Observing Reports
July 2005
8th – 9th July 2005
Scope – 120mm Refractor, f/5
Weather/sky conditions – very clear, deep blue/not fully dark, seeing 2/5
- Report -
I haven’t had a chance to write an observing report since the start of April due to my Scottish skies being too light. Since the skies are starting to turn darker I can finally use my Telescope for deep sky observing. Even thought the sky is not fully dark at around midnight there is still a lot on offer to view.
Went out to the front of the flat to judge how dark it was at 11pm and I could see Vega high above me. The sky was very clear with no clouds blocking the deep blue (while writing this report the sky is completely overcast so no solar viewing today). Altair and Tarazed started to show up high in the East and also Deneb in Cygnus. Cygnus is one of my favourite constellations and full of deep sky wonders.
Set my EQ mount up to Polaris at around 11:15pm, but only very roughly, as I wouldn’t be taking many astro shots with my digicam (wheeyhey I can see Polaris again, its been too long).
So my first stop of the night was Vega and I gave my scope a quick star test and found out that the optics are of high quality as the star was very symmetrical, in and out of focus. Epsilon Lyrae was split at 200x and looked absolutely stunning!!! The view of both doubles split horizontally and vertically with a distinct black space between each star made me gasp WOW! Gave Zeta Lyrae a try but couldn’t split them, which is quite strange as they have a greater separation distance than Epsilon Lyrae. Moving further South to Delta Lyrae gave a distinct asterism of a square with one star (delta) very orange and three other 8 mag star close by. Excellent view. Took a closer look at Sheliak and two 10 mag stars near by. Tried for M57 but sky was too bright and it evaded me each time I tried to view the planetary nebulae.
Next stop was the constellation Sagitta to hunt for a new Messier object, the globular cluster M71. Located the correct spot but no sign of the glob…..still too light, might try it later on. A satellite flew through the field of view begging me to try again for the glob, I think it was Cosmos 2084.
Moving further North to Vulpecula and M27 the Dumbbell Nebula. There was defiantly something on view although still very faint the shape started to show its self.
Carried out a sky magnitude test and realised that I shall need to wear my glasses more on viewing the sky with the naked eye. Star shapes appear as slightly blurry spikes. Using Ursa Minor for the mag test I could see stars of 4.44 and I think almost 5.0. Not sure if this means my skies are quite good…but I recon they are ;-)
Over to Cygnus and a quick try at NGC7000, still nothing. Need to wait for darker skies. Took a look at Albireo the colourful double star at the head of Cygnus the swan. Managed some quick images of the double but not sure they are very good. This is easily one of the best double stars to view and every time I take another look always surprises me on how beautiful the colours are.
M29 a very easy target, pointed the scope using my red dot finder to the area and almost had the cluster in the field of view. Although small I love this star cluster.
The sky was not a lot darker than when I started so I moved back up to Sagitta and almost forgot to try M71 again. I would have if I didn’t stumble across the exact three stars in a line directing me to the globular. This time with averted vision I managed to locate it. Very faint in my 120mm refractor but I cant wait to try it next year with my 10” newt that I’m saving up for.
I had another last look at Vulpecula and the Coat hanger asterism, then moved back over to M27 which was now defiantly on view. Using my new light pollution filter brought out a bit more detail in the nebula, not much but a noticeable change.
I thought I would give Mars a try as I have never seen it through my scope but being too tired I though the red planet could wait as it was only just rising. I would have had to wait over an hour for it to be high enough.
Over all it was a great summer night under the stars and excellent being back out. Even managed to bag another Messier.
Clear skies