DeepSky Observations

Looking back at 2011

2011-12-29T16:16:00.001+01:00

My last good observation year was in 2009. 2010 represented almost nothing on the astronomical front. But since 2011 I'm slowly but surely revigorating the hobby.

Ultimately 2011 was actually still quite OK. I could observe a few times under dark skies (in France) and I have made new friends, as well in Belgium as in the Netherlands.

Here's a list of "achievements"

* Presentation at Urania public observatory: "I have completed the Messier list, now what?"
* Observation supernova SN 2011B in NGC 2655 in Cameleopardalis
* Purchase filter slider (what a comfort!) and an eyepiece ES 82° 6.7mm
* Successful deepsky week in Varages, Provence, with Belgian friends. Could observe during 5 nights.
* My first deespky sketches (thanks to Tomc). 5 drawings so far. 2 are published in this blog
* Observation Supernova in NGC 3972
* HII regions in M101
* A great observation of M20, the Trifid Nebula, with magnificent dark lanes
* Central star in M57
* 40 galaxies observed in AGC 1367 (Leo)
* Copeland Septet
* 3 new Palomar globular clusters observed (and also some unable to spot)
* M51 Supernova (SN 2011DH)
* For the first time I missed Starnights (!!!) because of an early flight the next day for work.
* Deepsky weekend in Grandpre with Dutch and Belgian friends
* 4 new Abell planetaries observed
* Two times observed at home with Jan Vana ..
* Comet Garradd C/2009 P1
* 2 attempt to observe in Sourbrodt, but failed due to bad weather conditions
* Mini-Presentation on NGC 604 druing deepskydag in Nijmegen

* A total of 205 observations logged in www.deepskylog.be, still in the top 12 as 2011 is concerned.
* My 399ste object of Herschel II list logged. One more to go.

I hope to observe much more during 2012. The top priority is to finalize the HII list. I think I will be the first Benelux observer to complete this list. If not please let me know.

I hope you had a great year too. I whish you all the best and a lot of clear skies for 2012.

An ultrathin galaxy in Coma - UGC 7321

2011-12-17T19:32:00.000+01:00

UGC 7321 is an ultrathin galaxy of 5' x 0,5' in Coma. A beautifull view in an 18". Observed in Varages (Provence) on May 5, 2011. A very faint and thin galaxy with a slightly brighter core.Recommended!

Jones-Emberson 1

2011-12-16T18:06:00.001+01:00

Observation in Varages (Provence) - Sqm 21,19 - Obsession 18"<br />
Jones-Emberson 1 is a large planetary planetary in Lyn. It must be very faint as I cannot see it when I do not use filters. An UHC works OK but the best view is obtained with an OIII filter. The typical shape of the headphone is visible. These are 2 lobs connected by a ring. The other side of the ring has not been observed. The eastern lob is the brightest area of this object. The bridge and western lob remains faint. At the western lob there is a star just at the inner edge. There is another star, but fainter, just at the outside of the edge. Observation at 88x and 124x.

Again supernova SN 2011B

2011-01-30T12:04:00.001+01:00

Estimated magnitude: 12.6 (FWIW ...)

Jan 29, 2011 - around 22:00 UT
Sky conditions not very good, limiting magnitude below 5.

I want to see Supernova SN 2011B in Cameleopardalis – 28 Jan 2011

2011-01-29T12:47:00.013+01:00

It’s cold tonight, but I haven’t been observing a lot lately, so here we go, together with Jan, observing in Boutersem. The sqm shows 20,03 at the start of the session, gradually improving to 20,12 at the end of the night.

I have a twofold objective for this night, first it’s to catch the supernova in Cameleopardalis, and then the last 2 Herschel II galaxies in Eridanus.

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 31mm Nagler, 13mm, 7mm and 5mm Nagler (all from Jan)
Nelm: above 5,0
Seeing: good

SN 2011B in NGC 2655 – galaxy in Cameleopardalis
An easy one. Immediately visible at 123x, even with direct vision, just outside the halo of NGC 2655. NGC 2655 has a bright core and a quite large halo. At 211x the galaxy shows also a stellar core. The supernova is still located just outside the halo. According to what I read on fora the magnitude is 12.5.

This is my 3rd supernova. Here is a summary of the ones I have seen:

•SN 2008Q NGC 524 Psc Feb 2008 observed with 8" Newton
•SN 2009dd NGC4088 Uma Apr 2009 observed with 18" Obsession
•SN 2011B NGC 2655 Cam Jan 2011 observed with 18" Obsession

The first objective is accomplished. But not the 2nd one ! The objects (NGC 1187 and NGC 1325) were already to low at the horizon, I’m too late !!! Culmination is at 7pm, and it’s now close to 10 pm. Bad planning … But there is hope, tomorrow the weather forecast looks good so I’ll try it again.

NGC 2359 - Thor’s Helmet – nebula in CMa
I’m always surprised how faint this object is. You need to take your time to see all kind of details. The first horn is easy to see. Jan saw the 2nd horn first and after some attempts I could see it too.

NGC 1999 – emission and reflection nebula in Ori
This is an overlooked object for obvious reasons (close to Orion nebula). Nevertheless it’s a nice object. It looks like a planetary nebula with a central star but It’s not. The very nice aspect of this nebula is the a black area, like a bite in a cookie, very similar to a partial sun eclipse.

Rosette nebula in Monoceros
Beautiful. The FOV of 31mm Nagler is almost completely filled by nebulosity, except the centre which is darker. The nebula is visible over the entire 360° with some area’s brighter than others.

NGC 2261 - Hubble Variable Nebula in Monoceros
Again an impressive site. The typical shape of this nebula is clearly visible. The brightest part is around the star, and then it fades slightly. Next time I’ll spend more time to look for more details.

M42 – Orion Nebula
Great, for the first time I could see a greenish color at the nebula just south of the trapezium (without using a filter). Observed at 155x (7mm Nagler).

NGC 2683 , galaxy in Lynx.
This is an fairly large galaxy in Lynx. Probably 8’ long. The surface is mottled. And a short dark lane at East side is pretty well suspected.

We have also seen
M46 and the planetary nebula, which reacts very well with an UHC filter.
Eskimo nebula,
NGC 2371/72,
M82 (Wow!!), M81 (but we could not see the spiral arms).

We ended a bit before midnight, more due to the cold than anything else. The sad thing about this place is that light pollution is getting worse, especially at the east side which is Tienen. This was not like that 2 years ago. I suspect it's primarily coming from the chemical industry there. Something to study more in detail and evaluate if actions can be taken. To be continued!

FINALY A CLEAR NIGHT – 9 Jan 2011

2011-01-15T18:27:00.001+01:00

Slowly but surely I’m getting out of my observation burn out. I’m starting to read again about astronomy, spending time of forums. I’m even going to give a presentation to Urania: “Ik heb het Messier certifiicaat, wat nu?” And after so many grey days and night we have finally a clear sky – let’s go for it!

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: above 5,0 but certainly not 5,5
Seeing: good

The idea of the evening is to finish the Hershel II objects in Eridanus. But first some easy things to start with:

Jupiter
M36, M37, M38
M1 – at 211x quite some stars to see close to the edges.
NGC 40: central star, bright edges, star close one of the edges. One of my favorites.
The messiers in Orion: M42, M43, M78

Following objects are from Herschel II catalogue.

NGC 1187 – galaxy in Eridanus
Could not see it !! Also not after 2nd attempt!

NGC 1325 – galaxy in Eridanus
Could not see it !! Also not after 2nd attempt!

I already know I will not meet my objective.

NGC 1332 – galaxy in Eridanus
124x - elongated galaxy of 2' with a bright large core. Not an easy object due to low position.

NGC 1353 – galaxy in Eridanus
124x - elongated galaxy of 2' x 1' -difficult to seen, I can's see it continuously. A star visible south of the elongation direction.

NGC 1400 and NGC 1407 – galaxies in Eridanus
124x - round spot of 1' with a bright stellar core. NGC 1407 is larger and brighter than NGC 1400. It's 2' long and contains also a stellar core. Could not see IC 343 and NGC 1402, even at 211x

NGC 1507 – galaxy in Eridanus
124x probably seen as an elongated smudge of 3'
21x It remains diffuclt but I can confirm it as an object of 3' x 1'. It has a uniform visibility. There is a faint star located 2' from its west side. Observation becomes a bit easier while using a dark cloth as I can see it now during half of the time. A superimposed star is suspected.

Next one is not Herschel II, but nice little planetary in Orion

NGC 2022 – planetary nebula in Orion
211x - planetary nebula in Orion - at this power I the disc is elongated and I can see a slightly darker centre (as a ring). No central star but I suspect a faint star on its northern edge. I googled some images of NGC 2022 and indeed, there is a star there. Also Tom Polakis is mentionning this star.

Ended the night with planetaries such as M76, NGC 1514 (Taurus), NGC 1501 (Cameleopardalis), NGC 2392 (Eskimo), NGC 2371/72 (also in Gemini).

Have seen now 390/400 Herschel II objects.

Found Pease 1! And tested some nice eyepieces (16 August 2009)

2009-08-17T10:50:00.012+02:00

Again a nice & clear sky, the 3rd in a row. I don’t need to work tomorrow so no worrying about staying late.

I have tonight also the opportunity to test some eyepieces (thanks to Hubert). I have an Astrolan ultrawide 30mm (80°) which provides me with a FOV of 1,2°, as well as a 9mm Nagler T6 and 4.8mm Nagler (the discontinued version)

It’s not totally dark when I’m starting to test them. But that’s ok as I’m doing some side by side comparison.

1. The first object was M13:

Astrolan 30mm (68x) vs. Pan 24mm (84x)
- A great FOV with this Astrolan (1,2°), much larger than the Pan (46’). But of course at the expense of a smaller magnification
- I have astigmatism with the Pan, but even more with the Astrolan. However, it disappears completely when I’m putting my glasses on.
- A bit of (vignetting). Don’t know how to translate in English
- Good eyepiece for starhopping (see later in this report)

9mm Nagler vs. 9mm Celestron Plossl (225x)
- Nagler is providing sharper stars than the Plossl
- But the Plossl goes slightly fainter!
- The FOV of 35' is just great

9mm Nagler vs. 9mm Celestron Plossl combined with Powermate 2,5 (563x)
The Nagler provides again sharper stars, but also here the Plossl goes fainter.

4,8mm Nagler (422x) (not compared with another eyepiece)
Sharp images, even at this power! Comfortable FOV of 20'. This is a great eyepiece!

Note 1: while testing I did not know this was a discontinued version and that the 5mm Nagler T5 provided a twice as large FOV. In fact, it's good I did not know, because it provides an unbiased opinion on this 4.8mm eyepiece.

Note 2: I found on Cloudy Nights quite some remarks on the short eye relieve of this eyepiece. I don't recall having been confronted with this issue during my testing. It's true however it's impossible to observe through this eyepiece with glasses.

4,8mm Nagler with Powermate 2,5x (1055x)
Stars are small discs.

2. Next test was to find Pease 1 in M15
I have found Pease 1 (with Blinking Technique!) with the following eyepieces:

Celestron 9mm + Powermate 2,5x: blinking worked well because I do not have reflections on the filter as I can bring it real close to the eyepiece.

Nagler 9mm + Powermate 2,5: blinking more difficult as with this eyepiece I cannot bring the filter close to its edge, due to the firm eyecaps. I have reflections on the filter which makes it difficult to blink. I had only success when putting a dark cloth over my head.

Nagler 4,8mm: “easy” (everything is relative, so I mean in fact easier than with the 9mm and Powermate)

3. Ringnebula (M57):
Nice image at 422x (4,8mm Nagler). Still able to observe it at 1055x but it becomes more difficult due to inaccurate tracking. Stars are little discs. Could see a star of mag 15.6 close to the edge (not visible at 422x) and maybe the central star.

4. Little Dumbell (M76)
Here the 9mm Nagler gives a better view than the 9mm Celestron Plossl. I can see a bit more details on the nebula, and this time I see also a fainter star, which is not viewed with the Plossl. The 9mm Nagler (225x) gives a better view than the 16mm with Powermate (316x).

5. Starhopping with Telrad and Astrolan 30mm 82°
I’m not used to starhop, so I admit I’m not good at it. However, I also know it’s always a little moment of joy when you found a DSO by your own means. I decided to give it a try by using the Telrad and the Astrolan with it’s 1,2° FOV. Without finder it’s of course a bit harder, reason why I limit myself to the obvious Messiers.

I did not use starhop charts or an Atlas, only the constellation charts in the “Nigh sky observers guide” have been used.

I have been able to find M13 (that’s really not difficult), M92, M56, M57, M29, and M15. I had to cheat a bit with M92 and M15: I did not found it immediately, so I used the ArgoNavis to locate, and then looked at the Telrad to find its position (aha, it's there!). Then I tried again only with the Telrad, and it worked. I repeated it a few times to save it well in my memory. I intend to try it during my next observation session.

Conclusion
So here is my eyepiece conclusion:
- Astrolan 30mm (82°): fine eyepiece if you don' suffer from astigmatism. Otherwise it's OK when wearing glasses (which is not always possible when there is a lot of humidity in the air). It’s also a great eyepiece to starhop.
- the cheap Celestron 9mm eyepiece is not bad compared to the Nagler 9mm. The Nagler is a bit sharper and provide some more details on a nebula. But the real “plus” of the Nagler is the field of view of 35'. Replacing the Celestron Plossl just for the quality of the image is maybe not worthwhile, unless you’re aim is to get the larger FOV or when you are obsessed by pinpoint stars.
- The 4,8mm Nagler is a great eyepiece. Unfortunately I have not been able to benchmark it with another one so I cannot judge if the premium price is justified. But I can imagine that at that power a larger FOV of 20' is real advantage and worthwhile over a traditional eyepiece. As stated previously I did not had an issue with the short eye relieve. If I have the opportunity I should compare this 4.8mm Nagler with the still active 5mm Nagler T5. But honnestly, not knowing this 4.8mm was an discontinued version I was pleased with the view it gave me.

Great evening, and I can add Pease 1 to my observation list!

Addendum: observed the folllowing night once more with the 4.8mm Nagler, and indeed, it's a short eyerelief. Not really an issue when there is no condensation, which is quite rare in our regions.

Perseids (Aug 11, 2009)

2009-08-16T12:41:00.003+02:00

One night before its peak I’ve observed the Perseids with my 14 year old son. We are lying on the long chairs in the garden, looking towards east and north and hoping to catch those falling stars.

This is some real quality time to spend with the kids. It’s a ritual I try to do with my kids since some years, with relative success, either due to the weather, either due to the willingness of the kids to participate.

Tonight we talk a little bit about the stars, I look if he still recognises the constellations (he remembers the summer triangle), we see some satellites (and planes too) and of course we are all excited when we see a meteor. We haven’t seen a lot of Perseids tonight. During the half hour we watched (from 21:00UT to 21:30UT) I’ve seen 6 and my son 5. I’ve seen a bright long one with glowing light and sparkles of light.

The next night with the maximum is completely clouded.

A very rare event: Jupiter occults a bright star (45 Cap)

2009-08-16T12:22:00.001+02:00

Tonight there is a very rare astronomical event on the menu. Jupiter occults 45 Cap, a star of mag 6.0.

The Electronic Bulletin van de BAA is giving the following info:
Jupiter will occult the bright star 45 Cap (HIP 107302) on the night of 2009 August 03/04 (Mon/Tues). The star is visual magnitude 6.0 and, for European observers, will be the brightest star to be occulted by Jupiter for the next 100 years.

And yes, we are lucky, the sky is clear so no doubt we will see this event. Unfortunately the seeing is terrible, one of the worst I’ve ever seen, which has been reported too by other Belgian observers. The 4 main moons of Jupiter were all visible as well as 45 Cap, which is the closest to Jupiter. I started observing at 22Hr15UT which is around 40 minutes before the occultation. At around 22:50UT the tension is increasing, the star is getting real close to Jupiter. Then suddenly it’s gone and in the next 30 seconds I had the impression it pupped up a few times (difficult to say due to the seeing): a fist one (quite sure), a 2nd one (not sure) and a 3rd one (sure). 2 flashes have been reported by other observers too. The star reappeared 2 hours later but I have not observed this.

Rendez-vous is made again in 100 years!

A frist try to Pease 1

2009-08-16T12:00:00.005+02:00

More than 1 month I have not been observing. During July there were a couple of good nights, but could not find enough motivation to get the scope out. This year has been very tough (I’m working in automotive). But after a good week of holiday I’m ready to watch the stars again!

The sky conditions of tonight are not very good. There are high clouds and it’s not very transparent. NELM is around 5.0. I have no descriptions of what I observed, except of the search to Pease 1 (planetary in M15) and Jupiter.

Pease 1: Pease 1 is a little planetary nebula in M15. You need a good finder chart to catch this object. Luckily there is a good website where you find all the required www.blackskies.org/peasefc.htm or www.sterrenkunde.nl/deepsky/bestanden/artikel-m15.pdf

It’s a 3-step approach to find it. First you need to find the 4 trapezium star, which is not difficult at 311x. Step 2 is to locate a triangle east of this trapezium and continue you path to a faint stars towards the north of the globular. The triangle is still easy, but finding this faint star becomes more challenging, but still doable. For step 3 you need to pump the power to 500x: we need to go from this star a small 28” to the nebula. Not easy because there are a lot of stars and due to the high power they are all like little discs. I could see “something”, a disc maybe somewhat larger than the stars but I’m not too sure it’s the planetary. When looking at observations from other people I conclude this is not yet Pease 1. But at least, I’m more prepared for the next try as I’ve walking around in the region …

Jupiter: I’ve never seen Jupiter as well as during this evening: amazing lot’s of details in the belts with all kind of structures, color differences etc. Besides the 2 main belts I could see some other ones. The red spot was also visible, but unfortunately the impact was still “behind” the planet.

A good mix of galaxies, planetaries and open clusters

2009-05-31T18:51:00.026+02:00

While I’m slowly finishing the Herschel II list, I decided to go for a new challenge, the Fred 200 planetary list. Fred H is a Dutch astronomer who has extensive experience in drawing planetary nebula’s. He has seen 280 planetary nebulas with a 20cm scope (from Holland!). To honor this achievement a list of 200 of those objects has been compiled by his Dutch peers and called it to his name: “Fred’s 200 planetary nebulas”.

You can find this list here.

One of the reasons I selected this challenge is to observe something else than galaxies. The last 5 to 10 sessions has been almost exclusively dedicated to galaxies. It’s time to get some variation in the program. This does not mean I will exclude galaxies, as one of the aim of tonight was … yes, a group of galaxies, Seyfert’s Sextet.

Date: May 30, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5.0
Seeing: good
Time 22:30Hr UT to 00Hr00UT. Clouds appearing at 0:00.

I have a difficult start. The batteries of the Argo Navis do not seem to give any power. In the dark it’s difficult to see that one of the wires is disconnected … Next issue, the Servo Cat does not power up. This happens now and then, it’s one of the cables in the box which is not well plugged in.

OK, we are ready to go. M5, the globular in Serpens Caput is the first on the list. This is a beautiful global, maybe even nicer than M13.

Next is Seyfert’s Sextet:
NGC 6027 – Seyfert’s Sextet – group of galaxies in Serpens Caput
Really difficult. Also because the moon is still disturbing a bit. At 124x I can see with a lot of effort an oval spot of 2’. At 316x the B component of the group is clearly visible. Maybe I have seen the A component too, but this is not sure. The group is located in between two 14th magnitude stars.

NGC 5921 – galaxy in Serpens Caput
At 211x NGC 5921 is an oval of 2’ with a bright core. Could not see the bar.

Time for 2 objects in Hercules from Fred’s 200 list.

PK 51 +9.1 (Hu 2-1) – planetary in Her
Hu 2-1 is a mag 12.2 object with a size of 2”. In other words, it’s tiny. It’s easily visible at 124x as a stellar object. It reacts positively with an UHC filter. At 211x it’s bright, white and a very faint disc is visible. The centre looks brighter, could this be the central star?

PK 53 +24.1 (Vy 1-2) – planetary in Her
This planetary is of magn 12.3 and is 4”6 small. It easily visible as a bright star at 124x. Did not look at 211x.

Cygnus is now high enough in the sky, a good moment to finalize the 5 open clusters from the HII list.

NGC 6991 – open cluster in Cyg
NGC 6991 is one of those objects in the Dreyer catalogue of which the location is not well defined. On the NGCIC project 2 locations, close to each other are mentioned. So I’ve been looking at both of them. The first location is a few minutes west of mag 5.6 star (HR 8020). Strange enough there is almost nothing to see there, even at high power. It’s just an area with a few stars, not even concentrated. The 2nd location is South West of this bright star. Here indeed a loose group of 20 stars, in an area of 15’ is visible. This group contains 2 short chains of 3 stars.

NGC 6997 – open cluster in Cyg
NGC 6997 is an open cluster of the HII list. Here also there is some confusion on its precise locations. Some catalogues are inverting NGC 6997 with NGC 6996. So here again I observed the 2 spots: The most northern one (+45°28’) is a very small group of 10 stars in an area of 5’ (84x). The other one (at +44°37’) is a group of 20’ with 20 stars. Most of them are of the same brightness.

NGC 7067 – open cluster in Cyg
Is this an open cluster? At 211x I can see 10 stars west from a bright triple star (SAO 50808, the primary is of magn 9,41). But this does not look like a concentration of stars. The area contains a bright double star. After checking the DSS picture I conclude I’ve probably not been looking at the right location. I will log it as not seen.

NGC 7082 – open cluster in Cyg
Observed when clouds are appearing. This is a group of 50 stars (probably more if there were no clouds). The edges of the group is not easy to define because this group is just a little be more concentrated than its surrounding field. The 2 brightest stars are yellow. North, perhaps already out of the group, is another bright yellow star. I think I’ve seen a faint red star too, but this is not sure as the group is fading away behind the clouds. These colors are not mentioned in the 11 observation in dslog, so is this just imagination or is it a side effect due to the clouds?

HII: observed 347 out of 400

No galaxies this time !

2009-05-31T18:46:00.004+02:00

It is, for this region, again a very clear night with NELM probably better than 5,5. Also the seeing is excellent tonight. The aim of today is to do the 2 open clusters of HII in Vulpecula, combined with the showpieces.

Date May 29, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5.5
Seeing: excellent.
Time 23:30Hr UT to 01Hr00UT. Clouds appearing at 0:00.

NGC 6793 – open cluster in Vul
Observed at 124x and 211x. NGC 6793 is a loose cluster of 10 bright stars in an area of 10’. 2 distinct groups are visible with each a triangle made up of 3 bright stars. The most northern star of the northern triangle is a double star.

NGC 6800 – open cluster in Vul
Observed at 124x. This cluster does not stand out well from its surroundings. There is a light concentration of stars in an area of 15’. A ring of 10 bright stars and 20 faint stars are forming the edge of his cluster. An obvious “void” at the centre of this object.

After those 2 HII objects I spend the remaining of the time observing showpieces in the typical summer constellation.

First in Scorpio because it’s culminating. M80 and M4 are splendid globulars.
In Ophiuchus I looked for M10, M12 and M14. Next time I’ll prepare a list with some other objects in this large constellation.

Observing with an 18” in Cygnus is a wonderful experience. I’ve had amazing views of the Veil Nebula. Lot’s of details and structure were visible on both segments. Pickering triangle was easy to see.

Also the Crescent nebula provided awesome views with details and structure.

NGC 7008 is one of my favorite planetaries in Cygnus. The 2 nodules give it an irregular shape. Brightness is irregular. Two stars are superimposed on the object.

Another nice planetary is NGC 7048. It’s a grey disc which is slightly elongated. Did not see the superimposed star.

The next planetary is NGC 6894, which is also a terrific object to observe. It’s a grey ring with a darker centre. The northern edge is slightly brighter.

The blinking planetary (NGC 6826) is chooses to end this beautiful observation session. This planetary is nicer to observe without filter. The central star is obvious. The blinking effect is always a nice effect to look at. Interestingly, the nebula did not fade completely away, while it did with my 20cm scope (as far as I remember though).

Going further with Herschel 2 in Virgo

2009-04-06T20:56:00.002+02:00

I have to rectify what I said, I thought I’ve seen all HII objects of Leo and Coma, but in fact I missed 1 galaxy in each of these 2 constellations. Luckily I found it by accident, so I can hunt this tonight.

Date March 30, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time 21:00Hr UT to 22Hr30 UT

NGC 3705; IC 698; IC 2853 – galaxy in Leo
At 124x this is a large galaxy of 4’, rather faint and with a bright stellar core. At 211x a core of 2’ is visible with a stellar nucleus. A bit further to the west is NGC 3692, a rather elongated galaxy of 3’ long and less than 1’ wide. Elongation is 1:5. It has no core and I can see it only half of the time. SW of NGC 3705 is a group of IC galaxies. I could only see IC 698 at 211x while moving the scope, and IC 2853 at 316x which I’ve during 3 different moments.

Before going to Coma I wanted to have a look at 2 Arp’s in Cancer.

Arp 89 (NGC 2548) – galaxies in Cancer
I have seen only NGC 2548 with certainty. It’s an oval of 2’x1’ with a bright core. Maybe I have seen PGC 24469 one or two times as an elongated spot, but it is not totally sure (which means I don’t log it).

Arp 167 (NGC 2672 – 2673) – galaxies in Cancer
The 2ND Arp in Cancer for tonight. At 124x I can probably see 2 different spots with a faint core. At 211x 2 distinct objects are visible? A large bright, round galaxy of 2’ with bright core (this is NGC 2672, and a smaller, also round galaxy, located north of the big one (NGC 2763).

Let’s go back to Herschel II.

NGC 4237; 4262; IC 781 – galaxy in Coma
NGC 4237 is at 124x an oval of 2’ x 1’ with a faint core. This is an easy object. It’s located north of a light orange but bright star. 40 SE is NGC 4662, a small but bright galaxy of 1’. It contains a bright core. Going in NE direction we come along IC 781, which I could see only 10% of time at 211x.

We continue with HII in Virgo

NGC 4235; 4224; 4233 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4235 is at 124x a nice elongated nebula of 3’ x 1’, with tapered ends. No core. I could not see NGC 4246. To the north is NGC 4224, another HII object. It’s an oval of 2’ x 1’ without core. It forms a (gelijkzijdige) triangle with 2 bright stars. Even more north is a 3rd HII galaxy, NGC 4233. At 124x this is a spot smaller than 1’ with a faint core.

NGC 4168; 4193; 4189– galaxy in Virgo
Ngc 4168 is an almost round nebula of 2’ with a faint core (124x). Even at 211x I could not see NGC 4165. To the east is NGC 4193 an elongated spot of 2’ also without core. Now going to the north we find NGC 4189. This a nebula of which I could not define its shape. It’s 2’ big, has no core, and I could see it only 10% of time.

NGC 4124 – galaxy in Virgo
An easy target at 124x. It’s an oval spot of 3’ x 1’, without core.

NGC 4073; 4045; 4077 – galaxy in Virgo
A FOV with 2 HII objects. NGC 4073, the first one, is visible during 80% as a small spot of 1’ (124x). The 2nd HII, NGC 4045 is located to the west. At 211x it’s a spot of 1’ with a faint core. To the south of NGC 4073 is NGC 4077, visible at 211x. It’s a small spot visible half of the time.

NGC 4241 – galaxy in Virgo
This one is difficult at 124x. I can see a spot of 2’ during 40% of time, without core . At 211x it is continuously visible. I could not see IC 3115

NGC 4267; 4305; 4306; IC 775 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4267 is at 124x a spot of 2’ with a bright core. It’s continuously visible. Going east we find 2 faint galaxies which I could see only at 211x: NGC 4305 and NGC 4306 were visible 10% of time. I could not determine the elongation direction. At the other side of NGC 4267 is IC 775, which is a round spot (at 211x) of 1’. Located west of bright star.

NGC 4294; 4299 – galaxy in Virgo
Again 2 HII in same FOV. These are 2 difficult objects which I could see only 30% of time at 124x. NGC 4294 is 2’ x 1’ large. Elongation direction is NW-SE. NGC 4299 is 1’ and is round.

NGC 4313 – galaxy in Virgo
At 124x NGC 4213 is a nice galaxy of 4’ x 1’. No core.

NGC 4339; 4333 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4339 is a round spot of 2’ with a moderately bright core. NGC 4337 is visible at 211x during 20%. It’s smaller than 1’.

These were the last Herschel objects. I ended the observation session with the show pieces of the season.

HII: 269 out of 400

Good deepsky conditions, even with moon!

2009-03-08T14:49:00.004+01:00

The sky looks very transparent, but unfortunately the moon is already quite bright. Without moon I guess we would have more than 5,5 nelm. I estimate it now to be 5,0 but deteriorating at the end of the session due to upcoming clouds.

Date: March 2, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time 19:15Hr UT to 22Hr15 UT

Comet Lulin was the first observed object. Same vision as on Saturday, meaning I could not glimpse the tail of the comet. At 84x the faint halo is around 15’ big, the coma is 3’ with a nucleus.

The usual program of Herschel II is next topic:

NGC 5879 – galaxy in Draco
At 84x I can see it as an elongated spot of 3’x1’, without core. It’s not that easy to see (visible 30% of time) because it’s still quite low on the sky. At 211x I can see it almost continuously. (Something went wrong with the planning as I have seen this object on 14/2/2009)

NGC 6015 – galaxy in Draco
At 124x this galaxy is a large oval of 5’x3’ which is just visible with averted vision. No structure to see. There is a star close to SE edge (does not touch the galaxy). Higher power does not provide more details.

NGC 6340 – galaxy in Draco
A round spot of 2’ with a faint core is visible at 124x. The view is nice at 211x: the galaxy, of which the core is now clearly visible, is located close to a double star. The 2 IC galaxies in the neighborhood (IC 1251 and 1254) are suspected at 316x.

NGC 4236 – galaxy in Draco
This is a huge galaxy of 23’ in Draco. I tried this one already a few times, but today, I’ve got it without any doubt. At 124x I can see an extremely faint, large spot of 15’, of which the northern part seems to be brighter. At lower power, 84x and with a deepsky filter the objects is easier to spot. I can see 2 somewhat brighter patches (northern edge and southern edge).

NGC 2610 – planetary in Hydra
Last time I saw only a stellar object. Today I can see clearly the planetary nebula at 211x as a disc of 30”. It’s a faint disc, almost round with a star at the northern edge. A bright orange star is located north. UHC filter provides much better contrast. The edges are sharp and the southern part is fainter than the northern one. This is the nicest object of the evening.

NGC 2525 – galaxy in Puppis
I tried NGC 2525 already several times, but today I finally got it. This is an extremely difficult object. I can only see it at 211x when the scope is moving a bit. It’s around 3’ big with an undetermined shape. Once located it became visible even when the view is not moving. This object requires “heavy” averted vision and extreme concentration.

I missed NGC 2283, a galaxy in Canis Major, as it was already to low on the sky. Bad planning!

NGC 2805 – galaxy in Uma
This is a galaxy which I was not certain I had seen it (logged as Perception of object is very questionable). But today I could see it at 211x with averted vision. It’s a spot of 2’ of undefined shape. The 2 other galaxies NGC 2620 and NGC 2814 were also visible.

NGC 3145 – galaxy in Hydra
Again a difficult target. At 124x I can see it a few times as an oval of 2’. It’s located a slightly north of a line made by a bright orange star and a fainter star. Does not become easier at 211x. The bright orange star which is quite disturbing.

All Herschel II objects of Uma have been observed by now so I need to start hunting in a new constellation. Leo is the most appropriate one at this time. It’s not yet culmulating but it’s high enough to look for the remaining 18 HII objects.

NGC 3162 – galaxy in Leo
NGC 3162 is a round spot of 2’ with a faint core (124x). It is continuously visible with averted vision. A faint star is located close to the eastern edge.

NGC 3177 – galaxy in Leo
NGC 3177 is a small bright circular spot of 1’. It contains a bright core. The galaxy, visible with direct vision, is located in an area with a lot of bright stars.

NGC 3274 – galaxy in Leo
This is a round or oval galaxy (it’s not clear) of 1,5’, located in the middle of a triangle of stars. It has no core. A double star is located 7’ south.

NGC 3301 and NGC 3287 – galaxy in Leo
NGC 3301 is an oval of 2’ with a bright centre and a stellar core. It become larger up to 3’ with 211x. Nice! NGC 3287 is located 30’ SE of NGC 3301. It’s an oval of 2’x1’ without core. Also this one is located close to a double star, of which the primary is white and the faint secondary blue. Nice combination!

NGC 3338 and NGC 3357 – galaxy in Leo
NGC 3338 is an oval spot of 3’x2’ without core (124x). NGC 3357, located towards NE, is a round spot visible 20% of time at 211x. It contains no core. Arp 291 was not visible, although I tried at all possible powers. I think the sky conditions were already deteriorating at that moment.

NGC 3507 and NGC 3501 – galaxy in Leo
NGC 3507 is a round spot (211x). A star is located at NE edge. A core is visible at 211x. NGC 3501 is difficult. I could see it only twice at 124x and estimated a size of 3’. The view changes completely at 211x as now I can see a nice but faint needle of 3’.

I ended this session with M81, M82 and M51, of which I could see only 2 spots. Clearly sky conditions are not good anymore. In fact, half and hour later, the sky was completely covered by clouds.

Anyway, this was a great evening, with one comet, lots of galaxies and one planetary nebula (and I forgot, a few double stars)

Herschell II: 220 seen.

Observing comet Lulin and Herschel II objects.

2009-03-01T18:51:00.004+01:00

The last day of February. It’s not a marvelous sky, but it’s good enough to get out and look for Comet Lulin and do some observations.

Dat: Feb 28, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: close to 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time 20:30Hr UT to 23Hr15 UT
Temperature: do-able – must be around 5°C

I started with Comet Lulin. I’ve seen many nice pictures on the mailing lists, so it’s about time to view it myself. Its located close to Regulus. At 84x times I can see a core, with a bright nucleus, surrounded by a large halo. The halo is quite larger at 124x (forgot to quantify). I taught I have glimpsed the tail, but when comparing my drawing with someone else’s, the direction does not match.

The sky is still not very good, but I decided to go for the Herschel II objects in Hydra.

NGC 2765 – galaxy in Hydra
Difficult too see, probably due to bad conditions. I can see it only 20% of the time at 124x. It’s a spot of 1’ without core.

NGC 2889 – galaxy in Hydra
NGC 2889 was only visible at 211x as a round spot, larger than 1’. Visible 20% of time.

NGC 2855 – galaxy in Hydra
Also this one was only visible at 211x but it’s an easier one than NGC 2889 as I could see it almost continuously (90%). The shape is almost round and contains no core. It’s a bit bigger than 1’. It’s located south of a bright star, which seems to be a double star with faint companion. According my atlas this is indeed a double star (HD 80801) with a 14.7 companion at 8.97” of the primary.

NGC 2781 – galaxy in Hydra
Continuously visible with averted vision, NGC 2781 is at 124x an oval of 1’ with a faint core.

NGC 2610 – planetary in Hydra
Could only find NGC 2710 it at 211x. It’s very well visible as a stellar object. I can even see this one with direct vision. I don’t see it like a disc, although according deepskylog this planetary is mag 13.0 and is 38” large. Did I see only the central star? I will have to redo this observation. Once located, I could see it (central star?) at 124x with direct vision during 80% of the time.

NGC 2986 – galaxy in Hydra
This is a very difficult galaxy. At 211x I could see a few times “there was something there”, but that’s all!

The other galaxies in Hydra are still too low, so I tried once more to look after NGC 2525, the galaxy in Puppis. Once more, I could not see it.

I decided to go for some galaxies in Ursa Major, of course all of them being Herschel II objects.

NGC 4605 – galaxy in Ursa Major
This is a very nice object. At 124x the size is 5’x2’. It is a bit larger in the middle. The edges are fainter, especially the SE one. AT 211x the SE edge seems to be sharper than the other one. Also, some structure is visible in the middle of the galaxy.

NGC 5204– galaxy in Ursa Major
This is an easy object to see at 124x. The galaxy is 3’x2’ and looks a little bit brighter in the middle.

NGC 5308– galaxy in Ursa Major
At 124x this is an elongated spot of 2’ with a very bright core. It’s becoming bigger at 211x, up to 3’ which is due to its faint edges.

NGC 5430 – galaxy in Ursa Major
NGC 5430 is visible at 84x as a small spot. At 124x this is an oval of 2’ with a faint core.

NGC 5443 – galaxy in Ursa Major
NGC 5433 is located in a trapezium of 4 bright stars. At 124x it is visible during 80% of time as an oval of 22. It has a faint core.

NGC 5448– galaxy in Ursa Major
At 124x this is visible as an oval of 3’x1’. It contains no core.

NGC 5480 & 5481 – galaxy in Ursa Major
The last object of the evening is a nice pair of galaxies, NGC 5480 and NGC 5481. Both are visible at 124x as 2 spots, a little bit elongated but without clear direction in the elongation. Both galaxies have no core. The view is better at 211x. Now both elongation directions are clearly defined. NGC 5481 is brighter and has a large core. NGC 5480 is smaller with a faint core.

I ended the evening with a last view on Comet Lulin. I have seen now 208 Herschel II objects, more than half of them!

Valentine observation

2009-02-15T13:24:00.004+01:00

My wife loves me! She gave me as a present a clear night on Valentines day, and not only this, she let me observe!

The sky is indeed clear, although not very transparent. It’s difficult to see all the stars of the little dipper. I estimate it’s just nelm of 5.0. The weather is still quite cold, this night is going to be below zero again.

Date: Valentine 2009
Location: Boutersem (at home)
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: close to 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time 21:30Hr UT to 0Hr15 UT
Temperature: below zero

I was wondering if I was going to have the same kind of issues during start up like last time. This time not, the battery of the Argo Navis was fully charged, and the altitude cable was hanging loose. Quikc start this time.

The warm up exercises were M1, M42, M43 (nice, but less structure as last time), M78.

And now the real work with Herschel II. I expect this to be tougher due to somewhat worse conditions that usual. I intend to start with Draco:

NGC 4236 is a huge galaxy of 23’ which I have not been able to see.

NGC 4250 – galaxy in Draco
Observed at 124x, this is a round spot of 2’ with a moderate bright core. It’s located north of a triangle of 3 starts, of which one seems to be red.

NGC 4256 – galaxy in Draco
NGC 4256 is a nice edge-on galaxy, in the form of a needle. It’s 4’ long and less than 1’ wide. The core is bright (124x). The view is even nicer at 211x. The core seems to be a bit wider.

NGC 4133; 4291; 4319– galaxy in Draco
At 124x NGC 4133 is an oval of 2’ with a faint core. I can see it only with averted vision around 90% of the time. Located 20’ north of a bright star. More to the east is NGC 4291, which is an oval of 2’ in which 2 faint stars are visible. NGC 4319 was not visible at 124x, which confirms that conditions are not too good, as I have seen this object quite easily previously. However at 211x I can see it as an oval of 3’ without core.

NGC 5879 – galaxy in Draco
NGC 5879 is still quite low in the sky. I can see this galaxy with averted vision as an oval spot of 3’. Maybe a hint of a very faint core.

Looked for the 2 missing Herschell II objects in Puppis. NGC 2467 is still too low. NGC 2525 is high enough in the sky, but I cannot see it, nor at 124x, 211x or 316x. This must be a difficult one as no-one has seen this object in deslog.

NGC 1980 – nebula in Orion
Could not see the nebula around iota Ori. This bright start is a nice triple star (2 faint companions)

NGC 2639 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 2639 is at 124x an almost round spot of 2’ with a large bright core

NGC 2756 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 2756 is at 124x an almost round spot smaller 2’ without any core. It’s visible only 80% of the time.

NGC 2805; 2820; 2814 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 2805 is a very difficult target. I think I have seen it during at 124x a few moments but I’m not totally sure. I will have to redo this observation. To the NE is a very nice edge on galaxy of 6’ x 1” (NGC 2820). No core visible. At 211x NGC 2814 is visible as an elongated spot of 1’, close to a bright star.

NGC 2880 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 2880 is at 124x a bright galaxy. It’s an oval of 2’ with a bright core, which seems to be slightly off centre.

NGC 3073; 3079 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 3073 is located close to NGC 3079. This last one is very nice object which I had observed also in December 2008. It’s the famous galaxay which is bended towards the east. At 124x, this bending was visible during this night of not so good conditions. A little bit to the west is NGC 3073 which is a round spot of 1’, only visible at 211x.

NGC 3065; 3066 – galaxy in Uma
At 211x these 2 galaxies are in the same FOV. NGC 3065 is 2’ with a bright core. NGC 3066 is smaller, fainter and has no core.

NGC 3225 – galaxy in Uma
This is a difficult one at 124x. I have seen it only during a few short moments. At 211x it’s visible 80% of the time as an oval spot of 2’.

NGC 3319 – galaxy in Uma
Another difficult galaxy in Uma. I can see it during short moments as a large but very faint smudge of light of 3’ (124x)

NGC 3359 – galaxy in Uma
At 124x this is an easy object. It’s a large oval of 4’x2’ with maybe a faint core.

NGC 4271– galaxy in Uma
At 124x this is a round spot of 1x with stellar core.

NGC 4290– galaxy in Uma
At 124x this is an oval spot of 2’, without core. NGC 4284, 5’ west, is not visible, not even at 211x.

Up to here for the quite Herschell II list. I ended the night with some show pieces such as M81, M82, M46 and its planetary nebula, M35 (beautiful !!!), Eskimo, NGC 2172 (planetary in Gemini)

It was cold, conditions where not great, but at the end I was once more happy to have seen so many new objects.

HII: 195/400

First session in 2009 - one of the most productive

2009-01-31T17:32:00.003+01:00

January 30, 2009

This is the 1st observation session of 2009. Jan and I went to observe a couple of hours in Roosbeek, where we enjoyed a very clear sky, probably close to nelm of 5.5. I had some troubles to start with such as a weak battery for the Argo Navis. It did power up but had an erratic behavior. Luckily Jan has some spare batteries I could use. The next issue was related to the azimuth encoder. It did not provide any signal to the AN, which was due to the cable. Not well connected in the AN due to too much stress on the cable. But once those issues were solved I could start a very productive session, with an observation of 49 deepsky object (including showpieces), 3 comets and Saturn. A lot of observed objects resulted with a quite poor description. You cannot get them all …

Location: Boutersem (Charly)
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: close to 5,5
Seeing: moderate
Time 23:00Hr UT to 2Hr00 UT
Temperature: -2°C

First some showpieces, then we’ll go ahead with Herschel II

M42 – M43 – orion nebula
I’ve never seen M43 that well. The nebula is split in 2 by a dark lane. The southern part, in which a bright star is located, has some structure, the most obvious part being east from the star. (124x)

NGC 1977 and NGC 1973 – running man nebula
Easy to see. NGC 1973 is a nice round nebula around a bright star. Same for NGC 1977, which is bigger. Did not look for NGC 1975.

M46 and NGC 2438 – open cluster with planetary nebula in Puppis
At 124x the ring shape of the planetary is easily noticeable. A faint star is visible close to the centre.

Eskimo Nebula

M35 and NGC 2158
NGC 2158 is resolved at 124x.

M1
I find this object usually dull, but tonight it’s different. It’s well visible and the shape is irregular. An uneven surface brightness inside the nebula can be glimpsed. A few stars are visible at the northern edge. No filaments were visible. On a night like today I should redo this object and spend more time on it.

NGC 3156 – galaxy in Sextans
The only Herschel II object in Sextans is a galaxy of mag 12.1 located a few minutes NW from a bright star. It’s not an easy one aat 124x as I can glimpse it only 80% of the time. It’s an oval of 2’ without core. 30’ north east are 2 nice galaxies: NGC 3169 is with its 2’ almost round and has a bright core. NGC 3166 is larger (3’) and is an oval with a very bright core. NGC 3165, mag 13.9, was not visible, not even at 211x. This is not totally surprising as the contrast reserve is -0.22.

NGC 3158 – galaxy in Leo Minor
Leo Minor contains 4 Herschel II objects of which one I have already seen. Tonight we go for the other 3 ones. NGC 3158 is an easy target at 124x. It’s an almost round smudge of 2’ without core. To the south there are 2 other small galaxies of which NGC 3163 is easy to see. It’s a round spot without core. The 2nd one is NGC 3159 and is very difficult at 124x. It looks quite stellar. 211x gives a more comfortable view. Now NGC 3159 is visible as a round spot with a core. The core of NGC 3163 becomes also visible at 211x. South from NGC 3158 is NGC 3160, which was only visible at 211x, but remains difficult. It’s a very thin galaxy, like a needle, of 2’ long located between 2 bright stars. Unfortunately I did not look for the other galaxies in the neighborhood because they were not printed on my finder charts (too low power).

NGC 3254 – galaxy in Leo Minor
This is a “stand alone” galaxy in Leo Minor. Observed at 124x it’s a large oval spot of 3’ with a small, moderately bright core. 2 bright stars located at its east.
NGC 3424 – galaxy in Leo Minor
NGC 3424 is an elongated galaxy with a faint star on its east ends (124x). AT 211x the galaxy becomes longer and is extending further than the little star. So in reality, this star is located on NE edge on the galaxy, somewhere in the middle between the centre and the end. 5 minutes NE is NGC 3430, which is a large spot of 4’ without core (124x). On the opposite side of NGC 3424 is NGC 3413, which I could see only at 211x. It’s an elongated spot of 1’ without core. Finally there is a nice pair of galaxies on the west side of 3424, NGC 3395 and NGC 3396, or Arp 270. These are 2 oval spots quite uniform in brightness, both with a stellar core. NGC 3395 is somewhat larger than its twin brother. Both galaxies are forming an angle of 100°.

NGC 2269 – open cluster in Monoceros.
NGC 2269 was the only Herschel II object missing in Monoceros. It’s a open cluster of 5’. It’s composed of an NE stroke of 5’ long, containing 10 bright and moderately bright stars. NE are a few more stars (5).

NGC 2283 – galaxy in Canis Major
It’s 2nd time I’m hunting this one, but again, I cannot see it. It must be indeed a difficult one, because there are no logs in dslog. I guess this will be something for in the Provence.

Now follows a long list of galaxies in Uma

NGC 3516 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 3516 is at 124x a small but bright nebula of 1.5’ with a bright core. It’s located between 2 bright stars.

NGC 3583 – galaxy in Uma
NGC 3583 is a large bright nebula of 3’ with a faint core. NW is NGC 3577 which I can see at 211x. It’s a small round spot of 1’. Difficult object.

NGC 3622 – galaxy in Uma
At 124x, NGC 3622 is an elongated nebula of 1,5’. A very bright star, 20’ south, is interfering with the observation.

NGC 3642 – galaxy in Uma
This is a large bright nebula of 2’ with an obvious core. 35’ SW is NGC 3610, a galaxy of 2’ with a prominent core (124x). I saw this one with my 20cm in 2007.

NGC 3652 – galaxy in Uma
At 124x this is an easy one. It’s a 2’ elongated nebula (4:1) without core.

NGC 3669 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) NGC 3669 is a nice elongated nebula (5:1) of 2’ long. No core. To the west there are 3 other galaxies. NGC 3625 is an elongated spot of 1’. It’s a difficult target. NGC 3619 is a round spot of 2’ with bright core. Finally, NGC 3613, a bit towards the north, is very bright oval galaxy with an extremely bright core. It looks similar to M31. I have a little anecdote here: realizing this was similar as M31, an observation I did with my 20cm popped up in my mind. During this nights observation I remember I saw once an object also very similar to M31, so I was wondering if this would be the same galaxy. And yes, my note in http://www.deepskylog.log/ from 21/02/2007 is indeed confirming this. It’s funny that even after observing 1000th of different objects and having seen most of them only once, there are some of them stored for ever in my memory.

NGC 3668 – galaxy in Uma
An easy to observe oval of 2’ with a faint but large core (124x)

NGC 3683 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) An easy elongated spot of 2’ with a faint core. I did not look for the galaxies in the neighborhood.

NGC 3756 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) NGC 3756 is a large but blurred oval of 4’. It’s in same FOV as NGC 3738, smaller and brighter as NGC 3756 but still large with its 3’ length. It looks like it has a bright small core a bit off centre. Further north is NGC 3733 which was only visible at 211x. Although it is 3’, it is so faint that I cannot determine the shape. It’s close to a disturbing bright star. I can see it only 10% of the time.

NGC 4013 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) NGC 4013 is an elongated galaxy of 3’ with something that looks like a star on the NE end. I’m not sure what it is because there is no star printed on my finder chart. This is a strange observation because this is not corresponding to other observations. Or I’m getting tired and I’ve seen only half of the galaxy (the star being in fact the bright core), or I’m looking to a wrong object (which I don’t believe).

NGC 4047 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) Small round spot of 1’ with a faint core.

NGC 4062 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) WOW! A very nice, large galaxy of 5’ with thick central area and 2 tapered ends. These 3 area’s are all equal in size. Uniform brightness.

NGC 4096 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) This is again a nice elongated galaxy of 5’ with two tapered ends. Interestingly, the core is not located centrally but more to the north. The SE side of the core is thicker than the other side. It’s really not a symmetrical galaxy. The core contains a stellar nucleus.

NGC 4100 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) NGC 4100 is also an elongated galaxy of 5’ (4:1). A nice object which I had already seen with my 20cm.

NGC 4144 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) An elongated galaxy of 5’. The southern edge (which is maybe the core) is brighter and uniform in brightness. An interesting object.

NGC 4157 – galaxy in Uma
(124x) Once again, a spectacular edge on galaxy. This one is 6’ large and has an elongation ration of 5:1. Brightness is not uniform. Core looks slightly positioned more towards the east.

This concludes the quest of Herschel 4 objects. Like always I like to end with showpieces.

M82 (and M81): unbelievable what I can see. A prominent dark line a lots of structure and bright knots.

M51: The 2 spiral arms are clearly visible with some bright knots in each of them.

NGC 4565: edge-on in Coma – dark lane is visible

Hickson 44 (in Leo). The 4 galaxies are visible. NGC 3193 and NGC 3190 are easy. I see NGC 3185 only from the moment when Jan tells me where to look. And NGC 3187 is a faint but doable object.

Saturn
We ended the night with an observation of Saturn. The rings is almost edge on which is a spectacular view. At 500x the ring in front of the planet is visible as a fine line. At least 3 moons are visible.

During the night I saw also 3 comets through the scope of Jan.

Several eyepieces for sale

2009-01-04T18:44:00.020+01:00

On the rear row, from left to right:

2” oculair 28mm Multi-coated – not branded - Price: €35
I've won this eyepiece on a quiz during deepsky day in Nijmegen (NL) - used only twice

1 ¼” Celestron Plössl – 32mm – fully multi-coated - New: €57 Price: €42
1 ¼” Celestron Plössl – 15mm – fully multi-coated - New: €45 Price: €33 (SOLD)
1 ¼” Celestron Plössl – 6mm – fully multi-coated - New: €45 Price: €33 (SOLD)
1 ¼” Celestron Plössl – 4mm – fully multi-coated - New: €45 Price: €33

On the 2nd row, from left to right:

1 ¼” Oculair Baader Genuine Ortho 5mm - New: €98 - Price: €75
Used only once. This is a great eyepiece for planetary observations.

1 ¼” Meade Ortho 12,5mm – multi-coated - Price: €30
1 ¼” Meade Ortho 6mm – multi-coated - Price: €30

1 ¼” Lichtenknecker (?) Ortho 8mm - Price: €35
1 ¼” Lichtenknecker (?) Ortho 25mm - Price: €35

On the front row:
Celestron 2x Barlow New: €57 - Price: €42 - (SOLD)

Prices are excluding shipping costs. Cash payment or payment in advance.

If interested please leave me a comment including your email.

Last Deepsky Night of 2008!

2008-12-31T16:00:00.003+01:00

Although it’s again clear this evening I was not really planning to observe. I felt a bit tired. Luckily Jan V. called and we decided to go observing together again at the place of Charly. I needed this little push by Jan to go out for the 5th observing session this week. And it was a good thing (thanks Jan!) – the night was again very clear (but cold too). We’ve been observing until 2UT.

Location: Boutersem (Charly)
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,2
Seeing: moderate
Time 23:00Hr UT to 2Hr00 UT
Temperature: -6°C

The objective of the day is again the Herschel II list.

NGC 2253 – open cluster in Camelopardalis.
This object does not exist! Really, see the discussion on:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2404095/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1#Post2832842
I was looking at the right place, but there is nothing to see.

NGC 2347; IC 2179 – galaxies in Camelopardalis
NGC 2347 is continuously visible at 127x. It’s an oval spot of 2’ without any core. It’s located on one of the edges of a triangle of 3 bright stars. 15’ north is IC 2179. Also this one is continuously visible at 127x. It’ has a round shape but is a bit smaller than NGC 2347. A faint core is visible.

NGC 7245 – open cluster in Lacerta
At 211x I can see with averted vision the glow of unresolved stars and something like 5 faint stars, on an area on 5’. The cluster is located in rich area of stars. Visibility is better at 316x. A small but nice asterism with a shape of a keystone is located 8’ north of the cluster.

NGC 1207 – galaxy in Perseus
I have tried this one with my 20cm Newton but without success. With the 18” it’s an easy galaxy at 124x. The oval is 2’ long and 1’ wide and contains a faint core.

I still need to do 3 Herschel II objects in Pisces, but it’s going to be a challenge – Pisces is currently located (SW) in an area where there is quite some light pollution. I’m not quite sure this will work but let’s try it out.

NGC 706 – galaxy in Pisces
This is galaxy of mag 12.5. In this light pollution it’s quite tough. I can only see it at 211x and not even continuously (80%) as a oval spot of 2’, without any core. I’m not going to try the galaxies in the neighbourhood because it does not make sense in these conditions.

NGC 718 – galaxy in Pisces
This is galaxy of mag 11.7 In this light pollution it’s quite tough. I can only see it at 211x and not even continuously (80%) as a oval spot of 2’, with a faint core.

NGC 741 – galaxy in Pisces
This is in fact a pair of galaxies (NGC 741 and NGC 742) of mag 13. 3. With this light pollution I can see only 1 round, but rather large oval of 3’ (larger than NGC 718 and NGC 706). It’s probably the combine light of the 2 galaxies, but I cannot make any distinction between the 2.
This is surely an observation to repeat in order to view the smaller NGC 742.

NGC 821 – galaxy in Aries
This one is easy, even at 124x. Located SE to a bright star. The galaxy does not touch this star. It’s 1’ large and contains bright core. Visible with direct vision.

NGC 890 – galaxy in Aries
NGC 890 is at 124x a bright galaxy of 2’ with a striking core. The core is as bright as the brightest star of a little triangle west of the galaxy. I’ve seen this one also with my 20cm Newton. At that time I could not see any core (but nelm was only 4.9)

NGC 925 – galaxy in Triangulum
NGC 925 is a huge galaxy in Triangulum. It’s visible at 84x but the best view is at 84x with Deepsky filter. I estimate the galaxy to be larger than 7’ and as wide as 3’. Three faint stars are close (in or out of the galaxy, difficult to say) to the galaxy. The galaxy is a bit brighter at its centre.

NGC 1012 – galaxy in Aries
NGC 1012, of mag 12.1 is already visible at 84x. At 124x I can see a large almost round spot of 2’ with a large but faint core.

NGC 1156 – galaxy in Aries
Observation at 124x. It’s a strange object of 3’. The shape is not really oval – it looks like a piece of the oval has been cut away. It’s maybe due to the 3 stars which are location the NW edge.

Beta Monocerotis
Observed with the 15” Obsession of Jan. A nice triple star (forgot to note the colours)

Now we go more south to Lepus

NGC 1832 – galaxy in Lepus
Observed at 124x. An oval of 2’ close to a moderate bright star. 2’ no core.

NGC 2196 – galaxy in Lepus
At 211x it’s visible 10% of the time, between 2 faint stars. It’s an almost round spot of 2’.

NGC 2139 – galaxy in Lepus
Very very difficult but I have been able to see it during a 5 short moments as a large spot, both at 211x and at 316x.

The next objects are in Puppis

NGC 2396 – open cluster in Puppis
A very loose open cluster. 10 bright stars in an area of 10’. There is north of the cluster a nice double star with orange and blue colors.

NGC 2414 – open cluster in Puppis
At 211x I see 1 bright and 6 faint stars in an arc of 5’. Located SE of straight line of 4 bright stars.

NGC 2432 – open cluster in Puppis
At 211x I see 15 stars (moderately bright and faint ones) in an arc of 5’, going north south.

I looked for NGC 2525 – a galaxy in Puppis, but I’m not sure I have seen it.

NGC 2467 – open cluster with nebulosity in Puppis.
This object is still very low, less than 10°. I can see at the right location 1 bright star and 10 faint stars. This is the open cluster. I could not see any nebulosity. Observation at 211x. Will need to redo this observation.

At this moment I have enough to see all these faint HII objects. It’s time for some show pieces.

NGC 2438 – planetary nebula in M46 – Puppis
Fantastic at 211x and 316x. This is a large disc! One star on the disc, but off centre is visible at 211x. A 2nd star becomes visible at 316x, still off centre. A bright star is located at the SE edge. With averted vision a ring structure (dark centre) becomes visible.

NGC 2440 – planetary nebula – Puppis
NGC 2440 is another planetary in Puppis. It’s a very bright disc. At 316x I can see a curl on the western edge. Nice object.

Looked also at Eskimo (once more!) and NGC 2371 (idem, once more).
Tried to look for the supernova in M61 but at 2Hr UT the galaxy is still too low .
I have seen the Medusa Nebula through the 15” scope of Jan (with OIII filter).

NGC 3079 – galaxy in Ursa Major.
I ended the night with a fantastic object, NGC 3079, a galaxy in Ursa Major. It’s a long streak of 5’ (elongation around 1:7) with a very bright core of 1” which is offset toward the east. Due to this offset, the galaxy looks bended! Observation at 211x.

This ends a very nice observation night.

162 / 400 Herschel II objects.

Observation session with Jan V on Dec 29, 2008

2008-12-30T12:53:00.002+01:00

The 4th observation night but not alone this time, as Jan V. joined me to observe during a few hours. It’s again one of those cold nights, the ServoCat of Jan was indicated -6° at midnight.

Location: Boutersem (Charly)
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,2
Seeing: moderate
Time 22:30Hr UT to 0Hr30 UT

Before the real observing work started I had the visit of Charly and Sebastien. Charly, the oncle of Caroline, is the owner of the piece of ground were we are currently observing. They had the opportunity to see a couple of deepsky objects through the 18” Obsession. We started of course with easy objects and went to a bit more difficult targets. They’ve seen M42, M37, M35, M81 and M82 (dark lane seen), M76 (they noticed the peanut shaped) and ended with M34. 7 Messiers in half an hour. Not bad I would say.

Around 23:30 UT I could start observing the Herschel II list. I still have one object to do in Cepheus. But the major part of the evening will be open clusters and nebula’s in Monoceros.

NGC 7139 – planetary nebula in Cepheus
Bad planning, as I had already seen this one in the Provence. Anyway, here at a Nelm 5.2 sky it’s a difficult object. At 211x I can see a very faint disc of 1’, with a faint star at the NE edge. An UHC enhances the visibility. The southern edge seems to be brighter, which is confirmed on the DSS picture.

NGC 1663 – open cluster in Orion
This is a very loose cluster in Orion. Also this one is badly planned, as I had seen it with my 20cm scope earlier this year. I absolutely need to update my HII list! At 124x I see 4 bright stars in an arc. It’s not even sure if these stars are part of the cluster. North of this arc there are 7 faint stars in an area smaller than 10’. No more stars at 211x.

NGC 2170 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
A little round nebula around a bright star, visible at 84x and 211x, without any filter. No glare.

NGC 2182 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
This is not glare, but a nebula around bright star. Visible at 211x.

NGC 2236 – Open cluster in Monoceros
A small open cluster of less than 10’. At 211x 15 faint stars are distributed in a triangular shape. A bright star is at the western edge. An ars of 4 bright stars is located 5’ east of the cluster.

NGC 2245; NGC 2247 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
Close to the Xmas cluster we find a beautiful little nebula. It has a triangular shape. A bright star is located at one of the Northern corner of the triangle. The southern edge is more diffuse than the 2 other edges. Also the brightness is increasing in the direction of the star. Observation at 211x. This nebula reminds me of Hubbles variable nebula. NGC 2247 is located 20’ north of NGC 2245. This one is more difficult. With averted vision a faint nebula of 2’ is visible around a bright star. This is no glare because the view is different when compared to another similar bright stars.

NGC 2252 – open cluster in Monoceros
This is a large open cluster of 20’. With a lot of fantasy, I can see it like a fish with a big tail. There are 20 bright stars and only a few faint ones (211x). This cluster is located just north east of the Rosette nebula.

NGC 2254 – open cluster in Monoceros
A small open cluster with 6 moderately bright stars distributed on an arc. 5’ large. There is a glow of unresolved stars (211x)

NGC 2259 – open cluster in Monoceros
Another small open cluster in Monoceros. In an area of 5’ I can find with averted vision 15 very faint stars (211x). A fun object!

NGC 2302 – open cluster in Monoceros
A loose open cluster with 8 bright stars in an area of 5’. Observation at 211x.

NGC 2309 – open cluster in Monoceros
This is again a loose opne cluster. At 211 I can see 20 stars in an area of 10’. 7 of them are quite bright, the rest are faint.

NGC 2316 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
A cute little nebula. At 316x it’s a small but bright nebula. Il looks like it’s made out of 2 more or less round parts. The centre looks brighter but it could also be a star. Becomes less visible with UHC filter.

Ended this very cold night (-6°C and I’m starting to get real cold) with Eskimo, M81, M82, M107.

146 Herschel II objects.

Observation Dec 28, 2008

2008-12-30T10:58:00.001+01:00

The 3rd observation night. It’s colder than last time, somewhat around -5 or -6°, but strangely, I don’t feel it like that. I had less cold this night than the previous time.

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,0
Seeing: moderate
Time 21:30Hr UT to 0Hr30 UT

I observed for about 3 hours and then I had to stop due to an issue with the ServoCat. The engines were not responding anymore.

The objective of this night is to continue with Herschel II; have another try at the emission nebula in Auriga, and to stop with some showpieces. But first and Arp to start with.

I started with M37 and M1.

NGC 93 – Arp65 – galaxies in Andromeda
This Arp group contains 2 galaxies, NGC 91 and NGC 93. I could only see NGC 93 but only with a lot of efforts. I can see it only 10% of the time. It’s so faint I cannot determine if it’s round or oval. It’s 1’ and has no core. NGC 91 was not visible. More to the west are 2 easier galaxies: NGC 83 is a round spot of 1’, located close to a small triangle of bright stars. No core. NGC 80 is also a 1’ round spot, but here it seems to have a stellar core. Observations at 211x.

Before going for the Herschel II I tried the emission nebula in Auriga:

IC 405 – flaming star – Auriga
I’m convinced I have seen nebulosity (with the help of an UHC filter) around the bright star located 10’ NW of AU Aurigae. It looked like a triangular shape located NW of this star – see drawing. Most observers are finding nebulosity around AE Aurigae, but I did not see anything except for the glare. I need to develop a technique to notice the difference between glare and nebulosity.

IC410 – emission nebula - Auriga
Again, the C-shape was clearly visible. This is an easy nebula

IC 417 – emission nebula - Auriga
I think I saw some faint nebulosity (with UHC) around the triple star in the middle of the Stock 8 cluster.

Next observations are Herschel II objects.

NGC 410; NGC 414; NGC 407 – galaxies in Pisces
NGC 410 is not visible at 124x. I need 211x to see it as a round nebula of 2’, without core. It’s quite easy at this power. SW is NGC 407, an elongated galaxy (3:1) of 2’. There is not core. Only 20% of the time visible. On the other side of NGC 410 is NGC 414. This is an easier target than NGC 407 although it’s a smaller one with its 1’. Here also no core is visible.

NGC 428 – galaxy in Cetus
At 211x I can see this stand alone but large nebula whose shape is difficult to determine. Visible only 20% of time.

NGC 514 – galaxy in Pisces
Again a stand-alone galaxy, this time in Pisces. Also this one is difficult as I can see it only 20% of the time at 211x. It’s a large round nebula of 3’, without core.

NGC 636 – galaxy in Cetus
This is a very easy galaxy, visible with direct vision even at 124x. It’s 3’ large, round but has no core.

NGC 660 – galaxy in Pisces
NGC 660 is a huge galaxy of 6’ and very easy to see. It’s oval shaped and has no core.

NGC 665; IC 156; IC 154– galaxy in Pisces
This is a little group of 3 galaxies in Pisces which has not yet been logged in www.deepskylog.be . NGC 665 is relatively easy at 211x as it is continuously visible. It’s an oval of 2’ with a core. IC 156 is located NE of NGC 665 and is a small round spot of 1’. A bit further north is IC 154 which is extremely difficult. I could see at 316x only a few times an elongated smudge of light. A moderate bright star is located at the southern edge. Check the DSS picture, its quite nice!

NGC 1184 – galaxy in Cepheus
NGC 1184 is one of the few galaxies in Cepheus. At 124x it’s visible with direct vision. It’s an elongated nebula of 2’ (elongation 3:1) with a bright core. See also DSS picture for this nice galaxy.

NGC 1175; 1177; IC 284 – galaxies in Perseus
A trio of galaxies in Perseus which is located 2° NW from Perseus A cluster. NGC 1175, which is an easy one, is visible as oval spot of 2’ at 124x and has a faint core. NGC 1177 is very difficult. I’ve seen it only a few moments at 316x. It’s smaller than 1’. IC 284 is visible half of the time at 211x. It’s a large oval of 5’ and has no core.

NGC 4291; 4319; 4386 – galaxies in Draco
NGC 4291 is a very nice object. It’s a bright round spot of 2’. There is a faint star on the nebula, and another one at the western edge. I did not notice the 2nd star at the western edge. It’s located very close to a small triangle of bright stars. NCG 4319, 5’ SE of NGC 4291 is an oval of 3’. NGC 4386, mote to the NE, is bright oval of 2’, visible with direct vision. The core is visible too.

I ended with Eskimo nebula, and NGC 2371, another planetary in Gemini. I could see the central star (I did not notice this last time).

At this time the Servocat was not functioning anymore so I decided to stop. It was once more a very nice observation session.

I have seen 136 Herschel II objects.

Observation December 26, 2008

2008-12-27T15:20:00.002+01:00

The 2nd clear night in a row. Transparency is a bit less than yesterday but it’s still OK with nelm of 5.0. It’s however much colder. I guess it’s -4°C., which is doable for a few hours.

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,0
Seeing: moderate
Time 19Hr UT to 24Hr UT

I started with M37, as usually during winter time.
Spend some time looking for the nebula in M45, but except some glare around the brightest stars I could not see any hint of it.
M76 is a fantastic object. Lot’s of details to see, as well as some brightness differences. Could see the brightest part of the outer halo.

Cat’s Eye and IC 4677 – planetary nebula in Draco
Tried to look for IC 4677 which is according to some sources a galaxy, and to other sources a bright patch of the outer shell of the Cat’s Eye. After looking at the DSS picture I’m choosing for the 2nd option. It’s a difficult object in mag 5.0 sky. I have seen it a little while at 211x. It reacts positively to an UHC filter, as now I could see it during 10% of the time.

Now we go for HII objects.

NGC 7419 – open cluster in Cepheus
Small concentrated cluster containing 10 stars in an area of 7’. It’s located in line of 2 bright stars. At 211x 20 stars are visible; many of them are quite faint. Cute little cluster.

NGC 7600 – galaxy in Aquarius
124x: oval smudge of 2’ with a small but bright core. Averted vision required. Visible 50% of time.

NGC 7785 – galaxy in Pisces
124x: This is an easy object. It’s located in the middle of a triangle of 3 bright stars. NGC 7785 is an oval of 2’ and has a faint core.

I did not found NGC 7832, galaxy in Pisces

NGC 23 and NGC 26 – galaxies in Pegasus
NGC 23 is very easy. I can see it with direct vision at 124x. It’s a smudge of 2’ with a bright core. A faint star is located close to the eastern edge. NGC 26, located 10’ SE of NGC 23 is much more difficult. Only 20% of the time visible at 124x. It’s a smudge of 1’. It becomes a bit better visible at 211x.

NGC 125; 126; 128 – group of galaxies in Pisces
NGC 125 is the Herschel II object. With averted vision at 124x it’s a small smudge, smaller than 1’. A nice double star is located south of the galaxy. NGC 128 is a nice edge on galaxy of 3’, with an elongation of 4:1. No core. NGC 126 is difficult. I could only see it a few times at 211x. NGC 127 and 130 were not visible.
Worthwhile to redo!

NGC 151 – galaxy in Cetus
A large object of 3’ but only visible 10% of the time, at 124x. The visibility increases a lot at 211x. NGC 163 which is located SE of NGC 151 was not visible.

NGC 182; 186; 193; 194; 198; 199; 200; 204 – group of galaxies in Pisces
NGC 198 is the Herschel II object. It’s oval an easy to see at 124x. NGC 200, located 7’ north, os a faint large oval of 2’, visible at 211x. No core. Continuing north are more galaxies. NGC 194 is easy to see at 211x. It’s round, 1’ and has a faint core. NGC 199 is more difficult. It’s an oval visible only 20% of the time. More north is NGC 193, an oval galaxy without core close to a faint star. Visible half of the time. NGC 204 is located east of NGC 193 and is also a bit smaller than NGC 193. No core. NGC 186 is more to the west. This oval of 1’ without core is almost continuously visible. 15’ east of NGC 198 is NGC 182, a very faint galaxy. NGC 208, west of the Herschel II object was not visible. NGC 202 and 203 were not on may finder chart, so I did not look for it L

NGC 217 – galaxy in Cetus
NGC 217 is an elongated galaxy of 2’ (elongation 3:1) without core. At 124x it’s visible 80% of time. This galaxy has not yet been observed in dslog.

NGC 315; 311; 318 – galaxy in Cetus
NGC 315 is a an easy object. At 124x it’s round, has core, and is larger than 2’. NGC 311 is also visible at 124, but the core appears only at 211x. Is 1’ long. NGC 318 is a stellar object at 211x located east of a faint star.

Up to here the faint Herschel II objects. It’s time to do something else. I wanted to redo some observations in Auriga.

IC 410 – emission nebula in Auriga
I looked at this one also yesterday. The C-shape is very clear. The C is wider and brighter at its west side. Nice object.

IC 405 – flaming star – Auriga: looked for a while, but could not see any nebulosity, apart from the glare around the brighter stars.

IC 417 – emission nebula in Auriga
Yesterday I was not very sure I have seen the nebula. Today, I still cannot confirm at 100% Maybe I have seen some nebulosity (with UHC) but it’s far from being sure.

NGC 2392 (Eskimo) – planetary in Gemini
I wrote it yesterday that I need to look for the concentric ring within the inner disc. (I also wrote to look for the colors, but I forgot to do this). Well, I’ve seen the concentric ring. So there 3 distinct area’s: The outer halo, a triangular shaped inner disc, and a concentric ring, and of course the central star. Those 3 areas are best visible at 316x with filter. But without filter it remains slightly visible. During a few moments I thought I could see some structure in the halo (2 dark area’s, each of them ¼ of a circle).

NGC 2371/72 – planetary nebula in Gemini
A double lobed planetary nebula (peanut shaped). It’s quite impressive in the 18” at 211x with UHC filter. The SW lobe is the brightest one and contains a bright area. The NE lobe also contains at its eastern edge a brighter area. The centre (the area between the 2 lobes) is dark. Nice object.

I’ve been spending almost 4 hours in the cold, time to get inside. Quite glad of this evening session.

Deespky Observation on Dec 25, 2008

2008-12-26T16:26:00.006+01:00

It has been a while (Oct 22) that I have been observing. Bad weather and other things on my mind have been the root cause. Finally, today Dec 25 it’s a very clear night.

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,2
Seeing: moderate
Time 22Hr UT to 2 Hr UT

I started by observing M37 in Auriga. I like this cluster very much.

M1 - supernova remanent in Taurus
Next one is M1. Even with the 18” this object is quite disappointing. The shape is quite obvious with sharp edges and the centre is brighter than the edges. But there is no structure to see in this large object. I see no stars superimposed on M1.

NGC 1514 - planerary nebula in Taurus
NGC 1514 is a planetary nebula in Taurus. Without filter this object is almost not visible, but with filter, wow, this becomes a splendid view.

M77 - galaxy in Cetus
211x: M77 has a large core surrounded by a faint disc. It’s slightly oval. The disc does not reach until the bright star located east of M77. During one moment I had the impression to see faint spiral arms in the halo.

NGC 1055 - galaxy in Cetus
This galaxy is located NW from M77. At 124x I can see it as an elongated object of 4’. It is much thicker in the middle. At 211x the northern edge appears sharper than the southern one. It’s probably due to the dark lane.

NGC 1072 - galaxy in Cetus
This galaxy is located between M77 and NGC 1055. At 211 I can see a star and nebula during 20% of the time.

NGC 1090; 1087; 1094 - galaxies in Cetus
This trio is located south east from M77. At 211 NGC 1090 looks like an oval (elongation 3:1) of 2’. Visible 50% of the time. No core. NGC 1094 is an easy object. It’s a little oval smaller than 1’. It’s continuously visible. NGC 1087 is a large smudge, almost round, without any structure.

Hickson 16 (NGC 833; 835; 838; 839) – galaxies in Cetus
Hickson 16 is a quite easy group of galaxies in Cetus. At 124x I can see 3 members. NGC 835 is an easy object. NGC 835 is visible 50% of the time and NGC 829 is only now and then visible. The 4th member, NGC 833 becomes visible at 211x. At this power, I can see the core of NGC 835. NGC 839 remains difficult.

After these objects in Cetus I decided to go for some objects that Demelza described in her December targets.

NGC 1501: planetary nebula in Cameleopardalis
This is a splendid object at 211x. The central star is obvious. The edges are sharp. The northern edge appears brighter. The disc contains dark areas. Next time I need to see if I can see some color in there.

IC 3568: planetary nebula in Cameleopardalis
IC 3568 is another planetary in Cameleopardalis but much smaller than NGC 1501. It’s only 6” big. I can see it as a round bright little disc, close to a mag 13 star. Observation at 211x. No more details with a UHC filter.

IC 410 – emission nebula in Auriga
The nebula is well visible at 124x with an UHC filter. It’s a big one filling almost completely the field of view. I guess this one is larger than 25’. It looks like a C. Some of its edges are sharp; some other ones are more diffuse. The western part is brighter than the rest.

Stock 8 and IC 417 - open cluster and emission nebula in Auriga.
I tried to look for IC 417, another nebula in Auriga. First I thought it was some nebula around Phi Aur, a beautiful orange star. But what I saw was nothing else than glare. IC 417 is located in Stock 8, which is a quite loose open cluster of 20 stars located in an area of 20’. It difficult to say where the cluster starts or ends because it is so loose. Did I see IC 417? Certainly not without any filter. I have guessed it at 124x with an UHC filter, but I could not confirm it. Will need to repeat this observation.

Abell 8 – planetary in Auriga: not found

K 2-1 – planetary nebula in Auriga
The first successful observation in Deepskylog. The object is visible at 127x with UHC filter. Difficult to say what kind of shape it is. It looks irregular or oval and must be at least 2' big. Averted vision is of course needed to see it. 50% of the time visible. At least on star is visible on the nebula, and some others very close to it.

NGC 2242 – planetary nebula in Auriga
This planetary is not visible at 127x. I can see it at 211x as a very small disc. Averted vision is required to see this mag 15.2 object. An UHC filter gives a positive effect.

NGC 2392 (Eskimo) – planetary nebula in Gemini
A marvelous object at 316 with UHC filter. I could see the typical Eskimo image. An inner bright disc, with central star, is surrounded by a large but fainter outer shell. The inner disc has a kind of triangular shape, which is so typical on pictures of the nebula. Next time I need to look for colors and for the concentric ring within the inner disc.

M35 and NGC 2158 – open clusters in Gemini
Marvelous. For the first time I can completely resolve NGC 2158. At 211 I can see something like 20 stars in this little OC.

Rosette – emission nebula in Monoceros.
Again, marvelous! I can clearly see the nebula cover its complete circumference. The background of the centre is completely dark and filled with many stars of NGC 2244, the open cluster. The nebula is wider and brighter at its northern edge. I can see many brightness is differences in the nebula. To see its full splendor, this object should be seen with an eyepiece that provides a larger field of view.

Xmas tree – could not see the nebulosity.

I continued the night with some classics such as M42 and M43. Again these are splendid objects in the 18” scope. M42 was clearly mottled and contained many details. Also M43 was spectacular. Also spend some time on the flame nebula (NGC 2024). Also I tried to look for the Horsehead nebula with an UHC filter. I had the impression to see some nebula (not the Horsehead itself) but cannot confirm it.

NGC 2359 (Thor’s helmet) – emission nebula in Canis Major
The object was still low in the sky, but nevertheless it was already nice to look at. The typical shape was clearly to see at 211x and UHC filter. The nebula consists of 2 segments; the southern one is an elongated patch going west to East. The northern segment is almost a full circle. The northern part of the circle is the brightest one.

I ended the night with M82 (beautiful), M81 and M97.

Observations May 2008

2008-05-25T21:50:00.003+02:00

It has been a while I have been posting some observations, but it does not mean I have been inactive. On the contrary, I have been observing a few times during May with my Obsession 18".
Here thhey are. Let's start with Friday May 2, 2008

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: less than 5.0
Seeing: moderate

I decided first to increase a bit the pointing accuracy of the telescope. Argo Navis has a feature to do so with “Alt ref”. It means that you fine tune the angle at which the scope is aiming at Zenith. After a few alignments I seems that this angle is 89°71.

I started to look for M3 and M51 which is of course beautiful.

Hickson 44 – galaxies in Leo
At 127x (this is the 16mm eyepiece) I can see NGC 3193 with direct vision. It contains a stellar core, is almost round and I estimate it to be 2’ long. NGC 3190 is an elongated galaxy with a core – it’s 4’ long. I could not see the 2 other galaxies.

M100 – galaxie in Coma.
Did not really take notes of M100, but at 127x I could see NGC 4311 which is located near a double star. No core visible in the galaxy. NGC 4379 is a round smudge of 3’ and like the other I can’t see any core.

Next day I could also get the socpe out to observe . So here is what I saw on Saturday May 3, 2008

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: better than 5.0
Seeing: moderate

M106 – galaxie in Ursa Major
This galaxy contains many HII regions which I wanted to look for. NGC 5471 is the brightest one and is located at the east side of M106. It is clearly visible at 84x as a round smudge. With an UHC filter NGC 5471 becomes very bright and is visible with direct vision. NGC 5477 is not visible at 84x.NGC 5461 and 5462, also at the east side of M106, is now and then visible with averted vision (84x with UHC). They seems larger than NGC 5471 but are much fainter. At the other side of the galaxy a few other HII regions becomes visible at 127x and with the use of an UHC filter. NGC 5450 and 5047 is visible as a long smudge. I can see it almost continuously with averted vision. NGC 5455, located at the south of M106 is a small smudge of light, not continuously visible.

Hickson 44 – galaxies in Leo
Yesterday I could see only 2 objects of Hickson 44, today I can add a 3rd one which is NGC 3185. At 211x NGC it’s a faint large oval smudge with a stellar core. Averted vision is required to see the galaxy. NGC 3193 is almost round and contains a large bright core. NGC 3190 is an elongated nebula with a core. It’s in same FOV as 3193. The 4th galaxy was not visible.

Hickson 61 – galaxies in Coma
The 2nd Hickson group of the evening; At 84x I can see easily NGC 4169 as an oval of 2’. NGC 4174 is visible now and then, with it’s 1’ it’s smaller than the previous one.
At 127x I can see continuously both galaxies and in addition NGC 4175 becomes visible as an elongated patch of light. The elongatin direction is NW-SE.
NGC4 173, the other elongated galaxy of Hickson 61 is not visible.

Coma Cluster (NGC 4874)
This is an area with a huge number of galaxies. At 127x is can see: NGC 4889: almost round – 2’ with a stellar core. NGC 4898 – round object less than 1’ large, no core. NGC 4874: round, fainter than 4889 – 1’ and again no core. At 211x a few other galaxies becomes visible: NGC 4869 – round – visible once in a while. NGC 4864 – round and also visible once in a while. NGC 4860 and 4865: these are 2 difficult objects – serious averted vision is required to see them – they are both round and around 0,5’ small. NGC 4886 is probably seen too.

NGC 4147 – globular in Coma
At 211x I can see some stars at the edges of the globular. The core is granular.

M97 – owl nebula in Ursa Major
At 316x and OIII filter I can see one eye, maybe the 2nd one. It’s a large disc with a brighter area at the east side.

M108 – galaxie in Ursa Major
Located near the owl. The dust lane is visible.

M57 – planetary in Lyra
Marvelous – the centre is filled with faint haze. Central star is not visible.

M13 –globular in Hercules
What can I say – this is breath taking.

Other globulars were M92 and M56. M92 is also a fabulous object in the 183.

This ends a very nice observation session.

2 days later it was once more clear. Monday May 5, 2008:

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,3
Seeing: moderate

Neighborhood of M99 – galaxy in Coma
NGC 4262, located north of M99 is an easy object at 84x. At 211x it is round with a very bright core.
M99 itself is a large object. It has a halo of 4’ which contains a core of an irregular shape. The core is around 2’ large. The halo seems circular and of equal brightness. I suspect a spiral arm at the west side.
IC 781 suspected at 84x but for sure seen at 211x. A smudge of 2’
NGC 4298, located east of M99 is a large oval at 84x. It’s 3’ and no core is visible. It’s located west of a faint star.
NGC 4302 is visible now and then. It’s an elongated object similar to a “cigar”. Maybe 2 times larger as NGC 4298.
At 211x NGC 4298 seems to have a core. A bright patch is visible in the galaxy. NGC 4302 remains equal in brightness.

Neighborhood of M100 – galaxy in Coma
At 211x M100 has a large core of 2’ and is irregular of shape. The core is surrounded by a halo of 6’ where 2 hints of spiral arms are visible.
NGC 4328; east of M100 is not continuously visible. It’s too faint to defite its shape.
NGC 4322 was not visible.

NGC 4567 – Siamese Twins in Virgo
Beautifull! I still remember this when I saw it in the Provence with my 20cm. Now the view is totally different and better. I see easily 2 large ovals coming together in a V-shape. Both have a core. The eastern galaxy (NGC 4568) is the largest one.
In the same fov I can see NGC 4564 as an almost round nebula with a large halo and a bright core.
West of the twins is NGC 4528 which is, at 82x an almost round smudge of light of 1’ with a core. It’s located next to a straight line of 4 stars. A bright orange stars is also visible. At 211x a star superimposed on the core becomes visible.
IC 3499 is not visible at 82x but rather at 211x. It’s an oval of 1, has no core and it needs averted vision to see it now and then.

M64 – blackeye galaxy in Coma
The dust line is visible with direct vision and is clearly not straight line.

M104 – Sombrero galaxy in Virgo
The dust line is clearly visible as a dark straight area, but the nebula south of this line is not visible. Maybe because the galaxy is already quite low in the sky.

And again, the next day it was clear. Unbelievable for Belgian standards.
Tuesday May 6, 2008

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,0
Seeing: moderate

NGC 2903 –galaxy of m9.0 in Leo
Large nebula of 8’ with a big bright core. The halo at the NE side is brighter and longer (211x)

NGC 2916 –galaxy of m12.1 in Leo
Is located close to NGC 2903. With averted vision this is almost a round object of 1’. No core. Located north of a faint star

Copeland Septet –galaxies in Leo
Copeland Septet is not visible at 84x. At 211 I can see 2 galaxies. NGC 3753 is almost continuously visible. It’s a round smudge without core. Perhaps NGC 3756 is visible; The other one, NGC 3746 is visible 50% of the time.

NGC 3758 –galaxy of m? in Leo
Located south of Copelands Septet. At 211x this is a round smudge of 1’ without any core. It’s located between 2 moderately bright stars.

NGC 3808 –galaxy of m? in Leo
This galaxy is located 50’ NE of Copelands septet. A round smudge, with averted vision visible for 50% of the time. No core.

PGC 83477 – galaxy of m in Leo
This galaxy is located 10’ South of Copelands Septet. At 211x this galaxy is almost continuously visible with averted vision.

You would think this is enough. No, 2 days later again a clear night. Thursday May 8, 2008

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,0
Seeing: moderate

Since now I’m equipped with a very dark cloth to protect myself from streetlights. It’s working very well if can avoid dew on the eyepiece

Copeland Septet – galaxies in Leo
With the dark cloth I’m trying once more Copeland Septet. This time I can see 6 galaxies (316x), whereas I could see only 4 the previous time. NGC 3753 is easy. NGC 3750 and 3754 are not continuously visible. NGC 3746 is now and then visible but rather obvious. NGC 3748 and 3751 are very difficult objects. It’s visible for maybe 10% of the time, but I’m certain to have seen it.

Abell 1367 – galaxies in Leo
This is a group in Leo containing many galaxies. At 84x I can see 4 galaxies.
- NGC 3861 is almost round, 2’ and contains no core.
- NGC 3842 located close to a bright star – round – easy – 2’ large. The core is visible at 211x.
- NGC 3837 is also easy to see. It’s 1’ and again no core. A core is visible at 211x.
- NGC 3860 is not always continuously visible. It’s round and is 2’ long. I could not see NGC 3860A, even at 211x.
At 211x more galaxies become visible:
- NGC 3845 is visible with averted vision – no core.
- UGC 6697 is also visible, without any core.
- NGC 3840 is very difficult – looks like a round object.
- NGC 3844 is now and then visible as a elongated smudge but without any core. The elongation is NE-SW.
- PGC 36589 is a round object smaller than 1’. No core and not continuously visible.

M97 – owl nebula – Uma
At 211x and without filter only 1 eyes is visible. The central star is however visible at this magnification. With an UHC filter the 2nd eye becomes visible. The 2nd eye is a difficult observation in mag 5.0 skies. Anyway, the view is really great, some parts of the nebula is brighter than the rest.

OK time for a break now.

Friday May 23, 2008

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 4.7
Seeing: moderate

Today it’s not perfectly clear but it has been a while I observed. I'm motivated enough to take everything out in the garden.

NGC 3079 – galaxie of m10.9 in Uma
Nice galaxy of 5’ long. 2 faint stars are located next to the galaxy. Another star at the northern tip. The centre looks a bit more larger. Searched for NGC 3073 (m 13.4) but could not see it.

Arp 313: NGC 3995 (m12.4) – 3994 (m12.7) – 3991 (m13.1) – galaxies in Uma
This is a nice trio (arp 313) of galaxies in Uma. At 84x I can see only NGC 3995 and NGC 3994. NGC 3991 becomes visible at 211x. NGC 3995 is the largest one (2’). It is oval and has no core. It’s continuously visible with averted vision. NGC 3994 is smaller but brighter than 3995. It’s round and has a bright core. I can see it continuously with direct vision. NGC 3991 is almost round and has no core. It’s a large as NGC 3394 but I can see it only 80% of the time. Those galaxies are located east of a bright start which is slightly orange.

NGC 4013 – galaxy of m11.2 in Uma
It’s a nice galaxie which is more than 4’ long. It seems to have a bright core but in reality it’s a foreground star. The dustlane was not visible.

Closed the observation session with M57; M13, M56.

I'm getting more and more used to the Obsession. Hopefully the next clear night is not long from now.

Clear Skies

Olivier

Observation March 30, 2008

2008-05-01T10:31:00.005+02:00

This is my first observation report with my Obsession 18”. It will contain a list of observed objects with minimal explanations, as I’m still learning to use the scope and have not yet the patience to write everything down.

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm and 16mm - Powermate 2,5x
Limit Magnitude 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time from 21:00 UT to 24:00 UT

M51 – galaxy in Canes Venatici
The 2 spiral arms are well visible at 127x (16mm). I can see 3 stars superimposed on the galaxy. This is a very nice DSO

M101 – galaxy in Ursa Major
At 127x I can see several (at least 3) HII regions. Not sure if I have seen the spiral arms (as such). I need to learn to look for details and shapes, something I’m not used too. With my 8” scope the aim was to find faint objects – it was rarely the case that lot’s of details were visible. I have to acquire a new skill!

NGC 4631 (The Whale) and NGC 4656 (the Hockeystick) – galaxies in Canes Venatici
Magnificent. At 127x the whale takes more than half of the FOV of 38’. The shape is clearly recognisable. Also baby whale (NGC 4627) is clear visible as a “large” objects.
Same comment concerning the shape for the Hockeystick. I can clearly see the shape like on photographs. The brightness is not equal across the object. There is a brighter zone at the NW side.

M3 – globular in Canes Venatici
Again, a show piece. At 211x (24mm + 2,5 Barlow). Stars are well resolved, also in the core.

M64 – Blackeye – galaxy in Coma
At 127x the dark lane is clearly visible, even with direct vision.

M53 and NGC 5053 – globulars in Coma
M53 is a very nice object. Again plenty of stars visible at 211x. NGC 5053 is a difficult object. I have seen this one with my 8” in the Provence. Here with my 18” I can hardly see it.

NGC 4565 – edge on galaxy in Coma
Again a showpiece. At 127x the dust lane is visible. Again not easy for me, as this is the kind of things I need to learn to look for. But I can see it already better than 1 week ago.

Markarian Chain – galaxies in Coma
I really like this chain of galaxies. Today’s objective is just to find as many galaxies as possible, without really noting downs the details I could see. So here is the list that was visible at 127x: NGC 4305, 4306, m84, m86, 4402, 4387, IC3303, 1388, 4413, 4425, 4438, 4435, 4461, 4458, 4473, 4479, 4477, 4506. So 18 galaxies! There are probably more visible at higher power, but that’s something for next time.

NGC 4874 – Coma Galaxy cluster
At 127x I could see 4874, 4869, 4889 and 4898. Wanted to see more of them, but the Argo Navis had an issue, and tracking was disable. So I stopped observing at 00:00.

This was my 5th observation session. It’s really a good scope. Also the GOTO is working well as long as the 2 alignment stars are in the neighbourhood of the objects you’d like to see. But as aligning is a very quick process (much quicker than on my previous scope) it’s really not an isse.

"2nd" light with the 18" Obsession

2008-04-23T19:21:00.004+02:00

Yesterday evening I had my "2nd light" with the Obsession. Again a nice success, as the tracking and the goto were performing well this time. The issue was just the ArgoNavis cable, it was not fully plugged in the ServoCat. So problem solved - all works well.

The speed of the Goto is amazing. Much faster than with my 20cm Newton. Also, with a Dob you don't have the issue of crossing the meredian, something I continuously faced with my Newton on a German mount.

The accuracy of the goto is not bad, all object were in a FOV of 30'. But it can still improve with some of the AN functionality. Something I will have to find out by reading the manual.

I'm still not very confident in moving the scope fully assembled (with UTA). I use the red spring clamps to hold everything tight, but I'm not yet sure if this is totally OK. For now I prefer to observe close to my home. But there I have quite some issues with a street light. Once I'm more confident I'll move at the back of my garden, it's much darker there.

Today I had also dew on the secondary. I did not fix the dew heater yet (not sure which type of glue I need) but I feel the pressure now to do it quickly. Unfortunalty, the whole weekend I'm out, so it will be something for in 10 days.

So far the technical stuff. In terms of observation I limited myself to the classical objects (using goto) such as M3, M51 (spiral arms visible), M81/82, the Whale, M65/M66, M65, Markarian Chain and BlackEye. Naked Eye Limit Magn was 4,5, maybe 5.0 at the end of the session.
After something more than an hour observing clouds were appearing (at the same time as the dew ...).

As a conclusion: everything works well (it's a relief), and now I need to increase the observing comfort and start to migrate at the back of my garden.

Ckear skies to all of you

Olivier

First light with Obsession 18"

2008-04-20T23:18:00.004+02:00

Last week Thursday my 18" Obsession arrived at home. I ordered it directly from Obsession. I have spend a few hours to assemble it, and had kind of a first light on Friday. I could see the moon behind the clouds. As such not very spectacular, but it was my first look through my Obsession.

On Sunday I installed the ServoCat and ArgoNavis. And finally, in the evening it was more or less clear for an hour or so. At least clear enough to test the scope. And it was a success.

The first object was Saturnus. Woow - so much bigger than with a 20 cm scope. Then Mizar-Alkor. What a difference with my previous scope. Star images where pin point sharp.

Then I've set up the Argo-Navis. It worked!. M3 was really amazing - so many stars (it's not even completly dark). Then M81, M82 (woow). M36, M37 (very nice) and M36. At that moment the sky was completly covered by clouds. I still wanted to hunt M3 in an open area, but sadly one of the encoders was slipping.

What did not work was tracking. The scope was not tracking the objects, so I had to adjust manually. I need to go through the manual to see how this works.

Anyway, It was a successfull first light. I did not expect the Argo-Navis would work that easily from the start.

Clear Sky

Olivier

Observation February 10, 2008

2008-02-16T16:51:00.002+01:00

It’s again a nice sky this evening. I wanted to look back to the supernova in NGC 524. Yesterday evening I was looking at the wrong place. So this time I printed out a picture of NGC 524 together with its surrounding stars and the supernova. I could first not see it but after a while, when my eyes were well adapted to the dark, I found it at 156x. It was visible for around 20% of the time; this to say that it was not that easy. It's the first supernova I see !!

After this nice achievement I decided to do some planetary nebulas.

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Equipment: Celestron Advanced Newton 20cm F5
Eyepieces: 24mm and 16mm - Powermate 2,5x
Limit Magnitude 5.0 to 5.3
Seeing: moderate
Time from 19:00 UT to 21:00 UT

IC 3568 – baby Eskimo – planetary nebula of mag 10.4 in Camelopardalis
At 64x I can see a small disc. The object forms a triangle with 2 other stars which are fainter than the nebula. It reacts very well on a OIII filter. Ay 154x the disc becomes very obvious. I can see a bright core surrounded by a dimmer edge. No more details with a OIII filter.

PK 147+4.1 - planetary nebula of 10” of mag 13.8 in Camelopardalis
Not visible at 64x nor at 154x. But with an UHC filter it becomes visible after a while (154x), so the nebula reacts with a slow response time to a filter. I can see now and then a small disc. Afterward I could see the nebula also without filter.

PK 147-2.1 - planetary nebula of 7” of mag 13.4 in Perseus
Not visible at 64x nor at 154x without filter. At 154x with UHC I can see a stellar object with averted vision. It’s visible 80% of the time.

PK 131-5.1 - planetary of mag 14.8 in Perseus: not visible at any magnification

PK 198-6.1 - planetary of mag 12.2 in Orion: not visible

PK 197-14.1 - planetary of 57” of mag 13.9 in Orion
At 104x with UHC it’s visible 50% of the time as a very faint disc.

NGC 2022 - planetary of 32” of mag 11.5 in Orion
I can see a disc but the ring (so the dark centre) is not visible (154x)

Flame nebula
This was like yesterday well visible at 64x with UHC filter.

This was 2 hours well spend. Happy to have seen 4 new planetary nebulas (I had observed NGC 2022 already once in 2005)

Clear skies

Deepsky observation on Feb 9, 2008 with Jan Vanautgaerden

2008-02-10T18:08:00.001+01:00

According to the weather forecast, Feb 9, 2008 was the warmest day ever on a Feb 9 in Belgium. It was indeed a very nice day with temperatures around 16,5°C.

The night was clear too, although a lot colder. I have been observing together with Jan Vanautgaerden, a very active deepsky observer from Belgium. Jan brought his 15” Obsession with him (lucky me). We have been observing in the fields of Boutersem, on a place where we are not bothered by streetlight and where on top the sky is completely free towards the south.

Transparency was very good, probably close to mag 5.5. I have been observing with my 20cm Newton but did not take notes this time. So all this is based on memory …

All observations are with the 20cm except otherwise noted.

NGC 524 – galaxy of mag 10.3 in Pisces
We started by observing NGC 524 where a supernova has been detected. We used the 20cm scope, not the Obsession because it was not yet installed. Unfortunately, I thought the supernova was in the centre of the galaxy. Apart from the core nothing was visible there. The truth is that the supernova is lying more NE from the visible edge. Need to repeat this for next time. The galaxy itself is not that easy at 64x. 154x is the optimal magnification. Now the galaxy is an easy target, oval and the core is visible. BTW, NGC 524 is a Herschel I (one) object.

I tried to do some Herschel II objects in Eridanus, but nothing was visible.

NGC 2366 – galaxy of mag 10.5 in Camelopardalis
This is also a Herschel II object. A few weeks ago I was not able to see it from my garden, but this time I got it. Not at 64x but at 104x. It’s a long smudge SE of a faint star.

I have to admit that Herschel II list is not getting me really motivated for the moment. It’s really too much at the edge of what I can see with my scope. It’s nice for a while, but not for every night. So what I’ll probably do is to continue Herschel II one in a while between some other observations. So I decided to continue with some other stuff.

Perseus A cluster – NGC 1275 – galaxy in Perseus
NGC 1275 is easily visible at 104x. Also NGC 1278 was visible. I could not detect NGC 1272.

NGC 2359 – Thor’s Helmet – Canis Major
This one I have observed with my own scope and with the 15” Obsession. Thor’s Helmet is a favourite object of Jan. It’s a real nice object which is not really known, maybe because M42 is in the close neighbourhood. With my scope I could almost see a complete circle, together with a part going from east to west. This was of course much more obvious in the 15” scope, where the complete disc became visible. Observation was done with an OIII filter.

NGC 2362 - open cluster in Canis Major
This is a very nice cluster lying around the bright star Tau Cma. Lot’s of fainter stars visible.

We tried to look to Sirius B with the Obsession. Sirius B is around 8” separated from Sirius A. It was not visible. We did not try that hard, though.

Another double star is Rigel, also at 8”. This was separated at 154x with the 20cm scope. Forgot to note the colours.

Orion Nebula M42 and the Trapezium
A beautiful object in the Obsession. We could see with this scope the 6 stars in the trapezium. But also with the 20cm scope we managed to see the 6 stars at 156x. I had seen already 5 stars with my scope but never 6 stars. Mission accomplished today!

NGC 1999 – emission nebula in Orion
Special object. Impressive with the Obsession. A bright circular part, a darker centre, and again a brighter part. With the 20cm scope we could see the 2 bright parts at 154x.

NGC 2024 – Flame nebula in Orion
Observed with the Obsession. Quite strange because it was better visible without filter than with filter. The opposite was true for the 20cm scope. Where the two parts were visible with an UHC filter

NGC 2237 - Rosette Nebula in Monoceros
Again, beautiful with the Obsession. Almost the whole ring was visible with an OIII filter. But also without the aid of any filter, the object was visible. Here also I could see it easily with filter with my scope. Several parts of the ring became apparent. I’ve never seen it so well with my scope. Truly a very good observing session.

NGC 2264 - Xmas Tree in Monoceros
I never succeeded to see the nebula with my scope, but Jan has already seen this one in La Palma. So he knows well where to look, ie at the base and East of it. The issue with the base is the presence of glare, so we were never sure if we have seen some nebula there. We think we have seen some nebula at the east side but I don’t think both of us would put our hand in the fire for it.

Now we went to the other side of the sky, direction Ursa Major

M81 – M82 – galaxies in Ursa Major
M81 and M82 are impressive in the Obsession. We tried to look for the spiral arms of M81 but without success. M82 was also not bad at all in the 20cm. The dark lane was easy.

M92 – planetary in Ursa Major
One eye visible with the 20cm (without filter). It’s very nice in the Obsession where more structure is visible. Probably 2 eyes visible.

We aimed also the 15” to the trio of galaxies in Leo (M66, M65, NGC 3628). Amazing! We ended the night around 1am with observations of M51 (the spiral arms were visible in the 15”), the Whale (with the 20cm) and the Hockeystick, which was very difficult to find with the 20cm. The very last object was M64 where we could see the dark lane with the 20cm.

So although I took a break concerning the Herschel II list I had a very nice observing session together with Jan. It’s very nice when you can observe with a “buddy” and talk about what you see. And comparing views with 2 very different scopes is fun too.

Clear skies to all of you.

Observation February 2, 2008

2008-02-03T13:38:00.000+01:00

It has been a while, but finally it’s a good night to observe. During the last week there were a couple of good nights, but I have been so busy at my work that in the evening I was not really in a good shape (and mental mood) to observe. Age is getting its effect on me.

But today (Saturday) we continue the Herschel II program. The counter is at 93 so hopefully we’ll reach 100 after this session.

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Equipment: Celestron Advanced Newton 20cm F5
Eyepieces: 24mm and 16mm - Powermate 2,5x
Limit Magnitude: 4.9
Seeing: moderate
Time: from 18:30 UT to 22:30 UT

Comet 46P/Wirtanen
But before observing the deepsky objects, let’s start first with a comet. Today comet 46P/Wirtanen goes through its perihelium. At 42x I can see an almost round smudge of 7’. A slightly brighter core is visible. The visibility enhances at 64x. The object reacts very well to a deepsky filter. Now the core is easily to see.

NGC 1663 – open cluster in Orion
This is a difficult object. It’s by the way not correctly located in my planetarium software. I had to search on the DSS image to indicate the correct location on my finder chart. At 154x I can see with averted vision some 5 to 10 starts in an area of 10’. It’s a loose cluster situated north of a little arc of 3 bright stars.

NGC 7762 – open cluster in Cepheus
At 64x I see 10 stars of moderate brightness in an area of 15’. It’s a very loose cluster. At 154x a small concentration of 5 stars (5’) is visible in the centre of the cluster.

NGC 7419 – open cluster in Cepheus
At 154x 4 stars are visible with averted vision at the east side of a triangle of 3 stars, of which one is quite bright. That one is slightly orange.

NGC 1184 – galaxy of 12.4 in Cepheus
At 104x it’s once in a while visible with averted vision. It’s an elongated smudge of 2’ in the direction NW-SE. No core. The galaxy becomes better visible at 154x.

NGC 1175 – galaxy of 12.8 in Cepheus
A very difficult object. A few times visible at 154x. Located between 2 stars but they don’t form a straight line.

NGC 1193 – open cluster of 12.6 in Perseus
not found

NGC 1207 – galaxy 12.7 in Perseus
I have seen a little smudge on the right place but only 1 time. I could not repeat the observation so I cannot consider this as a certain observation

NGC 1605 – open cluster of 10.7 in Perseus
Nothing to see at the location of this cluster.

NGC 890 – galaxy of mag 11.30 in Triangulum
At 154x this is a elongated smudge of 2’ – almost continuously visible. No core visible. Located east of a triangle of 3 faint stars.

NGC 925 – galaxy of 9.9 in Traingulum
This is a large galaxy of 11’x6’. I’m not sure if I have seen it.

NGC 1060 – galaxy of mag 12.0 in Triangulum
Visible now and then with 64x. Somewhat better visible at 104x. A smudge of 2’ without a core.

NGC 2367 – open cluster in Canis Major
This is an open cluster of 10’. At 64x I can see 2 bright stars and a few faint ones. No more stars visible at 154x

NGC 2374 – open cluster in Canis Major
This open cluster is 20’ large. At 64x there is a mix of quite some moderate bright stars and faint stars. I guess I can see something like 40 stars. It’s a moderately concentrated cluster. SW of the clusters there is an area of 5’ with a higher concentration of stars.

NGC 2359 – Thor’s Helmet- emission nebula in Canis Major
At 64x without filter it’s not visible. It becomes apparent with a deepsky filter. It’s a nebula of an irregular shape of 10’ in which a few stars are visible. The shape is hard to define. Optimum magnification is 104x (again with deepsky filter). The nebula seems to consist out of 2 parts, of which the northern part is the most bright one. I did not use an OIII filter because I thaught this was a diffuse nebula.

I stopped around 22:30 UT. I have been able to see 9 Herschell II objects which means 103 out of the 400 have been seen. Not bad.

Clear skies to all of you

Observation January 12, 2008

2008-01-13T11:05:00.001+01:00

Yesterday night was the 3rd clear night of January. It's going to be a good month from an observation point of view.

The objective of this session is to continue the Herschel II list.

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Equipment: Celestron Advanced Newton 20cm F5
Eyepieces: 24mm and 16mm - Powermate 2,5x
Limit Magnitude 5.3
Seeing: moderate
Time from 18:30 UT to 00:00 UT with a gap of 2 hours due to clouds

Comet Holmes is still visible with the naked eye.

NGC 2366 – galaxy of mag 10.50 in Camelopardalis.
It’s a long one (7’) so surface brightness is low. Not sure I have seen it.

NGC 2274 – galaxy of mag 12.40 in Camelopardalis.
At 104x I can see it once in a while when moving the tube. It’s better visible at 154x – a round smudge of 3’. I'm not sure if I have seen a core.

NGC 2112 – open cluster in Orion
At 64x I can see 4 faint stars and 1 moderate bright star in an area of 10’. At 104x the cluster is better visible with its 9 stars. The cluster stands really loose from the background.

NGC 1662 – open cluster in Orion
This is a loose open cluster. At 64x 8 bright stars are visible, together with another 7 faint ones. 3 of those bright stars makes a triangle in the centre of the cluster with one of them being orange.

NGC 1762 – galaxy of mag 12.7 in Orion
At 104x the galaxy is almost continuously visible with averted vision. It’s a round smudge of 1’. The foreground star is only visible with averted vision but not at the same time as the galaxy. Interesting object.

NGC 1750 and 1746 – open cluster in Taurus
NGC 1746 is a large open cluster of 40’. It contains many bright and faint stars, I estimate more than 50 stars. At the west side there is a small arc of bright stars. NGC 1750 is the eastern part of NGC 1746 although I cannot see any reason for giving a new number. This just seems to be the same cluster. It’s the area with most of the bright stars. At the north-east side there is a 10’ area with a higher concentration of faint stars.

NGC 1587 – galaxy of mag 11.7 in Taurus
Suspected at 64x. Obvious at 104x but not continuously visible. It’s an oval of 3’ with its longest elongation going from NW to SE. The core is not visible. The galaxy is located between 2 bright stars. I could not look for NGC 1589 because clouds are hiding the field

NGC 1582 – open cluster in Perseus
64x. A loose cluster of 30’ with 8 bright stars and around 30 faint stars. The centre contains almost no stars. One of the bright stars is slightly orange.

NGC 1624 – open cluster and emission nebula in Perseus
At 64x I can see 3 stars laying in a nebula of 5’. At 104x one of the 3 stars is looking brighter than the other 2. The nebula is well visible.

NGC 1605– open cluster in Perseus
I can see 2 stars in the area where this cluster should be located, nothing more.

NGC 1579 – reflection nebula in Perseus
Easily visible at 64x. It’s located south of a moderate bright star. It’s around 5’ big and its shape is irregular. The centre is brighter than the edges. At 104x visibility is enhanced.

NGC 1348 – open cluster in Perseus
At 64x I see an unresolved smudge of 5’ with 2 faint stars. 5 to 6 stars become visible at 104x.

NGC 1207 – galaxy of mag 12.7 in Perseus
Probably seen at 156x – located between 2 faint stars

NGC 1193 – open cluster of mag 12.6 in Perseus
At 156x I see 2 stars and maybe an unresolved smudge. At its west there is a double star with an orange companion.

NGC 1175 – galaxy of mag 12.8 in Perseus
Maybe visible at 156x

NGC 1003 – galaxy of mag 11.3 in Perseus
At 104x it’s a smudge of 2’ located close to a faint stars. Also visible at 154x.

Up to here for Herschel II objects. I’m getting too tired to look for such faint objects. So it’s time to do something more easier.
As Canis Major is well visible now I decided to explore a bit this constellation.

M41 – no notes

NGC 2360 – open cluster in Canis Major
This is a quite concentrated cluster of 25’. At 64x it contains something like 30 stars of which none are bright.

NGC 2362 – open cluster in Canis Major
This is a cluster with a triangle shape. 20 stars in an area of 15’. A bright star is located in the middle of the triangle.

145 Cma (h3945) – double star mag 4.8 – 6.8; 26”
This is a very nice double star. The primary is orange and the secondary is blue. Well separated. Reminds me of Albireo. Beautiful. I recommend you to look for this one.

Arrowhead cluster – asterism in Canis Major
This is an asterism with 7 bright stars and has a shape of an arrowhead.

“Number 3” cluster – asterism in Canis Major
This is an asterism with 20 stars forming a shape of a “3”.

If someone knows the catalogue numbers of the last 2 objects I will be glad to hear it from you.

Up to know I have seen 89 Herschel II objects. It's in fact more because I didn't log the observation of January 6 yet when I have seen 5 or 6 HII objects. I don't think I will be able to see all of them with a 20cm scope, certainly not from Belgium. If I can see, from Belgium and the Provence, 350 oout of the 400 I think it's going to be a nice achievement.

Clear skies to you

Olivier

PK 111-2.1 (Hubble 12) - bis

2008-01-07T19:03:00.000+01:00

As I said in my previous post, whenever it will be clear again I will look once more for Hubble 12. Yesterday, January 6 was clear and yes, I can confirm I saw PK 112-2.1 without any doubt with my 20 cm scope

At 64x it was easily visible as a stellar object, and it reacted positively on an OIII filter. At this magnification I could see only 1 star next to the nebula. But at 104x I could see the 2 stars next to the nebula exaclty like on my finder chart. The object itself remains stellar at 104x

I have seen yesterday evening many other objects from the HII list and other planetaries, but that's a topic for another post.

Clear Skies

Olivier

PK 111-2.1 (Hubble 12)

2008-01-05T13:39:00.000+01:00

In my previous post I talked about my observation of PK 111-2.1. This is what I mentioned:

PK 111-2.1 – planetary nebula of 2” of mag 13.0 in Cassiopeia
This nebula is situated next to 2 faint stars. So I should see 3 stars, but unfortunately I can see only 2. One star is a bit brighter than the other one. Both stars are of mag 11.5 and 11.7 so I have to conclude I don't seen PK 111-2.1. Who could confirm the nebula is fainter than those 2 stars? Note: http://www.deepskylog.be/ gives magnitude 14.0. Eye&Telescope gives mag 13.0

Well, after some discussions on the dutch astronomy mailing list it seems I have been able to see the planetary. The nebula itself is of magnitude 11.9, the central star is of magnitude 14.0.
A picture of http://www.blackskies.org/ confirms the situation (I'm not sure I'm allowed to post this picture, so if you are interested please go to the blackskies website).

Whenever the sky is clear I will observe once more this object.

Clear Skies

Olivier

Observation January 2, 2008

2008-01-04T17:02:00.002+01:00

This is the first observation this year with a telescope. It's quite cold (something around -3 °C). I'm going for a few Herschel II objects and planetary nebula's

Location: Boutersem (Belgium)
Material: Celestron Advanced GoTo Newton 20cm (8") F5
Eyepieces: Panoptic 24mm and Nagler 16mm - Powermate 2,5x
Naked Eye Limit Magnitude: starting with less than 5.0, ending with somewhat higher than 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Timing: 18:00 UT to 22:30 UT

But we'll start with 2 comets.

Comet Holmes
Visible with naked eye. But it's difficult because it's not yet completely dark. Through the 7x50 finder Holmes is a large round object but still difficult to see. Also at 42x the comet is hardly visible. I can see some nebulosity in the shape of an arc. This arcs becomes a bit more visible with a deepsky filter. Now I can see half of a circle. What a difference with the observations during October and November.

Comet Tuttle
Tuttle is not visible with the naked eye. It's barely visible with my binoculars. But through the finder (7x50) Tuttle is round with a small but bright core. At 64x I can see a coma of 10' with a faint nucleus. The coma is surrounded by some nebula which is round and 25' large. One star is visible through this nebula. A deepsky filter enhances the visibility. The shape looks more triangular than round.

M33 en NGC 604 – galaxy and HII region in Triangulum
NGC 604 is visible at 64x with deepsky filter. It's surprisingly easy to see although averted vision is necessary. At 154x (and deepsky filter) the object is elongated (2:1) and one side seems brighter than the other one.

NGC 513 – galaxy of mag 12.9 in Andromeda
This is a Herschel II object. Difficult. Only visible at 156x and with averted vision. Size is 2’.

NGC 499 – galaxy of mag 12.2 in Pisces
This one is in the neighbourhood of NGC 513. At 156x it's quite easily visible with averted vision. NGC 499 has an oval shape of 3'.

NGC 507 – galaxy of mag 11.3 in Pisces
Also this one is in the neighbourhood of NGC 513. At 156x NGC 507 is a large round object of 4 to 5' with a small core. More difficult than NGC 499.

NGC 7640 – galaxy of mag 11.3 in Andromeda
This is a very difficult object. It's 10' long (!) and hence it has a low surface brightness (SB: 14.5). According to Eye&Telescope the contrast reserve is -0.25, so it would not be visible with my scope. Indeed, at low power I see nothing at all. Maybe, but I say maybe, I can see the South-East side at 154x.

NGC 214 – galaxy of mag 12.2 in Andromeda
At 104x I can see an oval of 3'. Averted vision is required to see this object. The elongation is 2:1 and the direction is NE-SW.

These were the Herschel II objects. Now we have some planetary nebulas in Cassiopeia.

IC 289 – planetary nebula of 35” of mag 13.3 in Cassiopeia
From time to time visible at 154x with OIII filter. It's very difficult, but once in while a disc is visible.

IC 1747 – planetary nebula of 13” of mag 12.1 in Cassiopeia
This one is visible with direct vision at 154x without the aid of any filter. I see a little disc with a bright centre. It reacts very well with an OIII filter.

PK 119-6.1 – planetary nebula of 8” of mag 12.2 in Cassiopeia
At 156x PK 119-6.1 is easily visible as a "star". Observation is confirmed with an OIII filter because it reacts very well.

PK 118-8.1 – planetary nebula of 9” of mag 12.5 in Cassiopeia
Also this one is looking as a star at 156x. Observation is confirmed by OIII and UHC filter. The faint star of mag 12.9 near the nebula was not visible.

PK 111-2.1 – planetary nebula of 2” of mag 13.0 in Cassiopeia
This nebula is situated next to 2 faint stars. So I should see 3 stars, but unfortunately I can see only 2. One star is a bit brighter than the other one. Both stars are of mag 11.5 and 11.7 so I have to conclude I don't seen PK 111-2.1. Who could confirm the nebula is fainter than those 2 stars? Note: http://www.deepskylog.be/ gives magnitude 14.0. Eye&Telescope gives mag 13.0

After all those faint objects it is time for showpiece such a M42 and M43. This was only for a short period, because my Celestron Powertank ran empty. This is strange because it was completely charged before starting to observe. It's a pity because I wanted to continue for 1/2 hour with Herschel II objects in Auriga and Taurus.

Anyway, the evening is a success: 2 comets, 3 HII objects and 4 new planetary nebulas.

Clear skies to you

Observation January 1, 2008

2008-01-04T17:02:00.001+01:00

Around 10 pm UT the sky has brightened up partially. Comet Holmes is still visible with the naked eye. With the binocular I can see Holmes and M34 in the same field of view. Both are looking like 2 round patches of light. Holmes is however larger than M34. I tried to look for Comet Tuttle, which is not visible, nor with naked eye, nor with binoculars.

My Next Project

2008-01-01T16:33:00.000+01:00

Since 3,5 years I'm back in Astronomy I completed 2 projects: the Messier list was completed in 2006 and the Herchell 400 list has been recently completed early December 2007. I really enjoyed doing those projects because it's like an objective to pursue. It's rather long term (takes more than a year to do), it needs good planning, patience is key but also perseverance. I like to be under the stars with a list to complete, if you know what I'm meaning.

So what’s next?

I’m thinking about 2 possible projects. The Herschel II list is the first one. I’m not so sure the 400 objects can be done with a 20cm scope, but I’ll try to do a maximum of it

The 2nd project is based on a fantastic accomplishment of a Dutch astronomer. He has been able to observe 282 planetary nebulas with a 20cm scope. Can you imagine the performance?
So I’m currently making a list of all planetaries above -30° and brighter than 14.3. It’s a list of 312 objects but I’m sure not all of them are visible. The list is based on http://www.deepskylog.be/ and Eye&Telescope planning software.

So I’ll start once the sky is clear, which is hopefully for not too long now. I’m eager to start those 2 nice projects …

Clear skies to all of you.

Obsessed ...

2007-12-30T20:09:00.000+01:00

I have since July 2004 a Celestron Advanced 20cm Newton GoTo Telescope. It's a marvellous scope for visual astronomy. It's the kind of scope I recommend without any doubts to everybody for deepsky observations. Due to the short focal length (F5) it's less suitable for planetary observations. With this scope I was able to complete the Herschel 400 list in December 2007.

A 20cm scope is indeed good for hunting many deepsky objects. You probably need something like 10 years to observe all feasible objects with a 20cm scope. But except a rather short list of objects there are not a lot of them with details to see. You will see spiral arms on M51 (under a perfect sky like in the Provence). I managed to see a glimpse of a spiral arm of M33 under rural Belgian sky, and there are a few galaxies where a dust band is visible. There are quite some globulars which are impressive. Idem ditto for nebulas like the Orion, M27, M76. And honnestly the Veil nebula is impressive. But the truth is that most galaxies are seen as a little smudge with sometimes are brighter core.

So like a lot of deepsky fanatics, I've been caught by aperture fever. A few years ago I had the chance to look through a 60cm dob. The image of the Eskimo nebula at 600x is still present on my retina. Several observations with a 16" and 18" confirmed the fever.

After some research, and based on great experience from fellow observers & friends I decided to go for an Obsession. Most of those fox have an Obsession, going from 15" to 20" and they are all enthusiastic about their material. The views are impressive. The next decision was the aperture. 15" is a bit too small (it's less than 40cm). 20" becomes heavy and is more tedious to install, so the decision is to go for an 18" (45cm). As I have a goto on the 20cm Newton (I admit I'm not good in star hopping) I wanted to continue to have this comfortable option. So it will be an 18" with Argo Navis and Sky Commander.