Date: Feb 25th 2012 Saturday
Observation Time: 6pm to 12pm (observing time ~5 hrs),
Location: Jon's Home, Boulevard, CA
Weather: good.. few lower clouds on west in the eve..but alter cleared up.. moon 5th day/~30% phase causing light pollution till 8:30pm.. lil windy at sunset and ~11pm. Seeing wasn't that great 5/10.
Instruments: Jon's 16" f/4 scope and np-101 f/7 scope
interesting things of the night were:
- first real dark session after one year gap..
- first observation of Medusa nebula, Rosette nebula, California nebula, Whale Galaxy, Needle Galaxy, plus some more new galaxy fuzzies.
- Comet Garrad C2009/P1 in Draco
- Browsing galaxies from 5" np-101 scope. When sky is clear and its dark, the small scope of np-101 can indeed show so many faint fuzzies. its very impressive. TBD: Should browse Virgo Markarain's chain through this scope next time.
16" scope with parracor: ~2070mm focal length
31mm: 67x
20mm: 103x
16mm: 130x
9mm: 230x
7mm: 295x
np-101 focal length: 540mm
35mm: 15x
31mm: 17x
24mm: 22x
16mm: 34x
7mm:: 77x
Mercury - Just after sunset, mercury visible through binoculars. while locating it, Jon cheated through his digital dumpy level for altitude and I cheated by following jon's scope location thru my binocs. Tried 31mm, 16mm, 7mm nagler on apo... With 7mm @77x, best view. Looked like a solid disk. Environment refraction showing up in apo, with blue/green color on east and orange/red color on west side of mercury disk.
Venus - Next to moon. 7mm @ 77x best view in apo. the phase of Venus is 60% from west. Lil bigger disk than mercury.
Jupiter - good view, but not the brightest view. 16" scope with 20mm Nag2 @ 103x. Big jupter disk with 4 bands visible. sothern side being the thicker band. On second band from south has a lil storm pattern, just next to the center of the band. (TBD: Need to confirm this: ~6pm). 4 moons lurking around, 2 on each side. with binocs, with hand-shaking trouble, western side 2 moons can be easily seen.
Rigel - 16inch scope, With 9mm @ 230x, fabulous view. Rigel looks like white-blue diamond with 4 streaks in each direction, like a sketch. Companion star is visible clearly with very good separation. located on North 89deg from rigel. Very faint as compared to Rigel. Lowed the magnification with 20mm @ 103x. The split is visible, but lil difficult. rigel is way too bright in the view than its companion. Jon mentioned one imp thing.. Lesser the magnification, brighter the star looks in the view. Hence Rigel dominated the view @103x as compared to 230x. this should be an easy split from home as well (TBD)
Orion M42-M43: 16" scope with 20mm @ 103x: Very beautiful view.. 3D perception with dark pillars ad the wings. Can not feet the whole nebula in one view. trapezoid visible, but only 5 stars, bad seeing. Jon mentioned that he can see/feel the red color in the saucer/wing part on upper side. I can't. M43 shows up as mediocre view as compared to M42.
Orion Running Man Neb ngc1973: Made a mistake with location. We pointed from-Inside the wing-to bigger dark pillar-to trapezoid-to dark splitting lane-just above it... its totally wrong.. Infact its outside wing-other side of the wing than m43, and few degrees away from the disk, you can spot the nebulosity. the dark region nearby sort of shows up as running man. Tried with np101, since its easier to get the judgment on location.. overall not very impressive and not very discernible view.
CMa Thor's Helmet - Impressive views with 31mm and 20mm in 16" scope. 20mm @ 103x with O-III filter is the best view. Object shows up as nice big comma shape with think disk at the top. More you focus on the view, more details you get.
CMa Tau - 103x shows up the view.. its a tiny open cluster in the view at this magnification. Central star is brighter than the rest of stars in the cluster. ~25 stars around. All stars are in outward triangular curvature from the central star, as if the ripples flowing outsides.
M93: 10x50 binocs view. Very small and tiny OC, as compared to nearby cousins M46-M47. Nothing impressive. no particular shape either.
Reflection nebula 2467 below m93: very good view in 16" sscope @ 103x with O-III filter. Easier to locate. Fainter and smaller than Thor's helmet. faint C shaped filled disk visible. in np-101, with some efforts, can see something very tiny..
M46-M47 : In np101 with 16mm @32x shows both clusters in same view. Having both of them in same view shows the beauty in both clusters. planetary nebula in m46 not visible. with 7mm@77x, PN shows up nicely with the cluster in the apo. In 16" with 20mm @103x with O-III filter, m46 is marvelous. sprinked stars now seem brighter with bigger apperture. M47 seems very marginal.. Planetory shows up as bright object in intself. neb looks good...
Jon got 10x50 Japanese Celestron regal binoculars. roof prism. but field of view is narrower than my nikkon 10x50. Tried another 7x42 binos. FoV is wider than Regal binocs, but still lower then mine. Still, 7x binocs was nice. Compared m46-m47 and nearby views in the binocs.
Continued..
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Back to stargazing... Part 2 / 4
Continued..
California Neb in Perseus ngc1499: (New) Tried it multiple times during the night with np-101 apo. the best view was with 31mm nagler @ 17x with H-beta filter on. very-very faint.. infact i had hard time seeing it, though it was in the view. with filter on can see something, but really not sure abt the shpae or borders. Not very impresive object. (btw, the description says that this neb is in perseus, but still in orion arm of the galaxy.. interesting). this is first time i observed it.. I think i had tried it in past, but failed.
Medusa Nebula (Abell 21)- (New) In Gemini. yet another very-very faint fuzzy.. Tried it 4-5 times during the night. Very hard to see.. in 20mm @103x can see some fuzziness with averted vision. Later after moonset, with O-III filter on, fuzziness shows up lil better. bigger object like thor's helmet, but definitely way too fainter. First observation.
Ghost of Jupiter in Hydra- Very bright object..O-III Filter helps.. in APO with 24mm@ 22x, it shows up as blue star. but there are no other blue stars in the view and hence you know this is the ghost. with jon's 16" scope, with 20mm @ 103x with O-III give fabulous view.. very bright disk of the ghost. can see some patterns in the disk, but cant grasp it. Just for fun, want to check the first observation from oak springs camground..I still remember it, when Jon showed it to me for first time.
Eskimo nebula in Gemini: Very bright object.. more the magnification, you can clearly see the detailes inside.. white disk.. Bright star in the center visible. Its a disk, made with lot of patterns circling around the central star.. wasn't able to locate it in np-101 quickly..
Rosette nebula in Monoceros (New): Very big object.. relatively fainter object.. but with UHC filter on 20mm in np101 (~25x) fills the whole field of view... the star cluster ngc2244 with 6 bright stars is at the center. these are like three pairs. The whole nebulosity surrounds this star cluster in C shape. The C shape itself is very dense. Tried it with 16" scope with 31mm @ 66x. Very bright nebulosity. O-III filter kills the star cluster, but UHC filter works well on this object. First observation.
Hubble variable nebula in Monoceros (New): in 31mm @ 66x, looked like a very tiny, comet spaed object.. it lokks like ideal sketch of comet, or a street llight with light shapde. As we zoom in, there is a nice bright star at the tip. So it must be reflection nebula, with star light reflecting.. as we zoomed in, you can indeed see the curvature at the end of the fuzzy object indicating the light just shows up at that point and doesnt pass thru.. Very interesting object.. saw it first time, need to see it again..
Orion inverted 37 star cluster ngc2169: directly at high magnification, i think. Seemed very dim, though no filter.. perfect interveted 37 shape. 7 shpae has ~3 bright stars, while shpae 3 had 4 or 3 bright stars.. and all other stars are very dim. total ~15 stars.
Continued..
California Neb in Perseus ngc1499: (New) Tried it multiple times during the night with np-101 apo. the best view was with 31mm nagler @ 17x with H-beta filter on. very-very faint.. infact i had hard time seeing it, though it was in the view. with filter on can see something, but really not sure abt the shpae or borders. Not very impresive object. (btw, the description says that this neb is in perseus, but still in orion arm of the galaxy.. interesting). this is first time i observed it.. I think i had tried it in past, but failed.
Medusa Nebula (Abell 21)- (New) In Gemini. yet another very-very faint fuzzy.. Tried it 4-5 times during the night. Very hard to see.. in 20mm @103x can see some fuzziness with averted vision. Later after moonset, with O-III filter on, fuzziness shows up lil better. bigger object like thor's helmet, but definitely way too fainter. First observation.
Ghost of Jupiter in Hydra- Very bright object..O-III Filter helps.. in APO with 24mm@ 22x, it shows up as blue star. but there are no other blue stars in the view and hence you know this is the ghost. with jon's 16" scope, with 20mm @ 103x with O-III give fabulous view.. very bright disk of the ghost. can see some patterns in the disk, but cant grasp it. Just for fun, want to check the first observation from oak springs camground..I still remember it, when Jon showed it to me for first time.
Eskimo nebula in Gemini: Very bright object.. more the magnification, you can clearly see the detailes inside.. white disk.. Bright star in the center visible. Its a disk, made with lot of patterns circling around the central star.. wasn't able to locate it in np-101 quickly..
Rosette nebula in Monoceros (New): Very big object.. relatively fainter object.. but with UHC filter on 20mm in np101 (~25x) fills the whole field of view... the star cluster ngc2244 with 6 bright stars is at the center. these are like three pairs. The whole nebulosity surrounds this star cluster in C shape. The C shape itself is very dense. Tried it with 16" scope with 31mm @ 66x. Very bright nebulosity. O-III filter kills the star cluster, but UHC filter works well on this object. First observation.
Hubble variable nebula in Monoceros (New): in 31mm @ 66x, looked like a very tiny, comet spaed object.. it lokks like ideal sketch of comet, or a street llight with light shapde. As we zoom in, there is a nice bright star at the tip. So it must be reflection nebula, with star light reflecting.. as we zoomed in, you can indeed see the curvature at the end of the fuzzy object indicating the light just shows up at that point and doesnt pass thru.. Very interesting object.. saw it first time, need to see it again..
Orion inverted 37 star cluster ngc2169: directly at high magnification, i think. Seemed very dim, though no filter.. perfect interveted 37 shape. 7 shpae has ~3 bright stars, while shpae 3 had 4 or 3 bright stars.. and all other stars are very dim. total ~15 stars.
Continued..
Back to stargazing... Part 3 / 4
Continued...
Perseus double cluster: with apo 24mm @ 24x, both in the view.. these dont seem as impressive as m46-47 pairs.. both of them almost look same.
M36,M37,M38 in Auriga: Apo with 24mm @24x.. single OC seemed bigger than the double cluster itself.. Outside one, i.e. m37, seemed much more beautiful with compressed salt-paper style.
NGC1893 OC, IC-410 object just below m38, next to vertical star alignment: 16" with 20mm @ 103x, simple open star cluster with lil nebulosity lurking around.. but nebulosity is not that prominent.. probably need to see it thru filter.. Jon have shown me this object before, but looks like i never documented it. interestingly, the description of this objects points to another IC object 405 i.e. Flaming Star Nebula, which is just on the opposite side of the vertical star alignment.. it is more prominent and famous.. need to watch it next time..
M1 Crab nebula: Apo @ 24mm @ 22x. I have seen crab so many times and i know its locatino precisly, but just want able to see it at 22x. I was expecting lil fuzzy ball.. but turned out that at 22x this one is very difficult object to observe. Jon was also lil surprised. it was very tiny and very faint fuzzy at this view.. this sort of gives perspective on how fiant and lil these objects are.. we are just exposed to bigger scopes showing these objects much bigger and brighter..
M81-M82: From apo @ 22x can see the bright fuzzy and bright streak objects in the same view.. can not miss it, while browsing.. alsmot as bright as background stars. m81 the elongated one seems brighter.. Later observed with 16" @ 20mm @ 103x.. it looks much better..
Two other ngcs 3077-2976 in the same vicinity.. they definitely seemed smaller and fainter.. but surprisingly, one looks like m82 i.e. elongated shape one, while another one seems elliptical, like m81.. though they are not..
Jon showed yet another ngc 2787 in the vicinity: (New) yet another fuzzy, but much smaller than above ngcs.
Mizar: The triplet system visible from apo @ 22x. Alcor lil far away than Mizar A-B. All white blue..
Leo M65-M66-3628 galaxies: From the 16", seeing wasnt that great so not very clear.. Same one from apo-24mm@22x looks good as well.. ngc not visible in that view.. but cant miss 65-66 pair.. also, from apo this pair seemed fainter than m81-82 pair.
Tried m95-96 triplet from apo, but seemed very hard.. wasn't able to get clear view in apo.. its surprising..
Jon showed yet another triplet in similar area as m65-66.. betn theta and delta leonis. NGC 3607-3608 tiny fuzzies..
Mars - observed multiple times... best view was thru 16" @ 20mm @ 103x at late night, when mars was 45deg west. The dark areas visible clearly.. mainly two dark areas.. one on northen side.. other one on south.. view improved over the period..
Continued..
Perseus double cluster: with apo 24mm @ 24x, both in the view.. these dont seem as impressive as m46-47 pairs.. both of them almost look same.
M36,M37,M38 in Auriga: Apo with 24mm @24x.. single OC seemed bigger than the double cluster itself.. Outside one, i.e. m37, seemed much more beautiful with compressed salt-paper style.
NGC1893 OC, IC-410 object just below m38, next to vertical star alignment: 16" with 20mm @ 103x, simple open star cluster with lil nebulosity lurking around.. but nebulosity is not that prominent.. probably need to see it thru filter.. Jon have shown me this object before, but looks like i never documented it. interestingly, the description of this objects points to another IC object 405 i.e. Flaming Star Nebula, which is just on the opposite side of the vertical star alignment.. it is more prominent and famous.. need to watch it next time..
M1 Crab nebula: Apo @ 24mm @ 22x. I have seen crab so many times and i know its locatino precisly, but just want able to see it at 22x. I was expecting lil fuzzy ball.. but turned out that at 22x this one is very difficult object to observe. Jon was also lil surprised. it was very tiny and very faint fuzzy at this view.. this sort of gives perspective on how fiant and lil these objects are.. we are just exposed to bigger scopes showing these objects much bigger and brighter..
M81-M82: From apo @ 22x can see the bright fuzzy and bright streak objects in the same view.. can not miss it, while browsing.. alsmot as bright as background stars. m81 the elongated one seems brighter.. Later observed with 16" @ 20mm @ 103x.. it looks much better..
Two other ngcs 3077-2976 in the same vicinity.. they definitely seemed smaller and fainter.. but surprisingly, one looks like m82 i.e. elongated shape one, while another one seems elliptical, like m81.. though they are not..
Jon showed yet another ngc 2787 in the vicinity: (New) yet another fuzzy, but much smaller than above ngcs.
Mizar: The triplet system visible from apo @ 22x. Alcor lil far away than Mizar A-B. All white blue..
Leo M65-M66-3628 galaxies: From the 16", seeing wasnt that great so not very clear.. Same one from apo-24mm@22x looks good as well.. ngc not visible in that view.. but cant miss 65-66 pair.. also, from apo this pair seemed fainter than m81-82 pair.
Tried m95-96 triplet from apo, but seemed very hard.. wasn't able to get clear view in apo.. its surprising..
Jon showed yet another triplet in similar area as m65-66.. betn theta and delta leonis. NGC 3607-3608 tiny fuzzies..
Mars - observed multiple times... best view was thru 16" @ 20mm @ 103x at late night, when mars was 45deg west. The dark areas visible clearly.. mainly two dark areas.. one on northen side.. other one on south.. view improved over the period..
Continued..
Back to stargazing... Part 4 / 4
Continued..
Needle Galaxy 4565: tiny spiky needle.. looks big from the 16" scope.. middle buldge is clear.. its like tiny sombrero galaxy. Another fuzzy 4559 next to it..
Whale galaxy 4631 is along the same lines. in npo, you can easily see all these three galaxies needle-4559-whale.. not in the same view 24mm @ 22x. Whale seemed much bigger object than others.. Whale in 16" @103x seemed impressive object. irregular elongated paintbrush stroke shape.. the middle part has lot of stars just on the galaxy surface. interestingly there is a bright star just above the disk at center. and there is yet another tiny fuzzy next to it. 4627.. its like slash dot |-
Yet another galaxy 4656 closer to whale, easily observed in the 16" scope.. but not visible in np101. this one also has some stars on the surface of the galaxy on bottom side, just like whale..
spindle galaxy 3115 in hydra.. closer to ghost of jupiter. these two objects should be seen together. Smaller than any of the other galaxies like needle-whale or Coma fuzzies. Remembering the location is hard.. but was able to see thru the apo @ 22x as well.. very very tiny streak..
M3 from apo..is very very tiny.. but from 16" had fabulous view.. can resolve almost all stars from outer and central core..
Hickson 68 and 5371 - Jon showed yet another fuzzy structure in Uma tail.. I think i have seen this one before.. We located in apo @ 22x.. Two of them very close to the star..elliptical fuzzies.. these two are part of hickson 68 group.. while another one 5371, way below in the view next to another bright star.. this one semeed lil bigger
Comet Garradd C/2009 P1 in draco - in apo 31mm.. very bright..cicular bright in center and fuzzier-fainter from outside.. no tail as such poking out.. perfect circular object.. near Eta Draco star.. +30 deg above horizon... it was last object of the night..
Overall, we saw so many tiny little fuzzies NGC objects from the apo, during this observation. When its dark and clear, indeed this tiny aperture can still show you these fuzzy objects.. Its not like they are impressive at this aperture level, but the fact that we can even see them with this tiny scope impresses me a lot.
Missed Dhruv..for these 8-10 hrs..
Needle Galaxy 4565: tiny spiky needle.. looks big from the 16" scope.. middle buldge is clear.. its like tiny sombrero galaxy. Another fuzzy 4559 next to it..
Whale galaxy 4631 is along the same lines. in npo, you can easily see all these three galaxies needle-4559-whale.. not in the same view 24mm @ 22x. Whale seemed much bigger object than others.. Whale in 16" @103x seemed impressive object. irregular elongated paintbrush stroke shape.. the middle part has lot of stars just on the galaxy surface. interestingly there is a bright star just above the disk at center. and there is yet another tiny fuzzy next to it. 4627.. its like slash dot |-
Yet another galaxy 4656 closer to whale, easily observed in the 16" scope.. but not visible in np101. this one also has some stars on the surface of the galaxy on bottom side, just like whale..
spindle galaxy 3115 in hydra.. closer to ghost of jupiter. these two objects should be seen together. Smaller than any of the other galaxies like needle-whale or Coma fuzzies. Remembering the location is hard.. but was able to see thru the apo @ 22x as well.. very very tiny streak..
M3 from apo..is very very tiny.. but from 16" had fabulous view.. can resolve almost all stars from outer and central core..
Hickson 68 and 5371 - Jon showed yet another fuzzy structure in Uma tail.. I think i have seen this one before.. We located in apo @ 22x.. Two of them very close to the star..elliptical fuzzies.. these two are part of hickson 68 group.. while another one 5371, way below in the view next to another bright star.. this one semeed lil bigger
Comet Garradd C/2009 P1 in draco - in apo 31mm.. very bright..cicular bright in center and fuzzier-fainter from outside.. no tail as such poking out.. perfect circular object.. near Eta Draco star.. +30 deg above horizon... it was last object of the night..
Overall, we saw so many tiny little fuzzies NGC objects from the apo, during this observation. When its dark and clear, indeed this tiny aperture can still show you these fuzzy objects.. Its not like they are impressive at this aperture level, but the fact that we can even see them with this tiny scope impresses me a lot.
Missed Dhruv..for these 8-10 hrs..
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Recap 2011
As far as real astronomy concerned, probably nothing was done this year.
Number of observations were: 4
Dark night outside city observations : 1
Couple of them were with my parents here. They indeed enjoyed Jon's 25" telescope
Overall, I spent 365 days observing our little Pole star: Dhruv..
Number of observations were: 4
Dark night outside city observations : 1
Couple of them were with my parents here. They indeed enjoyed Jon's 25" telescope
Overall, I spent 365 days observing our little Pole star: Dhruv..
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