Observation December 26, 2008

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

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.

Observation March 30, 2008

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

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"

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