Observations – Wednesday 21 November 2012

Location : Home, next to the bench
Conditions: Clear. Had been raining earlier so damp.
Equipment: skywatcher 130 scope, AsdaCAM
Highlights: Jupiter, Auriga, M36-Pinwheel Cluster, M37, M38-Starfish Cluster

17:30 1st Quarter Moon, Jupiter
As I left work this evening the skies were reasonably clear with a quarter moon shining brightly to the South, after over a week of cloud. While driving home along the dark A38, I also spotted Jupiter up in the East. Was looking forwards to getting out when I got home.

21:00 Jupiter
In and out of the garden setting up while I was doing the tea. Got out to start observing just before 21:00. Spent until about 21:30 imaging Jupiter to the East before it went behind a fir tree. Used the AsdaCam. Used some of what I picked up from the Bromsgrove Astro session on webcam imaging on Monday. Found that I could shoot at 1280 rather than 640. Also ran it at the fasted frame rate I could in Sharpcam. Used the histogram to get the best exposure. Also picked up on the fact that Jupiter rotates quickly so kept my captures down to 45 seconds. I also captured some over exposed video so that I could combine the moons, 3 of which were visible in a line of to the the right side. It’s a shame that it went behind the tree when it did, as a Great Red Spot transit was due between 21:30 and 23:30. I’ll process the images in the next few days.

21:40 Auriga, Capella – Alpha Aurigae
The space to the left of the fir tree to the east was filled Auriga. Another new constellation that I can identify easily to help find my way around the sky. Capella is it’s brightest star.

22:10 Pinwheel Cluster – Messier 36 , Open Cluster in Auriga
I was intending to try for the Double Cluster next between Perseus and Cassiopeia but that part of the sky was right up at the zenith and I couldn’t get the scope there without it fouling on the tripod mount. So instead I used SkySafari+ to find out what was in the vicinity of Auriga. Delighted to find there were 3 Messier objects, all open clusters. So there’s my objective for the evening. I started with M36, the Pinwheel cluster. An easy starhop from Elnath-Beta Tauri via Chi Auriga. This was a rewarding target. It was a bit boring at first in the 25mm but stepping up to the 17mm Plossl eyepiece and spending time at the eyepiece brought out more stars in the cluster. It didn’t have a particularly recognisable or distinctive shape but I think that will come from more time spent on return visits. This is one of the targets in the Sky at Night Deep Sky Tour for November 2012. I also got the Turn Left at Orion book out to compare notes.

22:43 Messier 37 Open Cluster in Auriga
This was a tricky starhop. I tried from Elath first and got lost so tried again from Theta Auriga and found it on the second attempt. I was hopping using quite faint stars and it was pleasing to be doing so with confidence. My starhop skills with the RACI really have improved. M37 was just about visible in the RACI. Moving to the scope and looking through the 17mm Plossl I was struggling to make out any detail other than a fuzzy. There was a bit of thin cloud about but this was reasonably fast moving so not too much of a problem. The glare of the street light was not helping either. I had my baffle screen out but I couldn’t get it close enough to the scope without having to move everything and without it obscuring the sky. It was difficult to resolve individual stars but it was definitely there as I could make out the fuzziness. I was a bit surprised by this as SkySafari+ was claiming it to be quite a bright object. Changing to the 25mm in an attempt to improve the brightness of the image was actually worse and I pretty much lost it altogether. Checking in Turn Left at Orion helped and reassured me that I was looking at M37, 4,600 light years away as it described it as fuzzy and challenging. It also suggested that in a small to medium scope it wouldn’t resolve to individual stars and looks a bit like a globular cluster.

23:02 Starfish Cluster – Messier 38 Open Cluster in Auriga
My favourite cluster of the evening and my 3rd new Messier in this session. Takes my count up to 11/110. SkySafari+ didn’t know why it’s called Starfish but I think it does look a bit like one. It certainly seems to radiate out from a centre. The 17m eyepiece is definitely the eyepiece of choice for these Open Clusters. Again this is a cluster that rewards patience and persistence at the eyepiece. It’s resolving into stars well and there is some nebulosity there. The seeing is quite still now.

23:31 Crab Nebula – Messier 1 Nebula in Taurus
Tried but did not find. Needs to be a target for the next few days. I’m adding it to the general list on my observing plans. It should be just above Zeta Tauri on the lower horn of Taurus but I’m having problems reorientating myself now. Might not have been helped by moving the scope down the garden a bit without going through a full realignment.

23:45 Packing Up and Conclusions
Just before packing up I noticed that Orion was up to the South East. Some treats in store here in coming weeks, I think. I also had a quick look at M45, the Pleiades through the binoculars which is always a treat. I do love the way they glow blue. The nebulous glow is just visible with the naked eye which draws me to them when just gazing at the sky. It was a cold evening tonight but that wasn’t a problem. Was wearing my snowboarding base layer, walking trousers, hiking boots and socks, hoody, body warmer and waterproof. Also had on a hat and scarf and my North Face eTip gloves were essential to working the laptop trackpad and the iPad. Time to pack up as lights have gone on around the house now as A heads to bed. Called to through the window so had to go into the house so my night vision is shot now anyway. One thing I noticed this evening is that now the leaves have gone from the trees there is more sky available but there is much less shade from the orange glow of the streetlights. Making these final notes I notice that the cloud has come in and only Jupiter and Capella are visible now. The cloud has been drifting across all night but with some pace so has not been a problem. It’s been a good observing session. I’m very pleased with the three new Messiers.

Observing programs
Messier: 11/110
Lunar 100 observed: 8/100
Lunar 100 imaged: 8/100

Avoiding the fireworks, Observations – Monday 5 November 2012

Location: Home, garden, on the grass
Conditions: clear but misty. Damp.
Equipment: skywatcher 130 scope, Celestron 15×70 binoculars
Highlights: Jupiter, Andromeda M31, Pleiades M45

21:03 Jupiter
Started here just to get aligned. Can see both N and S Equatorial belts in 25mm eyepiece. 4 moons visible . I to East. 3 to West. Jumping up to 6mm eyepiece it’s a bit hazy. Not sure if this is down to dew. I have the camp mat protective cover I made round the mirror end of the OTA. I can feel moisture condensing on cool surfaces like the OTA and even my iPad.

21:11 Pegasus
Located the constellation with naked eye. Some of the stars are quite faint. Moisture in air. Not helped by fireworks.

21:13 Great Square in Pegasus
Located this asterism linking Pegasus to Andromeda. It’s a test of how dark your sky is to count how many stars you can see with the naked eye with the square. Erm… None.

21:20 Mirach – Beta Andromedae
Double Star in Andromeda – didn’t split the double.
Starting point for M31 starhop. Yellow star.

21:26 Andromeda Galaxy – Messier 31
Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda
A quick and easy starhop from from Mirach via u Andromeda and v Andromeda. Spotted easily in the RACI and then moved to the 25mm eyepiece. Tried 17mm plossl EP too. Not as clear. 25mm really show up the bright core. Had a bit of a tranquil moment marvelling at this galaxy 2.5 light years away.

21:49 Metallah – Alpha Trianguli
Variable Double Star in Triangulum – will have to look at the variable nature of this star at a later date.
I actually ended up here having overshot the starhop trying to find M33 from Mirach. This does seem to be an empty area with these conditions. However I was able to identify Triangulum constellation with the naked eye having arrived here. Easy really. It’s a trangle. Above Aires so I am widening my constellation experience.

22:14 Pinwheel Galaxy – Messier 33
Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum
Tried to find from both Mirach in Andromeda and from Metallah-alpha Trianguli. Couldn’t find it. It is quite an empty area with few stars of significant brightness to navigate by. Think it’s too misty so while I was in the right area, unable to see the faint fuzzy. I can see my breath and there’s an orange halo around the street lights.

22:18 Pleiades – Messier 45
Open Cluster in Taurus
Not within sight of the scope due to a fir tree so I got the 15×70 binoculars out. Between fir tree and street light, I could see the blue glow with naked eye. Bins show More detail. Moved scope to observe through that. There’s too much moisture in air now. The RDF is misted up. The Pleiades sit tight in centre of RACI. Through the ‘scope with the 25mm it fills the eyepiece. Can’t stay at the scope too long now. The eyepiece is misting up with my breath too. It gives a false impression of nebulosity. Stepping away from the scope to let it clear I noticed two orangle lights tracking fast and East towards Jupiter. These were two sky lanterns. The globes were very clear through the bins. Viewed Pleiades again after EP cleared. Shining a bright blue against a black background. There’s a definite nebulosity around some of them this time.

22:33 Double Cluster – NGC 869
Open Cluster in Perseus
I think i got it in bins by following a line from two stars in Cassiopeia toward Perseus. Looked like a double smudge. It was difficult to keep it steady. It was very high, almost at the zenith, so tough leaning back.
Too much mist and dew forming now and my feet are getting cold so time to call it a night. A good session though. Feels like I saw a lot.

Another Night Out, Another Clear Sky – Saturday 13-Sunday 14 October 2012

Location: Walking home
Conditions: 4 or 5 pints, 1/2 pint pork scratchings, chicken tikka in a naan
Highlights: Oxjam, Moselele, beer, friends, pork scratchings, music, Jupiter, Orion, M45 Pleiades

Had a gig this evening playing at the OxjamBrum festival with my uke band Moselele. Afterward I stayed out around town with friends taking in some of the other bands. I had a great time. I got the taxi to drop me at the kebab shop and I walked home from there. Once again, as previously commented whenever I go out, it turns out to be a nice clear night.

I had had a couple of beers so I’ve pieced these observations together from my tweets at the time.

01:30 Walking home I noticed Jupiter shining bright and Orion was up and nearby the Pleiades open cluster, M45 was very noticable as a blueish fuzz.
Arriving home, I popped back out quickly with the bins for a closer look. Standing in the street with a pair of binoculars at 1am – that’s not odd behavior is it?

Observations from the Back Garden – Friday 12 October 2012

Location: Garden, Home, Top of drive – had started down in middle of the so-called lawn.
Conditions: cloud gathering through evening.
Equipment: Skywatcher 130 scope, assorted eyepieces, new streetlight baffle.
Highlights: Andromeda Galaxy, M31

22:00 Andromeda Galaxy – Messier 31
First time out in the garden in a while. Was a clear night when heading home so I was hopeful to get some decent observing in. It’s also dark a lot earlier now. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve been out here. Not as dark or warm as Oman though.
I recognised constellation of Andromeda high to The East. I starhopped from Mirach through u and v to find M31, the Andromeda Galaxy which was distinct in the RACI view finder. Switching to the 25mm eyepiece on the scope Andromeda was very obvious. No detail but an expansive smudge of light from 2.5 light years away. I moved up to the 17mm plossl and it was OK-ish, a bit disappointing. I was starting to battle against gathering and drifting clouds though and the 6mm superwide was just useless. At this point I gave up. Cloud stops play.
It’s a start on the Sky At Night Magazine Oct 2012 Deep Sky Tour anyway. That’s Just as well as my November subscription arrived today. Also got the Moore Winter Marathon to try. I saw it on this month’s TV show. I never did get anywhere with the September Deep Sky Tour around Cygnus. It’s dark earlier though so maybe I’ll get a last chance early one evening in the next week.
I think I’ll set up a page to keep track of my observing objectives or plans. At the moment I feel like I’ve a lot of catching up to do.

I also pressed a new bit of kit into service tonight and it seems to have been a success. I mounted a large sheet of plywood on uprights that I can move around the garden to shield me from the street lights. It was very helpful in keeping the light out my eyes and stop it reducing my dark adaptation.
Only cost about £4 to make too.

Observing programs
Messier: 8/110
Lunar 100 observed: 8/100
Lunar 100 imaged: 8/100

Shangri La, Muscat, Oman Observations – Wednesday 3 October into Thursday 4 October, 2012

Location: Barr Al Jissa Shangri La Hotel, Muscat, Oman
Conditions: Clear
Equipment: Celestron Skymaster 15×50 binoculars
Highlights: Jupiter, Orion, M42 Orion Nebula, Trapezium

We left the desert and spent a day exploring Wadi Bani Khalid. We swam in the clear freshwater pools of the canyon up in the mountains. We wouldn’t need to visit Wild Wadi back in Dubai after this. I crawled down into the Mukhal cave with my headtorch and before long was quite deep within the cave where it was very hot and dark. Turning a corner and taking care to be able to trace my route back, I could hear running water. I headed towards it for a few minutes and it got louder but I never saw the waterfall that’s supposedly in there. I was conscious that A was waiting for me outside and didn’t want her worrying so I headed back.
It was over a three hour drive back to Muscat and with some fun stress with the traffic we finally arrived at the Shangri La, Barr Al Jissah well after dark.
I had high hopes for this as a decent place for some stargazing. Before we’d headed out to Oman I’d had a discussion with somebody on Stargazers Lounge that suggested it was a good site. The resort is quite isolated, in it’s own grounds, some way South of Muscat. We had a seaview room so when we arrived there were dark skies out over the sea to the East.

12:48 After a late dinner I went out on the balcony and set the binoculars up on the tripod. The moon was out, about 3-4 days past full but very high so almost out of sight from the balcony. It did wash out the sky a bit but looking east there was no orange glow of light pollution. As I’ve done every evening I’ve been able to on this trip, I took a look at Jupiter and made a quick sketch of it’s moons.

It was interesting this evening and I needed to use SkySafari+ again to identify and locate moons. Io was in front and on the edge of the disk of Jupiter. I couldn’t make it out individually but there did appear to be a slight notch to the disk. It was hard to be sure if this was being caused by the shadow of Io on the disk or was just an artefact of the fact that the disk is very bright. It might have been due to a bit of flare or radial spiking. I get that sometimes due, I think, to my contact lenses.

12:55 Orion was up and on it’s side.

M42, the Orion Nebula was clearly visible as a smudge to the naked eye. It showed up well in the binoculars and seemed to surround a couple of the brighter stars. One of these brighter stars was actually the open cluster known as the Trapezium, although I was unable to resolve that to individual stars in the bins.
Observing M42, the Orion Nebula means another Messier Object spotted, taking my tally up to 8/110.

Observing programs
Messier: 8/110
Lunar 100 observed: 8/100
Lunar 100 imaged: 8/100

Celestron 15×70 Skymaster Binocular – First Light Report

This week I took delivery of some new binoculars. I bought some Celestron 15×70 Skymasters from Rother Valley Optics. As with any new astronomy kit you have to be careful unboxing them so as not to let the clouds out.

My Skymasters may have arrived cloud free too thanks to the courier DPD who obviously though GLASS HANDLE WITH CARE meant the exact opposite. When the package above arrived at my workplace, i got a call from reception to go sign for it. The driver was a total idiot – “it’s not my fault, nothing to do with me”. I suspect it may have something to do with him in the next day or two thanks to trackable consignment numbers. Rother Valley Optics were great about it. They had packed them well inside despite the worst efforts by the tossers from DPD. They refunded the delivery costs and if there’s any probs will take them back. DPD’s customer services were also very responsive to a tweet I posted about it and contacted me to apologise and make good.
Good to see such good customer service, despite the actions of some of their employees.

So having got the unpleasantness out the way, I’ve had chance to try these monsters out and they’re pretty good. They are heavy and handholding isn’t that easy but I did know and expect that. To explain the numbers, 15 is the amount of magnification and 70 is the size of the big end-70mm of objective lens. This is a good thing for astronomy as that’s the aperture, how much light they pull in. Without that any magnification is pretty much a waste of time.

I was out again on Friday night with friends and as we left a curry house up in the dark skies of Clent I gazed up to notice a clear sky. This was my opportunity to give the bins a bit of a test run when I got home.

Whilst driving home approaching midnight I could see Jupiter in the East Northeast sky. I found a spot in the garden down by the pear tree where I could look out through a gap in to trees to get a look at Jupiter with the bins. The disk resolved clearly and looked almost orange, although I couldn’t make out any surface detail. I also couldn’t make out any moons although that might be due to the fact that the street light lies in that direction.

I came back up to the back door and hunted for M31, then Andromeda Galaxy. Didn’t take long to spot it near the zenith and it was an impressive sight. I had one of those wow moments – it’s another galaxy two and a half light years away! More than just a fuzzy blur, it showed as an eclipse with a bright core. I was amazed how much sky it seemed to cover, especially as when I put the bins down there was no sign with the naked eye. That’s the power of those 70mm objectives I guess. Writing this up on Saturday evening I can still recall the image in my mind.

So far I’m pleased with these binoculars and they don’t seem to have any problems despite the courier so I’m keeping them. They’re going to be ideal for travelling or when I don’t have enough time to get the ‘scope set up.

Observations – Friday 7 September 2012

Location: Home, middle of the lawn
Weather: Clear but cold by 23:30
Highlights: Iridium 58 Satellite, M29 Open Cluster, M31 Andromeda Galaxy

22:00 Iridium 58 satellite
I started off lining up on Sadr in Cygnus, ready to starhop to the M29 open cluster like I did on Wednesday.  A very bright satellite passed through my view in the RACI finder and distracted me for the next half an hour trying to work out what it might be.  It was very bright and when I looked up from the ‘scope, it was visible to the naked eye, although not as bright.  At first I thought it might be the ISS but having checked the app on my phone and confirming on SkySafari+ I established it wasn’t.  I spent some time with satellites enabled in SkySafari+ running through an animation using the the time buttons in the app to see which satellites were passing through this area of sky around this time.  I’m pretty sure it was an Iridium flare, the reflection of the solar panels on Iridium communications satellite 58. SkySafari has it down as only mag 5. It was definitely brighter than that, although that might be the flare.

22:37 M29 Open Cluster
I finally started observing properly after much mucking about getting the finders aligned with the ‘scope.  I had a quick look through the 25mm and then the 6mm ultra-wide.  I spotted a nice double nearby so went and took a look at that.

22:43 HD194206 double star.
I spotted this interesting looking double in the vicinity of M29.  It looked like a double in the RACI finder but was only just about splittable with the 6mm eyepiece.

23:07 NGC6888 Crescent Nebula
Did not find!   I found the area and the stars around it.  I was able to identify HD192163 at its centre.  There was no sign of the nebula though in 17mm Plossl eyepiece.  I tried the light pollution filter but this didn’t help.  I wasn’t sure if a light pollution filter helped with emission nebula or not though.  I’ve checked since and they do.  It’s meant to be good for emission and planetary.  The screenshot below shows how I got there.

23:17 Andromeda Galaxy M31
I was getting frustrated at not finding much on the Sky at Night September Deep Sky Tour.  I Went up by the house, over by the fence again and found M31 with binoculars, a pair of 8×40 Omiya that belonged to my Dad.  They must be over 30 years old.  To find Andromeda I located Mirach, through u and then just up a bit from v Andromeda, there it is.  Not very distinct though.  Just a smudge really.  Hopefully in a month or so when it’s in a more southerly position it’ll be easier to observe with the scope.

Observations – Wednesday 5 September 2012

Location: Home, outside back door
Weather: clear at first, high thin cloud towards end. Getting colder
Highlights: Sadr, M29 Open Cluster, Epsilon Lyra Double Double, Andromeda Galaxy M31

21:21 Albireo – Beta Cygni Double Star in Cygnus
Started off here this evening to get the finders and scope aligned. It’s first item on September Deep Sky Tour from Sky At Night magazine.

21:48 Ring Nebula – Messier 57, Planetary Nebula in Lyra
I was set up outside the back door so there was some light from kitchen. Observed through 17mm. Tried 6mm eyepiece without any joy. My plan for the evening was to complete the August Sky at Night magazine Deep Sky Tour so I wasn’t hanging about much on things I’d seen before. I was going to have a quick whip round the things I had seen and bag the rest of them.
And onwards….

22:05 Messier 56 Globular Cluster in Lyra
Didn’t find it. There was too much stray light from the kitchen and it was disappearing into the trees anyway. I have observed this before though on 14 August.

My next target was M29

22:10 Sadr – Gamma Cygni Double Star in Cygnus
I used this as a starting point for a starhop to m29. Luminous yellow-white. Impressive number of stars in the starfield surrounding it. Although I can’t actually see the band of the Milky Way from my garden we’re in the main band of the Milky Way here.

22:27 Messier 29 Open Cluster in Cygnus
There’s something very appealing about this open cluster. Got here in a starhop from Sadr and through Cyg 40.

Using SkySafari+ on the iPad with the field of view rings marked really does help. I’ve got the hang of starhopping this way now. I should try it with a book of starmaps too though. There’s a lot of stars round here, a very rich starfield. M29 was east to spot in 17mm Plossl eyepiece. I went up to the 6mm ultra-wide. It was still easy to see despite it being very bright outside kitchen door. A was working at the kitchen table so the lights were on. I made a sketch, which I later tweaked and inverted in Photoshop.

One more from the August Sky at Night Deep Sky Tour and another new Messier object.

;

I had to chase the cat off too. She was catching mice under the table. I really didn’t need her taking them in. I’d have to go into the light to deal with that.

22:47 Double Double – Epsilon Lyrae Double Star in Lyra
I’ve seen this double before. The double is very clear in RACI finder scope. Splitting further to the components took some doing though. I did it with the 6mm ultra-wide eyepiece. I needed some help from the 2x Barlow but the view very misty with that. Not sure if it’s dirty. I cleaned it but there was quite a bit of colour aberration creeping in. I ought to get a lens cap for it. Having seen and understood how it splits with the Barlow in place I then went back to the 6mm on its own and now it was clear. The doubles split perpendicular to each other. The view is of course inverted when looking through the scope. The screenshot from SkySafari+ shows how they split.

So that’s the August Deep Sky Tour or Summer Triangle objects completed. I’m quite pleased with that. First one I’ve managed to see everything on.

23:00 NGC 6819 Open Cluster in Cygnus
Spurred on by my completion of the August Deep Sky Tour, I decided to make a start on the September one of objects in Cygnus. I made a start on NGC6819 but gave up pretty quickly. It was getting misty at zenith and with the Summer Triangle wheeling South West across the sky by this time of a night. I need to come back to it another evening and start earlier.

Decided instead to go for a bit of naked eye astronomy and learn a few more constellations that are starting to appear to the East.

23:30 Andromeda Galaxy – Messier 31 Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda
I finished off the evening with this, although not with the telescope but with the unmounted 9×50 RACI finderscope. Another new find and the second new Messier of the evening. Takes my total to 7/110.

I’d been wandering the garden learning and identifying new constellations. Cassiopeia was an easy spot and then I worked out Andromeda lounging above the roof of the house to the east side. I stood by the back fence with the RACI finderscope looking due east and worked my way up through Andromeda.

The smudge of M31 the Andromeda Galaxy was visible. It was too low and too East to try it with the scope though. The House was in the way.

It was getting cold and the high thin cloud was coming in so it was time to pack up. This was a really good evening though. (It’s taken me days to compile and write-up the notes.)

Observations – Sunday 26 August 2012

Location: Cloud Farm, Exmoor. Somerset-Devon border.
Weather:clear to mixed cloud. Sheltered site but cloud cover changing all the time due to strong winds
Highlights: Milky Way, Pleiades, M45, Jupiter, Venus,

As mentioned in a earlier post I was heading off to Exmoor for a camping weekend with friends, at the excellent Cloud Farm campsite. I had hoped for clear skies but accepted that may not happen. I took the scope in case but the weather forecast wasn’t exactly hopeful. The first night, Saturday night, was too cloudy to make it worth getting the scope out despite the dark skies. In the few gaps there were, I was able to see as may stars with the naked eye as I get with the scope back home. Had a bit of a poke around with the binoculars though.
Having gone to bed I awoke around 4:00am Sunday morning needing the toilet. Leaving the tent, I looked up and despite not having my contact lenses in or glasses on, I was blown away by the sky. It was clear and the sheer number of stars was a bit confusing to be honest. It took me a few moments to get my bearings. Even with my blurred vision I could make out the Milky Way streaking across the sky from west to east, using Cygnus as a confirmation. The bright blueish glow around the Pleides cluster (M45) was also evident to the East with Jupiter shining brightly not far away. That’s my Messier count to 5/110.

I then rather foolishly went back to bed but found I couldn’t sleep knowing such a magnificent sky was out there.

So I got up again and set up the scope. By the time I had it aligned and balanced, it was no longer as dark and the clouds were coming in again. I spent my time observing and tracking Jupiter first, and a little later Venus rose above the hillside.
Even through the 9×50 RACI I could make out a couple of the Galilean moons and with the 6mm eyepiece on Jupiter I could clearly see all 4. More excitingly I could make out banding. I’d not seen this before through my Skywatcher 130M. I had seen the banding before, at a Stargazing live event run by Birmingham Astronomical Society at the Mailbox, through a 900mm refractor.
I made a sketch of the banding, remembering that the view was inverted through the eyepiece. I couldn’t see the Great Red Spot.

The sky was lightening as dawn approached, and Venus popped up over the hillside to the East. I tracked and observed that for a while, observing it shining brightly at half phase.
It was daylight by then and my fellow campers were starting to rise as I was packing up at around 6:20. I went back to bed for an hour or two.

Unfortunately Sunday evening was pretty cloudy with quite a bit of mist so no observing that night, just a bit of a late night ukulele singalong around the campfire instead. It turned to rain about 1:00am so there was no late night/early morning viewing to be had. It was worth taking the scope with me though, for the views of Jupiter and Venus the previous morning. It’s just a shame I didn’t know how clear the sky was whilst I slept else I’d have been up and out sooner to make the most of the dark skies.

Update: 10 September 2012. I was watching The Sky At Night this evening. In the night sky section, they were discussing Jupiter and how the Northern Equatorial Belt is rather thick and complex at the moment. The showed the image below, which I have cheekily screenshot from iPlayer, (inc the copyright for credit). I’m quite chuffed at the similarity between this and my sketch. I had noted and captured that thicker band.

Observations – Tuesday 14 August 2012

Location: back garden, shaded from streetlight by laburnum tree.
Weather: 90% at start, cleared but clouded again.
Highlights: M57 Ring Nebula, M56 Globular Cluster, Summer Triangle time lapse.

22:40 Ring Nebula – Messier 57, a Planetary Nebula in Lyra. I started off here just to get my eye in. It took a while to set up tonight. I set the camera up too just in case there might still be some Perseids about. There weren’t but I got a load of images that I’ll do something with later.
By the time I was set up it had gone from 20% to 80% cloud. Lots of gaps between though. 10 min later (now) it was clear again. Ring Nebula is looking great through 6mm eyepiece with light pollution filter tonight. Seeing is a bit turbulent but given the high magnification not bad. Ring is really pinching through tonight. The turbulent seeing makes it almost look like it’s spinning.
And onwards to something new.

23:09 Messier 57 – Globular Cluster in Lyra. Another new Messier for me, taking my Messier count up to 4/110. Really working this Summer Triangle. I’ll describe the starhop as always.

I started from Sulafat, gamma Lyra, and from there hopped to 17 Lyra and on to 19 Lyra, which is where the target above is centred. There is a 6mag star close to M56, HR7302. I used that as my final jumping off point. I couldn’t see the M56 globular cluster though, but as is the way with new Messiers I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for.

To confirm i was in the right part of the sky, I hopped a bit further until I came to Albireo and then headed back. I could just about make out M56 although it was faint. At moments it did glow though. I was using the 17mm Plossl eyepiece. I shifted to to the 6mm and dropped the LP filter. I then lost M56 whilst messing about. Found the LP filter though.
Started the hop from Sulafat again. I didn’t take any notes and it’s actually a few days later that I’m writing this up. Must remember to take better notes. It seems that first time I find an object, it’s about the finding and the next time it’s about the observing.
I was wearing a peaked beanie this evening. Shifting it’s peak around my head helped eliminate some glare from streetlights. It also makes a headtorch more comfortable. Last week I picked up a tall folding stool in Poundstretcher. Perching on this when at the eyepiece is more comfortable than leaning into it. I think it also helps keep my body still so improves observing.

Whilst observing I also had a Canon EOS400D SLR set up on a tripod facing high and south in the off chance of catching a late Perseid meteor or two. I had it set to ISO400, daylight white balance, shutter priority with a 30s exposure. Camera was on continuous mode with a locking remote shutter release. I just left it shooting during my observing session and reviewed the 263 shots on the camera afterwards. I didn’t catch any meteors, just a couple of planes. However I did realise as I was paging through them on the camera that it might make an interesting time lapse showing scudding clouds and the rotation of the earth. I used MakeAVI to put together a short 17 second film. I know it’s in portrait mode, but my original intention had never been to make a film of it.
(I’ve since had a go at processing some of the shots but I’ll do another post about that.