Author Archives: FJA

Back in the groove – observing on 18th and 19th February 2012

 

 

Jupiter (top left) and Venus, just after sunset. Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF-S 18-135mm IS lens

After a bit of a break (my last observing session had been on 27th November) I managed to get a bit of observing in, over the past two evenings (18th and 19th February). So far, 2012 has been very clear but what with work – my current temporary job means having to get up at 0615 – and temperatures often getting as low as -10°C/14°F, not conducive to wanting to get outside, I have been idle.

Rather than putting an observing session in each post, I’ll include the previous two in this one, starting with 18th February’s.

18th February 2012
Conditions: Chilly (2°C/35.6°F), slight breeze, no Moon, dew (torrential rain earlier in the afternoon had cleared away)
Transparency: III
Seeing: I-II
NELM: 6
Equipment: 18″ f/4.3 Dob; 22mm Televue Panoptic (90x), 8mm Televue Radian (247x), UHC, OIII filters

NGC 1982 (=M43) – I started off with an easy object, some ‘low-hanging fruit’ to get back into the observing groove. NGC 1982, a.k.a. M43, is on the Herschel list. It’s something I’ve looked at hundreds of times before but it is easily overshadowed by its immediate neighbour, the spectacular M42 which lies to the south. M43 is part of the same nebulous complex as M42 but appears to be separated from it by a dark gulf. It is smaller and fainter than M42 but, if the big nebula wasn’t there M43 would be a showpiece in its own right.
Very bright and fits into the same field of view as M42 at 90x. It is bright, comma-shaped and has a greenish-grey colour. In the centre of the comma’s ‘body’ there is a bright star, with a couple of fainter stars in the rest of the nebula.
247x shows extensive nebulosity with a ‘lumpy’ effect with dark areas in among the bright nebulosity. 90x, 247x + UHC

N.B. M42 in the 18″ is nothing short of absolutely spectacular. This was the first time I’d managed to observe it properly this winter, apart from a quick look in November when it was low on the horizon, and without filtration the centre portion, around the Trapezium, is bright green with dark lanes criss-crossing it. Nebulosity extends everywhere and it completely fills the field of view at 90x. I will attempt a sketch of this before the winter is out.

NGC 1762, galaxy in Orion –  Easily found at 90x this is small, round and bright. There is a bright star superimposed on the foreground to the east. A fuzzy halo surrounds a bright stellar core. 90x, 247x

NGC 2023, nebula in Orion – Just S of NGC 2024, this is a bright reflection nebula around a star. 90x.

(Had a go at the IC434/B33 complex – the Horsehead Nebula – not seen as the transparency was not great).

NGC 1977, nebula in Orion –  This is a large, fairly bright reflection nebula surrounding three stars. It is elongated east to west. The view is enhanced with the UHC filter but not by the OIII. 90x.

NGC 1682, galaxy in Orion – Fairly small, round and fairly bright. A diffuse halo surrounds a brighter core. 247x

NGC 1684, galaxy in Orion – Elongated 2:1 NNE-SSW, this is larger and brighter than 1682. It has a fuzzy halo surrounding a bright core. 90x, 247x.

Packed up at 2130. The good thing about this time of year is that you can have a reasonable session and still get indoors in time to watch Casualty and the Football League Show!

The following night, Sunday 19th, was even clearer, but cold, so I put the light screen up (I hadn’t bothered the previous evening) and wheeled the 18″ out for a short session. I had planned to observe H2500 objects in Monoceros but ended up losing my way a little and hopping around nearby constellations. I also spent some considerable time cruising the winter Milky Way and looking at IC434/B33

19th February 2012
Conditions:  Cold (-4°C/24.8°F), no breeze, no Moon. Dry, with slight frost.
Transparency: II
Seeing: II-III
NELM: 6.1
Equipment: 18″ f/4.3 Dob, 2mm Televue Panoptic (90x), 15mm Televue Plossl (132x), 8mm Televue Radian (247x), UHC, OIII and Hß filters.

I began with another piece of low-hanging fruit, the easy to find and bright NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula.

NGC 2261 (=Hubble’s Variable Nebula), nebula in Monoceros – Very easy to find, this is bright and fan-shaped, with the variable star R Monocerotis – which is the star associated with the nebula and gives it its variability – at its apex (on the southern end). The nebula is very bright, especially around and to the north of R Mon but fades out at the broadest part. A UHC filter makes no difference at all while OIII, as expected (NGC 2261 is a reflection nebula) kills the view. 90x, 132x + UHC, OIII filters.

NGC 2402, galaxy in Canis Minor – Located at the southern end of a chain of 4 stars, this is small, round and fairly bright. It has a diffuse halo surrounding a bright, stellar core. 90x, 132x, 247x.

NGC 2508, galaxy in Canis Minor – This lies to the east of two stars and is small, round and fairly bright. A diffuse halo brightens to the core and a stellar nucleus. 90x, 132x, 247x

NGC 2513, galaxy in Cancer – Easy to find, just north of NGC 2508. A round, bright, diffuse hal0 surrounds a bright core and stellar nucleus. 90x, 247x.

As the transparency was much improved over the previous evening, I had another go at looking at IC434/B33, the Horsehead nebula area. I did see it this time, although it was very faint, even with the Hß filter. This was only my second view of it, the first having been with Owen Brazell’s 20″ Dob at the Isle of Wight Star Party in 2010.

I packed up after a fairly short session.

Common sense prevails

The proposed bill by (obscure) MP Rebecca Harris to move the clocks forward by one hour in winter, thus scrapping GMT, and two hours in summer – thus completely wrecking any chance of doing any serious observing in late spring, summer and early autumn – has been thrown out because it is in danger of alienating the Scots.

This is a great result for amateur astronomers everywhere in the UK. ‘Double summertime’ (GMT+2 from March to October) was a ludicrous idea for many reasons – not least stupidly dark winter mornings, even here in southern England – and it is great that it is not going to receive (waste) any parliamentary time until at least 2015.

The real reason for the government deciding not to back this is, of course, the Scots agitating for independence – or, rather, their SNP-led parliament is – and the UK government does not want to aggravate the Scots people into voting in favour of splitting up the Union.

In your face, Rebecca Harris!

Always did like them Scots. 😉

 

Clear nights 2011

As 2011 is now done and dusted I went back through the Excel spreadsheet I have been compiling of clear nights and cloudy ones in my area of the UK (central South Coast of England) and, because I now have two years’ worth of data I could compare 2010 and 2011. I have separated the partly clear nights from the completely clear ones but ‘partly cloudy’ does not mean sucker holes, it means that the sky is at least 50% clear and observing is still possible. Sucker holes mean the scope stays tucked up in the shed and I remain watching tv or surfing the net, unless there is a comet or another event.

The winter of 2010/2011 was exceptionally cloudy and, according to reports, the UK received only 40% of the sunlight it should have during that winter. October 2010 had 10 completely clear nights and 2 partly cloudy ones, November only 2 clear nights and 2 partly clear ones and December 4 clear nights and 1 partly cloudy one. January 2011 had 3 clear nights and 1 partly clear, February was exactly the same and it wasn’t until March that the skies cleared substantially.

The current winter, 2011/12 is slightly better so far; except October 2011 which was worse than October 2010, with 7 clear nights and 1 partly clear one, while November had 1 clear night and 7 partly clear ones and December had 6 clear nights and 2 partly clear ones.

2010 in total had 116 completely clear nights (32% of nights) and 54 partly clear (15%) ones – a total of 170 usable nights (47%)

2011 had 104 clear nights (28%) and 52 partly clear (14%) ones – a total 156 observationally usable nights (43%).

2011 was, as suspected, a cloudier year than 2010 was. However, I’ll carry on doing this over the years and see whether the years get worse, improve or – as most likely – they vary.

We do get more clear nights than we think but I wish it were possible to use all of them…!

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2012 means I’ve been involved in astronomy for 20 years. I got into the hobby seriously in 1992, when I left the Royal Navy, and began deep sky observing in 1993 and, if you’re interested, I wrote about it here. I was 22 and knew nothing. I still don’t…!

It’s been all positive and the best thing I ever done was get into this hobby – actually, no, more ‘way of life’ than hobby. Apart from the wonders of the universe, the fabulous people I have met make me regret absolutely nothing about joining the ranks of amateur astronomers. Ok, I do have one regret and that’s why did I not get into this sooner?! Yes, I live in a country with a questionable climate but I still get enough observing in to keep me (reasonably) happy, augmented with trips to sunnier climes and star parties. I am going to celebrate 20 years of the best of hobbies with a trip to the 2012 Texas Star Party (my 4th TSP – please, no volcanoes or other hassles to disrupt flights!) and I have my 18 inch Dob which I am hoping to make serious inroads into the Herschel 2500 and galaxy groups and clusters with over the coming years.

So far (copied and pasted from Astronomy and Me pt 2 on here) – “…on going back through the old notebooks and sketchbooks (unfortunately I have two or three missing) I find I have visually observed best part of a thousand NGC/IC objects and non-NGC/IC objects such as anonymous galaxies and galaxy clusters. On top of that, there’s all the planets (including ex-planet Pluto), double and multiple stars, the Moon(!), asteroids, a comet crashing into Jupiter, comets, lunar eclipses, partial solar eclipses with one cloud obstructed total in 1999, a transit of Venus, the Sun, occultations, meteor showers, noctilucent clouds, Mir, the ISS, the Space Shuttle and other satellites…but, sadly, no UFOs! All these with equipment ranging from my unaided eyes to a 48 inch dobsonian.”

Here’s to the next 20 years and more…Happy New Year everyone!

2011

We’re nearly at the end of 2011 and, while it’s not been a horrible year by any means (by my own disastrous standards!) it’s been…well…a bit ‘meh’, a bit boring. Observing sessions are down on previous years, thanks to a combination of weather and other factors and, apart from a short cruise on the ship Vision of the Seas from Southampton to Copenhagen via Amsterdam in April, I have not been anywhere. Spring 2011 was superb and I got loads of observing sessions in but, after that, it was downhill from there with a poor summer, a mostly-cloudy autumn and, so far, a cloudy (again) winter conspiring against amateurs everywhere; it seems that, although our UK climate is known for being a bit crap, this has been a phenomenon everywhere – even my Aussie friends are complaining about endless rain and clouds.

The one thing of note during 2011 was that I realised an ambition and got a large aperture Dobsonian, an 18-inch, for deep sky observing, which was completed in September 2011. This was thanks to a tax rebate which provided half the £3500 cost. So far, though, it has worked out at £437.50 a session!

2012 should be much more interesting. I have another trip to the Texas Star Party lined up in April plus a few other interesting (although non-astronomy-related) things in the pipeline.

Happy New Year and here’s to a peaceful, prosperous and – wishful thinking! – cloud-free 2012…

Observing, 27th November 2011

Finally got some observing in after what seemed like weeks – in fact was weeks – of nothing but thick cloud and mist. It’s felt like the world has had a lid on it. The only glimpse of the sky beyond has been a few bloated stars and the Moon. It was very depressing and not just from the astronomy point of view either; no one likes endless murk. Yesterday was clear so, before it got dark, I got the 18 inch out and set it up, as well as erecting the light screen.

Last night’s session wasn’t the greatest, as the transparency was crap and I ran into a hitherto unforeseen problem – moles. After a hiatus they are back (and have brought all their friends and relations), molehills have sprung up everywhere and the top lawn is totally undermined, as I found out last night when one side of the ladder sank into one of the tunnels and I fell off as I was observing the NGC 1129 galaxy group in Perseus! I need to come up with some sort of solution that is non-lethal to the moles (the damage is now done and I hate killing things) and non-hazardous to me; what I have in mind is a meter-square piece of plywood to go beneath the ladder which will prevent it sinking into tunnels.

I’ll add the object details in later but I observed NGC 7711 and some members of the NGC 1129 group – NGC 1129 itself, NGC 1130, NGC 1131 and MCG+7-7-3 – before I was rudely interrupted by the kitchen light going on and obliterating the fainter members of the group (my aunt had switched it an and forgotten about it so I went down to the house, with my observing eye tightly shut, to turn it off) and, once I’d relocated the galaxies and repositioned the ladder, one side of the ladder then sank into a mole tunnel. Because of this, my notes are sparse and half the cluster went unobserved, so I’ll need to return to that group at some point. I then couldn’t refind the galaxies because the transparency had given out completely, with mist coming in, so I gave up and looked at Jupiter instead. Because the seeing was so good, Jupiter was fabulous at 247x, looking like a yellow-and-brown barcode with plenty of bands on show and the Great Red Spot was very obvious indeed. The Galilean Moons were also good, showing colour (Io) and they were little disks rather than mere points of light. This is almost the best view I have had of Jupiter from just about anywhere – the only better view was through Jimi Lowrey’s 48 inch scope in West Texas in 2008.

Before packing up, I noticed Orion was rising, so I aimed the scope at M42. Despite being so low down in the murk, with the Trapezium looking bloated and twinkling in many colours, the nebula itself was still very bright and obvious. I had to crouch down to look through the eyepiece but I have now said ‘Hello’ to the Great Nebula as I do every winter.

So it wasn’t the best session ever but it was nice to get outside, see some deep sky objects and get those fabulous views of Jupiter. Oh, and I knocked a whole two objects off my Herschel 2500 list. The light screen also worked very well, blocking out the neighbour’s lights as well as affording a little more privacy.

11.11.11

As well as being Armistice Day, today’s date is notable for another reason, it is the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of this century – 11.11.11. The date reads the same, no matter which way round you write it – even for Americans.

As it’s Armistice Day, here’s a poppy. It was one of a patch growing in the garden.

A light screen

I live in a reasonably dark area with fairly good, although not great, skies by most standards (certainly UK ones) but there are still some annoying lights to contend with, such as the lights from the couple of neighbours whose houses and gardens border the north of this one. These houses are not that close to us and there is a footpath between the end of their gardens and the side of ours but there is still a significant degree of light trespass from them. One set of neighbours’ lights, in particular, is irritating, simply because they encroach onto my observing space. They have an outside light they put on when they let their dogs out but this, while a bit aggravating, isn’t so bad as it goes off again ten minutes later, but an upstairs window is really annoying because the light is on all evening and they have no curtains at the window, resulting in light spilling across the garden, and the whole place is lit up like Crystal Palace. Yes, I *could* ask them if they wouldn’t mind doing something about the lights but I don’t know these people and I’d feel awkward asking them, they might think I was some sort of crank and tell me to get stuffed. I know some people do approach neighbours but I am not that forward, although I would be if their house was right next to this one and we were being totally blitzed.
The light trespass situation was made worse last week when the hedge, an evergreen one of mixed species, was cut and a foot of foliage was removed from the top and a foot from the side, meaning that the light now comes right through as well as over the top. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off when I found out what had been done. The hedge belongs to us but my aunt gets a bloke in to cut the hedges and mow the lawn and he took too much off. ‘Well, it’ll grow back’. Yes it will, but not for two or three years and it’s now nearly winter when nothing grows anyway.
To be honest, my observing site is really in the wrong place for light-avoiding but there is nowhere else for it to go and, where it is, I have good views south, west and east. Further down the garden, the house would wipe out the view to the east and south-east.

So, necessity being the mother of invention, I decided to erect some sort of light screen to counteract the lights, although I’d been meaning to do this for some time because there was some light trespass from the house across the way, even before the hedge’s radical hair cut, and the leaves will be off the oak trees soon.
I solicited opinion on Cloudy Nights as to what was the best way to make such a light screen and got a lot of excellent suggestions. Unfortunately these also looked like quite costly suggestions, involving making a frame from a lot of interconnecting plastic water pipes, which I’d have to buy. However my aunt suggested that I used 7ft garden canes and stick them into the hedge, the density of which (despite the cut!) will hold up the canes even with a heavy tarpaulin fixed to them. I shoved four canes through the centre of the hedge and fixed the tarp to them, initially with string, but I will probably get some heavy-duty clips and use those instead because it will be quicker to put up and take down again. I will probably get some black cloth and use that instead of the tarp as it will be lighter to put up and won’t be as noisy as the tarp is.

 

Without the screen, offending window visible from observing area.

 

 

Two of the four canes in place

 

The tarpaulin in place.

 

It’s not an ideal solution – that would be me winning the lottery and moving to the Arizona, New Mexico or West Texas deserts, away from neighbours and their stupid overbright and irritating lights, not to mention the crap North Atlantic weather – but it should do the trick. If the neighbours ever notice the light screen – which will be taken down after each session or the following morning – and ask me about it, then I will tell them it is to block out excess light…maybe they’d take the hint.

While I’m in the mood for a moan, why is it that, as soon as the Moon is past last quarter do the effing clouds move back in and the weather turn to crap again?!

TSP or bust!

 

I am heading for Texas again, this coming April. The 2012 Texas Star Party is being held from April 15 to 22 and I will be again doing what has become an every-other-year trip for me. I’ve already booked my flight to San Antonio (from Heathrow via Washington DC), where I’ll be meeting up with my good friends Robert and Mary Reeves again and driving out to West Texas with Robert. I booked the flight now because prices are currently pretty good and I got the cheapest return ticket I’ve yet managed to get – and, somewhat surprisingly, I got it cheaper from Thomas Cook than I could find online – and I also had the money available. I’ve not registered for the TSP itself yet – registration doesn’t open until November sometime – so  I hope my name comes up in the drawing, although that shouldn’t be a problem as I might be staying in Ft. Davis and not on the ranch itself.

I will be doing something a little different at the TSP this time. Instead of going armed with nothing more than a pair of 8×42 binoculars and hoping to mooch views through other people’s scopes, I will be using a (borrowed) 10 inch dob and doing my own stuff. I’ll take my Telrad, a spare Telrad base I’ve got and a few eyepieces with me. I am currently working my way through the Herschel 2500, a huge project, and I would like to observe the objects in Sagittarius and other low constellations that are awkward to get at from home. None of these things are impossible from here because William Herschel discovered all of them from southern England, around 80 miles north of where I live, but observing them from around 20° further south will make things easier.
So, weather permitting (2011 was rubbish by all accounts, and they had a fire, so I hope 2012 is better!), I hope to be able to make a considerable dent in a few constellations H2500-wise, also get a load of NGCs too far south to see from home and get one of Larry Mitchell’s Advanced Observing Pins, to add to the one I got in 2010. Added to which, if I can, I’d like to ask Larry if we can see Hanny’s Voorwerp (which is located next to spiral galaxy IC 2497 in Leo Minor) in the 36 inch. That little lot should be enough to be going on with, although I think I am going to need all six nights to be clear from dusk to dawn! I also want to take a lot more photos of scopes, people and the surroundings, too.
Under those skies, if they co-operate, the performance of the 10 inch will be like that of a 14 inch or even a 16 inch here in Britain, because the skies are quite a bit darker and a lot drier. Fingers crossed for warm, dry and cloud-free conditions!

When I’m in San Antonio, which I will be for a few days before and after TSP, I hope to visit the San Antonio Astronomical Association whose April 2012 meeting is on the 14th. I’ve been asked to do a mini-talk on my observing and show some pics of my scope and site.

I notice that NGC 5253 in Centaurus is also in the H2500; I have never tried to observe anything in Centaurus from here simply because it’s far too low and only the northernmost few stars are visible just above the southern horizon (actually, we don’t miss Omega Centauri by much, only around 7°). NGC 5253 is at -31°S and therefore observable from here because, theoretically, we can see down to -40°S which is where the horizon is. More practically, a galaxy – even a relatively bright mag 10 galaxy such as 5253 – would be very difficult to see through the murk at that altitude. Did William H really see NGC 5253 from England? On checking Mark Bratton’s excellent book ‘The Complete Guide to the Herschel Objects‘, it seems Herschel DID see it from here, in 1787! Hmmm. Interesting. I might have a go at NGC 5253 from here myself next spring.

Observing, 19th October 2011

Date: 19th October 2011
Conditions: Clear, cold (2°C/35.6°F), no Moon, slight dew.
Transparency: Very good, M33 visible to unaided eye
Seeing: Very good
NELM: 6.2
Equipment: 18 inch f/4.3 dob; 22mm Televue Panoptic (90x), 8mm Televue Radian (247x)

I made my assault on Triangulum, postponed from a couple of weeks ago thanks to dew, before moving up to the Pisces/Andromeda border for the Pisces Chain of galaxies. In an 18 inch, there is plenty to see!

(Images used are from the STScI Digitized Sky Survey)

NGC 672 – A moderately bright galaxy elongated NE-SW, which brightens slightly to a non-stellar core with some mottling.  The halo has diffuse edges. 90x, 247x

IC 1727 – Just to the west of N672, this is faint and elongated SE-NW. 247x

NGC 672 and IC 1727. Image from DSS

 

NGC 670 – Bright, flattened oval elongated 4:1 NNW-SSE. Diffuse halo brightens to a stellar nucleus. 247x

NGC 777 – Bright, slightly elongated NNW-SSE, with diffuse halo surrounding a bright core and stellar nucleus. 247x

NGC 777 and 778. Image from DSS

 

NGC 778 – Close to N777 this is much fainter and smaller with a bright centre. It is also elongated NNW-SSE. 247x

NGC 661 – Moderately  bright and slightly elongated SW-NE. It has a bright core and stellar nucleus. 247x

NGC 750 – Bright and obvious. It has a round diffuse halo with a bright stellar core. It also has a little pal, NGC 751. 247x

NGC 751 – Next to 750, this is much smaller and fainter. It is also round but doesn’t have a bright core, instead being more uniformly bright. 247x

NGC 740 – A fairly faint edge-on galaxy which shows some brightening along its length. It is elongated 3:1 NW-SE.

NGC 740. Image from DSS

 

Then it was over to the Pisces/Andromeda border for the NGC 383 cluster, the Pisces Chain. This is an attractive chain of eight bright galaxies, centred on NGC 383 (the brightest galaxy in the chain) with numerous faint ones also in the area. The entire chain fit neatly into the field of view at 90x although individual observations were made at 247x.

Chart of Pisces Chain area. Chart generated with MegaStar

 

Pisces Chain (NGC 383). Image from DSS

NGC 379 – Small and moderately faint. Elongated N-S. It has a slightly brighter middle and a non-stellar core. 247x

NGC 380 – Round. Diffuse halo and some slight brightening to the centre. 247x

NGC 383 (Arp 331) – The largest and brightest of the group. Very slightly oval, elongated NE-SW. Brightens to the centre and a non-stellar core. 247x

NGC 382 – Right next to N383, this is much smaller and fainter. Round. No brightening in centre. 247x

NGC 387 – Faint, round, small. 247x

NGC 386 – Faint, round, small. 247x

NGC 385 – Fairly bright halo which brightens to the centre and a non-stellar core. Elongated NW-SE. 247x

NGC 384 – Bright. More oval than 385 and with a brighter core. Elongated NW-SE. 247x

NGC 388 – Moderately faint, very slightly oval, elongated NW-SE. 247x

NGC 375 – Faint, round, not much brightening to centre. 247x

There are quite a few MAC (Mitchell Anonymous Catalog) and other non-NGC galaxies in the vicinity, so I thought it would be entertaining to try and find some of them. I should really have put some more magnification on these but, by now, it was late and I was feeling lazy! The MACs I went after were MAC 0107+3220 and MAC 0106+3225 and they were faint, faint, faint – I am not entirely certain I saw them, after 10 minutes of averted vision, deep breathing and use of a hood for each one. There was the suspicion of *something* fuzzy at each position.

UGC 679/PGC 3950 – Faint, edge-on and elongated E-W. No detail. 247x

Packed up at midnight.