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..

Fuzzies Everywhere - III

Continued..

During this time, I started with Leo fuzzies. With low mag 35 pan @ 35x can clearly see 2903. Its indeed small but still bright.

Leo Triplet 3193 ben Gamma and ?? star.

Leo Gamma doublet, Again i looked at wrong location (inside the sickle) on this one. Its outside the sickle towards the body. Its on eastern side of Gamma Leo. Can easily see it thru my 10" scope 17T4 combo.

While looking for M95-M96-M105 triplet, i accidentally ended up at k-leo galaxies. They seem lil different than what i have seen thru Jon's scope.. two of them were really bright (i.e. 3367 and 3377), didn't see any other.. Again after relocating I got 95-96-105 triplet.. triplet within 105 was also visible. and thru that was able to move to k-leo gals also.

When moved to M65-M66-3628 combo, M95 triplet is definitely separated more than m65 triplet.. my expectations from m65 were really high being brighter, but din't get any impressive view thru my scope 17T4 70x. Mentioned it to Jon, if seeing/transparency is okay.

Checked for 3607. In 17T4 @ 70x can clearly see 3607-3608 pair. 3605 was also not clearly visible.. required lil higher mags. I believe I also looked at 3599 (New) nearby, thru jon's and my scope.

Jon was tired of fuzzies, so he moved to Saggi and Scorpio, while i continued my fuzzy hunt with Ursa Major.

Started hunting fuzzies in UMa systematically star-by-star.

From Alpha UMa - 1st star - Dubhe:
M81-M82 - indeed marvelous with low mags and high mags. With 17T4 @ 35x can also clearly see two nearby ngc objects. M81 being at center, M82, ngc3077 (new) and ngc 2976 (new) forms perfect Y shape prongs. 3077 is way smaller than 2976. Infact data sheet shows that, though smaller, 3077 is a magnitude brighter than 2976.

Near Beta UMa - second star - Merak:
M97-M108 - Fits in same view (17T4 ??) M97 brighter and more bluish than m108.. m108 seemed to be edge-on type. Nearby NGC 3631 (New) is also an easy catch. Moving from 108-97 in direct straight line or from finder to a nearby bright star HR 4363 helps.

Near Gamma UMa - third star :
M109: don't remember much..seems like it has bright core (??).. missed the nearby ngc object.

M106 - Opposite to alignment of M81-82-Alpha-Gamma stars, lies 106 towards CVn. Observed ngc 4490 near Alpha Cvn. Dont remember much. switched to M106, which is at exact center of Alpha Cvn and Gamma UMa. seems visible thru finder.. M106 seems to have brighter core.. nearby satellite ngc object clearly visible thru jon's scope.. must be 4217 (New) (or 4248 ??)... hardly visible in my 10" scope 17T4 @ 70x..requires more magnification.

Had a quick glance at M63 and M94. just saw so many galaxies that don't even remember much in t details.. need to spend some time on these objects with higher mags.

M51 whirlpool: marvelous view of the pair. Can clearly see the spiral lanes. More time i spend on this one, more details pop up in the eye. In M51 seemes like brighter star-like spot on the spiral arm. NGC-M51-Brighter star like spot. Need to read more abt this one. ???

M101 : closer to 7th UMa star. M51 is on southern-easter side of this tar, while this one is on northen easter side. almost at the same distance. don't remember much.. just too many fuzzies for one night. It needs to be observed with high mag ???

Continued..

31st May 08 @ TDS

Date: 31^st May 08, Saturday
Observation Time: 8:30pm to 12:00pm (3:30 hrs)
Location: TDS, CA
Weather: Seeing was “okay” initially, but afterwards it improved, but still not excellent. Cloud cover was always there near horizon. Little bit breezy till 10pm. and it was freaking cold.. 44 deg F. If yahoo weather say “almost clear', then think before heading to TDS.
Buddies: Bill from next pad. Didn't talk with him much..

Highlight of the night: I cracked complete Leo constellation DSOs and surprise look of Omega Centauri.

Another constructive session at TDS. Actually I wasn't sure abt visiting TDS, because of late afternoon lunch at friend's daughter's first birthday party. So was somewhat tired.. but 25 mins nap did the magic, and ended up gong to TDS late evening.

Not many people were around.. probably 6-8 telescopes. Weather was awful when I was driving to TDS. The clear sky clock showed few “faint blues”, while yahoo weather had a doubt with “Almost” clear.

Faced some trouble with collimation.. I think primary mirror is not fully visible in secondary.. I tried my best.. but still I think its still wrong.. wasn't able to focus on Saturn precisely.. I was seeing the double images except the fine tuned point.. I should not see double images.. out of focus is okay.

**** Saturn:
Because of bad weather,, I started with Saturn. In32mm, 38x, Saturn was perfectly visible with 3 moons. 2 on one side, while one on another. Rings were visible with a separation from planet. 97x with 25mm 2x barlow, indeed showed something dark band on Saturn. Ring's overlap over the planet was clearly visible.. still wasn't able to see cassini division. Its hard to keep saturn in high mag view.

*** Leo
I followed again the cloudy night article regarding “Leo”.. page by page..

> M65 – M66 – NGC 3628 Triplet
It was again perfect catch absolutely no trouble. in finding it. all three visible in same view. NGC 3628 was really faint. View was not that great, because of bad seeing I guess.. Didn't try high magnification.

> NGC 3607 – 3608 – 3605 Triplet
Easy to find. all three lined up in a triangle. The one in the middle is really bright, other two were barely visible to me. Required averted vision. Infact I am not sure if I saw correct one.. I have a sketch with galaxy and surrounding stars and its not matching with cloudy nights.. I need to verify with ma10 sky chart.

> M95 – M96 – M105 Triplet
this time I located it precisely and in first shot :) .. The stars “p”, 53, 52 and 43 form perfect trapezoid. and in the same view finder. If we take perfect mid-point of 52 & 53, thats where galaxy triplet can be found. All three can not be in same view, some bright star, M105 and M96 are in perfect view like a right angle triangle.. if we pick up M96, then another 90 deg twist gives M95.. perfectly aligned. so all four objects for one-side angled square.

M96 is the brighter between them. M105 and M95 seemed of same magnitude. M95 seems to be the bigger in size than M96. I need to verify these observations.

> M105 – NGC3371 – NGC3373 Triplet 
3371-73 should have been 3384 and 3389.
M105 itself is a triplet. M105 is at 6 o'clock from the bright star. 3371 is at 8 o'clock. There are 3 stars lined up on right side of 105-3371 line. If we pick up the middle star, then with averted vision, 3373 is clearly visible. Simply fabulous !! 3373 is just too faint and tiny.. 3371 is bigger and brighter than 3373 and can be seen fairly.. Bill from next pad was happy to see the triplet-triplets..but 3373 was too hard for him.

> NGC 2903
Following pocket sky atlas, gave me the precise location of this guy and easy to catch. it looked like as elongated as NGC 3268, Nothing much special..

> Alpha Leonid – Regulus:
I am still not able to resolve this double star. .not able to resolve it with 6mm also, 184x.. Freaking, there is something terribly wrong.

> Gamma Leonid – Algieba:
This double star is fabulous. in 32mm, 38x not able to resolve it, but 76x showed me the “peanut” shape. companion is so close and smaller than gamma, so it looks like uneven 8 or a peanut. Both of them golden yellowish color.

I am done with Leo now.. need to move to new one.. probably virgo !!

*** Cancer
> M44 – Beehive cluster – fabulous as usual !!

> M67 – open cluster – not as impressive as M44.. its really tiny. but its hard to locate.

*** Omega Centauri
This is first time I saw this glob in my life.. From India, for the roof of my place in pune, I have seen it., but I never knew that this is THE BEST glob in whole night sky. and yesterday I saw it.. Initially thru my binocs 10x50. its almost 4 times the size of M13 Hercules glob. M13 is really tiny in front of this one. Its naked eye... 2-3 deg from southern horizon. At 38x with 32mm, it was fabulous.. not able to resolve any stars, but it was too dense more than a cotton.. really fuzzy !! 32mm with 2x barlow, 72x resolved some outskirt stars, but 25mm 2x 98x was indeed impressive... more you look in the eyepiece, the more you have adapted your eyes to the view, the more I was able to resolve the stars in it.. all of them seemed to be of same color. Again as it was too densely packed.. I am just not able to see any shape.. This was-is indeed memorable sight !!

*** Ursa Major
After dinner, I tracked few objects in big dipper. I should have read the cloudy nights article in detail.

> M81 – M82 pair:
M81 is indeed brighter & bigger than M82. M81 is edge on.. again both of them seemed to be too faint to observe anything.. again following sky atlas pointed perfect location and first shot catch !! high mag didn't help much !!

> M108 galaxy – M97 Owl nebula pair:
This was indeed hard to catch because of my stupidity. I misinterpreted the view through finder and was looking on the opposite direction of “beta”.. moment I realized my mistake, in next attempt the pair was in my eyepiece.. its indeed fainter than M81-M82 pair.. the distance between them is more than 81-82 pair. Again high mag really made them faint.. M97 is indeed brighter than M108. M97 is in perfect circular shape while M018 is elongated edge on.

> M109 - It was too faint .. I don't remember much !! it was yet another DSO.. nothing more..

> M51 whirlpool galaxy:
This was indeed great. clearly visible in 32mm, 38x.. pretty bright.. in 8 shaped with left galaxy smaller than right one. but both of them were brighter.. high mag didn't show much !!

Next time I need to watch Ursa DSOs carefully.

** Jupiter
From bill's Orion 6” MAK , it was indeed good, crispy clear image.. all 4 satellites, two on each side.. The bands were clearly visible and impressive.. but still image was not crystal clear.. too bright !! Also Jupiter was low on horizon.. similar view from my scope, but not as crispy as from bill's. I tried the red filter on it, to see the bands.. but total failure.. I think scope needs to be collimated properly..

Mistakes:
- Its freaking cold out there. A sweat shirt and jacket is not enough.
- I should right down each observation.. otherwise i forget

TBD:
- Collimate the scope properly..
- Red torch with a string