Welcome to 2014!
The weather outside has been shocking, Need I say more? Opportunities to get out under clear skies have been quite slim really. There have been chances so far this year, but to be honest, by the time I've got home from work, it's not really been on top of the list of things to do. Hopefully, the chore of setting up will be greatly reduced soon when I get around to finishing the new pier in the back garden. More on that on the DIY page.Anyway, in the last week, a new discovery has graced our skies in the form of a supernova, designated SN2014J. Located in M82 (NGC 3034), aka, The Cigar galaxy, it was discovered by Steve Fossey from UCL. See the Wikipedia page here. There has been a lot of buzz from within the amateur astronomy community due to the fact that it has brightened readily over the last week becoming an object visible to many amateurs.
So, tonight I thought I would give it a go. M81 and M82 are two galaxies in the same FOV through the 18mm eyepiece I have. They are separated by approximately 1 degree - or one inner circle in a Telrad finder. With cloud cover beginning to role in from the West, I set about lining up the Telrad and took the opportunity to view Jupiter and then off galaxy hunting. Locating the pair of galaxies was fairly straight forward and quite pleasing given that I hadn't observed them before.
Source: Stellarium 0.12.4
M82 is the galaxy on the left. I spent approximately half an hour at the eyepiece with 18mm and 25mm EPs and thought I may I have seen the SN once whilst using averted vision, but couldn't categorically say I had seen in. The longer I was at the EP, the greater the deterioration in the seeing so eventually I had to call an end to a brief but fruitful observing session. Sill, quite nice to look at something 7,000,000 light years away!
March 2014
Yes, the crappy weather really has lasted this long! On the news front, the UHC filter has arrived and an order placed with FLO for an LP filter and Lunar filter. In this most recent of sessions, I've been able to get first light with the UHC filter. Also, the pier is now complete and the mount fits nicely onto the steel plate. See the DIY page. The two targets were the Orion Nebula and Jupiter. In less than ideal conditions when seeing wasn't brilliant and every neighbor decided to switch on their insecurity lights, I managed to get half an hour of play time with the filter. Unfortunately not much to report on it due to the conditions.
However, on the 8th March, I had a better chance to get out with the scope in slightly better conditions, only to be slightly annoyed by the ever brightening moon. However, it was an evening for a longer look at Jupiter. The UHC filter though putting a green hue on the planet did darken it slightly and allowed me to pick ou more detail than I was able to do without the filter.
Other targets for the evening were M40, a double star in Ursa Major, and M103 which is a cluster in Cassiopeia. All in all, nice to be out, but in need of a clear moonless night!
March 23rd 2014
The first clear night for a long while. Aided by the fact that the moon, though still bright, rose quite late at night or into the early hours, which meant the sky was quite dark. Seeing was not bad, certainly the best it has been for a while. So, it was a good chance to make it a night of firsts. Since the last observing session, I have taken delivery of a Moon filter and an LP filter.
The first objective for the night for me was to test out the new filters. So, with Jupiter in my sights using the 8mm EP, I compared the image with and without the moon filter. I was hoping that it would help dim down the image slightly as Jupiter is quit bright at the moment which makes making out some of the detail hard. The filter did help, although seeing was brilliant at that point so I didn't send too much time looking on this occasion. The second objective was to test the LP filter out. I have read numerous threads saying how the LP filter can help in some cases and makes no difference in others. I chose the Orion nebula to look at given that it was easy to find and familiar. Whilst the image was changed slightly, I couldn't categorically say that the quality of the image was any better. However, this was with a view looking away from the lights of town.
Onto some of the next objectives. It was to be a night of more firsts, with new ticks and new areas of the sky to observe. I spent time looking at Auriga, Cancer, and Leo to name but a few areas. Please see the obs table for the list of all the objects observed. But, perhaps the highlight was M37 and M38. Both clusters, and I was able to make out the 'X' in the cluster of M38 quite easily.
An excellent night in the back garden using the pier I have put together over the course of the winter. I spent a total of around 2 hours or so at the EP. I could have spent longer, but Sunday nights have to be sensible with work the next morning.
And, to round things off, a cheeky selfie at the end of the night before wiping off the frost from the OTA and packing up for the night!
Skip forward to July.
Yep, that's right, July! So a reasonable amount of time has passed since the last observing session. As I have mentioned to a fellow observer recently, more 'Arm Chair' than 'Out There' of late. But, now the solstice has been and gone, nights are starting to get darker. This is perhaps my most favorite time of the year, with Cygnus and Lyra boldly showing themselves overhead, the Milky Way sweeping across the sky with Andromeda and Cassiopeia in good positions for viewing, it gives plenty to go at from the back garden.
The weather has been hot and sitcky for the last few weeks, with one period of sever thunderstorms over a couple of days crawling across the country. Observing opportunities have been reasonably plentiful, but timings and the requirements for late nights have made things a bit tricky.
But, life is too short, and when you want to go, you've got to go. So, last night 24th July, I set up about an hour before sunset to make sure all was ready. The air temperature at night has been in the mid to high teens, so comfortable to be able to observe in short sleeves, and less cooling required on the scope. however, seeing is being effected and distorted slightly. Now, I could have gone for an all out tickfest tonight, but I visited two targets, M56 and M57, spending a good amount of time on each.
M56 is a globular cluster in Lyra. It's magnitude is given as +8.3 which I must admit, I found a little bit of a struggle to resolve with my 150mm reflector. However, find it I did. For me, not much more than a small white smudge on this occasion. I viewed it with my 25mm BST Starguider. I couldn't make out any individual stars to speak of, but I must have to put that down to average seeing conditions.
Nevertheless, I then moved onto a favorite at this time of year, M57, the ring Nebula. Again, found in the proximity of the constellation Lyra. A similar magnitude the M56, M57 is +8.8 planetary nebula. Using the 25mm BST EP, I was able to make out the clear boundaries of the nebula in visible light. Still a small, but obvious target. When I moved down through the EPs, I finished at a 5mm BST EP. Using this, I was pleasantly surprised at what I could resolve. Overall, the nebula was dimmer as you might expect, but, though appearing as a monochrome image, after about 15 minutes at the EP, I was able to make out clearly the boundary ring which give its name to the nebular, and then the darker regions of nebulosity within it. However, the 15th Mag star in the centre of it is way beyond the capabilities of my current scope.
witht he phone going for a late night call from the Mrs, and cloud beginning to drift around the sky, I decided to call it a night about 12.45. It was a bit of a wrench to come in, especially as the forecast was for it to clear up totally a bit later on, but, decamp from the back garden I did, happy at what had been seen.
Remote Imaging - A shot in the dark.
In this months The Sky At Night magazine, I cam across a really nice article and a free offer for a trial session on a remote imaging set up. The article gives a link to http://telescope.org and give a brief description of what is available. In brief, the collection of telescopes is called the Bradford Robotic Telescope and is housed in an observatory on Mount Teide in Tenerife. This is an observatory maintained an run by the University of Bradford. It's main purpose is for educational purposes to schools and the university itself, but it is also available for use to the general public.
I've had my eye on some astro-photography equipment for a while, but because of the expense, I just haven't take the plunge. So, when a free opportunity at remote imaging presents itself, it just has to be taken. The trial offer gives a limited selection of 6 objects that you can target. Also,a s it's a trial, you also have to go with the default photography settings in term of exposure, iso, magnification etc. Nevertheless, once the image is taken, you can then use their online tools to process that image. I am lead to believe that if you start a subscription to the service, these options can then be customised, and the option to download the data to your local machine processing can also be taken. Unlike other remote services, where you book a block of time, and have to connect, and be online for the duration, this service allows you to submit your peramters to a queue. Then over the coming evenings, the queue is serviced and when your job is completed, you get an email and your image is left in your web portal.
I chose the Globular Cluster in Hercules, the Lunar Surface, the Dumbbell Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy and finally the Milky Way.
Whilst the first wave of images were OK, I thought the Lunar Surface photo was average and out of focus, so I have omitted it. The attempt at the Dumbbell Nebula was OK, but the motorised scope must have been misaligned as only half the nebula was visible. So, I re-submitted the job to get that shot re-taken. These are the final images.
Second July Night On The Bounce.
So, for the second night in a row, with no commitment to having to be up early in the morning, approaching a new moon, and with clear skies, it was another good change to get out and have a peak. The previous night had been all about concentrating on a handful of objects, so tonight, it was time to widen the horizons.
So, first for the mini tick-fest was Andromeda. I first saw Andromeda last year and remember being a bit gobsmacked on how I had failed to find this huge object on so many occasions. So, as if to prove to myself that the first wasn't a fluke, I dug out the Telrad charts and quickly tracked it down. Conditions for the night were mild, clear with reasonable seeing to good seeing directly above. Due to the positioning of Andromeda, when I located it, it's appearance was somewhat washed out slightly due to the atmosphere and its position in the sky. Nevertheless, I was pleased that I had located on it, but to be honest, I didn't spend much time on it after that.
So, on I went. Next on the list was M52, an open cluster in Cassiopeia. This cluster was quite spread out, and difficult to judge the full extent of. Seeing was improving as the night went on, but as this was an early object, certainly think it would benefit from another visit in better conditions.
And so, I moved along to spend some time on my favorite summer region of the sky, Cygnus. M29 is an open cluster in Cygnus which I observed at x30 and x93.75 magnifications. As the target was directly overhead, there was less atmosphere to look through, so the image was much clearer. Initially, I found it tricky to verify that the cluster I was looking at was the correct object, but I verified using Stellarium. At higher magnification, the cluster stood out well against the black sky.
M40 was my first object that is also cataloged in the WNC catalog as WNC4. It's a double star in Ursa Major. The stars are small, and at a magnitude of +8.4, they prove a good challenge on my 150mm reflector. The double stars were much easier to appreciate when using averted vision.
And so to some of the more popular targets. M57, The Ring Nebula is a popular summer object. It took some finding at first, but with higher magnification, I could make out the main ring of the nebula with an area of darker nebulosity in its central regions. I also observed this object using a UHC filter which turned the background sky into pitch black. Although the nebula was also slightly dimmer, the contrast between it and the background was much better and so made up for it.
It was time to spend time looking around Hercules, another popular region of the summer sky. M13 is the Hercules Globular Cluster. When first observed, it appeared as a distinct grey smudge in the centre of the 2 degree FOV. However, the more time I spent at the EP, the more pin pricks of light from individual stars I was able to make out from the object. This was helpde when I changed to the 18mm EP. The centre of the cluster was slightly dimmer, which helped me make out further individual stars.
The second globular cluster in Hercules is M92. It's often missed out because it's smaller and often thought not to be as good as target as M13. For me though, it means that it was more important to track it down. I observed a very bright and condensed central core to the cluster. However, because it was so condensed, I wasn't able to define any individual stars. Nevertheless, definitely worth locating and the observation time.
And so, to the final target of the night. M27 is the famous Dumbbell Nebula. A planetary nebula that I have had some success with imaging. At first, the nebula appears to be a full circle of nebulosity and reasonably bright. The UHC filter was once again put to use and put it's contrasting properties into good effect with the 25mm BST EP. However, I then changed to the 8mm EP without a filter. The interesting effect here was the small EP itself helped bring out more structure to the nebula. This allowed me to define the accepted image of a dumbbell within the nebula.
August Starts Under Clear Skies
The weather has been generally clear these last few weeks, and now the nights are beginning to get darker, it's time to make the most of it. Fellow amateur astronomer and stargazer, Jim has recently taken delivery of the JLT! (Jims Large Telescope, or Jolly Large Telescope - he hasn't quite decided yet!)
Now fellow members of the observing world, you will know the normal protocol for taking delivery of any new astronomy kit instantly attracts many nights if not weeks of rain and cloudy weather. However, this time, Jim seems to have called in a few favours and sorted out some good clear skies for himself to get first light on the first night! Follow his blog to read more on what he thinks!
Anyway, I digress. I too have had some observing time, but unfortunately, on a school night, so with half an eye on the time, and the intent of being done and packed away for midnight, I wanted to find a new target that I could spend some worth while time on. So, knowing the constellation of Sagitta was high up in the sky, I decided to target M71. The object grabbed my interest because of its decription. Where once it was deemed to be an open cluster, in more recent times, it had been thought of as a globular cluster. The Mag 8.3 object is just on the limit of my scope under the current seeing conditions, so I was prepared to put int he effort to find it.
I located it using the Telrad charts and finder. Thanks to these, locating it was quite easy. Initially, I thought it very faint and hard to distinguish against the background of the less than ideal sky.After a short time though, I picked out 3 stars that formed a triangle around the usual light grey smudge. Slightly to the side of centre of the triangle, I could make out the central regions of the cluster. Initially, I observed at x 41 magnification. I then changed to x 93. This had the expected effect of making the image dimmer, but I was able to fill the FOV better. I spent a reasonable amount of time looking around the object before I then went back to the original 18mm EP. Now, back with this EP, I was then able to started to pick out 6 - 8 other stars in the central regions of the cluster whilst using averted vision.
Finally, before I wrapped up, something I decided to have a go at an object not listed in the NGC catalog from what I could tell. It's called 'The Fairy Ring'. A series of double stars create a ring shape. I think I might have located this, but I couldn't verify it. Certainly one to come back to!
Skip forward to July.
Yep, that's right, July! So a reasonable amount of time has passed since the last observing session. As I have mentioned to a fellow observer recently, more 'Arm Chair' than 'Out There' of late. But, now the solstice has been and gone, nights are starting to get darker. This is perhaps my most favorite time of the year, with Cygnus and Lyra boldly showing themselves overhead, the Milky Way sweeping across the sky with Andromeda and Cassiopeia in good positions for viewing, it gives plenty to go at from the back garden.
The weather has been hot and sitcky for the last few weeks, with one period of sever thunderstorms over a couple of days crawling across the country. Observing opportunities have been reasonably plentiful, but timings and the requirements for late nights have made things a bit tricky.
But, life is too short, and when you want to go, you've got to go. So, last night 24th July, I set up about an hour before sunset to make sure all was ready. The air temperature at night has been in the mid to high teens, so comfortable to be able to observe in short sleeves, and less cooling required on the scope. however, seeing is being effected and distorted slightly. Now, I could have gone for an all out tickfest tonight, but I visited two targets, M56 and M57, spending a good amount of time on each.
M56 is a globular cluster in Lyra. It's magnitude is given as +8.3 which I must admit, I found a little bit of a struggle to resolve with my 150mm reflector. However, find it I did. For me, not much more than a small white smudge on this occasion. I viewed it with my 25mm BST Starguider. I couldn't make out any individual stars to speak of, but I must have to put that down to average seeing conditions.
Nevertheless, I then moved onto a favorite at this time of year, M57, the ring Nebula. Again, found in the proximity of the constellation Lyra. A similar magnitude the M56, M57 is +8.8 planetary nebula. Using the 25mm BST EP, I was able to make out the clear boundaries of the nebula in visible light. Still a small, but obvious target. When I moved down through the EPs, I finished at a 5mm BST EP. Using this, I was pleasantly surprised at what I could resolve. Overall, the nebula was dimmer as you might expect, but, though appearing as a monochrome image, after about 15 minutes at the EP, I was able to make out clearly the boundary ring which give its name to the nebular, and then the darker regions of nebulosity within it. However, the 15th Mag star in the centre of it is way beyond the capabilities of my current scope.
witht he phone going for a late night call from the Mrs, and cloud beginning to drift around the sky, I decided to call it a night about 12.45. It was a bit of a wrench to come in, especially as the forecast was for it to clear up totally a bit later on, but, decamp from the back garden I did, happy at what had been seen.
Remote Imaging - A shot in the dark.
In this months The Sky At Night magazine, I cam across a really nice article and a free offer for a trial session on a remote imaging set up. The article gives a link to http://telescope.org and give a brief description of what is available. In brief, the collection of telescopes is called the Bradford Robotic Telescope and is housed in an observatory on Mount Teide in Tenerife. This is an observatory maintained an run by the University of Bradford. It's main purpose is for educational purposes to schools and the university itself, but it is also available for use to the general public.
I've had my eye on some astro-photography equipment for a while, but because of the expense, I just haven't take the plunge. So, when a free opportunity at remote imaging presents itself, it just has to be taken. The trial offer gives a limited selection of 6 objects that you can target. Also,a s it's a trial, you also have to go with the default photography settings in term of exposure, iso, magnification etc. Nevertheless, once the image is taken, you can then use their online tools to process that image. I am lead to believe that if you start a subscription to the service, these options can then be customised, and the option to download the data to your local machine processing can also be taken. Unlike other remote services, where you book a block of time, and have to connect, and be online for the duration, this service allows you to submit your peramters to a queue. Then over the coming evenings, the queue is serviced and when your job is completed, you get an email and your image is left in your web portal.
I chose the Globular Cluster in Hercules, the Lunar Surface, the Dumbbell Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy and finally the Milky Way.
Whilst the first wave of images were OK, I thought the Lunar Surface photo was average and out of focus, so I have omitted it. The attempt at the Dumbbell Nebula was OK, but the motorised scope must have been misaligned as only half the nebula was visible. So, I re-submitted the job to get that shot re-taken. These are the final images.
M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules.
Though undeniably, there are many stars resolved in this image, there are slight problems with focus or perhaps colimation of the source telescope. Nevertheless, the very bright and condensed nature of the cluster does leap out from the image.
M31 The Andromeda Galaxy in Andromeda.
This is perhaps the image I am most proud of/ The Andromeda Galaxy, in the right conditions is a naked eye object with a magnitude of +3.4. This was taken using a black and white camera, which why, in this instance there is no colour resolved in the image. The central core of the galaxy has somewhat washed out some of the central detail, but that is to the advantage of additional detail coming out post processing of the outer regions of the galaxy. Two other objects that have been captured are M110 which is the fainter smaller galaxy left of Andromeda, and the bright star vAnd -35 And with it's partners (if I can use this term to describe them) HIP 3817 and HIP 3840. This picture is not orientated in the same way as features in many texts, usually featuring rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
The Milky Way.
Processing this image has allowed me to pick out more features, dust lanes and stars in the image than what was initially presented.
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula.
This is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula. As with many nebulas, the raw image quires a certain amount of processing to bring out the colours of the nebula gasses to visible light. The shape of the dumbbell can be clearly seen in this image, with the red areas representing each end of the dumbbell shape. There are quite few stars resolved in the centre of the nebular, although which of these exist within the nebula, and what is being seen through the nebula, I do not know.
Second July Night On The Bounce.
So, for the second night in a row, with no commitment to having to be up early in the morning, approaching a new moon, and with clear skies, it was another good change to get out and have a peak. The previous night had been all about concentrating on a handful of objects, so tonight, it was time to widen the horizons.
So, first for the mini tick-fest was Andromeda. I first saw Andromeda last year and remember being a bit gobsmacked on how I had failed to find this huge object on so many occasions. So, as if to prove to myself that the first wasn't a fluke, I dug out the Telrad charts and quickly tracked it down. Conditions for the night were mild, clear with reasonable seeing to good seeing directly above. Due to the positioning of Andromeda, when I located it, it's appearance was somewhat washed out slightly due to the atmosphere and its position in the sky. Nevertheless, I was pleased that I had located on it, but to be honest, I didn't spend much time on it after that.
So, on I went. Next on the list was M52, an open cluster in Cassiopeia. This cluster was quite spread out, and difficult to judge the full extent of. Seeing was improving as the night went on, but as this was an early object, certainly think it would benefit from another visit in better conditions.
And so, I moved along to spend some time on my favorite summer region of the sky, Cygnus. M29 is an open cluster in Cygnus which I observed at x30 and x93.75 magnifications. As the target was directly overhead, there was less atmosphere to look through, so the image was much clearer. Initially, I found it tricky to verify that the cluster I was looking at was the correct object, but I verified using Stellarium. At higher magnification, the cluster stood out well against the black sky.
M40 was my first object that is also cataloged in the WNC catalog as WNC4. It's a double star in Ursa Major. The stars are small, and at a magnitude of +8.4, they prove a good challenge on my 150mm reflector. The double stars were much easier to appreciate when using averted vision.
And so to some of the more popular targets. M57, The Ring Nebula is a popular summer object. It took some finding at first, but with higher magnification, I could make out the main ring of the nebula with an area of darker nebulosity in its central regions. I also observed this object using a UHC filter which turned the background sky into pitch black. Although the nebula was also slightly dimmer, the contrast between it and the background was much better and so made up for it.
It was time to spend time looking around Hercules, another popular region of the summer sky. M13 is the Hercules Globular Cluster. When first observed, it appeared as a distinct grey smudge in the centre of the 2 degree FOV. However, the more time I spent at the EP, the more pin pricks of light from individual stars I was able to make out from the object. This was helpde when I changed to the 18mm EP. The centre of the cluster was slightly dimmer, which helped me make out further individual stars.
The second globular cluster in Hercules is M92. It's often missed out because it's smaller and often thought not to be as good as target as M13. For me though, it means that it was more important to track it down. I observed a very bright and condensed central core to the cluster. However, because it was so condensed, I wasn't able to define any individual stars. Nevertheless, definitely worth locating and the observation time.
And so, to the final target of the night. M27 is the famous Dumbbell Nebula. A planetary nebula that I have had some success with imaging. At first, the nebula appears to be a full circle of nebulosity and reasonably bright. The UHC filter was once again put to use and put it's contrasting properties into good effect with the 25mm BST EP. However, I then changed to the 8mm EP without a filter. The interesting effect here was the small EP itself helped bring out more structure to the nebula. This allowed me to define the accepted image of a dumbbell within the nebula.
August Starts Under Clear Skies
The weather has been generally clear these last few weeks, and now the nights are beginning to get darker, it's time to make the most of it. Fellow amateur astronomer and stargazer, Jim has recently taken delivery of the JLT! (Jims Large Telescope, or Jolly Large Telescope - he hasn't quite decided yet!)
Now fellow members of the observing world, you will know the normal protocol for taking delivery of any new astronomy kit instantly attracts many nights if not weeks of rain and cloudy weather. However, this time, Jim seems to have called in a few favours and sorted out some good clear skies for himself to get first light on the first night! Follow his blog to read more on what he thinks!
Anyway, I digress. I too have had some observing time, but unfortunately, on a school night, so with half an eye on the time, and the intent of being done and packed away for midnight, I wanted to find a new target that I could spend some worth while time on. So, knowing the constellation of Sagitta was high up in the sky, I decided to target M71. The object grabbed my interest because of its decription. Where once it was deemed to be an open cluster, in more recent times, it had been thought of as a globular cluster. The Mag 8.3 object is just on the limit of my scope under the current seeing conditions, so I was prepared to put int he effort to find it.
I located it using the Telrad charts and finder. Thanks to these, locating it was quite easy. Initially, I thought it very faint and hard to distinguish against the background of the less than ideal sky.After a short time though, I picked out 3 stars that formed a triangle around the usual light grey smudge. Slightly to the side of centre of the triangle, I could make out the central regions of the cluster. Initially, I observed at x 41 magnification. I then changed to x 93. This had the expected effect of making the image dimmer, but I was able to fill the FOV better. I spent a reasonable amount of time looking around the object before I then went back to the original 18mm EP. Now, back with this EP, I was then able to started to pick out 6 - 8 other stars in the central regions of the cluster whilst using averted vision.
Finally, before I wrapped up, something I decided to have a go at an object not listed in the NGC catalog from what I could tell. It's called 'The Fairy Ring'. A series of double stars create a ring shape. I think I might have located this, but I couldn't verify it. Certainly one to come back to!
