Date: 19th March 2010, Wednesday
Observation Time: 7:45pm to 8:30pm (~45mins)
Location: Home.
Weather: clear sky.. but light polluted..as well as Moon waxing on 4th day.
Instruments: AT102ED. Tried new Pan 35 and UHC filter.
Had quick browsing session with Aparna. Moon was waxing 4th day.
M42: Pan35 20x shows whole orion nebula M42 + M43 + running man nebula stars area. BEcasue of light pollution the nebulosity is not as impressive as dark sight..still the middle dark pier pops up in 20x itself. theta Orionis, trapezium, is barely visible. Nag 17T4 41x shows M42 better. Only 4 stars in Theta are resolvable. Nag 17T4 + UHC filter definitely shows more nebulosity, but it made whole image blue.. thats lil bizarre.. first time i used this UHC filter. whats the blue color indicates ?
Hmmm... "UHC (ultra-high contrast) filter has a wider bandpass (22 to 26 nanometers [nm]) than other narrowband filters but a much narrower one than any broadband filter. Through a UHC filter, the background sky appears darker and stars take on a blue color. Emission nebulae benefit most from this filter."
Sigma Orionis: (New): Treated Sigma to be Mintaka. This one is excellent. In 20x Pan35, you can see another trapezium here as Theta Orionis. Right part of the trapez is Sigma, while the left part is STF761. igma shows AB-E pair. With 17T4 41x, star D pops up betn AB-E pair, closer to AB. with 7T1 ~101x, clearly see star C really close to AB, but opposite side of D. Indeed excellent. The 4 stars in 3 different views definitely shows the beauty of magnification and how the magnitude pops up incrementally. Need to observe more carefully.
Description abt Sigma.
M45 Pleiades: In Pan35 20x, looks impressive. 9 stars. Its upside-down and the ? angle switched to Right.
Moon: Naked eye, can see the phase as well as whole dark side sort of lit up.. In Pan35, 20x, its marvelous. The dark side really lits up and can clearly see the difference betn bright and dark side. Picture is so crisp to see the crates on terminator. 17T4, 41x, improved the image with more details on the craters. Aparna went crazy with Pan35 view. Infact best i have ever seen..
Later, went for nice dinner at Cafe Athena at PB with Aparna, Dilip and Ashwin.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Mars - First Time
Observed Mars twice in Jan-Feb. Just feeling the gaps in the blog..
---
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.
---
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.
---
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.
---
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.
Binocular Browsing
Date: 17th March 2010, Wednesday
Observation Time: 9:30pm to 10pm (~30mins)
Location: Home.
Weather: clear sky.. but light polluted
Instruments: Nikon 10x50 binoc
I really never browsed thru skies from new home. though i have mounted the telescope, I really invested time into how much i can see from my patio. Also it was good refresher for some winter/spring constellations.
Heavy light pollution.. Can only see bright stars by naked eye.. NELM may be betn 3-4. Thats based on Ursa Minor. Polaris (alpha), beta clearly visible.. Gamma was in-out.. and i didn't see any other stars.
Double Cluster: It wasn't visible by naked eye.. probably few stars in there, but really hard to tell if its a cluster.. hence bino is required. Cassiopeia Gamma-Delta line directly points to double cluster. Clearly see one of the clusters. With lot of bright stars, but the second cluster is lil hard to detect..
Pleiades: Nice star cluster. 7 stars visible naked eye. 9 stars visible thru binoc. All bright stars in the Perseus upper arm are clearly visible and they point to Pleiads. Interesting thing i notices is the number of stars in the background of pleiades.. they are like bunch of stars, way fainter, but heavy in concentration behind it.. i never noticed them before.
Algol: The lower arm has only 3 bright stars. One at the joint with the upper arm Alpha-Mirfak, Algol, and one more star Rho-Per. Algol was brighter than Rho, but fainter than Alpha. dont know abt Algol's current magnitude.. need to follow it more..
M1: Failed.. Picked up the wrong location. Tried to look for it above zeta Tuari, but it should be below, inside the V shape.
M35: Can clearly see whole Gemini constellation. M35 is on Tau side way above Zeta Tau. V-Mu-Eta-M35 form rotatated parallelogram. M35, fainter..still visible..seems bigger.
M36-M38-M37: M36 is the middle one, while M38 is inside Auriga. Either M36-M38 or M36-M37 fit in the same view. ~4-5 deg apart from each others. M36 seems to be brighter and seems smaller than other two. M38 bigger than other two ??
Quick Orion browsing: M42 nebula visible. Mintaka fainter than belt stars. Mruga-Shirsha Cr69 visible. really widespread..
Quick browsing for Canis Major: M41 seemed lil brighter than M35. Probably bigger than M35?
Tau CMa: Cluster is not visible in binoculars.. it just seemed to be a bright star..
M46-M47: M47 the brighter and widespread one is clearly visible.. again the M46 the fainter one feels like to be there but not sure.. These are like two FoV away from sirius.. i.e. 10-12 deg away from Sirius.
M93: Because of recent browsing, found it easily. Seemed to be like M35.. probably fainter than it.. can clearly see it.
M44: FAILED. I thought this should have been easier to see in binocs.. but as it was overhead, was tricky.. got the location correct, betn lion sickle and proceyon, but still didn't find it.
Observation Time: 9:30pm to 10pm (~30mins)
Location: Home.
Weather: clear sky.. but light polluted
Instruments: Nikon 10x50 binoc
I really never browsed thru skies from new home. though i have mounted the telescope, I really invested time into how much i can see from my patio. Also it was good refresher for some winter/spring constellations.
Heavy light pollution.. Can only see bright stars by naked eye.. NELM may be betn 3-4. Thats based on Ursa Minor. Polaris (alpha), beta clearly visible.. Gamma was in-out.. and i didn't see any other stars.
Double Cluster: It wasn't visible by naked eye.. probably few stars in there, but really hard to tell if its a cluster.. hence bino is required. Cassiopeia Gamma-Delta line directly points to double cluster. Clearly see one of the clusters. With lot of bright stars, but the second cluster is lil hard to detect..
Pleiades: Nice star cluster. 7 stars visible naked eye. 9 stars visible thru binoc. All bright stars in the Perseus upper arm are clearly visible and they point to Pleiads. Interesting thing i notices is the number of stars in the background of pleiades.. they are like bunch of stars, way fainter, but heavy in concentration behind it.. i never noticed them before.
Algol: The lower arm has only 3 bright stars. One at the joint with the upper arm Alpha-Mirfak, Algol, and one more star Rho-Per. Algol was brighter than Rho, but fainter than Alpha. dont know abt Algol's current magnitude.. need to follow it more..
M1: Failed.. Picked up the wrong location. Tried to look for it above zeta Tuari, but it should be below, inside the V shape.
M35: Can clearly see whole Gemini constellation. M35 is on Tau side way above Zeta Tau. V-Mu-Eta-M35 form rotatated parallelogram. M35, fainter..still visible..seems bigger.
M36-M38-M37: M36 is the middle one, while M38 is inside Auriga. Either M36-M38 or M36-M37 fit in the same view. ~4-5 deg apart from each others. M36 seems to be brighter and seems smaller than other two. M38 bigger than other two ??
Quick Orion browsing: M42 nebula visible. Mintaka fainter than belt stars. Mruga-Shirsha Cr69 visible. really widespread..
Quick browsing for Canis Major: M41 seemed lil brighter than M35. Probably bigger than M35?
Tau CMa: Cluster is not visible in binoculars.. it just seemed to be a bright star..
M46-M47: M47 the brighter and widespread one is clearly visible.. again the M46 the fainter one feels like to be there but not sure.. These are like two FoV away from sirius.. i.e. 10-12 deg away from Sirius.
M93: Because of recent browsing, found it easily. Seemed to be like M35.. probably fainter than it.. can clearly see it.
M44: FAILED. I thought this should have been easier to see in binocs.. but as it was overhead, was tricky.. got the location correct, betn lion sickle and proceyon, but still didn't find it.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Dark night kickoff in freezing cold - I
Date: 12th March 2010, Sat
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 12pm (~3 hr)
Location: Jon's home, Blvd CA
Weather: Initially really windy.. cold: below freezing.. intermittently cloudy.. intermittently foggy.. heavy dew.. Seeing was mediocre till 11pm.. later improved, but dew made life miserable.
Instruments: Jon's 16.5", TV NP101 APO. Didn't open my XTi-10.
Buddies: Aparna + Jon's friend Elli.
After India trip and dual-mode status :), this was first dark night session.
Had nice hot chocolate session ~8pm and shrimp curry ani Jeera rice session ~9pm. Aparna was with me till 9pm and later stayed in the house to keep herself warm.
M42 Orion Nebula: Nice view thru NP101. Aparna immediately noticed the quadrilateral stars. seeing wasn't that good. Tried 16T4 and 35mm pan.
Pleides: thru NP101.. 10 stars. Pan 35mm. Some of the main stars seems to be double.
Double cluster: Excellent view thru NP 101. Clearly shows the differences betn 2 clusters. lower right one is salt-pepper type while upper-left one seems more widespread.
M41 - NP101, Pan35 view of M41 want that great... lil tiny cluster.. thru jon's 16.5" dob, definitely a bright cluster.
M46 - M47: Impressive view of both clusters in NP101-Pan35 combo. Can fit both clusters together in same view. Again clearly see differences in both clusters. In Jon's 16.5", planetary in M46 was definitely big and bright.. filter wasn't required.
Rosette nebula in orion [New]: Saw this one for first time. NP101-Pan35. Its lil hard to grasp this object. Its really widespread and hence too faint.. if jon wouldn't have mentioned abt it, I can't even make out the nebulousity.. I am sure its hard to find.
M1 crab: Easy to locate. Crab was bright, but hard to see any details. I had better view of Crab before. Definitely seeing was poor.
Tau CMa: for got the location, Jon reminded me. Two star pairs above the CMa dog hind-leg. Pick up the uppermost pair, thats Tau. Central bright star with the star cluster around it.. sort of in a triangle shape..
M93 - NGC: Lil N-E of the Tau, lies M93.. Pick up the brigh star.. NW of is M93, while SE of bright star is the NGC ?? Don't remember anything specfic about M93. NGC is another fuzzy.. never read abt this one before. (UPDATE 03/10/2011: NGC seems to be 2467)
M76 Little dumbbell: Couple of stars from Andromeda lined up to point to the double cluster.. just above these stars you have little dumbbell. Too faint.. can see lil dumbbell shape.
Gamma Leonoid: Initially when split it from home, i think i messed up. This is lil hard to split with 60x magnification. you need lil higher mags to split it up.
M35 - Browsed thru binocs. Easy catch..
Continued..
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 12pm (~3 hr)
Location: Jon's home, Blvd CA
Weather: Initially really windy.. cold: below freezing.. intermittently cloudy.. intermittently foggy.. heavy dew.. Seeing was mediocre till 11pm.. later improved, but dew made life miserable.
Instruments: Jon's 16.5", TV NP101 APO. Didn't open my XTi-10.
Buddies: Aparna + Jon's friend Elli.
After India trip and dual-mode status :), this was first dark night session.
Had nice hot chocolate session ~8pm and shrimp curry ani Jeera rice session ~9pm. Aparna was with me till 9pm and later stayed in the house to keep herself warm.
M42 Orion Nebula: Nice view thru NP101. Aparna immediately noticed the quadrilateral stars. seeing wasn't that good. Tried 16T4 and 35mm pan.
Pleides: thru NP101.. 10 stars. Pan 35mm. Some of the main stars seems to be double.
Double cluster: Excellent view thru NP 101. Clearly shows the differences betn 2 clusters. lower right one is salt-pepper type while upper-left one seems more widespread.
M41 - NP101, Pan35 view of M41 want that great... lil tiny cluster.. thru jon's 16.5" dob, definitely a bright cluster.
M46 - M47: Impressive view of both clusters in NP101-Pan35 combo. Can fit both clusters together in same view. Again clearly see differences in both clusters. In Jon's 16.5", planetary in M46 was definitely big and bright.. filter wasn't required.
Rosette nebula in orion [New]: Saw this one for first time. NP101-Pan35. Its lil hard to grasp this object. Its really widespread and hence too faint.. if jon wouldn't have mentioned abt it, I can't even make out the nebulousity.. I am sure its hard to find.
M1 crab: Easy to locate. Crab was bright, but hard to see any details. I had better view of Crab before. Definitely seeing was poor.
Tau CMa: for got the location, Jon reminded me. Two star pairs above the CMa dog hind-leg. Pick up the uppermost pair, thats Tau. Central bright star with the star cluster around it.. sort of in a triangle shape..
M93 - NGC: Lil N-E of the Tau, lies M93.. Pick up the brigh star.. NW of is M93, while SE of bright star is the NGC ?? Don't remember anything specfic about M93. NGC is another fuzzy.. never read abt this one before. (UPDATE 03/10/2011: NGC seems to be 2467)
M76 Little dumbbell: Couple of stars from Andromeda lined up to point to the double cluster.. just above these stars you have little dumbbell. Too faint.. can see lil dumbbell shape.
Gamma Leonoid: Initially when split it from home, i think i messed up. This is lil hard to split with 60x magnification. you need lil higher mags to split it up.
M35 - Browsed thru binocs. Easy catch..
Continued..
Dark night kickoff in freezing cold - II
Continued..
Eskimo nebula: The middle star jumps right at you.. if seeing is better, probably can see more details. bluish disk..very bright in the center and fainter outside..
Double planetary - In Jon's 28mm UWAN ~75x, way too tiny to see this one..but definitely you can see it. The clear 8 shape visible.
M81-M82: location. I always miss the location of this one. Pick up first and 3rd star in square of UMa and draw the digonal line that points to 2-3 star cluster, just below SW of it is M81 and M82. You can defintely see the pattern/texture on the edge galaxy. The pair is clearly visible thru binocs, once you know the location.
M51 Whirlpool galaxy: Not the greatest view of whirlpool. bad seeing..
M next to the third UMa star (seems M109): in jon's 28mm UWAN, 3rd UMA star and M?? (M109) is visble in the same FoV.
M36-37-38: binocular browsing.. Jon mentioned about some ngc next to M37??
Leo triplet M65-66-3628: Jon pointed to it. 3628 fainter than other two. All 3 in same view (with uwan 28 75x ??). 3628 elongated and bigger in length than others ??
Jon's galaxy pair in UMA: Two faint galaxies in the view. If you continue the tail of UMa, same distance as 5th & 7th star along the tail. (UPDATE 03/10/2011: From the location, seems to be Hickson 68 in CVn)
M3: Jon pointed the location.. bit tricky.. visible thru binocs.. Outskirt stars are clearly resolvable. higher mag helps..
Sombrero Galaxy: Jon pointed the location.. lil tiny than what i was expecting. elongated.. but no sombrero structure visible.
Eskimo nebula: The middle star jumps right at you.. if seeing is better, probably can see more details. bluish disk..very bright in the center and fainter outside..
Double planetary - In Jon's 28mm UWAN ~75x, way too tiny to see this one..but definitely you can see it. The clear 8 shape visible.
M81-M82: location. I always miss the location of this one. Pick up first and 3rd star in square of UMa and draw the digonal line that points to 2-3 star cluster, just below SW of it is M81 and M82. You can defintely see the pattern/texture on the edge galaxy. The pair is clearly visible thru binocs, once you know the location.
M51 Whirlpool galaxy: Not the greatest view of whirlpool. bad seeing..
M next to the third UMa star (seems M109): in jon's 28mm UWAN, 3rd UMA star and M?? (M109) is visble in the same FoV.
M36-37-38: binocular browsing.. Jon mentioned about some ngc next to M37??
Leo triplet M65-66-3628: Jon pointed to it. 3628 fainter than other two. All 3 in same view (with uwan 28 75x ??). 3628 elongated and bigger in length than others ??
Jon's galaxy pair in UMA: Two faint galaxies in the view. If you continue the tail of UMa, same distance as 5th & 7th star along the tail. (UPDATE 03/10/2011: From the location, seems to be Hickson 68 in CVn)
M3: Jon pointed the location.. bit tricky.. visible thru binocs.. Outskirt stars are clearly resolvable. higher mag helps..
Sombrero Galaxy: Jon pointed the location.. lil tiny than what i was expecting. elongated.. but no sombrero structure visible.
Dark night kickoff in freezing cold - III
Continued..
Ant galaxies: Too faint.. can see two fuzzy lil things.. but cannot discern much. Tried it multiple times during the night, but wasn't much clear.
Saturn: Multiple views. Seeing was improving over the period, ring shadow is visible. 3 of the moons on right side visible.
Virgo Markarain's chain: 3 in the middle. Two on the right of it. one more on right of the pair.
Jon mentioned about coma borealis - second star - double - 0.7 arcsecond... can not split it with normal optical scope. needs excellent seeing. the day before jon was able to split 1.3 arcsecond double.. so surely this is not even possible in best seeing.
Ant galaxies: Too faint.. can see two fuzzy lil things.. but cannot discern much. Tried it multiple times during the night, but wasn't much clear.
Saturn: Multiple views. Seeing was improving over the period, ring shadow is visible. 3 of the moons on right side visible.
Virgo Markarain's chain: 3 in the middle. Two on the right of it. one more on right of the pair.
Jon mentioned about coma borealis - second star - double - 0.7 arcsecond... can not split it with normal optical scope. needs excellent seeing. the day before jon was able to split 1.3 arcsecond double.. so surely this is not even possible in best seeing.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Recap 2009
Here is the summary for last years observations.
Total Observations: 16
Mountain/Dark Place Observations: 9
Lost the tempo lil bit after June 09 :) and took a while to get back and then again has to leave during nov-dec !!
In 08 recap blog, I mentioned to finish Messier, SAC and RASC list. I wasn't able to.
- Finished almost 75% objects from messier (Details below) and 50% from SAC and RASC.
- First dark night with Orion XTi in Jan 09
- Watched comet Lulin in March 09.
- Managed ~half messier marathon in March 09
- Co-hosted SDAA 22" scope in April 09.
- First "Friday" night dark site observation in April 09 and Sept 09.
- Purchased first Nagler: 17T4 in May 09.
- Purchased iPhone in July 09. Tried the voyager software on it. Definitely helpful.
- Used Virtual moon atlas.
- Sent Celestron 102 f/5 refractor to India in Dec. Sent 35mm, 25m, TMB 6mm EPs and 2x barlow with it.
For coming year,
- Already borrowed Jon's AT102ED Virtual-APO. Jon has switched to TV NP-101 APO
- Already observed Mars for first time. Northern Polar cap is awesome.
- Need to train Aparna lil bit :)
- Will definitely bag all messiers.
Missing Guys: M9, M10, M19, M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M70, M80, M87, M89, M90, M102.
One time observed guys: M2+, M5+, M12+, M14+, M18+, M21+, M26+, M39+, M40+, M54+, M62+, M64+, M68+, M69+, M71+, M74+, M75+, M77+, M83+, M84+, M85+, M86+, M88+, M91+, M98+, M99+, M100+, M106+, M107+.
M1 Crab (2)
M2 (1)
M3 GC (3)
M4 (3)
M4-GC6144 (3)
M5 (1)
M7-M6 (7)
M8 Lagoon (8)
M10 (1)
M11 WildDucks (4)
M12 (1)
M13 (8)
M14 (1)
M16 Eagle (3)
M17 Swan (5)
M18 (1)
M20 Triffid (6)
M21 (1)
M22 (6)
M22-M28 (2)
M23- M24- M25 (3)
M26-NGC6712 (1)
M27 Dumbbell (6)
M28 (3)
M29 (3)
M30 (5)
M31 Andromeda- M32- M110 (8)
M33 Triangulum (7)
M34 (3)
M35 (3)
M37-M36-M38 OC Triplet (2)
M39 (1)
M40 (1)
M41 (6)
M42 Orion-M43 (7)
M44 Beehive (3)
M45 Pleiades (2)
M46-M47 OC Pair (5)
M48 (2)
M50 (3)
M51 Whirlpool (6)
M52 (3)
M53 GC (3)
M54 (1)
M55 (2)
M56 (2)
M57 Ring (12)
M62 (1)
M63 (2)
M64 Black Eye (1)
M65-M66-3628 Gal (6)
M67 (3)
M68 GC (1)
M69 (1)
M71 (1)
M72-M73 (6)
M74 (1)
M75 (1)
M76 Little Dumbbell (2)
M77 (1)
M78 (3)
M79 (2)
M81-M82 Gal Bodes Neb (6)
M83 Seashell (1)
M84-M86 (1)
M85 (1)
M88-M91 (1)
M92 (3)
M93 (4)
M94 (2)
M95-M96-M105 (4)
M97 Owl (3)
M98-M99-M100 (1)
M101 (3)
M103 (2)
M104 Sombrero (3)
M106 (1)
M107 (1)
M108 (3)
M109 (3)
Total Observations: 16
Mountain/Dark Place Observations: 9
Lost the tempo lil bit after June 09 :) and took a while to get back and then again has to leave during nov-dec !!
In 08 recap blog, I mentioned to finish Messier, SAC and RASC list. I wasn't able to.
- Finished almost 75% objects from messier (Details below) and 50% from SAC and RASC.
- First dark night with Orion XTi in Jan 09
- Watched comet Lulin in March 09.
- Managed ~half messier marathon in March 09
- Co-hosted SDAA 22" scope in April 09.
- First "Friday" night dark site observation in April 09 and Sept 09.
- Purchased first Nagler: 17T4 in May 09.
- Purchased iPhone in July 09. Tried the voyager software on it. Definitely helpful.
- Used Virtual moon atlas.
- Sent Celestron 102 f/5 refractor to India in Dec. Sent 35mm, 25m, TMB 6mm EPs and 2x barlow with it.
For coming year,
- Already borrowed Jon's AT102ED Virtual-APO. Jon has switched to TV NP-101 APO
- Already observed Mars for first time. Northern Polar cap is awesome.
- Need to train Aparna lil bit :)
- Will definitely bag all messiers.
Missing Guys: M9, M10, M19, M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M70, M80, M87, M89, M90, M102.
One time observed guys: M2+, M5+, M12+, M14+, M18+, M21+, M26+, M39+, M40+, M54+, M62+, M64+, M68+, M69+, M71+, M74+, M75+, M77+, M83+, M84+, M85+, M86+, M88+, M91+, M98+, M99+, M100+, M106+, M107+.
M1 Crab (2)
M2 (1)
M3 GC (3)
M4 (3)
M4-GC6144 (3)
M5 (1)
M7-M6 (7)
M8 Lagoon (8)
M10 (1)
M11 WildDucks (4)
M12 (1)
M13 (8)
M14 (1)
M16 Eagle (3)
M17 Swan (5)
M18 (1)
M20 Triffid (6)
M21 (1)
M22 (6)
M22-M28 (2)
M23- M24- M25 (3)
M26-NGC6712 (1)
M27 Dumbbell (6)
M28 (3)
M29 (3)
M30 (5)
M31 Andromeda- M32- M110 (8)
M33 Triangulum (7)
M34 (3)
M35 (3)
M37-M36-M38 OC Triplet (2)
M39 (1)
M40 (1)
M41 (6)
M42 Orion-M43 (7)
M44 Beehive (3)
M45 Pleiades (2)
M46-M47 OC Pair (5)
M48 (2)
M50 (3)
M51 Whirlpool (6)
M52 (3)
M53 GC (3)
M54 (1)
M55 (2)
M56 (2)
M57 Ring (12)
M62 (1)
M63 (2)
M64 Black Eye (1)
M65-M66-3628 Gal (6)
M67 (3)
M68 GC (1)
M69 (1)
M71 (1)
M72-M73 (6)
M74 (1)
M75 (1)
M76 Little Dumbbell (2)
M77 (1)
M78 (3)
M79 (2)
M81-M82 Gal Bodes Neb (6)
M83 Seashell (1)
M84-M86 (1)
M85 (1)
M88-M91 (1)
M92 (3)
M93 (4)
M94 (2)
M95-M96-M105 (4)
M97 Owl (3)
M98-M99-M100 (1)
M101 (3)
M103 (2)
M104 Sombrero (3)
M106 (1)
M107 (1)
M108 (3)
M109 (3)
Monday, September 28, 2009
Virtual Moon Atlas SW for rescue..
Date: Sept 28th 2009, Monday
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 77% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Used Virtual Moon Atlas to browse thru Moon's features near terminator. Considering the refractor size, it provides interesting features near the terminator. Initially I accidentally picked up the 999mm refractor size and looked for corresponding features, but soon realized that they were too tiny to browse..even hard to see with my max mag @200x with barlowed 4mm TMB EP. After switching to 50mm refractor size, I got the decent features around 10-15 in count.
Crater Euler,
Crater Lambert,
Crater Copernicus,
Sinus Iridum,
Motes Carpatus,
Crater Bullialdus,
While browsing, it seemed like there is pattern in the alignment of these craters.. e.g. Bullialdus and its near by craters A & B are aligned so closely to it, as if they are created becasue of the impact in primary crater. Same thing abt Copernicus-Reinhold-Lanseberg or Archemedies-Timocharis-Lambert-Euler alignment.. considering the distances, I am sure they are not related..but considering the curved pattern just felt like it.
The 6mm @ 66x was definitely sharp image. 2mm @ 200x wasn't helpful at all. Just not able to focus. I think limitation of the scope, should not be the problem with seeing. 3mm @ 133x was okay but still not good..but 4mm @ 100x was the max discernible magnification. So stayed with it.
also, I realized that for more details this aperture is not at all enough.. Limitation on EPs as well small aperture is not good for serious observation. Need to switch to my 10" dob for detailed observation. OR atleast need 4-5" aperture with long focal length refractor..
Also need to get the V block filter. TBD
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 77% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Used Virtual Moon Atlas to browse thru Moon's features near terminator. Considering the refractor size, it provides interesting features near the terminator. Initially I accidentally picked up the 999mm refractor size and looked for corresponding features, but soon realized that they were too tiny to browse..even hard to see with my max mag @200x with barlowed 4mm TMB EP. After switching to 50mm refractor size, I got the decent features around 10-15 in count.
Crater Euler,
Crater Lambert,
Crater Copernicus,
Sinus Iridum,
Motes Carpatus,
Crater Bullialdus,
While browsing, it seemed like there is pattern in the alignment of these craters.. e.g. Bullialdus and its near by craters A & B are aligned so closely to it, as if they are created becasue of the impact in primary crater. Same thing abt Copernicus-Reinhold-Lanseberg or Archemedies-Timocharis-Lambert-Euler alignment.. considering the distances, I am sure they are not related..but considering the curved pattern just felt like it.
The 6mm @ 66x was definitely sharp image. 2mm @ 200x wasn't helpful at all. Just not able to focus. I think limitation of the scope, should not be the problem with seeing. 3mm @ 133x was okay but still not good..but 4mm @ 100x was the max discernible magnification. So stayed with it.
also, I realized that for more details this aperture is not at all enough.. Limitation on EPs as well small aperture is not good for serious observation. Need to switch to my 10" dob for detailed observation. OR atleast need 4-5" aperture with long focal length refractor..
Also need to get the V block filter. TBD
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Faint Fuzzies with the refractor & moonlight..
Date: Sept 24th 2009, Thursday
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 45% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Moon: 6th day: Observed with TMB eyepieces + barlow. Overall 6mm, 4mm and 3mm ,2mm were still nice views.. extreme zoom with 2mm @ 200x wasn't sharp and too wavy.. but high zoom indeed shows lot of details and gives a feeling of moon walk.
- Crater Posidonius at the edge of mare serenitatis was nice.. you can see tiny crates inside it.
- The white ridge, Dorsa Smirnov, inside mare serenitatis was visible clearly and showed its existence.
- Crater Plinius central mountain visibile.. seemed like 2 peaks.
- Crater Theophilius, Cyrillus, Catharina seemed to be connected with crater edges on East side.
Jupiter: Yday watched jupiter, today just tried TMB EPs with high mags.. 2mm @200x was bad.. probably 3mm @ 133x was max i was able to push. Jupiter bands were visible...sort of.. really hard to focus because of R&P. Tried red filter too.. still not that clear.. non-filter view is much better and clear.
M28 - Yday i missed this one, and today while just browsing for M22, I ended up on this one. In 32mm @ 13x clearly visible. Fuzzy tiny and sort of visible. With barlow @ 26x shows some detail, surely kills some brightness.. wasn't able to resolve any details.. but just glad that you can see this fuzzy so clearly at @13x though heavy moonlight is present. This must be visible from my binocs.
M22: Visible in 32mm, thought can not fit both m22 and m28 in same view. With high mags 6mm @ 66x shows marvellous views of M22. can clearly resolve the stars. Though moonlite is present, I was impressed with the quality of the image and the resolution.
M55: Tried hunting for M55, but moonlite kills everything. hunting thru 32mm.. With barlowed 32mm shows some vignetting while searching the object. Lil hard to use. 25mm Elux is better to use after 32mm, instead of barlowed focal 16mm.
Refractor GOTO ran out of battery. Seems to be a trouble for long term.
Need to hunt some double stars.
Overall I am happy with the tiny refractor what it can do, considering its limitations.
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 45% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Moon: 6th day: Observed with TMB eyepieces + barlow. Overall 6mm, 4mm and 3mm ,2mm were still nice views.. extreme zoom with 2mm @ 200x wasn't sharp and too wavy.. but high zoom indeed shows lot of details and gives a feeling of moon walk.
- Crater Posidonius at the edge of mare serenitatis was nice.. you can see tiny crates inside it.
- The white ridge, Dorsa Smirnov, inside mare serenitatis was visible clearly and showed its existence.
- Crater Plinius central mountain visibile.. seemed like 2 peaks.
- Crater Theophilius, Cyrillus, Catharina seemed to be connected with crater edges on East side.
Jupiter: Yday watched jupiter, today just tried TMB EPs with high mags.. 2mm @200x was bad.. probably 3mm @ 133x was max i was able to push. Jupiter bands were visible...sort of.. really hard to focus because of R&P. Tried red filter too.. still not that clear.. non-filter view is much better and clear.
M28 - Yday i missed this one, and today while just browsing for M22, I ended up on this one. In 32mm @ 13x clearly visible. Fuzzy tiny and sort of visible. With barlow @ 26x shows some detail, surely kills some brightness.. wasn't able to resolve any details.. but just glad that you can see this fuzzy so clearly at @13x though heavy moonlight is present. This must be visible from my binocs.
M22: Visible in 32mm, thought can not fit both m22 and m28 in same view. With high mags 6mm @ 66x shows marvellous views of M22. can clearly resolve the stars. Though moonlite is present, I was impressed with the quality of the image and the resolution.
M55: Tried hunting for M55, but moonlite kills everything. hunting thru 32mm.. With barlowed 32mm shows some vignetting while searching the object. Lil hard to use. 25mm Elux is better to use after 32mm, instead of barlowed focal 16mm.
Refractor GOTO ran out of battery. Seems to be a trouble for long term.
Need to hunt some double stars.
Overall I am happy with the tiny refractor what it can do, considering its limitations.
Nexstar 80mm Refractor EP Comparision
Date: Sept 23rd 2009, Wednesday
Observation Time: 8pm to 8:45pm (45mins)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 30% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Buddies: Ashwin
Trying to understand which EPs are good for this refractor considering just basic needs. So did a quick eyepiece comparision with Ashwin on moon and jupiter.
10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel
25mm SMA vs 25mm Elux
The scope came with the SMA EPs, but i am just trying if better EPs can make a huge difference for a newbie observer.
Tried it on Moon. (30% illuminated)
25mm => 16x
25mm + 2x barlow 12.5mm => 32x
10mm => 40x
10mm + 2x barlow 5mm => 80x
10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel: Xcel defintely gives more wide field and better eye relief. The image seemed to be same in brightness. With 2x barlow on, Ashwin picked up 3 different objects at various locations and compared. with barlowed image, he noticed that Xcel gives sharper image. Also to him, xcel seemed to be better in brightness. On other side, Xcel is lil bit bulkier than SMA.
25mm SMA vs 22mm Elux: Ashwin didn't find any difference in the views with this one. Not much different except eye relief. Barlowed image also dint have a huge impact with Elux.
Jupiter: 25mm din't provide much magnification here. With 10mm and barlowed image, definitely gave lil more in the Jupiter. At 10mm 50x, Ashwin had hard time seeing any bands on jupiter. Probably i can see them, because i know they are there. with 5mm 100x, he can make out the bands on the disk.. but color aberration indeed hampers the image.
M22: Wasn't a great view of M22 in 2mm @20x. Moon Light pollution also just makes it bad.
Overall with the EP comparison, I realized that it doesn't make huge difference for a beginner to differentiate.. probably for my dad, it wont make any difference either :) !!
Observation Time: 8pm to 8:45pm (45mins)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 30% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Buddies: Ashwin
Trying to understand which EPs are good for this refractor considering just basic needs. So did a quick eyepiece comparision with Ashwin on moon and jupiter.
10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel
25mm SMA vs 25mm Elux
The scope came with the SMA EPs, but i am just trying if better EPs can make a huge difference for a newbie observer.
Tried it on Moon. (30% illuminated)
25mm => 16x
25mm + 2x barlow 12.5mm => 32x
10mm => 40x
10mm + 2x barlow 5mm => 80x
10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel: Xcel defintely gives more wide field and better eye relief. The image seemed to be same in brightness. With 2x barlow on, Ashwin picked up 3 different objects at various locations and compared. with barlowed image, he noticed that Xcel gives sharper image. Also to him, xcel seemed to be better in brightness. On other side, Xcel is lil bit bulkier than SMA.
25mm SMA vs 22mm Elux: Ashwin didn't find any difference in the views with this one. Not much different except eye relief. Barlowed image also dint have a huge impact with Elux.
Jupiter: 25mm din't provide much magnification here. With 10mm and barlowed image, definitely gave lil more in the Jupiter. At 10mm 50x, Ashwin had hard time seeing any bands on jupiter. Probably i can see them, because i know they are there. with 5mm 100x, he can make out the bands on the disk.. but color aberration indeed hampers the image.
M22: Wasn't a great view of M22 in 2mm @20x. Moon Light pollution also just makes it bad.
Overall with the EP comparison, I realized that it doesn't make huge difference for a beginner to differentiate.. probably for my dad, it wont make any difference either :) !!
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