Little one @ Blvd

Date: August 18th 2012, Saturday
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 11pm (observing time ~3.5hrs), 
Location: Jon's @ Blvd
Weather: fine.. 4/5 seeing.. before sunset it was cloudy, but later clouds just disappeared. Moon - 1st day 
Instruments: Jon's 16" scope and his Williams 80mm scope  


Our little one visited Jon's place in mountains for first time. Slept all the way during the drive. But played for a while at their place. Later got into daycare anxiety mode and just made everybody go nuts..later got back to normal.

Moon: FAILED. Started observation with locating first day phase moon. But it was way too hard. Never found it. It was Ramadan Ed 1st day moon.

Saturn: Saturn-Mars-Spica triplet as visible in evening dusk. Saturn visible nicely. Tried thru Williams 80mm with 9mm, 4mm TMB eyepieces. Saturn rings clearly visible, front rings are on bottom, while the back side f the ring moves upwards. As night moved on, can clearly see the dark gas lanes on the saturn disk. No details / gaps on rings. Still it was impressive what 80mm scope showed from the dark place.

Mars: 80mm is not enough for mars details. Seemed like big orange bright spot in the scope. Going closer to horizon, so dint get a chance to see thru 16" scope.

M6-M7: naked eye visibility. Fits in same view in the binocs ~6deg FoV. Jons 16" scope lot of details on both. Butterfly shape. apparently i got this pair confused with m46-m47 and ended up looking for the planetary nebula in it. Jon reminded me of absence of last year. Hsshh..

Antares GC M4: Visible thru bincs. 800mm with 24mm EP, shows the GC nicely. Very tiny though. With 9mm, i think can resolve some outskirt stars. 

Northern Jewel Box: Looks nice from all three instruments. Binocs show 5-7 stars low on horizon. 80mm has the best view. Cluster fills up 50% of the view. bright stars with some E + 4 + curved shape visible. In Jons 16", view was fully filled with eyepiece. Can see very faint stars. 

M8 - M20: Quick browse thru. Lagoon without filter still shows lot of nebulosity and C shaped dark lane separation clealt from 16" scope. Triffid looks smaller as compared to Lagoon, but whole nebulosity is nice. More I spent time in EP for Triffid, the dark lanes started popping up.

Swan M17: Quick browse again.. but impressive.. distinctive shape and bright stars at the bottom and another one at the center  in the curvature shape. 

Eagle M16: no nebulosity... typical star formation like a symbol of an angle.

M22 GC above star: quick browse thru binocs and 80mm.. is it bigger than Antares GC 

M25 OC Flipped comma: Binocs show the 3 deg view of this object with inverted comma shape. OC at the center of the comma is smaller, but the whole spae makes it beautiful. 

M23: While looking for Crescent nebula ended up on this one. very bright and impressive object. 16" scope view is just lightend bright with this object. lot of yellow white stars. 

Crescent Nebula: Very tiny fuzzy object from the 16" scope.. but its definitely bigger than other planetary nebula objects like saturn nebula or ghost of jupiter. Can not miss the object frm 16" scope.. next to a star. Infact i found this one first rather than way bigger M23 :). Increasing the mags didn't make much difference though in the visibility... There is a GC nearby it.. i think you can definitely distinguish betn the type of these objects i.e. GC vs nebula.

M10-M12: Browsed the Ophiuchus GCs. Very impressive. looks similar in size as well brightness..somehow binocs gave impression that m12 is bigger, but scope shows m10 t be bigger. Hshh.. must be feeling sleepy. Very easy to locate. Probably saw these after a long time. no discernible shape.. but these are definitively bigger than m92 in Hercules (later).

Planetary ngc 6445 Box Nebula (New): Jon showed this planetary. seemed like bright blue circle...very very tiny.. dont remember anything else. Later i was able to locate it smoothly. There is another GC next to it ngc 6440. In moderate view the pair looks nice.. very tiny and faint..probably only possible in high apperture 16" scope

Ngc oc - Ic oc - Ic oc: NGC is definitively looks nice from the16" scope.. but IC objects are better in binocs. ngc-ic and the planetory fits in same view. 

Gc near spica: Jon showed this one. wasnt able to locate it by myself. its seemed like OC, but its loosely connected GC.

M13: Took a long time just to locate HER constellation. I sort of lost the scale of quadrilateral size. It is smaller than what I was thinking. One year gap in observation made me forget lot of things. M13 is fabulous.. supports magnification really well. yellow white stars.. very bright.. 

Gal: Gal near M13.. very faint and tiny as compared the M13. Wasnt able t fit both in the same view of 16" scope.

Planetary: Again.. yet another planetary..

M92: Tiny as compared to M13.. but i compared it immediately with m10-12 pair.. and m92 seems smaller and fainter than those.. Its sort of lost beauty in front of other fabulous GCs in the sky.

Saturn Neb: Easy to locate. White bluish object.. tiny.. 

M Gc.. M oc: browsing all three objects including saturn neb, is an interesting experience. It shows the differences in the object size. The triagnle is so tiny.. OC is very tiny as well.

M30: Viewed thru binocs.. very tiny.. the typical shape sort of shows up but not discernible well from binocs.

Milkyway: the orion and Perseus arms were marvelous.. its like very bright white cloud belt in the sky.. Dark skies rules... simply breathtaking.

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..

Mars - First Time

Observed Mars twice in Jan-Feb. Just feeling the gaps in the blog..

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Jan Second week:

From my home: ~11pm: XTi10 with TMB4 i.e. ~300x: Mars was overhead lil on east. Saw the northen polar ice-caps. First time in life.. Clear white.. Can also see a dark line surrounding that ice cap. Not sure what it was.. Seeing was in-out.

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Jan Last week:

From Jon's place in Clairmont: ~7pm-9:30pm : Meade 12" f/6 research grade reflector: with 4.5mm nagler ~ ~400x: Excellent image of Mars.. had never seen it before like this.. Clear white ice-cap, better than my home viewing (because of scope and mags).. can see dark areas going from North to south on Mars 's face. We were at jon's for ~2.5 hrs.. and checking it every now and then.. and according to jon's friend, Jeff, it seemed like the face has rotated.. lil hard for me to keep track.. i wasnt aware that the face changes so fast..

Also had quick browsing thru 12" on M41, M42, M46, M47.

DSO Marathon - Part I

Date: 31st August 08, Sunday. Labor Day Long Weekend
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 1:00pm (5:30 hrs)
Location: Boulevard Oaks campground, CA
Weather: Seeing was Good.. not excellent. Heavy Dew. Lil bit cold because of humidity. All things got wet, but still survived for long time :)
Instruments: My 10” dob & 10x50 binocs. Jon's 12.5” dob, and Astrotech 120ED refractor.
Buddies: Jon and his wife Francis.

Total Objects: 49. The max I have ever seen in one shot :)
New Objects: 16 + Ophiuchus OCs (4)

Had a great session with Jon Isaacs. Jon knows so many “different” objects and their precise locations that otherwise it would have taken me a while to just know them. Had a great DSO marathon.

Venus: Venus was popping on western sky 15 deg above horizon. Because of high clouds on west, the view was bit “shaky” and wasn't able to get sharp image (150x, 96x). As Jon pointed out correctly, because of color aberrations in refractor, upper part of Venus has purple shade, while lower part seems orange in color. While in out of focus, it gets green shade. Jon mentioned that phase was almost full, but because of blurry image didn't see much.

Mercury: It was around 4deg SE of Venus in same binocular view. Was really bright than I hoped. Surely smaller in size and fainter than venus. Thru refractor just seemed to be a “dot” and nothing more. (150x)

Mars (New): 7 deg NE of Venus. Nice and bright. Jon moved his refractor to Jupiter, saying clouds on west are killing everything. so din;t observe it from telescope. Completely missed it.

Jupiter: Fabulous view thru refractor at 150x. I cannot believe that 120mm refractor apperture gives so sharp and crispy views as 250mm (10”) reflector. NEB, SEB, NTZ, STZ were clearly visible. The great red spot was popping into the eye, Shape was prefectly visible, but thecolor seemed to be white. The STZ (upper part) also had some sawtooth structure. All 4 moons were widely spaced. Precisely same view thru my 10” dob at 135x. Cranking up the mags at 270x, killed the view.

Also, because of lil bit “wavy” “shaky” views, Jon suggested not to crank up mags.

M4 & NGC 6144: Antares, M4 and NGC 6144 were not impressive. Because of twilight, 6144 was almost invisible. M4 was just another globular, nothing specacular.

M7-M6: Both of them at 38x were impressive. Red tail star of M6 butterfly, seemed more orangish. Stars in M7 most of them seem yellowish with few seemed to be white.

M28-M22: Quick browsing thru lambda saggi, Kau Borealis, M22 was impressive. Able to resolve outskirts with 38x. M28 was really tiny, but bluish color wasn't as impressive as seen before.

Veil Nebula: I told Jon abt my last observation to see the nebulousity of veil, without filter. On 12.5” dob, Cyg52 veil neb was barely visible to me. I can feel the neb, but not the shape of it. Second part was also disappointing. With filter, some of the shape was perceptible, but again not impressively. Later at night, we saw Veil again and it was fabulous with filter. Veil was overhead and we captured 3 parts of veil. Cyg52 veil was great with its unique broomstick shape. The other end was also impressive from end to end. And in middle of these two, exists another one.. its bit fainter, but visible..also its more close to cyg52 veil component. Veil is Jon's favorite object, he watched it probably 4 times during the whole session.

Sagittarius browsing: Thru refractor, with wide-angle view (~30x), browsed saggitarius. It was marvelous and heavenly sight. It really gives a perspective on all objects at the same time. M8 Lagoon & its cluster, M20 Triffid, M21 OC in same view. M20 is really smaller than M8. M24 star cloud, M25 OC on moving left and M23 OC (New) on moving right looked great. M17 swan and M16 eagle were again in same view at two ends. Swan shape was clearly visible.

M8 Lagoon: Thru 10” dob, with the OIII filter on 24mm eyepiece (~50x), M8 was marvelous. The nebulousity was prominent. Semi circular dark lane seemed to be really wide. The left side neb seemed smaller than right+lower side neb. Hour glass also seemed to be brighter and lil bit bigger than non-filter views. Because of filter, only bright stars were visible and all stars indeed lost their charm. OC Cluster wasn't impressive either. High mags with filter (100x) surely killed all stars. Neb also seemed to be fainter than 50x view.

M20 Triffid: At 50x with filter, the nebula was indeed impressive. Dark lane Y shape was making sense as compared to non-filter views. The middle 3 stars were not that bright and hard to resolve the central star into double. Cranking up the mag to 100x helped lil bit with dark lanes and central double star resolving.

M17 Swan: this is one of the best objects in sky and with filter it became impressive. Along with 2 shape, the right and lower side nebulosity was clearly visible, more-ever like a peacock :). these two parts are extended almost as the same size as 2 shape. The central two bright stars in 2 shape seemed really dim.

M16 Eagle: With non-filter 38x view, the nebulousity was fainter. The characteristic, V hsape and the arc in the middle was impressive. With filter, the nebulousity brightness increased. Not as great as other nebulas, but still decently visible. Neb is just on the upper side of V.

M57 Ring: To have more fun with Filter, I pointed it to M57 and this is first time, I felt the blusish color. Ring was strikingly bright and with high mags it made it more impressive. Jon also mentioned that high mags + filter + planetary nebula combination works great as compared to other nebulas. With 150x, still the central star not visible. Also because of filter lost 2 o'clk star.

M27 Dumbbell: Brighter views with filter. Characteristic dumbbell shape with upper and lower wings. Left and right wings also mix well with dumbbell and are pretty bright..

The use of OIII filter on all 7 nebulas, really enhanced the view and had more fun in observing.

Saggi OC browsing: Thru binocs, captured M24 star cloud, M25 OC on left and M23 OC on right. Also captured fainter M18 OC (New). M18 wasn't much impressive thru 38x either. It was yet another OC.

Continued...