Observing, 8th April 2008

Last night was another clear one, so it was out with the scope. I set it up early in the evening and decided to have a bash at collimating it properly. I made sure the sling on the primary was ok (it had slipped a little) and, with the laser, collimated the secondary. Perfect! Job done.
The light shroud keeps slipping as, despite measuring before the scope was completed, it's a little too loose. I'm going to have to get a bungee cord or something to help keep it in place.

I spent the time in the galaxies and, as expected the 12-inch showed up galaxies, and details in galaxies, that my old 8-inch never could. I managed to make a sketch of NGC 3953 in Ursa Major before being clouded out - the clouds were temporary but as I had to be up at 0630 I packed in for the night.

NGC 3953 appeared oval, with a brighter nucleus, at 61x and 102x. At 37x it was oval but shows no other detail. Unfortunately drifting clouds hampered the observation.

Messier session

A very nice clear night last night, quite transparent and with good seeing but as I was feeling like crap (got some disease, heaven knows what but I feel tired all the time), I didn't lug the scope out and instead knocked off some more Messier Objects with my binoculars.
I did the entire early Spring group in one session and some of the late Spring group as well. Of course some of the galaxies were a bit difficult and I didn't see M108 at all (this was my second attempt at it) but M44, 48, 81, 82, 109, 101, 40, 3, 51, 94, 67, 106, 63, 64, 53, 65, 66 and 105 are all in the bag (some I have observed before, but I was trying to improve the observations, e.g. M97 I failed to see last time, but last night it was no bother at all). That makes it 69 out of the 109 or 110 Messier Objects I have seen to date during this project.
It's shaping up to be a nice night tonight as well, and I will take the scope out this time, although I have to get up early for work tomorrow (I'm looking for another job as I bloody well hate having to be at work by 0730 - probably something to do with the chronic tiredness I bet).

'Hidden Treasures'

I ordered a copy of Steve O'Meara's book 'Deep-Sky Companions: Hidden Treasures' from Waterstones last Saturday and it arrived today, so I went into town and collected it after work. It is a big, fat book, much larger than Steve's previous books in the Deep-Sky Companions series: 'The Messier Objects' and 'The Caldwell Objects' (to be honest, I have no time for the 'Caldwell Catalogue' but I collect books on deep sky observing and it was nice to have this as part of the set. Besides, I bought it at London Astrofest in 2006 when Steve was there, doing a talk and I got mine signed - how could I resist?!) but is laid out the same way, object by object, with information, photos, sketches and descriptions.

Because of the title Hidden Treasures, Steve has introduced a pirate theme and categorised observers as such e.g. people who observe objects quickly and move on for the sake of completing lists (such as Herschel 400, etc) are described as hit-and-run 'Barbary pirates' while those who take their time and really look at objects, maybe making notes and sketches are the more 'romantic' pirates, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean, rifling through the treasure chests of the night sky, although I think there's a bit of both observer-pirate types in all of us. I have seen people on various forums on the net saying they dislike the pirate theme, but personally I find it a refreshing change, it isn't laboured and it is a bit of fun, although on my first flick through I did wonder at first about the fixation with ships before the pirate connotations became apparent.
It's not all pirate fun though, the object descriptions are serious enough, and it is full of excellent tips on how to observe these objects.

Steve is a wonderful observer (I had the pleasure of observing with him at the Texas Star Party in 2006) and as ever, his super sketches grace the book. As a visual observer myself, I particularly appreciate books with a visual bias and this is one of the best. Steve does have the advantage of a high observing site, on Kilauea Volcano in Hawai'i, which is also blessed with good weather and many clear nights but this shouldn't detract from the usefulness of this book in planning your own observing sessions. I am looking forward to going to bed in a while (yes, it is cloudy!) and having a good read.

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I made the collimation worse on the scope the other night while fiddling with it! My friend Richard, who built it, is coming over next week to sort it out - he thinks the secondary is out of alignment or that the sling has come off the primary (I'd not thought of either possibility, to be honest) when I brought it home in the car; it did rattle a lot and once that's sorted I'll be in business. Now if only we can get some decent clear nights, preferably when I don't have to be at work the next morning (is it me, or is the high cloud worse these days?)...

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Eight weeks to go until the Texas Star Party! I am flying to San Antonio on the 31st May (Saturday) and will get to the Prude Ranch on the Monday. I'm hoping it will be clear for some Big Scope observing, like last time, but even if it isn't (2005 and 2007 were grotty) the party will, for me, be on with or without stars. I'm there for the socialising as much as for the observing, a change of scenery and also indulging in my other hobby of birding.

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I wish I was at the BAA Winchester Weekend. That's on this weekend and I'm stuck at work until Monday! Ok, it isn't what it used to be (what is, these days?) but it's a fun social event. Mind you, I'm skint, so I couldn't go even if I wasn't working. I paid out for my air fare to the States a couple of weeks ago and my car is being MOT'd and serviced next week.

Observing platform and second light

I built myself a little 'observing platform' in the garden, from old concrete blocks, yesterday. I dug a large square hole and laid the blocks in it, getting them as level as possible to provide a nice, stable platform for my Dob and it works well, getting its first use that evening.

The Dob got it's second light (as it were) yesterday evening. I had the best views I have ever had of the Owl Nebula (M97) in Ursa Major; it had a definite greenish tinge to it and, for the first time, I saw the 'eyes' - two dark holes in the nebula - that give this interesting PN its nickname, although these were only really evident when I put an OIII filter into the eyepiece.
It wasn't a deep sky night, due to the high cloud - there seemed to be a 'cover' of very high thin cloud - but the views were not too bad of the brightest objects although the scope needs collimating, as while low magnifications are ok, the view through higher mags is out of focus, with a kind of shift to one side (i.e. one side of a star or planet is good, the other awful). This is due purely to collimation issues, so once I have sorted that out, the views will improve. I have bought a laser collimator for this purpose. Collimation isn't hard, just a bit of a pain in the arse to have to do.

Increasingly bad conditions and the need to have to get up early for work meant I had to pack up at around 9.30 pm. Nearly as irritating (although not a reason for packing up in itself) was a light aircraft that kept flying round in circles - funnily enough, and I have lived under Heathrow's flight path in the past, I never find the noise of big jets anywhere near as annoying as the buzzing drone of a light propeller aircraft.

GMT/BST

If I were ever to come to power, one of the first things that would go (along with unneccessary lighting, animal experiments and child benefit) would be that infernal invention 'British Summer Time'. Putting aside all the ill-informed rubbish from some members of the public about 'extra daylight' (there isn't, you idiots) the fact that, due to this irritating tinkering, it gets dark an hour later is a major pain in the backside from an observing point of view, particularly when I have to be at work at the unreasonable time of 0800 the following morning.

First light of 12-inch

The evening started off clear so I set the 12-inch up on the patio. After letting it cool down for a while, I aimed it at some bright stars in a rapidly-worsening sky (isn't that just typical??) and M81/M82. The collimation could do with a bit of slight adjusting but the view, despite the crap sky, was pretty good and I tried out a selection of eyepieces on it. Sadly, I had to pack up after only half an hour because the sky was becoming increasingly opaque. Annoying, but hopefully we'll get some nice clear nights soon, once Spring gets well underway, and I can test it properly. Anyway, I'm pleased with what I have seen so far.

I have sent off for a laser collimator from Telescope House, a cheapish one at £34.99, so hopefully that will make collimating the scope easier and quicker. This is the first large Dob I've owned so keeping the mirrors aligned properly will be more of an issue.

New 12" Dob

I went and collected the 12-inch Dob this afternoon and it's just as well I didn't get a 14" or larger or a longer f-ratio mirror or it never would have fit into my car, and I wouldn't have been able to carry it - the 12" is quite heavy, but I can (fortunately) lift it comfortably. On getting it home, my aunt started fussing slightly over the size of the thing: 'Big enough, innit?' and 'Where are you going to put that?' (I don't think she quite grasped the size of a 12" Dob until she actually saw it!).


Here are a few photos:

It fits neatly into the corner of my room:

Looking down the tube:

It was made with a 2-inch focusser but this can be adapted for 1 1/4-inch eyepieces, such as all mine are until I replace one or two with 2-inch versions (2-inch is the upper picture, 1 1/4-inch is the lower pic):

I am hoping for a clear night tonight so I can see how well (or not!) it works. Richard said that it focusses, but a bit further along the focus (it racks almost right in) than he'd like, so if that is a problem with some eyepieces, the mirror would need to be raised.