Where nothing else is mentioned my normal observing location is my backyard in Rijswijk (4°19'E, 52°02'N)
Same place. This time we were only 5 people but that included Jan van Gastel that has just completed his 50 cm truss type Dobson telescope (see my links page). The weather was perfect with very transparant sky which unfortunately also meant moderate seeing.
The 50 cm telescope is a monster compared to anything I have observed with before. The views in the eyepiece from the top of the wobbly ladder were incredible. M51 showed clear spiral structure with fine details and NGC6543, Cat's Eye Nebula showed a clear blue colour, fine details and the central star. This is the way to observe deep sky!
However I spent most of the time observing through my own humble 20cm C8 and concentrated my effort on the low southern sky. I managed to log 4 new Messier objects (M19, M62, M6! and M54). None of them were particularly impressive. M6 was only 3° above the horizon. Then M8, Lagoon Nebula was much more spectacular. Especially with the UHC filter and the nebula filling the field of view it looked impressive with the dark lane splitting the nebula in two. For the first time I saw the nebulosity of M20. With the filter the dark lanes splitting it in three was evident. The reflection part of the nebula was also visible although with difficulty. M16 showed nebulosity as well (also personal first time observation) with some faint structures visible. Didn't recognise an eagle in it however. M17 is very bright and is a nebula that responds particularly well to the UHC filter. M22, the large southern globular in Sagittarius was dim but easily resolvable despite its low altitude.
Mars suffered more from poor seeing this time than last weekend. Details were barely visible. Anyway I gave it a try with my webcam that I had brough along with my laptop. The result is not impressive but a least I have got the Red Planet for the collection :-)
We continued observing until about 3am when the north-eastern sky started to get too bright. Time to go home. Luckily not a working day ahead (Ascension Day). It was nearly daylight when I went to bed!
'Mini star party' in Veluwe. Together with 6 other people from the local astronomy club I went to this new site in Veluwe ( 5°46'20"E, 52°12'20"N) about 100 km from home. The sky is pretty dark according to 'Randstad standard', limiting magnitude about 6,0. The place, a small car park in a low forest, can be recommended although there unfortunately were a couple of cars arriving with lights on and turning around in the car park. Possible not the ideal place for the lone observer! I brought my C8 and together with 5 other telescopes ranging from 114 to 250 mm it became a small star party. The sky was not perfect but fairly clear until after midnight when clouds started to spoil the show. The seeing was quite good especially later in the night when the good transparency had gone.
I started out with M81. This large galaxy clearly showed the outer parts (although not recognisable as spiral arms). I paid M82 a visit and then slewed the other way to find a fainter galaxy, NGC3077 near M81. This galaxy is easily visible but just a fuzz without details. M51 clearly showed spiral arms although difficult to recognise as such. The Own Nebula, M97, was impressive especially with a UHC filter and clearly showing the 'eyes'. After observing the always impressive M3 I went a short distance east and found a rather faint globular, NGC5466. It is rather big but with very low surface brightness. A few stars could be resolved. Then up to M13. This must be the best view of this globular I have had so far. It is gorgeous with thousands of small diamonds. Then I went to the 10" LX50 nearby and got an even more impressive view of the Hercules cluster, wow. Now it was time for another new object, NGC6210. It is a small planetary nebula in Hercules. It is very small but bright even at an incredible 333x magnification, no real details visible, however. A long slew down to Scorpius low over the horizon. M4 was easily visible although obscured by the low altitude. This was only my second observation of this for northern Europe difficult object and for the first time I noticed the vertical line of stars straight through the cluster. The nearby M80 was much brighter but much smaller.
Some time later when the clouds had ruined any serious deep sky observation I noticed Mars was visible between the trees. Despite being only 6-8° above the horizon the planet clearly showed details thanks to quite steady air. The surface details became more obvious with an orange filter which also removed some of the atmospheric colours. This was my first ever observation of the red planet and despite the poor circumstances I was very impressed by this orange coloured planet. I had more or less given up on observing it at this opposition due to its extreme southern position this time.
Since the seeing was so good I decided to try a couple of double stars. The double-double in Lyra was easily split and I also managed to split delta Cygni, a notoriously difficult double star due to the magnitude difference of 3,5 and the separation of just 2". We broke up at 2am due to deterioating conditions.
Together with a couple of colleagues from work I went to this site for the first time. It is a large desolate car park located in the dunes to the north of The Hague. The site definitely doesn't qualify as "dark" but it is much better than at home. The north-western sky in the direction of the North Sea is quite good but the light domes from The Hague (south) and Leiden (east) are disturbing. The Milky Way is actually visible here! I brought my C8-DX combi (first outing with that one) and a colleague came with his Vixen 102 Flourite refractor. The weather was clear and bitterly cold. Equipment: C8 and mostly LVW22 eyepiece but also tried a two inch 40 mm ploessl of the other colleague.
I started out with the Triplet in Leo (M65, M66 and NGC3628). The first two galaxies were easy pray but the third one was harder to spot but it was clearly there as an elongated fuzz. Next target: M105 with companions. NGC3384 is a diffuse round blub (more correctly, an elliptical galaxy) nearly as bright as M105. In the same field of view I could just hint the existence of NGC3389 as the third corner of a triangle formed by these three galaxies. A little bit to the south I easily found M96 and M95. Especially the latter was rather faint and no details visible. Then up to NGC2903 in the Lion's head. It is a large bright spiral galaxy that Messier missed in his catalogue. It is a rather large sharply defined oval. Down to M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. This is a very nice object showing a thin dark line across the central condensation. The basic shape as known from photos is obvious. Up to M61, a rather large but faint galaxy in Virgo that was missing from my Messier list. Further up into the hart of the Virgo cluster. M87 then to M84, M86. It was quite easy to "galaxy hop" up along the Markarian chain all the way up to M88. Then I moved west direction M99 and stupled across a small but rather bright galaxy, NGC4459 close to a bright star. Never noticed that one before. M99 was the other missing Messier object I logged this night. A little bit further west lies M98 which is a quite difficult object in the skyglow but I easily spotted it.
The Coma Berenices star cluster was clearly visible to the naked eye and I used it as the starting point for finding NGC4565, a large beautiful edge-on galaxy that I had never seen before. I could easily see the central bulge and with averted vision I could track the entire length of the long needle shape. Wow. While hunting this galaxy down I came across another bright galaxy, NGC4494 at the fringe of the Coma star cluster. It is round and featureless. I ended the observation with a couple of show pieces, M51 and M3. Both are breathtaking. M51 showed the two bright cores and the full extent of the bright disc including the bridge to the neighbour. I could also see a few details but couldn't really make out the spiral arms. M3 looks like fireworks.
We spend the last half an hour looking for meteors. It was the time for the peak of the Lyrids meteor shower. The other two guys had spotted a few during the night but I happened to look in the eyepiece each time one appeared. I looked for a long time without seeing any but just as we were about to break down the telescope a fantastic fireball brightened the sky near Lyra. It was probably at least magnitude -8 and it left a smoke trail that persisted for about half a minute. Probably the best meteor I had ever seen!
We were all freezing despite being well dressed. A thick layer of ice on all exposed surfaces confirmed that is was indeed cold. Back at home at 3am after a very good night.
My second real deep sky observing session this year (I did a
"tour de Cassiopeia" in January). All observations with the C8 and
22 mm LVW eyepiece unless otherwise indicated. The sky was
relatively good with a limiting magnitude of about 4,5. Not much
wind and around 5C.
M42/43: Significant number of details
visible (hint of E star in Trapezium despite bad seeing over
house). A little better with UHC filter but I don't like the green
colour.
M78: No problem seeing this small and
rather unimpressive reflection nebula. Actually slightly better
with the UHC filter.
NGC2194 in Orion: Open cluster, quite
rich but not so fantastic in light pollution. Three bright star
with a hazy background of stars difficult to resolve against the
bright sky.
NGC2371/2372: Planetary nebula in
Gemini: Seen using averted vision with UHC filter but a very tough
nebula, slightly elongated. Described as having two lobes. Listed
as magn. 13! Incredible that I could see it then.
NGC2392, Eskimo Nebula: Very bright,
at 200x a ring seen around central brightness, not identified the
"parka" despite using UHC filter
NGC2158, open cluster at the edge of
M35. Seen as fuzzy patch but not easy in the bright sky.
NGC2419 in Lynx, The Intergalactic
Wanderer. A very distant globular cluster, 300000 light years
away. It is the most distant galactic object visible in smaller
amateur telescope. I saw it with averted vision as a faint round
smudge next to two 7th magnitude stars.
iota Cancri. Very beautiful double
star similar to Albireo. Bright orange and a fainter blue-white
component.
M44, Beehive Cluster: Just visible to
the naked eye as a faint patch, not so interesting in the
telescope due to its size.
M97, Owl Nebula. Planetary nebula in
Ursa Major. Seen with UHC filter. Hint of
"eyes". Just detectable without filter.
M108, galaxy, next to M97. Seen as
elongated fuzz but very difficult, the illumination from the
nearby football ground didn't exactly help.
End at 22:00. You can do something despite severe light
pollution.
Observing statistics so far: 92 Messier objects, 40 other NGC objects
A very cold night with the C5-DX combi and the first time I
used the GP-DX away from home. The weather was clear and very
cold, -6° C. A little bit of wind made this night a very
chilly experience to me. But the clear transparent sky was worth
the suffering. The beautiful Winter Milkyway was visible nearly
from horizon to horizon. I started the first observation around
19:00 with Jupiter and Saturn. The seeing was rather poor so I
soon gave up on the gas giants. Then I went down to a low
planetary nebula, NGC246 in Cetus. It
is listed as magnitude 8,5 but I found it quite faint maybe due to
its low altitude, 20 deg or so. A UHC filter made it somewhat more
visible. There is a small group of faint stars in it. Then a large
swing up to M35. This open cluster is one of the gems in the
winter sky and I could just spot it with the naked eye. In the
telescope it is splendid with hundreds of stars visible. I also
noticed the fainter object, NGC2158 at
the fringe of M35. At this time I was freezing my feet badly and
took a break to "defrost" my feet.
Next session started around 21:30. First target M74, one of my
missing Messier objects. M74 is a
rather large galaxy with low surface brightness in Pisces. It was
clearly there as a large fuzzy but I couldn't distinguish any
details. Down to M77 , a Seyfert
galaxy in Cetus. It has a bright inner disc around the core. The
outer parts were too faint for my sky and telescope. In Eridanus I
found NGC1407 , a faint elliptical
galaxy. It was faint and only just detectable. Up to NGC891 , a famous edge-on galaxy. It is quite
large but rather faint. I could easily see a very elongated fuzz
with a central brightening. No trace of the central dust lane.
Over to M1 , the Crab nebula. The
shape of this bright nebula is quite obvious even in my little C5.
On the way down to the Orion Nebula I passed M78 , the reflection nebula to the upper left of
the Belt. It is a quite interestingly shaped nebula with a
triangular shape. M42 and M43 was as always worth a look. I tried
to look for the E and F stars in the Trapezium but the seeing was
too bad. I also tried the UHC filter on M42 but I found the result
disappointing. It became too dark and I could see less details
than without filter. Located south of Orion is the globular
cluster M79 . It is not very big but
quite bright despite being placed just 10° above the horizon.
In Monoceros I went for the Rosetta Nebula. The central cluster,
NGC2244 is an easy open cluster and I
was just also able to detect the nebulosity ( NGC2237 ) around the cluster. With the UHC filter
the nebulosity on one side became quite obvious forming roughly
half a ring around NGC2244. It is much fainter to the other side
and difficult to spot even with filter. It is big and it really
deserves a rich field telescope to be viewed in its entirety. I
could have mounted the focal reducer but didn't really want to
fumble with that in the cold. I ended the evening with M33 which I have never really seen with a
telescope. It is BIG. I could see a rather bright central part
surrounded with some irregular "lumps". Again the field of view
was too small to appreciate this object. I could also spot M33
with the naked eye between Triangulum and Andromeda. The frost was
again biting in my feet and I quickly packed the telescope and
called it a day.
LEONIDS. No I didn't go to Spain just for seeing the Leonid meteor shower. Actually the visit to my cousin living in Marbella had been planned some time in advance and I didn't consider the Leonids when I booked the flight. It just happened to coincide with the timing of th Leonids. The night of November 18 was my first night here and I knew from home that high meteor activity had been predicted around 5 am. To be honest we were not particularly well prepared for observing anything. We had stayed up all night talking and drinking sherry and other stuff (don't get drunk in sherry, you feel terrible the next day!). Anyway I was not more drunk than I remembered about these meteors. So around quarter to five in the morning we went outside on his terrace. The sky was clear with all the wellknown constellations such as Orion much higher on the sky than I am used to at home. The conditions were not perfect, however. The Moon was very inconveniently placed in Leo and half the sky was obstructed by his house because we had to hide from some nasty street lights nearby. The predictions came true. We didn't have to wait long for the first meteors to appear. I have never seen so much meteor activity before. I saw about one meteor a minute in average, most of them quite bright. One thing that stroke me was that many of meteors seemed to come in pairs or triples appearing in the same part of the sky separated by one or two seconds. I found this very unusual. We enjoyed the show for half an hour or so before we went to bed.
This was my first trip to a "dark" place within the Netherlands. The site is situated between Amersfoort and Apeldoorn near Kootwijk and is a small open area in a forest. I went there with two colleagues, Pascal and John. We arrived shortly before 10 pm. Pascal brought his brand new Intes-Micro MK703 Maksutov-Cassegrain while I brought my usual G-5 telescope. Soon after another car arrived obviously with some other amateurs. It was Maurice Toet and a friend. They had also got enough of the lights in the Hague area. Even shortly after arrival we could distinguish the Milkyway in Cygnus. The conditions were fine with no wind, no clouds, fairly dry air and mild temperatures. Only the seeing left something to be desired. Also I didn't find the sky as dark as I had hoped for, only about mag. 5.7 or so. The horizon was quite bright.
My first object was M27. The shape was obvious and was slightly improved with the UHC filter. Next object M11, the Wild Duck cluster. Down to a rather unspectacular open cluster, M26. However got lost a little bit on the way and stumpled across NGC6712, a globular cluster. It is too small and faint to be resolvable in my 5 inch telescope. Down to M17, the Omega Nebula before it disappeared behind trees. Easily visible but the small appendix of the 'checkmark' shapes was poorly visible. Tried the UHC filter with dramatic effect. This nebula really responds well to that filter, much better than M27. Time to find Uranus. I had never seen this planet before and decided to give it a try here. It was quite easy to find in Capricornus as a "blur" too large to be a star. The seeing was quite crappy here low over the horizon so it didn't really look like a well defined planetary disc. Visited the Saturn Nebula (NGC7009) in the neighbourhood. This planetary nebula is small and I had difficulties making it resemble Saturn. Then up to two new globulars for me: M2 and M15. They are both quite impressive globulars being partly resolvable in my telescope. M15 is a core-collapsed globular cluster meaning the density of stars increases all the way to the center. The center of this cluster was indeed very bright compared to M2. Went further to the east to Pegasus. Here is a fairly bright galaxy, NGC7331. It can easily be found by using mu and eta Pegasi as pointer stars.
In between my own observing I also visited the two other telescopes. I saw M11 in Pascals 7 inch Maksutov. That view was much better than that of my humble 5 inch SCT. The contrast was very fine and the stars were pinpoint sharp. I visited Maurice's telescope too, it is also a Maksutov but the smaller 6 inch MK-67 on a GP-DX mount. They were busy doing piggyback photography of the Milkyway with their telescope. Pascal also spend some time making prime focus photography using his new off-axis guider. Late in the night I tried to observe Saturn when it rose over the tree. It was hardly possible to see the Cassini division due to bad seeing. I also tried to increase the magnification up to 170x with a new 7 mm LV eyepiece but I found Saturn strangely dim and greenish. I was only when I started to pack that I discovered why. I had left the UHC filter in the eyepiece after observing the Saturn Nebula!! It was about half past one before we broke up and returned, after all there was a working day ahead!
Finally clear enough for exploring the southern sky. I started about 23:30 well into astronomical twilight (it never gets dark in Denmark at this time of the year). The sky was quite transparant so that even the handle of the Teapot of Sagittarius was clearly visible (remember this is 56° north latitude!). I warmed up on M11, the Wild Duck cluster. This is an impressive open cluster with a lot of bright stars and some dark lanes as well. But honestly, I couldn't spot any ducks in it. Down to M80 (I forgot this one in Spring), a globular cluster near Antares. It was only 4° above the horizon but was non the less clearly visible. Now into Sagittarius. This was the first time I explored Sagittarius. I started from the bottom with two globular clusters, M22 and M28. M22 is quite big but I couldn't resolve it due to its low altitude. Then to one of the showpieces: M8, The Lagoon Nebula. It was clearly visible in the finder. The nebulosity around the cluster was also clearly visible in the eyepiece despite the low altitude of less than 10°. Up to M20, The Trifid Nebula. I could hardly spot any nebulosity around the cluster. Further up to M24, the Milkyway patch. The sky was not really dark enough to identify M24, I only noticed many stars in the area, in fact I couldn't see the Milkyway in Sagittarius at all while it was really beautiful in Cygnus this night. M24 is flanked by two open clusters: M23 and M25. The latter is clearly the most impressive (even visible in my finder), it's bigger and has bright stars. Up to M18, an open cluster, then to M17, The Omega Nebula. This nebula is surprisingly bright and I could clearly see a checkmark shape. Further up to M16, the Eagle nebula. However I could only see the cluster, not any nebulosity.
The rest of the time I strolled around the sky. First a naked eye object: The Coathanger (or Collinder 399 or Brocchi's cluster). It is located between Altair and Vega. It is easily catched by the naked eye as an elongated star cluster but in binoculars it is obvious why it is called 'Coathanger'. Then I tried to spot the North America Nebula in Cygnus near Deneb but the sky was simply not dark enough to get it in my binoculars. I also tried with the telescope and accidentally stumpled over M39 in the finder. It is a large open cluster with bright stars and it actually best viewed in binoculars. I paid the Double Cluster in Perseus a visit. It was clearly visible as an elongated fuzzy patch with the naked eye and is of course one of the showpieces of the Northern Sky in a telescope. Another naked eye object this night is M31, The Andromeda Galaxy. I would estimate the visible size at around 1°. In the telescope I could spot both of its satellite galaxies: M32 and M110. The latter has a very low surface brightness and no core which is the reason I haven't spottet it in Holland.
The time was approaching 2am so I was about to pack up when I noticed that Jupiter and Saturn had risen in the northeast. They were still quite low but I decided to have a look at them in the telescope for the first time since early spring. I could clearly see the Cassini division in Saturn's Ring despite the bad seeing at this low altitude. Jupiter was not particularly impressive but clearly better than in June when I tried a daytime observation of it.
Finally got out observing again. I started at midnight (not
dark enough earlier!). It was quite mild, transparant sky but a
few yellow clouds drifting around. However more interesting: Low
in the northern sky there was some bright blueish-white clouds. I
was somewhat baffled since it was two hours after sunset. Then I
realised it must be noctilucent clouds! I had never seen them
before but I had read it should be season for them around summer
solstice. The noctilucent clouds were beautiful with a somewhat
irregular wave structure. They lasted for about half an hour.
After making a three point alignment with the C8-DX and SS2K I
started with the target list.
M5 : The first good view of this
globular cluster. Similar in brightness to M3 and resolvable
nearly to the center. Impressive despite the light pollution. Down
to the position of a rather faint globular, NGC5897 , magnitude 8,6. Not a trace of it to be
seen but it was also located rather low and in the middle of the
worst skyglow from the local greenhouses. Unfortunately this is
the only direction in which I can see low southern objects from my
backyard.
Up to M13. This was the first kick of the evening. This was my
first look at this cluster with the C8. Wow. It was beautiful. I
could resolve it all the way to the center at 133x. It is just
stars swarming around.
A slew over to Cygnus. First a look at Albireo, the beautiful
double star. Then up to another double, delta
Cygni , separation 2,6". This double star is somewhat of an
optical test since the faint component of magn. 7,9 is placed in
the second diffraction ring of the bright M2,9 star. However I
could see the faint compagnon as a bright spot in the diffraction
ring at 200x power. So the C8 is not that bad optically.
Over to the Ring Nebula (M57). Another first time with the C8 and
what a sight. Apart from the colour it look nearly as impressive
as on photos. Down to M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. The shape was
obvious but it really suffered from low contrast. Under the dark
sky in Denmark with the C5 it was much more impressive. A narrow
band filter is really needed here to beat that light pollution.
Down to M71, a globular cluster, in the neighbourhood. I
positively identified it as a faint fuzz. That's all. I had never
been able to spot it here with the C5.
Slewed up to NGC6826 , the Blinking
Nebula in Cygnus. This nebula was surprisingly bright maybe
brighter than M57. It has a very bright central star. The nebula
is normally virtually impossible to miss in the field of view bit
if I stared at the central star the nebula tended to disappear.
Look away and it reappeared. So the nebula is really blinking!
Down to the low south to some more globulars: M10, M12 and M14 . All were easily visible but not
really spectacular, they are also suffering from the light from
those greenhouses. Tried to spot M107 but I am not sure I saw it.
Session ended at 1 am.
The moon was interfering somewhat, but this was my last night in Denmark.
M92 : The 'other' globular in
Hercules, beautiful
M71 : Rather faint globular cluster
(?) in Sagitta, I have failed to spot this one at home.
M56 : Globular cluster in Lyra
Albireo : Very beautiful double,
first view this year.
M104 : The Sombrero, again this line
across, must have a look with the C8 one day.
The 'light summer nights' season has now started with no astronomical darkness before August. However it is still much darker than at home during winter.
First some objects on the low southern sky (as seen from
56° north latitude)
NGC3242 Jupiter's Ghost : Planetary
nebula, round fuzz, too low for details
NGC3115 : Elongated galaxy
M68 : Globular cluster, very faint
due to its low altitude
NGC4697 : Galaxy
Antares : Red and not just due to
atmospheric colouring. Easily visible despite just hovering above
the horizont
M4 : Globular one degree west of
Antares, just detectable, 6° above horisont, so far the lowest
altitude I have seen a deep sky object at.
And now some unfinished work in the Virgo cluster
M90 : Galaxy, NNE of M89
M58 : Galaxy, SE of M89
M59 : Galaxy, E of M58
M60 : Galaxy, in the same field as
M59, big and bright
And finally a couple of revisits from last autumn but this time
with a dark sky:
M57 Ring Nebula : Wow, nearly as on
the photos (no colours however)
M27 Dumbbell nebula : Even more
"wow". Really seen the shape this time
Clear sky but rather windy, limiting magnitude around 5,5-6,0, northern sky still bright. All observations with the G-5 now deemed my travel scope.
M104 Sombrero Galaxy : A fuzz but
clearly with a horizontal line through it, bright center at 83x
power
M13 The Great Hercules Globular :
Partly resolved at 125x, beautiful
The Milkyway around Cygnus was quite bright, I first thought it
was aurora! until I realized it was just Cygnus reappearing after
the winter break.
I accessed the Virgo galaxy cluster using Vindemiatrix as the
"front door". Starhopped to M87 via 33, 30, 27 Virginis and some
lesser stars.
M87 : Round and quite bright with
bright core. Massive elliptical galaxy in the hart of the Virgo
cluster
M84 and M86 : In the same field of
view. Quite bright and round. Elliptical galaxies. Together with
M87 these galaxies are my base points for exploring Virgo.
Followed the Markarian chain up from M86 using "galaxy
hopping"
NGC4438/NGC4435 : Close pair of
galaxies, 4438 is the larger and brighter component, 4435 was just
visible
NGC4458/NGC4461 : Another pair but
not clearly identified.
NGC4473/NGC4477 : Two quite easy
galaxies at the top of the chain
M88 : Elongated, rather bright
M91 : Large but rather faint
M89 : Small but bright core
Observed the conjunction of Jupiter,
Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon from the top floor of the 25 storeyed office
tower at work together with some colleagues. Splendid view over
the Hague. All the objects fitted within the field of view of my
7x50 binonculars, that is within 7 degrees. Shot some video of the
planetary massing. You can find the result in the gallery.
Returned home around 10 pm. I DIDN'T see the aurora since I didn't
know it was there. It was the best light show over the Netherlands
since 1989 according to the media and I have been told it was
plainly visible in light polluted Rijswijk :-(
First night out in nearly 4 weeks and the first real night with the C8-DX. I am now using a 12 V, 7 Ah lead-acid battery for powering the telescope. That works fine. The weather has been horrible since I bought the C8-DX (my apologies to everybody in the Netherlands for buying a new telescope and spoiling the weather!). Cold but dry, some wind.
New objects:
M63 : Galaxy in Canes Venatici
M94 : Galaxy in Canes V.; bright
core
M106 : Galaxy in Canes V.
M49 : Galaxy in Virgo
M60 : Gal. in Virgo
M87 : Gal. in Virgo, the central
galaxy of the Virgo cluster
And some old friends (but first time in the C8):
M3 : Even here in NL impressive
M64 : Black Eye Galaxy. I could see
the black eye as something dark near the galaxy center. 133x
NGC2392 Eskimo Nebula: 266x. Nice
'head' but still no signs of the 'parka'.
Used Goto to find all objects except M3. It worked very well,
the object was mostly near the center of the field of view.
Found a better (temporary) solution to the power supply problem. Used my lab power supply, that really brought the motors alive! I started during twilight to get a glimpse of Jupiter before it gets too low. I would say that the impression is similar to the views in the G5 of Jupiter when it was better placed. Tried at 200x and 266x. Over to the first quarter Moon. Wow. It is incredible. Details of rilles, grainy structures around Alpine Valley etc, much better than in the G5
M42: Seen the E component of the Trapezium. Seen the faint companion of Rigel.
Started to collimate the telescope using Polaris. However the
telescope was quickly soaked in dew and I had to pack up.
Done it. Bought my dream telescope: A C-8 on a Vixen GP-DX
mount and with the Skysensor 2000 PC. First step in my
future CCD-imaging plan. I succeeded in getting first light the
same night but had to wait until 11 pm before the clouds cleared.
Having severe power supply problems since I only have a simple
wall plug power supply. The motors are moving very sluggish and
the SS2K resets a few times. Anyway, I manage to make a 2 point
alignment using Capella and Sirius (Capella gets the prize as
providing first light to the C8). Try a Goto to the Moon. Hits the
edge. Seeing very bad low in the horizon so I skip further
exploration of it. Enter M36 in the computer and press Goto. The
scope whirrs and places the open cluster nearly dead center. I do
the same to M37 and M38 both are well within the eyepiece field of
view. Down to M42. Badly placed low over the light columns from
the local greenhouses so not so spectacular. Then M81 and M82 are
much better. I can see a hint of the disc of M81 and M82 looks
like a cigar with something messy in the middle. Try to check the
collimation on Pollux but seeing downright too bad. The motors
begin to stall (the transformer is getting hot) and I call it a
day. Have to find a better power solution.
23.00: Little wind, some clouds drifting around, +2 degrees C
M97 : The Owl Nebula in Ursa Major,
relatively large planetary nebula in Ursa Major, faint, no details
visible at 83x
M108 : Galaxy near M97
M53 : Globular cluster in Coma
Berenices, beautiful but less impressive than M3 seen
yesterday
M64 : Galaxy not far from M53, bright
but no details at 83x
M85 : Galaxy in Coma Berenices, at
the top of the Virgo cluster
NGC4394 : Galaxy in the same field as
M85, diffuse point
M100 : Galaxy in Coma Ber.
M98 : Galaxy near M100, very faint,
elongated, most difficult Messier object so far!
21.00 - 24.00: Windy, bitterly cold, +3 degrees C, clear sky, limit magn 6.0
M41 : Open cluster in Canis Major,
not seen before due to obstructed views at home, easy
M50 : Open cluster in Monoceros
M46 : Open cluster in Puppis
M47 : Open cluster in Puppis
M48 : Open cluster in Hydra
M67 : Open cluster in Cancer, much
more beautiful under dark sky, seen before during hunt for
asteroid Iris
M51 : The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes
Venatici, two colliding galaxies, impressive with two cores,
details visible (spiral arms?) around the larger core
M101 : Galaxy in Ursa Major, large
but faint
M3 : Globular cluster in Canes
Venatici, wow, really bright, my first globular under a dark sky,
grainy appearance at 83x
M65 : Galaxy in Leo
M66 : Galaxy, in the same field as
M65 (40x with 32 mm EP)
NGC3628 : in the same field as
M65,66, narrow line
M95 : Galaxy in Leo, faint
M96 : Galaxy, in the same field as
M95
M105 : Galaxy, near M95,96
NGC3384 : Galaxy, in the same field
as M105
M78 : Reflection nebula in Orion,
small but relatively bright fuzz without details, two stars
within
14 new Messiers in todays mini "Messier marathon"
18.20: Seen Mercury through telescope at 125x, very bad seeing
but able to see phase (little more than half)
Seen all six inner planets today (including Earth), Venus seen in the morning, the others after sunset at around 18.30
Learned during the day that Space Shuttle
Endeavour was scheduled for launch at 18.30 and it would be
visible from Netherlands shortly after.
18.44: Seen the Space Shuttle (STS-99) been launched on CNN.
19.04: 20 minutes after launch the Shuttle appeared as predicted
by heavens-above.com in the northern sky. Seen the Shuttle and
external fuel tank as two bright spots (Magn. -3? and -2?
respectively), the shuttle bright white with the fuel tank clearly
orange one degree below, strange clouds around the two objects
seen in the beginning, first thought it was local cirrus cloud
reflections but may actually have been either combustion gases or
gases vented from the fuel tank after separation, entered the
Earth's shadow after passing the Big Dipper in the east.
Friend on visit. Shown him the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, M42, Castor in the telescope, seeing moderate, clouds ending the show
22.30: Clear sky again, Traced down Iris again. It has clearly moved since yesterday, now near VZ Cancri
Seen 15 Solar system objects today! (including 4 Jovian
satellites and two Saturn moons).
Finally seen Mercury half an hour after sunset, much brighter than expected (First I thought it was an approaching airplane with lights on!). The clouds just cleared in time
22.30:
M44 The Beehive: Nice view at low
power in telescope, the open cluster is not visible with the naked
eye due to light pollution
M67 : Open cluster, only some
stars visible in a faint fuzz,
Iris : Asteroid, in the neighbourhood
of M67. Magnitude 8,1, near 49 Cancri towards VZ Cancri. My first
asteroid!
Jupiter: Two moons on each side of Jupiter within the same field at 250x power, seeing only moderate.
Tried afocal video recording of M42 , nebulosity not visible at all in viewfinder, all 4 Trapezium stars just visible.
NGC2392 : The Eskimo Nebula
in Gemini, very small but bright planetary nebula shaped like a
face with a parka around, searched 20-30 minutes in the wrong
place, then realised the error and nearly immidiately found it,
used up to 166x power, clearly not circular but the 'parka'
could not be seen, central star easily visible, clouds ended
the session.
Total lunar eclipse
Woke up at 4.55 and surprisingly could see the Moon just before
totality through the bedroom window. I had not expected to see
anything since the weather forecast for the night had been very
pessimistic. Got up and brought the camcorder and tripod to the
second floor. The eclipse had entered totality when I was ready to
videotape. The eclipsed Moon was clearly visible with a
brownish-red hue. It was less red than I had expected but my
colour perception in the dark is rather bad. I shot several
minutes of video through the double-glass window until about mid
totality. At 6 am I decided to go to bed trying to get some
sleep before going to work. Of course I couldn't fall asleep
again. Got up quarter past 7 just to see the last part of the
partiality. The clouds came in just after.
M1 : The Crab Nebula, Yes, I
did find it through the yellow-brownish soup of skyglow. Only
visible with averted vision, had already seen it under a dark sky
in Denmark. That helped me in the search for it since I knew what
to look for.
M34 : Nice open cluster, easy
under my sky. I think I see a 3-winged wind generator rotor in
it!
M76 : Planetary nebula "Little
Dumbbell", very tough object with my sky, faint visible with
averted vision, has two 'ends'
NGC1023 : Galaxy, very faint,
only the core visible, near a couple of bright stars. Located
1,5° S of 12 Per.
M44 Beehive : I spotted it with the
naked eye although difficult.
Shot some video of Jupiter and Saturn
Seen great fireball over Denmark
moving from NNW to SSE, very slow for a meteor, red with a tail of
sparks, small fragment drifting about two degrees to the west of
the main fireball, visible for about 10 seconds before
disappearing behind building. Much press coverage of the
phenomena, was it a slow meteor or a rocket body on reentry?
In Denmark during Christmas 1999 (Dark sky, limiting magn. around 6,0):
M35 : Rich open cluster in
Gemini
M1 : The Crab Nebula, supernova
remnent in Taurus
M33 : Found with 7x50
binoculars, failed in Holland (too low surface brightness)
M42 : The Orion Nebula, very
impressive at both low and high power
M43 : Next to M42
M44 : The Beehive in Cancer,
easily visible to the naked eye
18.00: Spottet Nova Aquilae again,
slightly weaker than yesterday, magn. 4,3 ?
19.00: Seen Nova Aquilae 1999/2 one day after discovery (got the news from www.skypub.com), located near delta Aql., used 7x50 binoculars, just visible to naked eye, estimated magnitude 4,2 (used delta and mu Aquilae as references). My first exercise in estimating magnitude.
M57 : The Ring Nebula: The first
deepsky object with my new telescope!
M52 : Open cluster in
Cassiopeia
M103 : Open cluster. The other
Messier object in Cass.
NGC 457, 663, 654 and 659 : More open
clusters in Cass.
M31 : Andromeda Galaxy
M32 : Satellite galaxy of
M31
M34 : Open cluster in
Perseus
M27 : The Dumbbell nebula:
Planetary nebula in Vulpecula. Only just penetrates light
pollution
M36, M37 and M38 : Three open
clusters in Auriga
NGC7662 : Small planetary
nebula in Gloria Frederika (Andromeda)
M13 : Globular cluster in
Hercules
NGC869/884 : The Double Cluster
in Perseus
M81/M82 : Two galaxies only 1/2 a
degree apart in Ursa Major, M81 is a spiral galaxy, M82 is an
elongated irregular galaxy, both are easily visible in my limiting
magnitude 4 to 4,5 sky. Little bit tricky to find since there are
no bright stars nearby.
