society journals and astronomy books!

When we drove off, following the removal truck to their new place in Niton, I had mixed feelings. While my teenage years living there weren't the best (an understatement as they absolutely sucked!), it was my first observing site and brought back memories of the excitement of my early years in astronomy. I also lived back there for a few months immediately prior to my 1997 observing trip to Australia and clearly remember the exciting times then when planning that trip. I love the memories of those times and it was nice to revisit them, albeit briefly.

Observing 3rd/4th September 2010

2010-09-04T23:16:00.001+01:00

Another clear night, another observing session. That's four in a week! I missed a couple of nights over the course of the week as they were murky and foggy and therefore no good for deep sky observing. Last night started off a little murky but gradually improved as the night went on.

Date: 3rd/4th September 2010
Conditions: Cool but not that chilly, a bit murky at first but improving later. No Moon. Started off clear, clouding over later.
Seeing: A I, superb.
Transparency: III, improving to II later (until clouds came)
NELM: 6.1 to 6.5 later on
Instrument: 12" f/5 dobsonian, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), 5mm Radian (304x), OIII filter

NGC 6804, galaxy in Aquila - Faint, slightly oval, stellar core. 69x, 190x

NGC 6772, planetary nebula in Aquila - I wasted more than 30 minutes looking for this (not plotted on atlases) and eventually gave up. Annoying. Will have another go at this with a MegaStar chart I've just printed out.

NGC 7448, galaxy in Pegasus - Bright, elongated NW-SE. Brightens gradually towards the centre. 69x, 190x

NGC 7814, galaxy in Pegasus - Bright and easy to find, located near ϒ Peg. Elongated NW-SE. Brightens towards the core which is bright but not stellar. 69x, 190x

NGC 7217, galaxy in Pegasus - Bright, round, condenses to bright but non-stellar core. 69x, 190x

Pegasus is now complete as far as the H400 is concerned, as I'd already observed some objects in it last autumn.

NGC 7686, open cluster in Andromeda - Irregular. Dominated by two bright yellow-orange stars. Loose. Fainter stars in background and around the two bright ones. Not particularly rich. 69x.

NGC 884 and 869 - the Double Cluster in Perseus - These are lovely things in a wide field eyepiece. Both clusters fit neatly into the field of view of my 22mm Panoptic (69x). If each one was isolated it would be a pretty object in its own right but, both together make one of the finest DSOs in the Northern Hemisphere - in fact the DC is (are) the best open cluster(s) in the sky and I genuinely think that we outdo the Southern Hemisphere with this one.
NGC 869 is smaller and more compact that its neighbour, 884. There are 2 bright stars in the centre, plus a compact triangular pattern of stars in the centre. 69x
NGC 884 is larger and looser. No central group of stars, unlike 869; there's empty space at the centre. The stars of 884 are more concentrated to the western side. 69x.
All stars in both clusters are white.

NGC 650-1 (M76), planetary nebula in Perseus - Very bright indeed, looking like a miniature M27 (in fact, it is called 'Little Dumbell'). It has a bi-lobed appearance with an outer shell extending off to the south west and north east; the south western one is slightly brighter. The south eastern lobe is slightly brighter but smaller, than the north western one. An OIII filter brings it out nicely. 69x, 101x, OIII filter.

NGC 1023, galaxy in Perseus - Bright, elongated east-west. Condenses to very bright core. 69x, 101x

By this time, it was beginning to get very cloudy, so much so they were interfering with observing. In fact it took me several attempts to see NGC 1023 as cloud kept drifting across the field of view.
I finished the session with a look at Jupiter, which was shining incredibly brightly, like a searchlight, high in the south east. While I am not a planet observer, preferring deep sky, I was glad I had decided to look at the giant planet because the seeing was so good, in fact it was perfect, that I had incredible views and could put the magnification up to 304x without too much degradation of the image.
The North Equatorial Belt was detailed, while the STB was a bit fainter and there were festoons in some of the other bands on the planet; the North Temperate Belt showed a lot of detail, as did both polar regions. The zones also showed some marbling. The SEB, of course, is still missing or very faint.

Observing 1st September 2010

2010-09-02T21:29:00.004+01:00

The long-term forecast is not looking too clever for the autumn (if it was the ~~Mess~~ Met Office I would not believe it, but it's The Weather Outlook, who got this year's dismal summer spot on) so I'm going to fit in as much observing as I can until the weather breaks up.
I am also doing the Herschel II at the same time as the H400 and, looking at the list of them, I have already seen quite a few. Inevitable really, as I've been doing deep sky observing since 1993. However, my observing sessions always previously took the form of ambling round whichever constellation caught my eye at the time and I never really did a structured observing program in the past, so my observations are scattered around various note books and sketch pads, so I need to hunt them out and see what I have and haven't seen. Still, re-observing things is not going to be a chore - although quite a few Herschel II objects not being plotted on Sky Atlas 2000.0 is a nuisance.

Date: 1st September 2010
Conditions: Slightly chilly, no wind. Quite a lot of dew.
Transparency: III but better at zenith (II). Mostly clear except from some high cloud. Jupiter bloated with halo, however, the sky was good at zenith.
Seeing: I, very steady
NELM: 6.1 (a little skyglow reflecting from high clouds)
Instrument: 12" f/5 dobsonian with 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 11mm Televue Plossl (138x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), UHC and OIII filters.

NGC 6800, open cluster in Vulpecula - Large, loose irregular group of stars forming a distorted loop. Moderately faint. 15 brighter stars plus a load of fainter stars. Not rich. 69x.

NGC 6723, open cluster in Vulpecula - Not plotted on my Pocket Sky Atlas or Sky Atlas 2000.0, so I used the Night Sky Observers' Guide Vol 2 to find its position and plotted it myself on both atlases. I really need to start using my Uranometrias more - in fact I am planning to buy the second edition for use while observing and keeping the old ones on the book shelves.
It's easy to find 6723 once you know where it is. It's in a rich field, more or less halfway between α Vulpeculae and Cr 399. Faint and small. Not rich. Triangle of stars (10th/11th magnitude) at the centre help identify the cluster. 69x, 101x

At this point a neighbour across the way put his garden light on, so his dog could see while it was going about its 'evening constitutional'. I'd not seen this light before, or not noticed it (the reason being, our garden's very large and what happens the other end of it is not always noticed from the house or patio; the patio was my previous observing place), but it was badly aligned and blitzed my observing area. I think I'll be asking him if he can adjust it in future, if it's trespassing then it's aligned incorrectly.. After 15 minutes, I was wondering just how long it takes for a dog to have a pee (our dogs are in and out in two minutes!) when the light, thankfully, went off. These are the same neighbours who don't have curtains on their upstairs windows, no doubt believing themselves unseen (uh uh, no you're not!). If ever I win the lottery, I'm moving somewhere where I don't have neighbours! Why are the general public so obsessed with lighting everywhere up?

Ok, now the irritating light's been turned off, back to the observing and it's time for some faint nebulae.

Sh 2-101, nebula in Cygnus - near a double star, this is an area of faint nebulosity. I can't see it very well without a filter, but the UHC brings it out nicely. It's a large irregular patch with dark lanes in it. 69x, UHC

NGC 6888, emission nebula in Cygnus - Located among a conspicuous group of five stars, this can be seen without a filter, but only just. A UHC filter brings out the crescent shape nicely but an OIII isn't much of an improvement. With each filter there are hints of more extensive nebulosity to the north east of the crescent. the SW portion of the nebula is the brightest and the SE portion of the crescent is a bit fainter. 69x, UHC, OIII

Minkowski 92 (M1-92), (planetary?) nebula in Cygnus - This looks like a faint double star at low power but is obviously non-stellar at higher power. One 'star' is larger and brighter than the other and they are very close together. 69x, 101x, 138x, 190x.

I packed up at midnight, as the high clouds were moving in and it was getting mistier.

Observing 30th August 2010

2010-08-31T16:02:00.003+01:00

Only a short session this one, due in part to a bad shoulder. Again, because of the Moon, I stuck to open clusters and went to do an H400 clean up run round Vulpecula.

Conditions: Clear, chilly, waning gibbous moon (around 65% full)
Seeing: Excellent, A1
Transparency: II-III
NELM: Not checked.
Instrument: 12" f/5 Dobsonian, 35mm Televue Panoptic (43x), 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), UHC filter.

NGC 6882 and 6885, open clusters in Vulpecula - Two for the price of one, in same field of view. Large, irregular pattern of stars with a conspicuous bright white one (20 Vulpeculae) off towards the edge. This is supposed to be two clusters but it's not easy to distinguish one from another. 69x, 101x

NGC 6830, open cluster in Vulpecula - Easy to find as it's fairly near M27. Irregular, compressed group of 20+ stars with many more, fainter, ones in the background. 69x, 101x

NGC 6823, open cluster with nebulosity in Vulpecula - Small, compressed cluster with three stars in a tight diagonal line in centre. Many more fainter stars in cluster. fairly rich.
No nebulosity seen without a filter, but with the UHC filter I can just see some faint nebulosity. One for when the moon's gone. 69x, 101x, UHC filter.

NGC 6802, open cluster in Vulpecula - Easy to find, located immediately next to Cr399. Quite large, fairly rich but needs moderate power to resolve. Looks misty at 69x, but stars begin to appear at 101x. Irregular, elongated north-south. Faint. 69x, 101x.

That finishes off the H400s in Vulpecula - I'd already seen NGC 6940 a while back. It also takes me past the magical 100-object mark, meaning I am just over a quarter of the way through the H400, as I am on 103 objects as I found out last night after a quick count of the ticks on my list.

Harvard 20, open cluster in Sagitta - A scattered group of 20 to 30 stars just SW of M71. Not much to write home about. 43x.

Packed up at 2330 BST as the moon was rising higher and its light was being scattered around the sky more than the previous evening, despite the phase being less.

Clusters by moonlight

2010-08-30T20:58:00.002+01:00

It was the first clear night for a while so I decided to drag the scope out and do some observing, despite the waning gibbous moon. Because of the Moon, I thought that sticking to open clusters in the Herschel 400 was a good plan.
There was definitely an autumnal nip, as well as a 'smell' of autumn in the air. I put an extra layer on although, by the end of the session I was wanting to take it off as I was too warm.

Date: 29th - 30th August 2010
Conditions: Clear, slightly chilly, slight breeze
Seeing: Ant II - quite good, looked at Moon after session and there was not too much turbulence
Transparency: III - not too bad. Milky way washed out by rising moon
NELM: I didn't check, although it would have got a right hammering from the moon and would be no better than 5.5 or 5.8.
Instrument: 12" f/5 dobsonian with 22mm Televue Panoptic and 15mm Televue Plossl (69x and 101x)
2230 BST - 0015 BST (2130 UT - 2315 UT)

NGC 7044, open cluster in Cygnus - An absolute bugger to find. Small, compressed, not rich, faint. 69x, 101x

NGC 7062, open cluster in Cygnus - Much easier to find than 7044. Nice. rich, moderately faint cluster bordered by four brighter stars. Detached. Small. Stands out nicely. 69x, 101x

NGC 7086, open cluster in Cygnus - Compact, moderately faint. Rich. Detached. Set in a nice area. There are nine foreground stars with many more, resolved, fainter ones in background. Moon beginning to interfere. 69x, 101x

NGC 7128, open cluster in Cygnus - Very small, compact, compressed. There's a ring of brighter stars on a hazy background. There is a conspicuous reddish star on the SE side, which is the brightest star in the cluster. Very nice. 69x, 101x

That finishes the H400 objects in Cygnus, so I moved on to Cepheus. The Moon was getting higher and about to clear the oak trees that border the north side of the garden, so it was beginning to interfere with finding things.

NGC 6939, open cluster in Cepheus - Compressed, rich. Bordered to east by distinctive pattern of three stars. Quite bright. Nice cluster. 69x, 101x.

NGC 6949, galaxy in Cepheus - The charts showed this was in the same low power field of view as NGC 6939, so I decided to give it a go despite the moonlight washing out the sky. At 69x, 'something' was possibly there, at 101x there was a definite faint elongated smudge. I'll have another look at this when the moon's out of the way. 69x, 101x

NGC 7160, open cluster in Cepheus - Easily found bright knot of stars, dominated by two bright white stars like eyes, plus 5 fainter ones. Many other fainter stars in background. 69x, 101x

By this time it was past midnight and, although I didn't particularly want to go in, I packed up as the moon had cleared the tall trees which border the garden on the northern side and was becoming a real nuisance. I did have a quick look at the thing and it was quite spectacular, if horribly bright in the 12" (felt a headache coming on, how do people observe this thing?? Too bright for me!) before wheeling the scope back inside and putting everything away.

I doubt if I'll be observing tonight as, following closely on from my ankle injury, I've torn the rotator cuff in my left shoulder. Talk about accident prone!

From the notebooks 3 - TSP 2008 galaxies

2010-08-27T00:27:00.004+01:00

Some galaxy sketches to brighten up your (and my) day - and mine is in serious need of a brighten up! These were made at the 2008 TSP, while observing with Larry Mitchell's 36".

NGC 5907, Draco
Spectacular, cutting right across the field of view in the 36" at 232x. Prominent dark lane and a bright, elongated nucleus. Very thin, indeed. I am fond of edge on galaxies and this is one of the best.

Hickson 44, Leo.
A nice group of which NGC 3190 is the brightest member. 3190 (below centre) has a prominent dark lane. NGC 3187 (to the left of 3190) is faint and evenly bright. NGC 3185 (top) has a slight brightening towards the centre. NGC 3193 (bottom right) is round with a dense core and a fuzzy halo.
36" at 232x.

NGC 4206 and 4216, Virgo
A lovely view. 4216, the large galaxy at right is very large, very bright and elongated. It also has a very bright compact core.
NGC 4206 is much smaller and fainter and does not have a bright core.
36" at 232x.

M52 and NGC 5195, Arp 85, Canes Venatici
This is one of the best views I've ever had of this pair. You line up the huge dob, go up the ladder and this dinner plate, with the little saucer NGC 5195 next to it, is in the eyepiece.
It was hard to draw, as I was balancing near the very top of the ladder.
The arms are not uniformly circular as they appear in smaller apertures. They are bent, probably due to the influence of 5195 nearby distorting them. There are bright HII regions in the arms.
The bridge of material connecting them is easily seen and quite bright in the 36" at 232x.
5195 is oval, distorted. the side nearest M51 is brighter than the side away from it. Fantastic.

'From the notebooks' does sound a little pretentious (I was going to say 'poncey'!) but it's quite a good title - and this stuff IS from the notebooks! - and posting old sketches is a good way of keeping the blog active while I scratch about for something interesting to post. It's gone dead observing-wise here, due to the most appalling weather (August has been a total wash-out this year, with torrential rain, flooding and gales. I feel sorry for anyone on holiday here, especially if they're camping) and the last few nights the Moon's been in the way. The beginning of the month was okay for observing, with one okayish night, one good night, the Perseid peak, the Milky Way sketching session and that absolutely sensational night we had.
Anyway, some more 'From the notebook' type posts will appear over time, depending on what else I can talk about. It depends on how much observing I get in. I'm hoping the weather will improve during September.

Off topic, but still relevant (which I'll come to in a minute) is my work situation. I'm currently doing a seasonal driving job delivering tourist guides to hotels, attractions, ferries and train stations, etc, which I like very much. It's part time which suits me nicely as I can start what time I like - very handy after late observing sessions and all-night runs! However, with the tourist season winding down soon and just another couple of weeks to go of the main season, my hours will probably get reduced.
I can't find anything else at the moment as the employment situation in the UK as a whole, not just where I live, is appalling. I'm getting interviews but then nothing comes of them, usually it's because there's always some git with more experience than me (although I am sure it comes down to pulling names out of a hat). Even the temping agencies have nothing - indeed the manager of one described the situation to me as 'absolute crap', and when even the agencies use words like 'crap' you know it's bad indeed. The fact that a very real threat of a 'double-dip' recession is hanging over the country (although I do get the feeling the Bank of England and the Treasury are talking us into this, aided and abetted by the media) does not help the situation any.
Despite this, I am still planning to get a 20" dob (I am one of these people who has to have something to aim for - I do NOT believe in just existing, because that's just depressing and pointless), firstly buying that mirror-less scope I've mentioned in previous posts, as I already have most of the money for that. The mirror might take longer to acquire than I previously hoped, though, depending on what happens on the work front.

I am pleased to say the observing shed has held up in the recent bad weather. Some rain got blown in through the vents, as it has been pretty much torrential and blown horizontally for the past few days, but otherwise - touch wood - it seems more or less ok. I did seal up non-vent suspect points with duct tape and also fixed the roof down better, just in case as I don't trust their flimsy method of attaching the roof. I also stuffed an old t-shirt into the vent where the rain was being blown in, I'll remove this when the weather improves. Let's hope it continues to be dry in there. The mirror also looks as if it's remained condensation-free, so the silica gel cat litter seems to be doing the trick.

New Facebook page

2010-08-20T15:43:00.002+01:00

**Shameless Plug**

Being bored sat at home with my bad ankle, I decided to start a Facebook page devoted to Astronomical Sketching. If you're a member of Facebook and are interested in sketching - it doesn't matter whether you're interested on the deep sky, moon, sun or planets, all are welcome - then please feel free to join.
Here's the link: Astronomical Sketching or click the 'badge' below.

Astronomical Sketching | Promote your Page too

You can also do a search, via Facebook's search box.

I have a long way to go!

2010-08-19T22:37:00.008+01:00

I have just been visiting some of the links on my website. One of these is of the homepage of famed visual deep sky observer Barbara Wilson of Houston TX. On there, she has a page about her astronomy exploits and, on it, she tells us how many things she has seen. As you'd expect, an observer like Barbara has seen a lot. In her own words she has:

"...observed thousands of galaxies, hundreds of galaxy clusters, completed the Herschel 400, the Messier 110, I have observed all but 25 of the Arp Galaxies, all except for 10 of the Milky Way globular clusters, hundreds of open clusters, asteroids, dozens of comets, several great meteor showers, including the Leonids of 1998, and 2001, planetary nebulae, diffuse nebulae, reflection nebulae, asteroid occultations, lunar grazes, (I once got 36 events on a graze of Beta Tauri), solar eclipses (5 total eclipses), dozens of lunar eclipses, iridium flares, earth x crossing asteroids, supernovae, and never have seen anything in the sky that could not be explained in one way or another."

I hope that by the time I get to Barbara's age I will have a comparable record, but I have a long way to go (I hasten to add that's in terms of things seen!)! To date, I have seen a lot of things out there (and, like Barbara, never anything that cannot be totally explained) but not the sheer amount of objects that Barbara has seen. What I've seen probably numbers in the high hundreds, not quite the thousands, not that I've actually properly counted.

Another visual observer who has seen a tremendous amount is Steve Gottlieb of California, who has notes on the entire NGC catalogue. He is part of the NGC/IC project, which aims to correct discrepancies and errors in the NGC/IC catalogue and, as part of this project Steve (and others) has reobserved the entire NGC/IC and done an excellent job in clearing up the errors. Steve's NGC notes can be found here, alongside those of Jeffrey Corder and others.

These are but two of those who have seen, if not it all, certainly most of it. These people have been observing a lot longer than I have, but it shows what dedication, a lot of clear nights and a lot of skill can bring. My current observing projects - the Herschel 400, Herschel II, then the rest of the Herschels, making the Herschel 2500, plus Arp galaxies and galaxy groups and clusters - will go a long way towards my goal of achieving this sort of accomplishment for myself. This is especially the case as I have done a lot of observing since 1993 but none of it systematic projects. Having a systematic project helps a lot in keeping your observing structured and thus, keeping track of things.
A larger scope will also help a lot, as will a few more trips south of the Equator.

Now, you might ask, what am I doing posting on here in the evening, when I could be observing and catching up with the likes of Barbara and Steve, et al? I wish I was out there, but unfortunately the Moon, clouds and a wrecked ankle after an accident in the kitchen earlier this week (I slipped on a wet patch on the kitchen floor and have torn the ligaments in my right ankle) all say 'no'.
I can't wait to get back into things, once my ankle's better, the Moon's gone and - hopefully - the clouds have cleared.

Milky Way sketch

2010-08-15T22:02:00.004+01:00

After yesterday's rather lengthy rant it's back to the observing!
Last night, it unexpectedly cleared so it was time for some observing. However, the forecast called for it to cloud up so I decided on a short session and to do something a little different.
Back in 2006 I decided that doing a sketch of the Milky Way would be a cool thing to do. At that time, I'd torn a muscle in my back and couldn't carry my scope in and out, so I began a naked eye sketch of our galaxy through Cygnus and down towards Sagittarius. I never finished that sketch as the weather closed in for a few weeks and my back got better. I dug out that sketch recently and decided to have another go at it. I decided that I'd start again from scratch as the 2006 sketch wasn't that great.

Last night's sketch was done while lying prone in a reclining garden lounger and it wasn't easy, with the sketch book held upright on my chest it made for an awkward process. I decided to just do the part of the Milky Way that runs through Cygnus and slightly south. I included Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila in the sketch but left out the other constellations in that area. I also only added the brightest stars - I'd have been there a week if I'd tried to put all of them in, as it was mag 6.5+ at the zenith!
Unfortunately, by the time I'd got as far as adding the Milky Way glow the sky started to deteriorate with mist moving in.
For the sketch, I used an A4 (11.75x8.5 inches/297x210mm) sketchbook with heavy cartridge paper (my usual book for sketches), a 2B pencil for the stars, a 4B for the Milky Way and a chamois leather for the smudging. I'd never previously used a chamois leather before as it never even occurred to me, but it is ten times more effective for smudging nebulosity than a blending stump (tortillon) or finger tip is; how I'd heard about using a chamois was via Jeremy Perez's excellent Astronomy Now series Drawn To The Universe. I bought mine from Halfords (for people outside the UK, Halfords are a retail chain who sell car and bike accessories), for around £3.99. It smells disgusting but works a treat!

The sketch isn't totally complete, I really should have added more stars and the surrounding constellations, such as Delphinus, Lacerta and Sagitta, etc, but I daresay I will repeat this at another time, when conditions are better and I have more time.

Here we go again

2010-08-14T14:18:00.015+01:00

Year after year the debate about changing to permanent British Summer Time (an hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time - incidentally the same as Universal Time) crops up as soon as autumn appears on the horizon. This time the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has joined in wanting the country to adopt BST year round, according to the Torygraph. Not only that, he wants DOUBLE BST which effectively means the clocks going forward by 2 hours in summer and then back 1 hour in winter and doing away completely with Greenwich Mean Time.
It's already hard to practise this hobby here anyway due to our climate and the sheer amount of light pollution - although here on the Isle of Wight, we're more fortunate than a lot of people as we have a higher incidence of clear nights and less light pollution than the adjacent mainland - and dicking about putting the clocks forward every March just adds insult to injury as summer observing becomes almost impossible, particularly for people having to get up for work in the morning. Putting the clocks forward two hours would mean that any summer observing here would be completely impossible, certainly during the week.

In my opinion, putting the clocks forward in March and leaving them forward until October is a complete waste of time (pun intended) because the evenings are light from May until late August in any case, as are the mornings. When you get to winter, when the time has reverted to GMT, both mornings and evenings are dark. So what's the point of changing? It's pointless and ridiculous and only panders to the general public who seem to think that altering the clocks alters the earth's orbital tilt and rotation!

The excuses for changing the clocks is nothing to do with crops and farmers any more, as was once the case. No the new excuses vary from road accidents during dark evenings to tourism.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents backs a change, saying that it'll prevent road accidents on dark evenings. So what about dark mornings then? There are plenty of RTAs on dark mornings, plus mornings have the added 'bonus' of people being sleepy and not 'with it'.
So that's nonsense for a start and what about the main cause of accidents? It's not the dark that causes accidents, it's moronic and careless driving that causes accidents. Accidents are caused by excessive speed in inappropriate conditions and on badly-maintained roads, they're caused by tailgating, overtaking into oncoming traffic or on corners and the brows of hills, cutting people up and other forms of bad driving. They are not caused by dark and if dark is a factor it's because someone is not driving with due care and attention.
Not only that, I am not a morning person and, long observing session or not, I find it difficult getting out of bed in winter anyway because it's so dark and I am not sociable at all until at least 10am. This change would make that a lot worse.

Environmentalists say we'll use less electricity during the evenings, which conveniently forgets that we'll end up using more electricity in the dark mornings instead. When you have to get up at 0600 to be at work by 0830 and it won't get light until 0900 then you are still going to use a good deal of electricity in the mornings, so I don't see the environmental angle at all.

Another reason is tourism. Who decides to go somewhere based on the time zone anyway? And, considering the country is even more damp and cold in winter than it is in summer (when it's merely often damp and a bit chilly), tourism wouldn't play a part anyway - why come to rainy old Britain in autumn and winter when you could go to the Canary Islands or somewhere else far pleasanter and warmer?

And then there's the completely daft and spurious argument that 'we'll get more daylight'. Er, NO WE WON'T! How many times does it have to be spelled out to some people that we do NOT physically get more daylight?! Some members of the public seem to have difficulty grasping the idea that BST does not mean we get extra daylight, that the hours of day and night remain the same and that all BST does is just move the clocks an hour forward. Daylight just starts and finishes later, there isn't actually more of it.
If people want more daylight, then go to lower latitudes in winter.

I hope that this stupid and halfwitted idea does not become a reality. With a bit of luck the Scots will have a lot to say about it because Cameron has insisted that the entire UK and not just parts of it would have to be included in this hare-brained idea and Scotland is very dark in winter. I know there is a lot of opposition to this in Scotland, where permanent BST would be a big problem for them with no daylight until at least 1000 in winter.
BST in winter would not, admittedly, be a big obstacle for observing as I can usually be observing by 5pm on a clear winter evening during the weekend. If it's a week night, by the time I've got home and the evening meal is done and finished with, it's usually 6.30 by the time I can get outside and still have a long observing session until 11pm or midnight. But that's not the point because I oppose year-round BST on sheer bloody principle! And I especially oppose BST +1 because there is actually no sound reason whatsoever to change the clocks from the present system.

Oh and to add to my good mood, forecasters have predicted that the weather's likely to be rubbish until November. Great. I just hope it's the usual forecasters' trick of making a long-term prediction only for it to be totally wide of the mark, like they have for the past few years. Knowing my luck it will be right for once.

Perseids, 12th-13th August

2010-08-13T16:36:00.006+01:00

After practically hopping with frustration during the earlier part of the evening, I was pleased to see the skies finally (partially) clear around midnight, so I pulled out the sun lounger, got a blanket to keep my legs warm (my knees don't like being still and in the cold for very long) and my little dog (who went to sleep under the blanket and acted as a living hot water bottle!) and watched the show.
There wasn't as much activity as I thought there would be but what there was was quite spectacular as a lot of the meteors were fast moving and left trails behind them. A lot of the trails were green, although there were a couple of yellow/orange ones as well. The meteors were, for the most part, bright although there were a few quite faint ones as well.
As well as watching the show, I also had a look round Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Cepheus with my 8.42 binoculars. NGC 7000, the North America Nebula, was bright and the nebulosity extensive. The fainter Pelican Nebula, IC 5067/5070, lies just to the south of 7000 and is, just, visible through the binoculars without the UHC filter. With the 2" UHC filter it is much easier to see.
I also found the planet Uranus, which is close to Jupiter. It looked like a small blueish-white star.

We have had a few decent observing nights recently, despite the continuing unsettled weather. The long hot days of late June have long since gone, to be replaced by cool temperatures, showers, more prolonged spells of rain and some fairly strong winds, but, so far, out of 12 nights this month we've had three completely clear nights and five partly clear, observationally-usable nights and early mornings so it's not all bad, although I am also a fan of hot sunshine, something we're not getting (I know, it's hard to please some people! ;-) ). I have a feeling that, now it's mid August, we've probably seen the last of any decent hot summer sunshine.
The reason for yet another rubbish summer, for the fourth year in a row is, yet again, the jet stream is too far south. Because of this, Russia and most of Europe are incredibly hot (although I don't envy the Russians their severe fires, the downside of prolonged hot weather) yet Britain is damp and horrible - again. Sometimes, I get the impression that the British climate is doing this to amateur astronomers and holidaymakers:

Actually, I think I'll blame the water company who imposed a hose pipe ban in part of England back in July. It's in the north west of England, so hundreds of miles from here, but as soon as the utility company in question imposed the ban, the weather over the entire country turned bad.

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

And finally

RIP Markus Liebherr and thank you for saving Southampton FC

Observing 7th-8th August 2010

2010-08-10T23:39:00.006+01:00

The night of Saturday 7th August into Sunday was clear, although not as good as the previous Wednesday, so I pulled the scope out for a session looking for some summer Herschel 400 objects.

Conditions:
Clear, fairly warm, around 15C
NELM 6.0
Fairly humid with quite a lot of dew
Seeing II
Transparency II
Equipment: 12" f5 Dob, 35mm Televue Panoptic (43x), 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 11mm Televue Plossl (138x), OIII, UHC

NGC 6834, open cluster in Cygnus - irregular, attractive cluster made up of a line of 5 brighter stars crossing an elongated haze. At 138x, most of the haze resolves into faint stars.
There's a separate clump to the immediate south of the main cluster, a knot of 10, or so, stars and another to the north, which has six stars.

NGC 6866, open cluster in Cygnus - Large, irregular cluster. Two chains of stars extend out from centre, one to the west and the other to the right. the western one is short and contains 7 brighter stars plus fainter ones. The eastern chain is longer and contains > 15 stars in a looping pattern.
There is a wide pair to the south.

Went after NGC 7044, but this was in the 'dob hole' and awkward to get at. One for another night, further into autumn when Cygnus is more to the west and that part's easier to get at.

NGC 7027, planetary nebula in Cygnus - not on the H400 list but I was in the area. I am not sure why I found this easily and not 7044, but then a PNe's easier to recognise than one of the myriad of open clusters and knots in the Milky Way in the Cygnus area.
7027 could easily be overlooked as just another star, as it is star like. However it isn't stellar as at 69x it looks slightly fuzzy and an OIII filter makes it really jump out as a PNe.
At 138x its oval with no obvious darkening in the centre.

NGC 7296, open cluster in Lacerta - quite small, but conspicuous cluster near Beta Lacertae. Some stars resolved at 69, more resolved at 101x.

NGC 7243, open cluster in Lacerta - large, irregular cluster which fills the field of view of the 22mm Panoptic (69x). There are at least 23 brighter stars and many more fainter ones. Nice.

NGC 7209, open cluster in Lacerta - large and quite bright. Around 40 to 50 stars resolved. A very vague, rounded 'm' shape.

I finished up with a trip into the North America and Pelican nebulae, using my 35mm Panoptic and 2" UHC filter. This was lovely, with wisps and and tendrils of subtle nebulosity everywhere. Here and there, hard edges were defined. Very nice indeed.

The next morning I found that, as the air heated up in the morning sunshine (Sunday was a hot day) my mirror had condensation on it. This is not good as repeated dewings up will cause the coating to deteriorate and fail and I don't want to have to pay out for a recoating before I get my 20". I opened up the scope and left it to dry out in the shed, with the shed doors open.
I posted on Cloudy Nights, asking how I can prevent this and most responses involved rigging up some kind of heating system. I am going to have to pay out for a car battery, an inverter and a lamp in the first instance and then, when I can afford it, a solar panel, at least 70w. However, a cheaper solution might be a large power pack with built-in inverter. That should run a low-watt lamp for a few hours to keep the mirror dry while the outside temps rise, although I am not sure exactly how long the charge would last, although some of these machines are pretty heavy-duty things. In the meantime, I have packed a couple of socks with silica gel and hung them inside the tube near, but not on, the mirror, then sealed the scope at both ends. I also went to Sainsbury's and bought a bag of silica gel (not clay) cat litter which I'll decant into socks and then hang inside the scope, tomorrow. Considering that quite a few of my socks have conspired to vanish, leaving only odd ones, they can do something useful! I blame the black hole that must be lurking somewere in the washing machine. The silica gel cat litter idea was also suggested on CN, stuffed socks and beanbags are the preferred method of holding them although, apparently someone once used a stuffed animal. WTF??!!

Website

2010-08-09T19:18:00.004+01:00

I've just rebuilt my website on Wordpress as I decided to go for a nice modern look and bin the Dreamweaver-built site. I have to start up my Win XP laptop every time I want to do an update, as my old Dreamweaver won't work on Win 7,and it's a drag, expecially as the wireless internet no longer works on the laptop.
I have just pointed the domain name away from the old site and at the new one and as domain changes propogate through the net at the pace of a paralysed snail it'll be a while before the changes take effect. I just hope it works. The previous site will still appear for a while, until the changes, if they work, take effect.

Ok, things seem to have worked as www.fjastronomy.co.uk brings up the new site (it has to have the www in front of the domain or it won't work).

New link: www.fjastronomy.co.uk Let me know what you think!

Observing 4th August 2010

2010-08-05T22:00:00.002+01:00

A day of intermittent heavy rain and thunder gave way to clear skies during the evening, for once exactly as the forecast had predicted. The BBC and Metcheck's forecasts both agreed, which seems to be a rare event in itself, so as it got dark I went and unlocked the observatory (I like the sound of that!) and pulled the scope out.
Earlier in the evening I had been in a pretty awful mood, no reason just a bad day, and felt more like saying 'sod it' and going to bed but I am very glad I didn't as the sky turned out to be magnificent.
All too often when you step outside and look up, what looks promising at first often proves to be pretty average, even poor, but not last night. After getting dark adapted, I checked the naked eye limiting magnitude, using charts of Ursa Minor and Cygnus, and it was better than 6.5! We have pretty dark skies here, but better than 6.5 is fairly rare. Usually we get between 6.0 and 6.5 but last night was as good as 6.7! I would guess that the heavy rain and thunder had cleared the atmosphere of pollutants and dust. During my trips to the TSP, I've seen people using 'iridescence' in the Milky Way to gauge transparency - the more iridescent the MW, the more transparent the sky. The Milky Way was just like that here last night, iridescent, which we rarely see because of summer haze. Visible to the unaided eye were M13, M31 (later on when clear of the trees) and NGC 7000, the North America Nebula These were truly great summer observing conditions and well worth the long wait for.

Conditions: Clear, quite chilly
Seeing: Very good: Ant II
Transparency: Excellent - I, but a few odd bits of drifting cloud later on
NELM: 6.5-6.7, dropping slightly when the waning crescent Moon rose later on

First was Aquila and a hunt for the few Herschel 400 objects (three) that are here:

NGC 6781, planetary Nebula in Aquila - Set in nice starry field this is large and oval and quite bright. It's easily seen without a filter but my OIII brings it out nicely. With the OIII, the pn looks slightly rounder with some darkening in the centre, without the filter I can't see the darkening very well. Very nice object. 69x, 101x + OIII

NGC 6755, open cluster in Aquila - An attractive, small, compressed cluster set in a nice Milky Way field. Stars all white and evenly bright. Found at 69x as a misty knot, detached from MW star field.
101x shows a tiny, vaguely triangular clump of stars, with around a dozen or so on a hazy background and with a fainter patch next to it but at 138x, the cluster looks like a butterfly with the left wing richer than the right one. Very pretty! 69x, 101x, 138x

NGC 6756, open cluster in Aquila - Next to NGC 6755 in the field of view of the 22mm Panoptic (69x). It's half a dozen stars on a misty background. Not as rich or as compressed as its neighbour. Framed by a bight star at either end. 69x, 101x, 138x

I saw on my star charts that the globular cluster Palomar 11, also in Aquila, was nearby, and given the excellent conditions I decided to have a crack at seeing it. After quite a few false starts I eventually found it. It's in quite a rich area and nailing it down was a bit hard. It appears as a roundish brightening of the sky. Its low surface brightness and location in quite a rich part of the sky made finding it difficult but I caught it eventually. The observation of the night, I think. 69x, 101x, 138x, 190x

I also decided to see if I could see ICs 59 and 63 in Cassiopeia. Given the great night it would have been a shame not to go for the faint stuff.

IC 59, IC 63, diffuse nebulae in Cassiopeia - These faint little buggers are right next to Gamma Cas, so it's necessary to put that out of the field of view before attempting to look for them. IC 59 is a faint fan-shaped patch while IC 63 is fainter still - in fact I barely saw 63, just a mere brightening in the area. 69x + UHC filter.

M31, galaxy in Andromeda - this lovely piece of eye candy is one of my favourites to look at and I always drop in to say 'hi' when I am observing and M31 is high enough. Last night's conditions gave me the best telescopic view I have ever had of this galaxy. Under average skies usually only the bright central area is visible but last night, I could see (using my big 35mm Panoptic, at 43x) the galactic disk spreading out across and beyond the field of view, and the dust lanes. It was spectacular, to say the least.

NGC 6229, globular cluster in Hercules - Very bright and easy to find (made a nice change from Pal 11 and the faint nebulae in Cassiopeia!). Small and round with a dense core at 69x.
At 138x, it began to look granular with some stars resolved, especially the outer ones.
At 190x, individual stars can be seen and the halo and core are very bright, still looked granular across the face. 69x, 138x, 190x.

NGC 6207, galaxy in Hercules - bright and easily seen at 69x. It is completely overshadowed by its big and bright famous neighbour, M13. Oval, with a brighter core. Elongated northeast-southwest. 69x, 101x
I also popped over to see the big showy eye candy neighbour, which was absolutely superb as usual and in the same field they make a nice pair, with the galaxy being a hidden treasure.

Before packing in, I dropped in on Jupiter, which was shining like a big searchlight in the eastern sky, as the seeing was so good, and it looked decidedly odd without the South Equatorial Belt, which has totally faded away.

By 0200, the waning crescent Moon was substantially interfering with the sky conditions and there was more drifting cloud around so that, along with the fact my feet were by now very cold (I was wearing thin trainers) made packing up a Very Good Idea. So did the prospect of work in a few hours. So within five minutes, I'd pulled the scope back into the shed, chucked my charts back in their box, gathered up my eyepieces, locked up and headed back to the house.
As mentioned in my previous post, I'd found that the addition of wheels made my scope eyepiece higher off the ground. I knew it would be higher but not *how* higher. Consequently, viewing stuff at the zenith required standing on tiptoes. This was awkward and uncomfortable, as it hurt my calf muscles and toes, so some sort of small stool was a must. I found a little plastic step stool in Tesco this afternoon, for £2.50, which will fit the bill nicely.

First light in the observatory

2010-08-03T22:38:00.004+01:00

The new observatory has now been used for the first time. We're on a run of crap weather, very unsettled with showers, high winds, the odd sunny spell and almost totally cloudy nights, so observing opportunities this summer have been non-existent (typically, the best weather this summer was at the end of June when the summer twilight made serious deep sky observing impossible or, at least, very difficult). However, last night was an exception, although it wasn't very clear and there was quite a lot of cloud about.
I'd already carried the scope up the garden and installed it in its new home so it was just a case of wheeling it out and then back in at the end of the sessions - it makes life so much easier and I very much doubt if I'd have even bothered last night if I'd have had to carry the scope from the house and set up.

Here's the inside of the observatory shed, with the 12" under tarpaulins (these will give it that little bit of extra protection *just in case*), folding chair, box containing star charts, atlases, gloves, hat, torches and sketchbooks, my dog's basket for her to curl up in as she always comes with me when I observe and some pictures on the wall. I also have a couple of shelves for bits and pieces. However, anything of real value, apart from my cheap reflector which isn't worth nicking, such as binoculars and eyepieces, are staying inside the house and any potential thief wanting to lug a large and very heavy scope down the garden, past some stranger-loathing dogs and out the gate is an idiot and deserves to be arrested on grounds of stupidity. The photo's a bit distorted, that's thanks to the 17mm end of my wideangle lens and not because of my construction abilities!

The day before yesterday, I fixed the casters to the blocks that I was going to use to attach the wheels to the base. I bolted the wheels to the blocks using bolts, unfortunately two of the bolts sheered off rendering them useless but the rest went on ok. I just hope they can stand up to being wheeled over rough ground every clear night, as the top lawn isn't the smoothest, what with the mole hills and vole holes, etc.
I then fixed the blocks and wheels to the base using 'No More Nails', which is a type of glue which is supposed to be strong - it's the sort of thing you see the ads for where someone's used this stuff to put shelves up and the ad shows a man sitting on the shelves to 'prove' that it's strong and won't come unbonded (in reality, it ain't *that* good; if it was, the soap dish would stay fixed to the bathroom tiles). I let it set overnight, for the recommended 24 hours. However, as soon as I put the rocker box on top, the wheels promptly fell off it- just like they'd fallen off my clever idea - although, fortunately the scope itself was still sitting in my room and therefore didn't come to grief. So it was time for a rethink, which didn't take long as it was a case of having to screw the wheels to the base. We have electric drills but I couldn't find the drill bits, so I went across the way and borrowed our neighbour and his battery-operated drill and, between us, we got the wheels (hopefully) securely fixed to the base. Quite why I thought 'No More Nails' or any sort of glue was a good idea, especially in light of our laws-of-gravity-proving soap dish, I have no idea! I think I was trying to do it the easy way, or so I thought.

Back to the quick observing session, I wheeled the scope out, collimated it and got going. The beauty of the scope being out in a shed is that cool-down times are very short and, except on hot days/nights, practically non-existent. Because of the lousy conditions I didn't do a lot, just poked around, looking at NGC 5653 in Bootes, M14 in Ophiuchus and NGC 7006 in Delphinus. I did find, however, that the addition of the wheels and blocks raised the height of the scope by several inches and that I, and I'm not short, have to stand on tiptoe to see anything at the zenith, which is not very comfortable for extended periods of time, making prolonged observations difficult. I need to get a short stepstool for that.
I also didn't have an observing table for my charts, etc, so I had to use the floor and, with my dodgy knee that wasn't comfortable. I have ordered a 4ft folding table from Amazon and that should turn up tomorrow. When I observed from the patio I used to use the kitchen extension as an observatory and the top of the small chest freezer as a chart table. That is no longer practical as I am so far from the house, so the folding table should do nicely.

Conditions: Cool, no dew.
Seeing: Very good, Ant II Transparency: poor, with high clouds
NELM: 6.0, falling to 5.8 when the last quarter Moon rose, washing out the sky.
Instrument: 12" f/5 Dob, 22mm Panoptic and 15mm Plossl

NGC 5653, galaxy in Bootes - a poor view, due to lousy sky conditions. I could just make out a roundish smudge, not a lot brighter than the background sky. Haze was interfering with this quite badly, as was the low altitude of Bootes. 69x, 101x.

M14 (NGC 6402), globular cluster in Ophiuchus - very large and bright. Round. Some condensation towards the centre. Looks smooth when looked at with direct vision, but granular, with a few stars resolved, with averted vision. The scope was effectively reduced to 6" by the hedge - I'd not set it up in my intended place. 69x, 101x

NGC 7006, globular cluster in Delphinus - small and bright. Round with bright core. 69x, 101x. I want to observe this, likewise NGC 5653 in Bootes, in more favourable conditions.

By this time, the clouds were worse and the rising last quarter Moon was interfering with observations, so I rolled the scope back in, put my charts away and locked it. It took me a fraction of the time it used to take to both set up and put away, before it would take me a good 20 minutes, maybe more to tear down and carry everything, including the scope, inside, now I'm indoors and heading for bed within 5 minutes! This will lead to many more observing sessions and, as I said at the beginning of this post, observing under less-than-favourable conditions and/or when tired will now happen far more often. Not only that, I have far more space inside my bedroom as the Dob occupied too much of the floor.

20" project

2010-07-30T22:40:00.010+01:00

As mentioned in my previous post, I have the opportunity to buy a 20" Dob from someone on the mainland. He transferred the optics to a permanently-mounted equatorial scope and now has the empty scope for sale. All being well, I am going to buy this from him and get a new mirror to fit it and the cost of the entire project should be less than ordering a brand-new, scratch-built custom scope. The original mirror was an f/3.7, so I am either going to have to get a 20" f/3.7 mirror made, which will be slightly pricier than a standard f/4, or get an f/4 and alter the scope by adding longer truss poles, new secondary holder, changing the position of the attachment blocks, and so on, but by the time I've done all that, I may as well spend the extra couple of hundred quid on an f/3.7.
I'll need a Paracorr as the coma will be bad with such a fast mirror, but I can live with that, it'll be worth it to have large aperture! But, we're getting ahead of ourselves - the one item of bad news is that I have to save up first. It'll take me about three months to save for the scope and then at least 8 to save for a mirror so this won't be up and running for the best part of a year yet, unless I get lucky in the wallet department. But...how exciting! I've wanted a large scope ever since I became a deep sky observer the best part of 20 years ago, so this will be an ambition come true.

I'm planning to spend the weekend putting the finishing touches to the shed. Then I need to put the castors on my 12" scope's base so I can roll it in and out then we're in business!

There's no sign of the weather clearing up. It's typical unsettled English summer weather. I hope it clears up in August, so I can catch the Sagittarius and Ophiuchus summer goodies before they vanish into the twilight.

Oh, and I got my monitor back on Monday. Only it's not my monitor, it's a replacement, which is good as it's a brand-new machine and unlikely to go wrong - I hope. At least PC World eventually got it sorted for me after first trying to fob me off with this 'You have a contract with the manufacturer, not us' crap - they need to read the Sale of Goods Act, especially this bit. Stuff less than a year old should not break, but it does occasionally and the retailer has a responsibility, under the Act, to refund, repair or replace the item and not give the customer the flick with some stupid excuse about 'extended warranties'.
The sketches, I am pleased to say, look fine.

'Observashed'

2010-07-25T20:39:00.006+01:00

The new shed is now in place. We started putting it up yesterday and after six hours, a lot of swearing and a few 'teddies chucked out of prams' (patience is not one of my strong points; fortunately the neighbours appeared to be out and thus, hopefully, did not hear an 'f-word-every-other-word' rant at one stage in the proceedings!) it was just about finished with only a few finishing touches to be added. I did make a couple of cock ups but it seems largely straight, secure and solid so I don't think it'll blow down in a gale. It also appears to keep the rain out. There was a thundery downpour this morning and, apart from rain coming in the windows as I hadn't installed them, it looked to be bone dry with the sole exception of one side which let in a few drops in at floor level. I'll get some sealant and sort that out. The real test will come when the autumn and winter set in and we get howling gales and driving rain. I am going to leave it for a while before I put my scope in it to see how it fares, that'll let me see what needs doing to keep any weather out. I went to a party last night and a friend told me that any flat pack assemble-it-yourself item comes with free swear words, the amount of which directly correlates to the nature of the item and the annoyance factor of putting it up; i.e. kitchen units come with 100 free swear words, a shed like mine comes with about 100,000 while a greenhouse comes with several million!
I put the windows in this afternoon, unlike the rest of the thing there were no annoying mini-crises to put up with!

I have not done any serious observing for a while, apart from a couple of mini-sessions with the refractor on a couple of evenings two weeks back. This is because the weather is so highly variable at the moment and evenings which start off clear are not staying that way. We are having a very unsettled summer, apart from a hot couple of weeks in late June/early July. I did manage to sketch a couple of Messiers, just to keep my hand in, while cloud-dodging.

M8, the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius. 3.5" refractor at 36x

M27, the Dumbell Nebula in Vulpecula. 3.5" refractor at 36x.

I have no idea what these sketches look like on most people's monitors. My 20" widescreen monitor went bang just over a week ago so I took it back to PC World (who did not want to know, despite the monitor being well under a year old, so I had to resort to playing the arsey customer which, to be honest, I hate doing. I've worked in retail myself - it sucks) and am waiting for the repaired monitor or a replacement. In the meantime I am using an elderly borrowed 17" square matte flat screen job which isn't that good for picture editing or viewing. The sketches look appalling on this one, I am hoping that they look a lot better elsewhere!

I also aimed my 400mm Canon telephoto lens at the Moon the other evening - yes, you did read that right. The Moon. Not only that, it meant I was doing some astronomical imaging - the shame. ;-D
Here's the result of that. I was quite pleased with it, especially as I was handholding the lens at 400 ISO and using a shutter speed of 1/320 sec at f/5.6. I sent a copy to my friend, the well-known author and astro-imager Robert Reeves, who sent me some feedback.
No, I am not going to become an imager, but I do like taking the odd shot now and then. It shows how desperate one can get to do something astronomical!

I have decided that I won't mess around getting a 16" Lightbridge. I do want a decent scope of 18 or 20 inches, so I will carry on saving and get a custom-built, quality Dob. One route, and one that I am currently investigating, is to buy an existing Dob chassis and get the optics to fit. I know someone who has a lovely one (a 20") for sale, minus the optics. However, I'd need an f/3.7 mirror and secondary to fit it as buying a more common f/4 or f/5 would involve a bit of a rebuild, something I don't want to get into. If I can't easily get hold of an f/3.7 mirror for a reasonable price (i.e. comparable to that of an f/4) then I'll probably revert back to Plan A, which is buy a custom-made dob.

From the notebooks 2 - Obscure Planetaries from Australia

2010-07-15T22:01:00.002+01:00

Here are some more sketches from that 1997 trip Down Under. These are some of the more obscure planetary nebulae I observed on that trip. All of these sketches were made at the 1997 Queensland Astrofest at Lions Camp Duckadang, Linville, Queensland on 25/26th and 26/27th August 1997. The scope I used was a 20 inch Dobsonian.

Henize 2-111, Centaurus

Henize 2-141, Norma

Henize 2-207, Ara

Longmore 16, Scorpius

Menzel 1 (PK 322-2.1), Norma

Shapley 1 (PK 329+02.1), Norma

PK 322-5.1, Triangulum Australe

The observatory is still not up yet. That is because our weather has gone completely to pot and is now more like that of October than it is of mid-July. There are gale-force winds, low temperatures (17C/63F) and rain. Plenty of rain. This will please the miserable buggers who have moaned about the heat and lack of rain and who have now got their own way but I hate this crap and want summer back as soon as possible. Apart from anything else, there's no observing to be had but even before the weather completely broke up we'd been stuck in a cycle of clear afternoons and cloudy nights for a couple of weeks.

I might have to rethink getting a big scope. I have not yet been able to find a permanent full-time job and the agency work has completely dried up, although I have some part-time seasonal work delivering tourist guides. I have an interview in two weeks' time for a part-time data-entry job which offers just over £6000 ($9000) and if I get that, which won't be enough on its own, I could at least combine it with the seasonal work. Unfortunately this seasonal job only lasts for the duration of the holiday season before dropping back to a few hours a week.
A 16" Meade Lightbridge, at +/- £1800 is not beyond my financial reach on part-time/low wages but a custom-built scope at just over £3100 is, as things stand. Maybe I should just get a LB and then go for a custom-built David Lukehurst Dob when/if my work and financial situation improves? LB's aren't bad scopes with a bit of tweaking, although their mirror boxes are incredibly heavy for the size of the scope. Hopefully, though, by the time I have managed to put away £1.8K things might have improved.

From the notebooks - Australia 1997

2010-07-08T20:24:00.003+01:00

I was going through old observing note books to scan in my sketches for my new website and I came across some from my observing trip to Australia in 1997. Those brought back some exciting and magical memories! I have decided to share some of the best ones here, as well as in their categories on my web site.
Click each image for a larger view.

NGC 5139, the great Omega Centauri. This 'King of the Globular Clusters' can be seen from southern Europe and the southern United States but has to be seen from the Southern Hemisphere in order to appreciate it in its full glory.
I looked at this wherever I went during both trips Downunder, from South America and also each time I have gone far enough south in the Northern Hemisphere to see it.
It's huge, slightly elliptical and has a curious footprint-shaped area of less star density or obscuring dust, just off-centre. Spectacular.

8" Cassegrain at 72x, Manly, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
August 11th, 1997

NGC 4755, the Jewel Box cluster in Crux.
This is my favourite star cluster, shaped like a capital 'A' and made up of blue and white stars of varying brightnesses but with a conspicuous red giant at the centre.

8" Celestron SCT, Alice Springs, NT, Australia
July 21st, 1997

NGC 6822, galaxy in Sagittarius. This is Barnard's Galaxy, a faint dwarf galaxy. The galaxy was a faint elliptical glow, quite faint against the background sky. Elongated 2:1 north-south with no central brightening.

20" Dobsonian at 60x. Lions Camp Duckadang, Linville, Qld, Australia
August 26th 1997

NGC 55, galaxy in Sculptor.
At -39 S, this is too low to be seen from England, even from the IW (our theoretical cut off is -40 but with atmospheric extinction, not a chance). Huge elongated galaxy with a very bright, mottled core. Only just fits into field of view at 120x.

12.5" Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain
Ellesmere, Qld, Australia
August 3rd 1997

NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula in Aquarius
I made two separate observations of this. One was from a rural site, the other from an urban one. Needless to say, I saw the nebula without an OIII filter more easily from the countryside than I did with a filter from the suburbs of Brisbane, where it was invisible. It was also 1st quarter Moon when I saw it in the suburbs.
Very large, oval ring with a low surface brightness and diffuse outer edges. No central star seen. Drawing made at the suburban site.
8" Cassegrain at 72x, Manly, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
August 11th, 1997

Some sketches from TSP

2010-07-05T20:26:00.005+01:00

I have finally got round to scanning in various sketches, as I was doing a rebuild of my website and needed to scan pictures for it. Among these are some of the pics from this year's Texas Star Party. Click on each sketch for a larger image.

NGC 3245A, Leo Minor
Observed with Dennis Beckley's 18" Obsession at 258x.
Very thin and very faint. Pops into view with averted vision. Evenly bright throughout.
Prude Ranch, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

NGC 3279, Leo
18" Obsession, 258x
Bright, very thin, elongated.
Prude Ranch, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

NGC 3432,Leo Minor
18" Obsession, 258x
Very thin, irregular. Mottled, elongated centre.
Prude Ranch, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

NGC 5394 and 5395 (Arp 84), Canes Venatici.
48" Dobsonian
Very large and bright through the 48". Full of detail. 5395 is the larger of the two galaxies and is interacting with neighbour 5394. There is a bridge connecting the two galaxies. There is distortion in the spiral arms of 5395.
The Lowrey Observatory, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

NGC 3242, Hydra.
48" Dobsonian, 814x.
This is, like all eye candies, pretty nice in more modest apertures but is absolutely sensational in the eyepiece of 'Barbarella'. There are two green rings, the inner ring is more oval than the outer one and is thickened at each end while the outer one has a furry appearance. The central star is bright. Between the rings is 'gauzy' looking nebulosity which has a tinge of pink to it and the whole p.n. looks three-dimensional. I try not to write 'wow' in observing descriptions but...like, um...wow. As they say. Fabulous!
The Lowrey Observatory, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

NGC 4038 and 4039, Corvus
36" f/5 Obsession Dobsonian, 352x.
Very large and bright at 352x in the 36".
NGC 4038 is the thinner (uppermost in sketch) of the two galaxies. It is elongated and distorted with a brighter, mottled centre. NGC 4039 is fatter and not so elongated. It has bright HII regions and is very mottled. I can see 4039's tidal tail easily but 4038's is fainter and does not show up in the scan, although it is in the original sketch.
Prude Ranch, Ft. Davis, TX, USA

By the way, my website has been added to, with Messier galaxies the first observations up. Click here to visit the site.
I am getting itchy feet and am longing to visit Australia, or somewhere else south of the Equator, to see southern goodies again. Last year's visit Downunder wasn't the best for astronomy, although I wasn't actually on an astronomy trip, with the single opportunity I got for some serious observing washed out by storms and torrential rain during Australia's wettest and windiest winter for 25 years! However, any potential trips will have to wait until at least the end of 2011 as I want to get that 18" scope first!

Fourth of July

2010-07-04T11:58:00.006+01:00

Firstly, I would like to wish my American friends a very happy Fourth of July! I hope you all have a great day. :-)

It was clear last night but, as it's only the beginning of July, it still isn't 100% dark, so I didn't take the 12 inch outside (although once the shed's up and the scope installed, that will change as I won't have the effort of lugging it in and out of my room) but I did do a quick binocular session.
My first interesting object - two objects in fact - wasn't a natural celestial body but the International Space Station, at 2300 BST (2200 UT). The ISS flight path takes it over here and you see it about every 90 minutes on a clear night, not much of a big deal these days as it's familiar enough. However, in front of the ISS was a smaller, fainter, satellite on the same course and moving at the same speed. I knew it wasn't the Shuttle, as none are in space at the moment (and soon, sadly, none will be ever again :-( ) so I did wonder what it was, until I remembered an item I'd seen on the BBC News website earlier in the day about the Russian Progress cargo ship which was supposed to dock with the ISS but which had malfunctioned. Progress had overtaken the ISS while the mission controllers were working out how to fix the problem. I asked about it on Facebook and, apparently, it was Progress I saw.

I went back outside later, at midnight, with my 8x42 binoculars and just scanned around once I'd got dark adapted. I just looked for Messier objects and I saw M81, M82, M4, M22, M16, M17, M20, M8, M103, M11, M39, M10, M12 and M24. Ok, I know it's not exactly hard core deep sky observing, but it'll do me for now until observing can properly begin again later in the month.

In Astronomy Now last month it was stated that M7 is not visible from the United Kingdom. That may be true further north but not true on the Isle of Wight. I can't see it from the back garden here because of a low hill with trees on the top of it about quarter of a mile away (last night, I stood on a garden chair to see if I could spot M7 in between the trees on the hill but without success) but, at -34 declination it is certainly visible, if a little murky from being so low down, from the island. I have seen it from the Vectis AS observatory site just down the road and I have seen it from the Military Road. So, yes, it is visible from the UK.

The new 'observatory' is finally under way. At left is the miniscule progress so far. With help - I have a dodgy back and worse knees and my aunt has arthritis! - this should be done this week and the shed assembled.

Two massive boxes

2010-06-30T15:38:00.001+01:00

...arrived this afternoon. They contain the 8ft x 6ft shed that will be the new home for my scopes. I got the Argos delivery blokes to dump the boxes on the patio, figuring it would be something of a mickey-take to ask them to take the boxes up to the top of the garden! So, over the weekend (although, that depends on what happens as my sister has invited herself and her kids down for the weekend which will no doubt chuck a spanner into these particular plans. Don't get me wrong, it's always a pleasure to see them but I would have liked to get this done), me and my aunt will have to - somehow - get these huge boxes up the garden so we can put the shed up. In the meantime, I have a slightly larger than 8ft by 6ft hole to dig one evening and blocks to put in.
I just hope this plan is successful...

Stuff

2010-06-28T19:16:00.013+01:00

Hopefully the new observatory/shed will arrive on Wednesday afternoon. It means I have to leave work early as I've got to sign for the thing, but as I am doing delivery driving for the summer and can almost work to my own timetable it isn't a problem. I'll be able to dig out a 8 foot by 6 foot hole in the ground and lay the blocks one evening this week and then put the shed up this coming weekend.
I also need to buy some casters for the scope base so I can roll it out onto the grass when I want to observe. I have found some with 4-inch wheels that should do the trick. These are available online and cost about £25 plus postage so I'll send off for them when I have a bit more cash. They will definitely make life easier, as will having the shed, because carrying the scope out of the house every time I want to observe is a pain in the neck, although I put up with it rather than not observe. Something else I need to do is buy a small electric greenhouse heater and attach it to a solar panel, to keep moisture away from the optics.
I'll be posting photos as things progress.

After today, the 28th, the sunsets start to get earlier. In a few weeks the sky will be darker and I can get outside at a more reasonable time. The late hours of darkness, between 0030 and 0300, are as much a pain as the fact it does not get quite properly dark - dark enough for bright objects but not for faint ones.

My old Windows XP laptop, which died not long back, has been resurrected by a friend who is an electrician and a computer repairer. The thing had originally been wrecked by malware but I managed to get rid of it, reformat the drive and restore it, only for the power supply to give out. I bought a Windows 7 desktop and, while it's a good machine, it couldn't run my website creating software and a few other things due to Windows 7's totally crap non-compatability with some older software (another way of screwing money from people, no doubt), meaning I had to go out and buy new, not very good, software which is not as flexible and with an ftp. client which has an irritating habit of uploading the entire site everytime I do an update, instead of just the updated file, despite me selecting the 'upload only modified files' option. Now the XP machine is working again, I am going to rebuild my website.

On an unrelated note, here's a gem I saw on the net following our (England's) dismal, pathetic and gutless exit from the football World Cup after an abject campaign ended in humiliation at the hands of Germany: "The Met Office has issued a weather warning as a shower of shit is heading this way from South Africa". Harsh but fair, I think. Gave me a laugh anyway, which is just as well after yesterday's disappointments! :)

Observing - in June!

2010-06-20T18:57:00.003+01:00

I did some observing last night! Yes, observing in June! It can be done, provided you don't have to get up for work the following day because of the late hour, as you can't really begin before 0030 BST (2330 GMT/UT) due to the length of twilight at this time of year. The sky wasn't as dark as it normally is at other times of the year, with the Sun no more than 16 degrees below the horizon at 1am, and the Milky Way not as prominent as it is later in the summer and early autumn, but you can do something. I went out just before 1am BST with the 8x42 binoculars (I figured it wasn't worth taking out the 12 inch, just for a mere two or three hours), aiming to finish the AL Deep Sky Binocular Program; I had just four objects, all open clusters, left to find and these were in Cepheus and Lacerta with two in each constellation. These were NGC 7160 (Cep), NGC 7235 (Cep), NGC 7209 (Lac) and NGC 7243 (Lac).

Conditions: It was mostly clear, with some drifting cloud, although not enough to interfere with observing. It was also cold, the thermometer showing a dismal 7 degrees Celsius and the humidity was 72%.
Seeing: Very good, about II.
Transparency: Not so good, a little drifting cloud and hazy, around III
NELM: Didn't check, although I'd guess it was no more than 5.8 at best.
Instrument: 8x42 binoculars.

NGC 7160, open cluster in Cepheus - Faint, round misty patch, no individual stars seen. 8x42 binoculars. 0055 BST

NGC 7235, open cluster in Cepheus - Easy to find small, misty patch. No stars resolved and averted vision does not improve the view. 8x42 binoculars. 0102 BST

NGC 7243, open cluster in Lacerta - Large, irregularly-shaped oc. Rich-looking. Granular when looked at directly, but with averted vision 10-15 individual stars appear. Hard to count them with handheld binocs. 8x42 binoculars. 0108 BST

NGC 7209, open cluster in Lacerta - Large and round. Rich. Granular with averted vision but with a few superimposed (foreground?) stars. Just a round misty patch when you look at it directly. 8x42 binoculars. 0115 BST.

That's the end of the AL Deep Sky Binocular Program for me. It's taken me, I think, a couple of years - looking at the notebook I have scribbled all this down in, I began doing this on 24th October 2008 so it's just a few days short of 20 months. Now I have to find another binocular program to do! There's the AL's Southern Sky Binocular Club but there's one major flaw with that one - I live at 50 degrees North so nearly all the stuff on there is immediately ruled out as inaccessible.
Using binoculars to do astronomy with is great, as binocular observing in its own right is fun and rewarding. It is also ideal for those occasions when conditions aren't quite good enough to justify setting up a telescope, for when you want to do some observing but can't be bothered to set up the telescope, for those occasional times when your scope has broken, or if you don't have a scope - these things happen to everyone at some time or another and binoculars (a.k.a. bins, nockies, binos or binocs) are ideal.

Tomorrow morning, at 1129 UTC (1229 BST), is the Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere), so after tomorrow the Sun will start to move back south from the Tropic of Cancer and the nights will gradually begin to draw in again, although we won't notice too much of a difference until mid-July. Sunrise will start to get later after 22nd June (the earliest sunrise is at 0442), but sunset (the latest time of which is 2122 local time) won't get any earlier until after the 28th.
Far be it from me to wish the time away but I can't wait to see the back of June as observing's difficult. I am looking forward to later on next month and into August when the summer's well underway, the summer goodies are still accessible and it starts to get dark enough to enjoy them properly. Let's hope the weather co-operates!

Comet, etc

2010-06-18T21:17:00.002+01:00

England v Algeria in the World Cup is on ITV1 and the match is so good, I am typing this. Yes, it is terrible and England are embarrassingly woeful. It's a pity that assistant coach David Beckham can't go on, even in his nicely cut suit he'd play better than this lot. In fact my grandmother would do better than Rooney et al, and she's been dead for nine years.

I did manage to get out and observe Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught the other night, I set my alarm for 0200 and was actually able to get out of bed to do so. I can't usually get up early to go observing, but as this comet is only around for a short while, I made myself get up. I had to walk up the footpath in front of the house to get clear of the trees blocking the view of Perseus (which is why I used my 8x42 binoculars and not a telescope) which the comet is currently passing through. It took me a while to see it as the sky was not that dark (it is June at 50 degrees north, after all), there was a lot of murk in the sky and, hence, a lot of skyglow. The comet was faint and round and I could not see the tail.

My car passed its MOT with no problems today, although yesterday I noticed a judder in the clutch. However this type of electronically-controlled manual gearbox called a 'Sensodrive' is known for clutch judder, so I am hoping it is not a problem. Anyway, the car not needing anything done to it means I can begin saving for the 18" Dob I want to get. I have two months worth of work starting on the 24th, although it won't be anywhere near enough to save up all the nearly £3000 needed, it'll be a start. Providing work keeps coming I should be able to save the money in 6-7 months.
I had been doing a separate blog for the Herschel 400 project, but I have decided to bin it and just put the posts here, after all I am duplicating 99% of the stuff and that's pretty pointless, so I am just going to keep it all on this one.

Where's summer gone?

2010-06-14T19:58:00.003+01:00

It's mid June. We know this because it says so on the calendar, there are baby birds everywhere, there's too much daylight, the Isle of Wight Festival has just happened - and it is cloudy, wet and chilly. I have tried - and failed - to get out to see comet C/2009 R1 McNaught, every time I have planned to observe it, clouds have interfered. Hopefully, the weather will improve soon; the weather forecast is looking a bit better from tomorrow.

New 'observatory' coming soon!

2010-06-06T22:11:00.004+01:00

My aunt is letting me use the top section of the garden for a small observatory. This 'observatory' is actually going to be a shed, in which I'll store my scopes, a small table for charts, a folding chair, a basket for my dog to curl up in as she always accompanies me when I observe, and a few other bits and pieces. Whenever I want to observe, I can then just wheel my 12" scope out, rather than do what I do now which is carry the scope from my room, though the house and up the garden, which takes at least ten minutes and, given the weight and sheer bloody awkwardness of both the tube and the base, is a bit of a pain to do every time. I just put up with it as I want to observe, so I have to do the lifting and carrying but it really was a nuisance and as I am now getting knee pain a lot I needed to find an alternative way of doing things. I had bought a sack truck (hand trolley to my US friends) from B&Q to move the OTA with, but the tyres have gone flat, due to no inner tube and the inevitable punctures, so it's now no use as it causes too much jolting.

This is where the observatory is going to be put. The bricks at the back of the picture are going to form the base.

I plan to fit wheels, such as appliance wheels (of the sort used to move fridges and washing machines, etc), or buy a garden trolley and convert it into a scope dolly, to the base which will definitely make life easier. But I have to ensure I buy wheels, or a trolley, with some sort of brakes on or it'll be moving all over the place when I am observing - no use whatsoever!
I am also going to need some sort of dew control, such as a lightbulb or low watt heater, which I can run off a car battery charged by a solar panel. I have had one mirror's coatings wrecked by condensation and mould, which will cost me around £135 to get resilvered and I don't want a repeat of that!
The top of the garden is a bit too close to the neighbours for my liking (a couple of houses; we live across a footpath from them) and one house has a couple of kids who climb the trees and can overlook the garden, and I don't like that, but the observatory won't be directly beneath that tree. However, the hedge, and fence beyond that, plus the oak trees in the neighbours' gardens, are high enough that there'll be no significant light tresspass from any houses, even in winter because the hedge is a mixture of evergreen and native plants. The top of the garden also has good views of the south and south east, plus I can catch stuff rising in the east (over the house but you can't have everything - and the garden's huge, so the house is actually not much of a hindrance and the light trespass from it won't be as significant as it is now, when I observe from the patio). There is a large tree obscuring part of the south east sky but the harsh winter this year killed it and it is due to be cut down at some point, when we can find an alternative place to hang the bird feeders and fix one end of the washing line.
Potential theft is a concern but I will make the shed as thief-proof as humanly possible and I am not going to keep anything of any value in there, beyond the telescopes - eyepieces, etc, will be stored in the house. I currently use a cheap scope and, frankly, it and the others are not worth the effort of pinching them. Besides, any would-be thieves will have to carry an insanely heavy instrument a long way down a large garden and get past three dogs who do not tolerate strangers or intruders.
The shed is ordered and should turn up early next month and we can get it put together while the weather is good.

TSP - The Objects: Part 5

2010-06-03T21:01:00.000+01:00

This is the final instalment of the objects I saw at this year's Texas Star Party - and you might be pleased to know it's a very short one as the weather did not co-operate! I'd got invited back to the 48" by Jimi and Alvin for some more huge scope observing.

Friday 14th May.
Conditions: Started out clear and dry but the humidity rose sharply after dark to a very high 78%
Seeing: II
Transparency: II
NELM: 6.5-6.7
Instrument: 48" f4 Dob

IC 1182, galaxy in Serpens - Faint, oval, with optical jet (MAC 1605+1747B).
Possible new gravitational lens in Lynx?? - At first, this looks similar to the Double QSO in UMa, with two fat 'stars' on show, but at high magnification each component looks elongated while at very high magnification (1200x) there is a tiny companion located at "5o'clock'" from the larger object.
We also looked at some eye candy before shutting down.

By 0100 it was obvious that this was not going to be an all-night session, we could see fog over the Prude Ranch four miles away and the humidity, which had been rising all evening, was now 78%. The transparency had dropped right off and clouds were rolling in, so we packed up and headed back down to the house for chat and a beer.
And that was it for the observing at the 2010 Texas Star Party, as the following night, Saturday, was a complete write-off due to clouds. It had been a good star party, observing-wise and we all had enough observing to make us all happy.

TSP - The Objects: Part 4

2010-06-02T20:25:00.006+01:00

Thursday 13th May. This was an attempt at another of Larry's Lists, this time the 'Rings Over Texas' list from 2000. Again, it was Alvin Huey, Dennis Beckley and myself observing with Dennis' 18 inch. The notes are ~~quite~~ very sparse as I was observing with the others and we were trying to get the list done against interference by clouds and - for ten minutes - by a skunk.

Conditions: Partially clear with some drifting cloud interfering, lightning to the north east.
Location: Prude Ranch, Fort Davis, TX.
NELM: 6.9
Seeing: II-III
Transparency: IV (when the drifting clouds were not in the way)
Instrument: 18 inch f4.5 Obsession dob. 17mm Ethos (121x), 13mm Ethos (158x), 11mm Plossl (187x), 6mm Ethos (343x)

NGC 2685, polar ring galaxy in UMa - Bright, with a elongated centre and an oval outer halo. Nice. 343x

NGC 5122, polar ring galaxy in Virgo - Faint, oval with a brighter centre. 187x.

NGC 2793, ring galaxy in Lynx - Faint and oval. Even brightness. 158x.

AM 1358-221, ring galaxy in Virgo - Quite faint at mag 15.8, oval.

MCG -4-33-27, ring galaxy in Virgo - Brighter than AM 1358-221. Small and oval. Next to a bright star.

Arp 87, NGC 3808, polar ring galaxy in Leo - Double galaxy next to a bright star: one, 3808A is larger than the other (3808B). Quite dim.

NGC 3861, polar ring galaxy in Abell 1367 (Leo) - bright, round, with a brighter centre. This was interrupted by a skunk wandering around; we abandoned the scope for a few minutes until he passed. I'll get the pun in before anyone else does - we were skunked!

Minkowski 1-64 (PK64+15.1), planetary nebula in Lyra - Round, well defined. Star just off northern edge. 343x.

II Hz 4, ring galaxy in Lynx - Adjacent to a star this is very faint and pops in and out of vision (more out than in!). Round.

NGC 4650A, polar ring galaxy in Centaurus - Elongated. Not very bright.

Mayall's Object (Arp 148), polar ring galaxy in UMa - Faint, elongated dim glow.

M57, central star - Nearly forgot this one! M57's central star was on the Rings Over Texas list and we got it without too much difficulty. It popped into view, looking very stellar, during moments of good seeing.

By this time, clouds were beginning to be a real nuisance so we packed up around 3am without observing all 25 objects needed for the pin; we observed around 14 of them although I only wrote down 12. As Alvin and I were going to be back at the 48" the following night we wouldn't get a chance to finish the list this TSP.

Alvin and I also managed to knock off the 2010 TSP Binocular Pin. Sat in adjacent chairs with our pairs of binoculars it was a case of 'yep' [write down the time]...'yep' [write down the time]...'yep' [write down the time]...and so on. Easy and just as much fun as the faint, esoteric stuff in its own way. A bit of light, hit-and-run astronomy.

TSP - The Objects: Part 3

2010-05-30T20:03:00.003+01:00

The third night I was at TSP, Wednesday 12th May, I observed on the Ranch. Larry Mitchell invited me to observe with him and the 36”. He was putting together the Advanced List for TSP 2011, which was to be faint objects near Messier Objects.

Conditions: Clear, cool.
Location: Prude Ranch, Fort Davis, TX
NELM: 6.9
Seeing: II
Transparency: III
Instrument: 36” Obsession; Eyepieces: 13mm Ethos

First up, we looked for a faint galaxy next to M108 in Ursa Major. This was one of Larry’s own MAC galaxies, MAC 1110+5538 but this was incredibly faint. I was not sure I saw anything in that area, maybe a slightest of brightening of the background sky but no more than that. Several people looked, including Larry, but none of us could say for sure that we saw it. As Larry said, if you can’t see it in a 36” scope, people with smaller scopes are not definitely going to see it so it was pointless putting it on the list.

M108 itself was huge in the eyepiece, stretching almost the width of the field. Evenly bright right across, apart from some mottling in the eastern part of the galaxy.

MAC 1111+5536, galaxy in UMa - this was also in the vicinity of M108, located just south of it. This was a faint, nondescript smudge in the eyepiece, elongated NE-SW. It is slightly brighter than MAC 1110+5538 at mag 17.0 instead of 17.5.

NGC 5907, galaxy in Draco – Very large and bright. Stretches across field of view. Dust lane visible. Edge on.

IC 4617, galaxy in Hercules – Very small and quite faint. Not well defined. There’s some brightening towards the centre. Elongated.

Hickson 82 in Hercules– Nice little group, with nine galaxies visible. I sketched it but omitted a description.

NGC 4038/38, galaxies in Corvus – Huge in the eyepiece, bright and full of detail. HII regions are bright and the tidal tails are seen with relative ease. I made a sketch which I'll scan and upload at some point, but I have a few to do so it might be some time before they appear!

It was at then that the effects of only ten hours’ sleep since Sunday were making themselves felt and things were becoming decidedly ‘not fun’. I could hardly keep my eyes open, I was cold and my feet were killing me so I reluctantly told Larry that I had to give up for the night. I hated wasting half the night, as it was only 0230 but, as Larry pointed out, only ten hours’ sleep in three days is overdoing things a bit!

TSP - The Objects: Part 2

2010-05-29T20:14:00.013+01:00

Tuesday 11th May was my second day at TSP, but I didn't do any observing at the ranch that night as I got invites from Jimi Lowrey and Alvin Huey (who was staying at Jimi's) to go and observe with them at the 48". This was far too good an opportunity to pass up and we had an awesome observing session with good transparency and periods of good seeing.
Obviously, using such a vast scope means that faint stuff becomes fair game and we wanted to view some esoteric objects but, of course we couldn't resist looking at some eye candy as well as the dim and distant.

Conditions: Clear, cool but not cold
NELM: 7.0+
Seeing: around II-IV
Transparency: Excellent, great detail and iridescence in Milky Way when it rose.
Instrument: 48 inch f4 Dobsonian. Eyepieces: Televue Ethos 17mm (287x), Zeiss ZAO-II 10mm (488x), Zeiss ZAO-II 6mm (814x), Zeiss ZAO-II 4mm (1220x).

NGC 3242, planetary nebula in Hydra - We started off with this lovely piece of eye candy. This is, like all eye candies, pretty nice in more modest apertures but is absolutely sensational in the eyepiece of 'Barbarella'. There are two green rings, the inner ring is more oval than the outer one and is thickened at each end while the outer one has a furry appearance. The central star is bright. Between the rings is 'gauzy' looking nebulosity which has a tinge of pink to it and the whole p.n. looks three-dimensional. I try not to write 'wow' in observing descriptions but...like, um...wow. As they say. Fabulous! 814x

IC 4277 and IC 4278, galaxies next to NGC 5195 - no description written down.

UGC 9242, galaxy in Bootes - Very flat, edge on. Mottled, with knots visible. Core not bright and the whole thing is fairly evenly bright across. 814x

Arp 84 in Canes Venatici - this is an interacting pair, NGC 5395 and NGC 5394 (the smaller of the two). Nicknamed the 'Heron' and it does look like that big water bird, this is very bright and detailed. NGC 5395 is huge in the eyepiece, elongated north-south, with a bright core and spiral arms which are somewhat distorted because of the interaction with 5394.
NGC 5394 is much smaller and is bright, with a slightly brighter centre. A tail of material is trailing from NGC 5394 and a bridge of stars can be seen linking the two galaxies. 814x

Arp 105 and Ambartsumian's Knot, galaxies in Ursa Major - This is a busy area, with several galaxies and other 'bits 'n' pieces. NGCs 3561 and 3561A are the brightest galaxies in the field, with quite bright MCG+5-27-12 and an anonymous galaxy nearby. A long very, very faint tidal tail stretches off to the north with a very faint knot, VV237f, at the end of it; I could see this some of the time with averted vision and had to look for a long time to be 100% certain it was there (this is on the famous AINTNO list but when we mentioned this to Barbara and Larry the following day at the ranch they were, to say the least, skeptical. Ok, they plain didn't believe us, which was a shame. :-( ).
Ambarsumian's Knot, VV237b, lies immediately to the south of NGC 3561 and is visible as a faint, slightly elongated smudge of light.

VII Zwicky 466, galaxy in Draco - A ring galaxy, this is small and fairly faint but the ring structure is easily visible. Elongated. Inside the ring, it is evenly bright. The ring is slightly thicker on one side. There are three other galaxies nearby, one of which is edge on. 814x

QSO0957+561 A/B, quasar in Ursa Major - The Double Quasar, visually, isn't much to look at but knowing what it is, is what makes it exciting to observe. It is a gravitationally-lensed quasar, located 8.7 billion light years away, while the lensing galaxy itself is much closer at 3.7 billion light years.
Both components easily seen, looking like a fuzzy double star, and easily split during moments of good seeing with an obvious gap between them. I could see a hint of fuzziness around the quasar(s) which may, or may not, be the lensing galaxy (this is also on the AINTNO list but, again, we were met with disbelief. :-( ) 814x

The three quasars surrounding NGC 3842 in Leo - These are also on the (in)famous AINTNO List and we saw them. Not easily, but they were there. Looking for each in turn they each popped into view during moments of good seeing. Each was a tiny, stellar-looking pinprick of light.

The Jet in M87, in Virgo - Easily seen as a faint 'pencil' of light coming from the centre of the galaxy. The orientation of the field of view meant that the jet was located at '8 o'clock' from the nucleus. Another observing ambition realised. 814x

DHW 1-2, planetary nebula in Ophiuchus - Located between two bright stars. Oval, with brightening on one side. Unfiltered, the central star pops into view during moments of good seeing. 488x

NGC 6309, planetary nebula in Ophiuchus - Very bright and blue. Elongated and rectangular. Filaments seen at sides.

Rose 13 (Shakhbazian 19), galaxy group in Coma Berenices - A tight, faint group. Three components seen, one of which was very elongated. A difficult group. 814x.

As well as all the faint stuff, we got blown off the ladder with stunning views of M51, NGC 6543 (the Cat's Eye Nebula) and M17.

What a fantastic observing session with the giant scope. It's always a treat to be able to observe with scopes such as this and Larry's 36 inch, opportunities like this don't come along often and, when they do, they have to be made the most of and I think we did just that. As much as I love viewing 'lollipops' (don't we all?) I also love looking at faint, difficult objects that few people have ever heard of and even fewer have actually seen visually - that tidal tail from NGC 3561A down to VV237f is a case in point; it would seem that only three people in the whole world have ever visually seen it and that's myself, Alvin Huey and Jimi Lowrey!

We packed up at dawn and, due to tiredness plus the prospect of walking into the ranch (not a great distance but distinctly unappealing after an all-night sesh), we slept at Jimi's before returning to the ranch later that morning - and I have to say that Jimi's sofa is far more comfortable than the Prude bunks!

Finally, a quick note of caution - you have got to be careful when observing at the top of very tall ladders. It is not an experience for those of a nervous disposition and those scared of heights. I am not keen on heights, but I feel it is absolutely worth it for the views you get. However, I am very careful, as it would be easy to drop an eyepiece and hit someone or smash the eyepiece or, worse, to forget where you're putting your feet and take a tumble. I very nearly did that, when I overbalanced and nearly went 'a over t' from the very top of the ladder before just as quickly regaining my balance. A fall would have certainly resulted in broken bones and I very much doubt if my travel insurance would pay out for falling off a ladder while standing at the top of it, on tiptoes, in the dark, looking at a very faint object through a giant telescope.

TSP - The Objects: Part 1

2010-05-26T20:22:00.007+01:00

I have finally got round to writing out the observations from this year's TSP and, as promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view) here are some of them. I'll begin with Monday, 10th May and the objects from Larry Mitchell's Advanced Observing List which, for 2010, was Super-Thin Galaxies. The observers were Alvin Huey, me and Dennis Beckley and we were using Dennis' 18 inch f4.5 Obsession.
We also observed stuff not on the List, if it was near something we were observing - there's no point ignoring lots of 'cool stuff' lying nearby. I did make a few sketches but I mostly restricted myself to brief notes.

Conditions: Clear, cool but not cold
NELM: 6.9
Seeing: around II
Transparency: very good
Instrument: 18 inch f4.5 Dobsonian. Eyepieces: 17mm (121x), 13mm (158x), 11mm (187x), 8mm (258x), 6mm (343x). These were a mix of Dennis' Ethoses and Alvin's Zeisses.

UGC 5267 in Leo - Edge on, easy to see, bright.
UGC 5270 in Leo - Smaller, fainter, more oval. Not on List.
MCG+2-25-42 in Leo - Very faint and small. Round. Not on List.
UGC 5341 in Leo - Very faint, edge on. Stellar nucleus.
UGC 5164 in Leo - Larger than U5341 and brighter. Edge on.
CGCG 63-37 in Leo - Lies near UGC 5164. Very faint and small. Edge on. Close to double star. Not on List.
UGC 5495 in Leo - Large, quite bright, edge on.
NGC 3279 in Leo - Bright, very thin, elongated.
NGC 3501 in Leo - Easily visible. Edge on, bright. At 258x it almost stretches across the field of view. Slight brightening towards centre.

NGC 3501. From Digitized Sky Survey

NGC 2820 in UMa - Faint but easy to find in a recognisable field. Edge on, very thin. Loc. near the face on galaxy NGC 2805.
NGC 2814 in UMa - Thin edge on. Small and quite faint. Not on List.

NGC 2820 (large edge on) and NGC 2814 (small gx at right). From Digitized Sky Survey

NGC 2805 in UMa - Faint face on spiral. Roundish fuzzy patch. Not on List.
UGC 6378 in UMa - Located in nice field of four stars in an arc. High surface brightness, edge on.
UGC 6667 in UMa - Edge on. Quite faint. Even brightness, doesn't brighten towards middle.
UGC 8040 in UMa - Edge on, fairly dim, forms nice box pattern with UGC 8046, MCG +10-19-1 and MCG +10-18-88. The others are all oval and all are equally bright, except UGC 8046 which is fainter.
UGC 8146 in UMa - Faint, thin galaxy. Almost even brightness but with very slight brightening towards centre. Very nice.
UGC 7321 in Coma Berenices - Faint, very thin. Low surface brightness. Well defined edges.
NGC 4183 in CVn - Beautiful. Edge on. Detailed with mottling.

NGC 4183. From Digitized Sky Survey

NGC 4244 in CVn - 'Silver Needle'. Very big and bright and stretches across the field of view at 258x. Thin with hardly any brightening towards centre.
NGC 5907 in Draco - Large, bright, edge on. Stretches across field of view at 258x. Brightens considerably towards large nucleus.
UGC 10043 in Serpens - Edge on with pronounced bulge. Pretty faint.
NGC 3245A in LMi - Very thin and very faint. Pops into view with averted vision. Evenly bright throughout.
UGC 4719 in UMa - Faint, edge on.

Also observed NGC 3432 in LMi, and UGC 5509 in Leo, plus two or three more which I have descriptions for, but whose names I wrote down incorrectly, which is easy to do in the dark at 3 am. I'll have to pick Alvin's brains on those!

By this time it was approaching 0430 and with more than the required 20 objects in the bag, plus a few not on the list, we called it a night and approached Larry for our pins. Mine now sits on a ball cap which I got at TSP 2006, and joins several other observing pins. Before going to bed, however, we all looked though the 36" which was aimed at M17, the Swan Nebula in Sagittarius. This was very detailed and busy, with filaments and streamers everywhere, probably the best view I have ever had of it - until I looked at it with Jimi's 48" later that week!

As I write this, it's just on a week since I left the US and I have a bad case of the post vacation blues. I seriously don't want to be back in the UK! I wish I was back in West Texas with great people under those super skies...

The Observing Vest

2010-05-25T00:02:00.003+01:00

While at TSP, I came across a product that is so good that I can't believe that no one has invented it before - the Hooded Observing Vest. This is a large vest, so it fits over outer clothing and has pockets for eyepieces, torch, pens, pencils, filters and other bits 'n' pieces necessary for an observing session. Best of all, it has an oversized monk's hood that can be used in the same way as a black-out cloth to put over your head to block out stray light when observing faint galaxies or nebulae. This can gain you a full magnitude and beats a towel or t-shirt as it's attached to you so you don't have to keep searching for it in the dark. The product only has one down side and that is, if you take it off to put another layer on, it can be awkward to put back on again, but that's a minor detail.

Alvin Huey was wearing one of these on the Monday evening and I was like 'what on earth's that?' and he invited me to try it. I was impressed at the convenience of it and, as soon as one became available, via Jimi Lowrey, I bought it for the bargain sum of $60 and used it for the rest of my time at TSP.

These vests are made by Dragan and Anja Nikin and for more about them, here's the blurb on Dragan's website, where you can order one. I am not one for hype or overt advertising, but these vests really are pretty brilliant.

Some TSP photos

2010-05-24T23:02:00.004+01:00

I have got round to editing some of my TSP photos and here they are. Click on them for larger view.

Larry Mitchell collimating his 36 inch

The Upper Field

People getting ready to observe as dusk falls; looking west

This is one of the Texas clubs' hang outs, one of Texas Astronomical Society, Fort Bend Astronomy Club, or Houston Astronomical Society. These clubs congregate in the north-west corner of the Upper Field and here is where you'll find the likes of Barbara Wilson, Larry Mitchell, Jim Chandler, and others.

Me 'observing' at eyepiece of 48 inch. The only way to get a picture at the eyepiece without ruining night vision.

Jimi and Alvin collimating the 48 inch. The only way to see the position of the laser is to use binoculars, because of the size of the scope.

Jimi (left) and Alvin (right) with the 48 inch.

Home Again

2010-05-22T14:34:00.000+01:00

After an uneventful flight (during which I watched Avatar, an excellent film and better than I expected) and bus trip home from Heathrow to Portsmouth, then a ferry ride to the Island, I arrived home on Thursday afternoon. I am pleased to say that my astro-purchases also made it home in one piece. I had been concerned for my new Telrad dew shield, as that's made of brittle plastic but, thanks to a small cake tin and clean underware acting as makeshift bubble wrap, that also made it home intact. It's now been united with my Telrad and it will certainly make life easier on those humid, dewy nights.

I have hundreds of photos to sort out, process and upload and I'll put some here and also on my Flickr page. I can't do much at the moment as I have got a massive infection of my upper arm (again) and it hurts to sit up or do anything for too long but, hopefully, I'll be able to get them done by the start of the new week. I am just grateful this infection didn't happen last week.

I have come home to nice warm weather and clear skies but the moon's now in the way so there'll be no observing, although with this infection I can't do much anyway. Annoying, really, as I'm looking forward to trying out my new purchases such as the dew shield and the twist-lock adapter.

TSP Day 6 - Farewells

2010-05-17T23:10:00.005+01:00

I hate the last day of TSP. That Saturday is always a sad occasion, as the party is done for another year - or another two, at least, in my case - and we all have to go our separate ways.
Alvin dropped me back at the Ranch late morning and, after lunch, I packed my bag and then went birding. I did, at last, find Vermilion Flycatchers and I got what I hope are good pictures of one, a lovely bright red and black male bird.

The final meal of the 2010 TSP was steak and, unlike the rest of the meals during the week, it was pretty good, with baked potatoes and corn on the cob. After that there was a talk on meteorites, then observing awards and then the Great Texas Giveaway Part 2 - and I still didn't win a thing. There was a 17mm Televue Ethos up for grabs as the grand prize but, as usual, I didn't win. You'd have thought that, with a lot of people having packed up and gone home the odds would have shortened on winning stuff. Uh uh, no. Oh well, never mind, next time maybe.

Once the meeting was over, we all left the meeting hall, and some people headed home straight away, while those of us staying the night went to the observing fields, which resembled an astronomical Marie Celeste, especially the Middle and Lower Fields with most people having packed their scopes away ready for an early departure next morning.
After farewells to various people and chatting it was time for bed, as the sky had completely clouded over so observing clearly wasn't going to happen. I finished packing and went to bed before a 6am departure back to San Antonio with Robert.

Sunday morning we headed out under the Adios, Vaya Con Dios sign on the ranch gate and, after a six hour drive which I mostly missed as I was asleep(!), arrived back in San Antonio just after lunch.

It had been a good TSP and the weather co-operated - well, co-operated most of the time - and I got some good observing with 18, 36 and 48 inch scopes. Thanks to all those who let me share their scopes: Dennis Beckley, Larry Mitchell and Jimi Lowrey - thanks guys, it is much appreciated. Also, Alvin for the invites and laughs. I got a binocular pin and a coveted Larry Mitchell Advanced Observing Pin and I got a lot of good observations and some good drawings, that I'll post when I get home next week.

It's now Monday and I am going home on Wednesday. That ash is back, though, so things could get a little interesting. I hope not.

TSP Day 5 - Jets and Quasars

2010-05-17T21:32:00.003+01:00

It was a quiet day spent around and about on Friday. As mentioned in my previous post, I went to Indian Lodge State Park and did some birding (and, I hope, I got some decent photos; I'd brought my 400mm Canon telephoto to the US as it's my birding lens and produces excellent results) and in the afternoon, I visited fellow Brit's Keith and Jan Venables for their 4.30pm Happy Hour which is now a TSP institution. Up to 15 people gather at their bunkhouse for beer (or wine), pretzels and chat. I can't always make it, but it's a very civilised way to spend an hour on a TSP afternoon, chatting, drinking and talking astronomy.

I had made a promise to myself not to spend much money this year but guess what? Yep, entirely predictably I broke that promise and exceeded my self-imposed budget by at least $200. But, as I told myself, that prevents me being royally ripped off when I come to change US dollars back into Her Britannic Maj's British Pounds. If I had spent them on things I want here in the States, then I am not going to be shafted at the airport or the travel agent back home.
I did buy an Arcturus Telrad dew shield from Camera Concepts - I'd been looking for one for ages in the UK and not found a decent one at a non-scandalous price until TSP, plus I bagged an Antares 2-inch to 1.25 inch eyepiece adapter which, instead of having a screw to hold the eyepiece securely, twists closed. It's much more secure and there's no annoying little screw to fall out and get lost, so it will be an improvement on the one I currently use.
I also bought The Night Sky Observers' Guide Volume Three - The Southern Skies from Bob Kepple, one of the authors, plus the Digitised Sky Survey on CD Rom for $45. Both were bargains and the book was $34 which is much better than the outrageous prices charged in the UK - Amazon UK wanted a ridiculous 70 quid for a copy! I obviously won't get much of an opportunity to use it in back in the UK, but I wanted it to join my Volumes 1 and 2 and I will be taking it on my next trip to the Southern Hemisphere, whenever that will be. As for the DSS I nearly bought a copy for a hundred quid from someone at the IW Star Party earlier this year but decided against it due to the price. I also bought a Lumicon 2-inch UHC filter - I already have 1.25 inch filters but now I also have 2-inch eyepieces in my collection and using 1.25 filters with these is a pain and the filters inevitably get dropped, with the risk of loss or damage. I can also screw the 2-inch filter into the Antares adapter, which means I don't have to swap the filter between eyepieces when viewing nebulae.
I am hoping I get the dew shield home in once piece as it's made of a fairly brittle plastic and it won't take much to crack or snap it. I have borrowed a round cake tin and wrapped the dew shield up in socks and - clean! - underwear and placed it in the tin. It doesn't move around so hopefully the combination of underwear and socks acting as bubble-wrap and the metal cake tin will prevent an annoying breakage.

I also bought Turn Left At Orion - I don't need it, it's a beginner's book and I am not a beginner and haven't been a beginner since the early 1990's, but I wanted it for my collection and, besides, Dan and Brother Guy were signing copies. Plus, I also bought Brother Guy's autobiography Brother Astronomer to read on the plane home. I am interested to see how he reconciles his Catholic beliefs with science, especially as I am an ex-Roman Catholic myself. I say 'ex' as I was brought up in the Church but I am a non-believer - I believe in science and not any mythical omnipotent being. I didn't tell Brother Guy that though, when he was signing my book, that would have been rude and I would hate to cause offence!

Friday night, I was invited back up to Jimi's 48 inch for some more deepest of deep sky observing so, once the talk (a hilarious account of the making of Turn Left At Orion by Brother Guy Consolmagno - who is a Jesuit priest and also a professional astronomer at the Vatican Observatory - and Dan Davis; Brother Guy, especially, would have been a great stand up comedian) and the Great Texas Giveaway were done - as usual I won the square root of bugger all! - we headed up the hill to Jimi's place.
By the time we arrived, it was dark and the skies looked very promising indeed but, unfortunately, this state of affairs did not last long as fog and clouds built up. The humidity was already up to 63% and by the end of the session it had got up to 78%, just like observing from home!
We didn't do much, but we did see Hickson 50, an optical jet in IC1182 (the jet has a designation in Larry Mitchell's MAC catalogue, MAC 1605-1747B, as it does look like a tiny galaxy) and an uncharted lensed quasar in Lynx. As the clouds and fog were becoming a serious PITA, we called it a night and headed back to the house for a sandwich, beer and astronomy talk. I again crashed on Jimi's sofa and later in the morning, Alvin and I headed back to the Ranch.

TSP Day 4 - Thunderheads and the Skunk Nebula

2010-05-14T21:58:00.005+01:00

The evening didn't start out too promising as, during the late afternoon huge thunderheads built up, dominating the eastern and north-eastern sky. At one point, there was one huge and evil-looking cloud that looked unpleasantly like a mushroom cloud, prompting people to make jokes that someone had dropped a nuclear bomb nearby. The effect of late sunlight on the cloud enhanced its hideous appearance and people were pleased when it began to lose its shape. No thunderstorm materialised, although there was some lightning on the horizon.

The skies weren't too great for observing, although useable, and by three a.m. we decided to pack up for the night which was a shame because we were just on halfway through another of Larry's Lists, this time the 2000 list 'Rings Over Texas'. Last night's observing was a mix of the frustrating (clouds right where you want to look, bad seeing, not being able to find things) and the hilarious - a visitation from a skunk who was on the lookout for dropped food items. Unfortunately the little cutie came far too close for comfort and we spent ten minutes keeping an eye out for him and, at one point, abandoned Dennis' 18" and retreated to a safe distance while Mr. Skunk pottered around. He investigated people's tents and my bag (and I was thinking 'please don't spray it, please don't spray it!') before wandering off somewhere into the darkness. We had to use dim red torches and averted vision to keep track of the Skunk Nebula but, luckily, he didn't deploy his chemical warfare on us so the area around us and, more importantly, our possessions remained Eau de Skunk free.

Back to the observing and before being 'skunked' (ha ha) by the clouds and deteriorating sky we managed to observe about 14 of the objects on the list: NGC 2685, NGC 5122, NGC 2793, AM 1358-221, MCG-4-33-27, Arp 87, NGC 3681, Minkowski 1-64, 2H24, NGC 4650A, the central star in M57 and Mayall's Object.

I also whipped quickly through the TSP Binocular list and added to my pin collection.

Going to bed at three a.m. at least meant I was able to get up early enough to go birding this morning and I saw some nice species, especially Blue Grosbeaks. I went up to Indian Lodge State Park with Keith Taggart of El Paso, TX and I got some (hopefully good) photos of different species at feeding areas specially set up. Unfortunately Vermilion Flycatchers, a species I'd particularly like to see are still eluding me at present. I am told they're common but to me that seems they're common when I am not about. That's the story of my life when birding!

TSP Day 3 - Bright and faint

2010-05-14T21:23:00.001+01:00

Wednesday was a lazy day, spent doing not very much at all. I actually bothered to go to afternoon talks, as I wanted to hear Larry Mitchell's talk on Super Thin Galaxies and Alvin's talk about observing galaxy groups, clusters and trios. They were both excellent talks and very interesting, certainly to me as I particularly like observing galaxies.

For the night's observing, I joined Larry and his 36". Larry was working on next year's Advanced Observing List and we looked at some of the possible candidates for that list. We also looked at a mixture of eye candy and dim stuff, too, including M108 and some of the very faint galaxies around it, IC 4616 which is near M13, Hickson 82 and NGCs 4038 and 4039.
Unfortunately, by 0230, I couldn't stay awake any longer as I'd had the sum total of 10 hours' sleep since Sunday night so I had to call it quits and go to bed. I didn't like having to do that but, as the sky was beginning to deteriorate anyway, it wasn't the sacrifice it could have been.

However, I can't leave this post without mentioning the quote of the 2010 TSP so far. This came from Amelia Goldberg: "Larry, all this faint shit you're making me observe means I don't want to look at the bright stuff any more!".

TSP Day 2 - Aintnos and Ambartsumian's Knot among others

2010-05-14T21:04:00.003+01:00

While observing on Monday night, Jimi Lowrey who is a friend of Alvin's and who I visited (along with some of the Houston gang) back in 2008 stopped by and invited me to join him and Alvin for a night on the 48". Obviously this was something not to be missed, especially as there were only going to be three of us - me, Jimi and Alvin - so just after 4pm Tuesday Alvin collected me and we headed up to Jimi's place at Limpia Crossing.

Just before dinner, Jimi and me headed over to fellow amateur Carl Swicky's place to see his 32". In the area, there are other observatories set up and there's a community of amateur astronomers. With the climate, dark skies, gorgeous birdlife and beautiful scenery I can't think of a better life, so if ever I win the UK lottery and get the chance to get out of that murky light-polluted place here is where I will come. We looked, admired and took plenty of pics (by the way, pictures will appear here but they might have to wait either until I get back to San Antonio on Sunday or when I get back to England - I've just remembered that the World Cup begins next month, I'm looking forward to that, I love my football - on Thursday next week) including a prime focus capture of me in the 32" mirror.

After dinner, we headed up to Jimi's observatory, just up the hill from his house and set up 'Barbarella', his giant scope, for the night. The scope is collimated with huge bolts which need a torque wrench to turn and the laser collimater in the eyepiece can only be seen properly with a pair of binoculars!

Once the scope was set up and the mirror fans left to do their work (they suck air in and blow it out of the back of the mirror cell) we went back to the house to get our stuff and some supplies before returning to the observatory.

Fuller descriptions will appear later, but we observed quite a few objects, including NGC 3242 (aka the Ghost of Jupiter), UGC 9492, Arp 84, Arp 105 and Ambartsumian's Knot - including the Knot itself, the bridge between the galaxies and the streamer that comes away from the bottom galaxy. This latter component is on the famous Aintno List compiled by Barbara Wilson and Larry Mitchell but, sadly, Barbara doesn't believe us! I think Larry might, but he needs to see it for himself, he says.

Also seen were the ring galaxy VII Zwicky 466, the Double Quasar Q0957+561 A/B (nine billion light years distant, and I saw the very faint galaxy that is the gravitational lens - another Aintno, but we still can't weedle a certificate out of Larry and Barbara!), the Jet in M87 (a long-standing observing ambition of mine that I hadn't to date fulfilled, never got round to it. It was surprisingly easy but, then, I was using a 48" scope), the planetary nebula DHW 1-2, NGC 6304, the compact galaxy group Rose 13, very small and quite tough to seperate the components (I saw 3 members), NGC 5907 and NGC 6543, the Cat's Eye Nebula. We also saw three more quasars, but I need to find out what they're called and where they are as I forgot to write them down.

I'll pad this out with folks and scope photos and object descriptions later - 'later' might mean today, it might mean next week, but it will be in the near future.

The transparency was very good although the seeing was mediocre. However, we did get those moments of clarity which allowed quasars, etc, to pop into view. We packed up at 0500 and went back to the house where we all had a few hours' sleep before Alvin gave me a ride back to the Prude Ranch.

It was an awesome night and to see stuff that's totally impossible at home with a 12 inch is an opportunity you just can't refuse. Jimi, I doubt you read this,but if you do - thank you very much indeed for a wonderful night's observing! To read more about the Lowrey Observatory and Barbarella, Jimi's 48" Dob, here's his website: Lowrey Observatory. By the way, while you're there, go to the Gallery and the pic on the left side features me at the eyepiece, clinging on for dear life to the colossal ladder, taken in 2008.

TSP Day 1 - Galaxies Galore

2010-05-12T23:10:00.002+01:00

After a six-hour drive from San Antonio, we (that is Robert Reeves and I) arrived at the Prude Ranch on Monday afternoon. Two things were apparent when we stepped out the truck - very high winds and heat. The high winds were particularly unwelcome as they'd make observing difficult, if not impossible although we were told by ranch staff that they'd die down by dusk - and they were right, the winds did die down as dark fell. It's always nice to meet friends from previous TSPs and before long I'd run into Alvin Huey, Barbara Wilson, David Moody, Amelia Goldberg, Steve Goldberg, Keith and Jan Venables, Matt Delavoryas and many others.

The Upper Field

Depsite unpromising conditions (lots of high clouds and high winds) at first, the observing was pretty good on Monday night and Alvin, Dennis Beckley and I knocked off Larry Mitchells 2010 Advanced Observing list which, this year, was Flat and Super Thin Galaxies, Dennis's 18 inch Dob. I'll post the observations at a later date, but we observed UGC 5267, UGC 5270, MCG+2-25-42, UGC 5341, CGCG 63-37, UGC 5164, UGC 5495, MCG 3-26-39, UGC 5509, NGC 3579, NGC 3501, NGC 2820, NGC 2805, UGC 6378, UGC 6667, UGC 8040, UGC 8146, UGC 7321, NGC 4183, NGC 4222, NGC 4244, NGC 5907, UGC 10043, NGC 3245A, NGC 3432 and UGC 4719. We then claimed our pins from Larry who was pretty impressed that we'd done this in one night.

After a chat with Larry, and a peek at M17 through the 36" we went our separate ways, as it was now 0430 and some of us, including me, had been up since 0600 the previous morning.

Epic trek

2010-05-09T22:22:00.002+01:00

I arrived in San Antonio, TX, late on Friday night after delays caused by mechanical problems with the Continental Airlines Boeing 767-400 (a fault with the hydraulics on the braking system - very important on landing!) causing us to miss our take off slot from London Heathrow and then a big detour due to the volcanic ash, which meant the flight took 11 hours instead of the usual 8.5 and fighting 100mph headwinds over Canada and the northern US didn't help. Because of this I was four hours late into Houston, and missed my connection to San Antonio.

The detour was interesting as it took us up the centre of the UK and over the coast of northern Scotland (there's still snow in the Highlands), past the Faeroe Islands and north to just over the Arctic Circle. I could see Iceland - the cause of all the ash trouble - to the south and pack ice and icebergs in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. Other jets were in the sky, including one on a parallel course a few miles from us, on our port side, it looked highly impressive speeding along at 500mph with the contrail streaming behind - I expect we looked just as impressive to them.

Excuse the poor quality of the photos, airliner windows are not made of optical quality glass! The crap on the windows is ice crystals; according to the flight path map data, it was -64 outside.

Pack ice in the Denmark Strait

We flew over Greenland, and from the plane there were fantastic views of the coast just north of Angmagssalik; it was clear, displaying incredibly beautiful Arctic scenery with mountains, snow, huge cliffs and, at the coast, icebergs and pack ice. It looked lovely but I would not want to live there, too cold and it doesn't get dark at all in summer although I would love to visit.

Icebergs and pack ice on the Greenland coast

Greenland

We left Greenland behind just south of Godthab (Nuuk) and flew down over Canada (which seemed to take forever), the Great Lakes and into the United States. Our route over the US took us over Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, the top left hand corner of Louisiana and into Texas before landing at George Bush Intercontinental in hot and humid Houston.

I'd missed my connection to San Antonio so, once I'd cleared US Immigration and Customs (the queueing took an hour, the actual process about three minutes) I had to go to Continental Airlines' check in desk, fully expecting to be told there were no more flights to San Antonio that evening and already forming my contingency plan (find a hotel and try to get Continental to pay for it! At least find a hotel) but, fortunately, that proved not to be the case. I got the last remaining seat on the last departure of the evening and made it to San Antonio just after 10 pm.

We're setting off for TSP tomorrow (Monday) and hoping the weather will be good. The forecast has already changed twice from good to bad to indifferent. Let's hope it changes back to good again. At the moment we're in for one totally clear night, four partially clear ones and a cloudy one with thunderstorms. I hope it improves! But, even if the weather's crap, it'll still be a fun event with great people and scenery. And it's a change of scene.

Bugger OFF!

2010-05-03T18:51:00.001+01:00

More volcanic ash is heading our way from Iceland. At the moment it is predicted to cover Ireland and Scotland, with warnings of flight restrictions. I just hope it stays away from the rest of the UK, certainly until I am safely out of here on Friday. The winds aren't helping as they are unusually (because our winds usually come from the west but a high pressure system in the Atlantic is bringing in a northerly airflow) coming from the north and north west, although they are predicted to swing to the north east by Friday, which will hopefully help keep the stuff away.

Met Office London VAAC website latest ash prediction as of 1800Z

New website!

2010-05-02T15:25:00.003+01:00

I have moved my website from webs.com (who are truly excellent, but a tad limited) to a new host and I have my own domain name fjastronomy.co.uk. The reason I changed was that I was in PC World yesterday, looking for some new web-building software, and the program I bought included free hosting. How good the host is remains to be seen but you can't go wrong if you don't have to pay. If they prove to be unreliable with loads of down time then I will move in due course to another host, but they are supposed to be quite good and, normally, their hosting starts at £33 per year but they have done a deal with the makers of the software.
My new site looks great and I am really pleased with it as the software was incredibly easy to use and comes with an FTP client, which is always better than cumbersomely using a web browser. Click here to see it: FJ Astronomy

Off to TSP on Friday, all being well. I leave home on Thursday and fly to San Antonio via Houston on Friday. I'll spend a couple of days in San Antonio with Robert and Mary Reeves before driving out with Robert on Monday to the Prude Ranch. The couple of days in the city will be spend birding (I am hoping to photograph Cardinals among others) and shopping for those bits I'll inevitably forget to bring from the UK.
Eyjafjallajokull is still erupting, with ash blowing south over the Atlantic. I have my fingers firmly crossed that the winds, which are currently keeping the ash away from the UK continue to remain favourable and I can get away ok. I don't mind being stranded in the States but I'll be pissed off if I can't get there! Funnily enough I'll be going through Heathrow Departures on my way to the States and my sister, who has been to a wedding in the US Virgin Islands, will be coming through Arrivals at the same time.
I have bought myself a sweet little laptop to take with me, for blog updates, which I got in PC World yesterday. My other laptop is a big heavy thing but this is small, with a 10 inch screen and will easily go in my camera bag. It has a 250GB hard drive so I can put my photos on it as well.

Volcanic sunset

2010-04-15T23:23:00.001+01:00

Here in the UK, the big news of the day (discounting the, frankly boring, General Election and the various political parties trying to outdo each other with the various packs of lies and promises they have no intention of keeping) is the huge cloud of volcanic ash that has covered the country, and most of Europe, from Eyjafjallajökull volcano in south west Iceland, which is currently erupting. The eruption has grounded all flights into and out of the UK and most of Europe and this is set to continue into the weekend.

However, with the ash covering the UK, it has provided the potential for decent sunsets. This evening's sunset was a little redder and darker than usual.

More practically, I sincerely hope the eruption has died down, or the eruptive material is blowing away from us, in three weeks' time, as I will not be best pleased if my flight to the US is disrupted or cancelled. The trouble is, with nature, you never know

Observing 14th April 2010

2010-04-15T22:55:00.003+01:00

Conditions:

Seeing II

Transparency III-IV - pretty 'milky' with some light scatter

Still, with no wind., although the slightest of breezes sprang up later.

Instrument: 12 inch f5 Dobsonian, 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), Lumicon OIII filter.

As the skies were really murky, and Virgo was washed out by the murk and a lot of light scatter in that direction, I decided to go to Draco for the Herschel 400 objects (and others) there instead. Things were a little awkward as Ursa Major was upside down and the charts difficult to relate to the sky without turning them upside down.

NGC 5866: Bright, fairly small. Elongated n-s, brightens gradually towards a diffuse centre. Bright star on one end and a slightly dimmer star on western edge. Dust lane? 190x

NGC 5907: Very thin, edge-on galaxy. Not much of a nuclear bulge, if any. Fairly faint, elongated n-s, quite large, stretching across field of view at 101x. 69x, 101x

NGC 5985: Very small and bright. Oval. Bright core, elongated n-s. 190x

NGC 5982: Very large oval galaxy, evenly bright, no brightening to middle. Slightly elongated, not face on. Looks like smudge or thumbprint. Very faint, not much brighter than background sky. 190x.

NGC 6543: Very bright and blue planetary nebula, even without the OIII filter. This was fairly easy to find, although at first I thought it would be too low, as the stars I was using to hop to it weren't that far above the trees in next door's garden. The OIII filter really brings it out. Small and round. Slightly fuzzy and definitely non-stellar at 69x.

At 190x it is uniformly bright with the middle being no brighter than the surrounding halo. No darkening anywhere within the nebula. 69x, 190x, OIII filter.

NGC 3147: This took a bit of finding, I had to star hop to it, using galaxies, rather than stars. I began with the easy to find M81/82 and went from there.

Bright, round, with bright nucleus. 190x.

Because of work the next morning, I packed up at midnight BST. For a short session, it was a pretty good one, and I don't have to return to Draco for any Herschel 400 objects.

Observing April 11th and 12th 2010

2010-04-15T21:38:00.002+01:00

At last! A clear night - or was it? It certainly began promisingly enough with the skies clearing off so I set up just before sunset in the hope that I'd get some observing done.

Unfortunately this state of affairs didn't last long and after the session began drifting clouds appeared and, as if in a devious conspiracy, they sat right where I aimed my scope. It seemed that when I moved to a different part of the sky they followed!

However, despite this, I managed to see the grand total of three objects on my H400 list.

Conditions:

Chilly +4C

Seeing III, Trans IV - Drifting clouds interfereing with observing, plus some high cirrus stuff

NELM 6.0

Instrument: 12 inch f5 Dobsonian; 22mm Televue Panoptic (69x), 15mm Televue Plossl (101x), 8mm Televue Radian (190x), Lumicon OIII filter

NGC 2392 - planetary nebula in Gemini: Easy to find. At 69x it's round, fuzzy with bright middle. It's a greenish-blue colour. OIII brings it out well. At 190x it looks very fuzzy with a very bright centre and a dark area between outer parts and centre. 69x, 190x OIII

NGC 2420 - open cluster in Gemini: Nice, fairly small o.c. Very rich and moderately bright. Irregular shape with c. 30 bright stars on a nebulous background which is many many unresolved stars. The brighter stars are all the same, or similar, brightnesses. 69x, 101x

NGC 5194 and NGC 5195 - galaxies in Canes Venatici: Fantastic. NGC 5194 (aka M51) is a large, face-on spiral. Spiral structure is easily seen and it has a big, bright nucleus.

The companion, NGC 5195, is much smaller. Round with a halo surrounding a bright core. 69x, 101x.

At this point, the clouds were becoming more than just an irritation, they were becoming a damned nuisance, so I packed in. As I came back outside to pick up the scope base, the clouds had filled the sky.

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

The following night, 12th April, wasn't totally clear, so I didn't even bother carrying the scope out but, instead, decided to bag Melotte 111, the Coma Star Cluster, with my 8x42 binoculars. Mel 111 is on the AL Binocular Deep Sky list, which, apart from four objects in Cepheus and Lacerta, I have just about finished.
Easily seen with the naked eye, this huge open cluster is pretty spectacular in binoculars. It is harp-shaped, with 15 bright stars outlining the shape of the harp. There are many more fainter stars in among the brighter ones. The stars are all blue-white and the brightest ones all the same magnitude. Nice.

Forecasters' idea of a 'clear sky' vs my idea of a clear sky!

2010-04-11T11:48:00.002+01:00

Just recently, I have got more than a little annoyed and frustrated with the weather forecasters' less-than-accurate definition of "clear skies". To me, as to any other amateur astronomer, a clear sky DOES NOT mean murk, high cloud and other general crap obscuring the view of all but the brightest stars and planets. I am so fed up with reading on the forecasters' web sites (including the BBC) and hearing and seeing the weather bulletins on TV and radio promising "clear skies" only for it to be haze and murk with only a few bloated, bright stars and planets visible and all but the very brightest star clusters wiped out.

Okay, I understand that Joe and Jane Public don't give a toss about astronomy and that, as long as shadows are cast during the day and they see the odd star or two or the Moon (when around) at night then, to them, that constitutes "clear" but, can we have a bit more accuracy in the forecasting please? If it's going to be hazy, tell us. Don't fib and say it's going to be clear when there's actually going to be a load of high thin cloud around.
Yes, we do get contrails from jets passing overhead, but these dissapate quite quickly and the high thin rubbish is not all contrails in any case.

To this end, I have emailed the ~~Mess~~ Met Office. It most likely won't change anything but it's always good to let these sort of organisations know that people are taking notice of what they do and say and, if it's inaccurate, then they should know.

"I am an amateur astronomer and I am increasingly annoyed and frustrated, as are other amateurs, by the forecasters' definition of "clear skies". To us "clear skies" do not mean high haze and murk with only a few bright stars visible as this is NOT clear and is totally useless for doing any astronomy. Can we please have forecasts which more accurately reflect this and not misleading (from an astronomical point of view) ones that do not take into account high thin clouds? Several times recently clear skies have been forecast, only for those so-called "clear skies" to turn out to be murk and high cloud - and on checking the on-line forecast it still says "clear skies" when it obviously isn't!

I understand that the forecasts are aimed at the general public, a lot of whom consider a bit of hazy sunshine or a few bright, bloated stars and a murky Moon to be "clear" and who have no interest in, or understanding of, astronomy, but amateur astronomers are also members of the public and we'd like more accurate forecasts, please, taking into account haze and high thin clouds. "

It'll be interesting to see what sort of a reply I get - if, indeed, I get one.