Sess.#278 7:30-11:00pm LimMag= 6.3 Seeing = 6-8 (range) Clear!
A Monday night session at Mike Wirths' Equuleus Observatory near Perth
Ontario. In addition to our host, Mike Zeidler, Attilla Danko and
myself ( Roland ) were there.
Thanks to the goTo capabilities of the 18" truss tube, we were able to
view quite a variety of targets. The 25" was also put to excellent
use on quite a few targets as well. The seeing started out being
fairly good at about 8/10, but gradually deteriorated as the evening
progressed down to perhaps 6/10. We all did some comparative
observing of views with and without the binoviewer to see what
ifferences we might notice.
Transparency was good as well, with MikeW reporting approx. Mag 6.4
overhead. This also showed in the amount of fine detail we could see
in nebulas and galaxies. Here were our targets -- in no particular
order...
Jupiter: Red Spot coming into view, barge in equatorial band. Saturn
was viewed as well, by others before I arrived.
Ghost of Jupiter: Blue-Green with structure visible inside.
Eskimo Nebula: Classic structure with bright central star.
Copland's Septet: Seven distant galaxies. We saw 6 & imagined 1.
Perhaps we need to make a list of AVIM ( Averted Imagination )
objects. That way we'll look real good when the next generations of
overwhelmingly large (OWL) scopes discover faint fuzzies where nobody
suspected there'd be anything.
Hickson 44: Distant Galaxy cluster. Just to be able to see it is
cool. Brightest member is ngc3753. See MikeW's previous report for
more details.
Hickson 57: Another interesting distant Galaxy cluster. Faint but
pleasing.
The Spindle Galaxy: A thin bright galaxy with a bright core.
MGC4565: One of the classics with it's very prominent dark lane.
Attilla and I thought we saw a second hairline dark lane below the
main one. Perhaps we need to generate an AVIM number for that one as
well? ;-)
Owl Nebula: In 18" scope, the eyes of the owl were visible in
binoviewer. Joke Owl and we were both using binoviewers.
M51: Beauty Incarnate! ( that prosic enough for you, Attilla ? :)
Spiral very evident and bright, as well as bridge to smaller galaxy.
What can I say -- perhaps better exercise the right to remain silent
on this one.
M3: Very attractive in the binoviewers. Well resolved, bright,
crisp. Everyone generated equivalent-valued expletives on that one.
We sounded much like sidewalk astronomy first-lookers.
42 & 43: Very very attractive tonight. Colours of red and yellow
were noted. Much smoke-patterned nebulosity. Crisp stars.
M101: Tightly wound. Looking fainter when we saw it due to th Aurora
probably affecting the contrast.
M104: Great view of the Sombrero Galaxy. Dark lane very evident.
M65 & 66: Very bright after some of the fainter targets we saw
earlier. Attractive field of view.
M82: One of the best views ever. Almost like a photograph in the
amount of curdled detail in that disturbed elongated galaxy.
Zodiacal Light was very apparent after sunset. The Milky Way formed
one swath of light while the Zodiacal Light formed another one at
nearly 90 degrees to it. One of the most obvious times I have seen
it.
The Aurora was fairly bright, with tinges of red detected at the upper
edges. 110 degrees wide and 70 degrees ( and more ) in altitude.
Many interesting spikes forming in the northeast. At one point
cascades of light engulfed Ursa Major specifically.
Genral Conclusion: binoviewers help on bright and medium objects to
see more comfortably and more details. However, on very faint
objects, the light does get split in two and there's additional glass
to content with, so very faint things seem dimmer.
Much fun, especially if you consider the various references to MontyP
during the session. Thanks for the kind invitation.
PhotonMan
