Observing report...
Jul 20, 2003
I went to the Fort Worth astro club site last night to get in some viewing. I decided to use the club’s 12.5” Meade Dob last night with my own eyepieces. I also set up my Fujinon 16x70s on a binocular mount. Since the night began with slight cloud cover I didn’t feel like setting up my own scopes. By 10PM, the sky cleared and gave a great window of viewing until the near 3/4 moon arose around 12:30 AM. I estimate > mag 6.0 as all little dipper stars were clearly seen naked eye by midnight.
Just thought I’d give some of my impressions of several of the objects I observed last night:
M57 and M13 - Always my first objects to get me started. Looked good and proved that my collimation effort was satisfactory.
M27 - The dumbbell took on its very distinct shape at around 50x. At 100x and with an OIII filter, M27 showed its true, rounded shape.
Cr. 399 - The coathanger asterism is always so cool! A super binocular object that fits perfectly with the 4 degree FOV of my 16x70s. Looked good in another smaller pair of 10x50s as well.
M8 and M20: The Lagoon was clear and the Trifid showed its lobes distinctly in OIII light. The Lagoon was especially appealing through binoculars. M8 was visible to naked eye.
M16 and M17 - The M16 nebulosity was a bit faint but still seen with a narrowband filter. I recognized this object initially by the arrangement of stars around what should have been the “pillars.” M17 didn’t need a filter but it looked awesome in OIII light. The “swan” is very obvious and looks beautiful surrounded by the twinkling star cluster which surrounds it.
M22, M10, M12, M14, M28, M80, M3, M4 and M5 - A globular feast. All resolved easily. M22 is still my favorite, even better than M13 (omega excepting). Always appears more 3d to my eye with a string of stars seeming to spiral into the core. The Ophiuchi clusters (M10, M12, and M14) were super when viewed in binoculars. I spent some time studying this area of the sky since it’s one of my weak areas (among many).
M6, M7, M11, M18, M21, M24 - Open clusters and star clouds were beautiful, especially in binoculars. M7 and M24 were visible to naked eye.
M31/32/110 - The Andromeda Galaxy arose just before the moon did. M32 and M110 were still obvious in the dob. Andromeda was a big huge, honkin’ blob. I still loved it! Much easier to find in the binoculars.
M51, M81 and M82 - Objects didn’t show much detail because I had to catch them too early before they fell too far to the western horizon. Didn’t detect galaxy arms in M51 at 10PM. M81 and M82 were obvious and bright, though I couldn’t get both in the same field of view with the 26mm plossl in the dob. M81 showed its true shape but galaxy arms were not detected.
North American Nebula and the Pelican - These objects eluded me in binoculars. Using the OII filter and the 26mm EP in the dob, the “gulf coast” showed itself slightly. After a minute or two, I started seeing the dark lanes surrounding the Pelican, though couldn’t see detail in the nebula itself.
The Veil Nebula - HELLO! Super sweet views with the OIII filter. The area around 52 cygni, the western side, was especially sharp. The eastern loop was visible and I could even make out some of the filimentary detail in the central portion. Just a reminder: this object isn’t a hard as everybody always says it is, but big aperture does bring out the detail.
Anyway, I stuck pretty much with objects that were easy to find, just to cement in my mind the amount of detail visible with big aperture. But these objects didn’t necessarily need big aperture. I hope to do some starhopping soon with the dob and try some of the more challenging NGC objects, where aperture is necessary.