Last night was fantastic for stargazing

Last night, I set up the 8″ Meade, my 4.5″ Orion Autotracker, and my 15×70 Orion binoculars for an all night observing session. I was only staying up until dawn to catch two Iridium flares at 6:17am, but I’m glad I decided to set up because I was able to observe things I hadn’t seen under my home skies. I ended up only seeing one of the two flares, but the observations leading up to dawn made up for that shortcoming.

I don’t even really know where to begin. Maybe I should simply list the targets and observations I made (in no particular order).

NELM, (Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude) was an impressive 5.5 to 6. The star I identified was magnitude +5.8 according to SkySafari Pro. Transparency was outstanding. Seeing was great, but not perfect.

As a testament to the issues with Seeing, Uranus was not easy to bring into focus, however I think the 8″ Meade LX200 doesn’t focus sharply at higher magnifications to begin with. I’m going to miss having the Meade in my immediate possession. When the Worley Observatory is finished, that scope is going into the storage room with other club scopes.

Neptune was eventually visible once it cleared an oak tree. I believe I saw Triton, one of its moons with averted vision.

M31 was okay, but I wanted to have a wide field view in the 4.5. M110 was easily visible in the Meade and showed up slightly larger than I’m accustomed to. The outer edges of M31 faded more than expected in the 4.5.

Cygnus was full of good observations. I was able to see the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888/Caldwell 27) using UHC and OIII filters in the 8″ Meade. I was able to observe the North America Nebula in the 4.5 using my H-Beta filter. The Veil looked nice in both scopes, but detail wasn’t popping out in either the Eastern or Western portions.

The Double Cluster was bursting with stars. The Smiling Cyclops was easy to spot. Normally, its smile has five visible stars, but the fainter half takes patience to see. Last night, the faint half of the smile took no effort at all and each star had a pinpoint appearance.

The nearby Heart & Soul Nebula were both visible using H-Beta. They were only faintly visible with a UHC filter. I have only observed these two nebulae at Okie Tex and never here at home. Again, conditions were outstanding.

Mirach’s Ghost was also visible in both scopes as a smudge. In the Meade, it was obvious. In the 4.5, I could see it at medium power, but I had to use my 8mm eyepiece to better distinguish it against Mirach’s bright glare.

The 4.5 was also able to pull out sections of the California Nebula with the H-Beta filter.

M33 was visible in binoculars, the 4.5, and the Meade. Later on in the night, M33’s core was apparent as a brighter smudge inside a fainter ball. Between 3am and 5am, I was able to see spiral arms in M33 in the 8″ Meade. That made my night. Spiral arms in M33!

I also split Polaris with the 4.5 using a 13mm eyepiece. I had to verify the location of its companion star with SkySafari (up & to the left). Looking at the star chart, the companion appears to line up with the point star, Errai, in Cepheus relative to Polaris. Draw a line from Polaris to Errai and you have the rough direction of its companion.

M1 was bright enough to observe, but no detail came out. I had the same problem with M27.

M42, however, was fan-freakin-tastic in the Meade. I could see M43. The structure within the center of M42 had some detail and appeared extremely clear. Unfortunately, I could only resolve the four main stars of the Trapezium.

I also observed a comet, C/2012 K1 Panstarrs. I had light pollution to observe through, but it was straight down from Procyon between a triangle and square of stars. It was only visible as a slightly rectangular faint smudge without any sign of a tail.

In terms of sketching, I knocked out six binocular doubles. I went after Albireo first, knocked out two pairs in the Pleiades in the same field of view, pegged two other pairs in the same field (Beta Cam and 11/12 Cam), and finished with 35 Cam (HIP 28765). For whatever reason, SkySafari Pro does not list 35 Cam in its database, but it does list HIP 28765.

Targets for the week of 9/14/2014

This post is hopefully going to be the first of many, assuming I can keep up. I honestly don’t know how people like David Fuller have the energy to do what they do online. I’m running on coffee right now and nothing else. This may end up being a once every two weeks deal or even once a month.

I won’t go through the steps of starhopping to each object. I will show you where it is in the sky. It is up to you to find the target after that. If demand is expressed to include starhopping details, I will add extra media to cover that.

So…here goes.

This time of year is great for stargazing because the summer heat begins to trail off and the days begin to get shorter. We are left with ample time to set up the telescope for some observing. The constellations in our skies this time of year offer a plethora of deep sky objects every amateur astronomer should view.

This week is especially nice because the moon rises late and does not interfere.

Let’s start with some naked eye targets.

If your sky is dark enough, look overhead at Cygnus and look for the Milky Way spanning across the sky through Deneb and Sadr, over Altair, and down into Sagittarius.

Once in Sagittarius, try to spot the fuzzy regions of the Lagoon/Trifid nebulae, Butterfly Cluster, and Ptolemy Cluster. If you have dark skies and a keen eye, you might be able to spot the Eagle and Swan nebulae as small fuzzy smudges, too.

Now let’s try some binocular targets.

M27 is the Dumbbell Nebula and although nice in a telescope, it can be seen in binoculars as well. Find Sagitta, the arrow, and hop from there.

In the same patch of sky, the Coathanger cluster looks good in binoculars, too. This open cluster gets its name because it has a hook and a line of stars arranged much like a coathanger. From Sagitta, hop to the opposite side as M27.

A third target worth viewing over in that patch of sky is Albireo, although you may enjoy splitting that star with a telescope instead.

Let’s switch to some telescopic targets.

Stay near Cygnus and hit up the Double Double in Lyra. Split the first pair of double stars at low power and then, if conditions permit, boost the power to about 250x and attempt to split each of those stars into their respective pairs. One pair will be horizontally arranged and the other, vertical.

M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, can resolve nicely this time of year if you have good conditions. M11 is located at the bottom of Aquilae near Scutum. It is visible in a finder or binoculars.

In Cygnus, now find 52 Cygnus and center that star in your field of view. On one side of that star, you may see the nebulosity that is the broom handle of the Western Veil. A UHC or OIII filter may aid in visualizing this nebula. Follow the handle down the broom and see how far you can go.

Then hit the Eastern Veil, which, to me, always seems easier to visualize than the Western Veil. You’ll note it arches around and under dark skies and good conditions, one end hooks around on itself. With especially dark skies and aperture, you may note the fibrous nature of this nebula.

If you have a wide field scope, dark skies, and either a UHC or Hydrogen Beta filter, center the field of view on Deneb in Cygnus. Now pan down to view the nebulosity in the North America Nebula. Track your way down from the US portion into Mexico. You may also see parts of the Pelican Nebula while bouncing around.

Finally, Neptune and Uranus are gracing our early night skies this time of year. Begin with a wide field view and locate the correct star field. Neptune is currently in Aquarius near Sigma Aquarii and Uranus is along Pisces near Epsilon and Delta Piscium. At medium power, Neptune may not appear like a disc as much as Uranus right now, but you may notice it does not have the star-like spikes or flicker and there may be a hint of blue-green color. Uranus is a brighter object this time around and so very little oomph is required to visualize the planet’s disc.

Neptune at ~150x

Uranus at ~150x

There are so many objects to keep us entertained right now and I left out some big ones, including M31, but if you want to have a quick observing session, these are nice targets to keep on your list.