Observation reports - Langley cricket ground ...

Reading about other people's experiences at the eyepiece of a telescope often inspires us to view the glory of the night sky. Go forth and explore ...!

Remember, don't forget to send your observing reports to observations@maccastro.com.

10/05/01 - observing report

A quick trip to Langley for myself and Chris.

The sky was predominantly clear, although quite windy, but it was a relief to see the stars again after the intrusive moonlight. Another bonus was that I finally got to test my new star diagonal!

I found another benefit to my 4" refractor last night ... As it has a slender cross-section, wind buffeting isn't too much of an issue, which is an advantage.

I didn't spend time chasing lost of 'faint fuzzies' but just took an idle tour across the starry sky. Along the way I did stop to look at old favourites such as the Double Cluster, M57, M29 and M13.

Before Chris arrived, whilst looking at M29, I noticed a satellite cross into my field-of-view so I decided to follow it. Just by unlocking the RA and Dec clamps I was able to nudge the 'scope and keep up with the satellites progress. Suddenly, the object began to flare every 4-5 seconds which was very impressive through the eyepiece, obviously it was a piece of tumbling space junk - perhaps a spent rocket stage. Then all of a sudden, a fainter satellite came into the eyepiece in the opposite direction and they both passed each other very closely (a line-of-site effect)! I really enjoy observing such occurrences, as they're totally unexpected.

There were many other satellites we spotted during our 2 hour session. This time of the year is perfect for viewing them.

I then observed three sets of double stars in Cygnus, very similar to the famous pairing, Albireo. Then on to the Polaris double and finally Mizar, close companion UMa and Alcor - all in Ursa Major.

Tonight (Friday) myself, Chris, Stan and Richard are all due to meet at Langley for a lengthy observing session, one of the highlights hopefully being Mars. Others are welcome to join us as we should have quite an array of telescopic equipment.

All we need is for the skies to remain clear ... fingers crossed.

Andrew Greenwood

07/05/01 - observing report

Back at Langley, this time under full moonlight. Stan, Chris and myself present.

Not a great deal to see in terms of the fainter Messier objects. The full Moon does has it's benefits as it makes you look for targets you'd not normally observe.

I brought along my Vixen refractor hoping to test my new star diagonal, but forgot to bring it. I need a check list like Stan's!

The mighty LX was present, zipping from object to object, whilst I struggled with my finderscope in the washed-out sky. But hey, when I found my faint targets, I gave myself a quiet pat on the back! Talking of the LX, we aligned the 'scope according to the manufacturers instructions and what a result ... very impressive - it's computer is *so* accurate - placing the object in the middle of the field-of-view. Interestingly, it wasn't quite as accurate in finding objects at the Zenith. We'll work on that - we probably need to refine our star alignments.

I decided to challenge the refractor to split the Double Double in Lyra. It was easy at 80x and very clear at 166x using my 6mm Orthoscopic eyepiece. I always enjoy the images the refractor returns - pin-point stars and as I would re-discover later, great planetary images. Stan was interested to find that the LX didn't quite return the clarity of stellar images as the Vixen (but more than makes up for this in light-gathering power), but as I mentioned, each type of 'scope has its strengths and weaknesses, no one telescope is perfect. That's one of the reasons why I have both a refractor and reflector. It's not often I use the former, but it does excel at certain types of work.

The Moon was an obvious target and looked great, just showing the hint of a terminator. I really must find out more about the surface and begin to recognise its features. I overlook our nearest celestial neighbour too much.

Later, Stan spotted that Mars had risen in the South East. I swung my 'scope to the planet and took a look through my 12.5mm eyepiece. The disk was large, but churned back and forth in the poor seeing towards the horizon. I'd persevere and would be rewarded. I felt so pleased with myself when I detected the subtle shading of Mare Sirenum on the Martian surface. For me it's vindication for all the hours I've spent at the eyepiece - it's starting to pay off as I'm beginning to 'train' my eye to see deeper and clearer. Because if the poor atmospheric conditions, it popped into view only every so often when the air steadied. I can't wait for the next time I can spend more time at the telescope searching the Red Planet.

When it was time to leave for home, I was so disappointed because about half an hour before I did, the seeing conditions were definitely improving. Next time, next time!

I don't have a full record of Messier objects recorded but here are a few ... M57, M27, M56, M13, M3, M67, M29, M81and M103. I'm sure Stan saw many more!

Andrew Greenwood

03/05/01 - observing report

During Thursday evening as I sat down to eat dinner, my mobile came alive
with observing chatter. I knew why because I could see the sky clearing very
nicely from the North ...

Stan O'Neil, Richard Jackson, Chris Hall and myself all agreed to meet at Langley under clear skies and an 83% illuminated Moon. Normally, we wouldn't expect to see a great deal through such strong Moonlight - wrong!

It was Richard's first visit to Langley and he brought his 5 inch Takahashi fluorite refractor with him. Place this alongside Stan's 10 inch LX200 my 10" Dobsonian and Chris's ETX and we have a mighty telescopic line-up!

I have to say that Richard's refractor is fabulous to look at (and through). Refractors are great because they look just like how you'd imagine a telescope to be. Through the eyepiece, images were ultra-sharp - stars snapped into perfect focus - and displayed no colour fringing whatsoever.

Looking at M81 and M82 in the same field of view was a treat, so much so that Richard didn't want to move his 'scope anywhere else!

For Stan, it was a night of discovery and learning. 'Big Bertha' made her return visit, this time in full Goto mode. Courtesy of Richard's advice, he was up and running in no time, telescope slewing from one Messier object to another. Stan says that 'Productivity is the key'. I just know for a fact that he *is* going to be productive with the LX, zooming from one celestial object to the next!

As for me, well, I just quietly busied myself looking at my Messier favourites through the Dobsonian and swept the Milky Way with my binoculars. Just great!

We ended the observing session by glimpsing Mars as it appeared over the hill tops in the East. Stan and I pointed our 'scopes to the Red Planet. As you would imagine, the atmosphere made the disk churn and sway, so no surface detail could be seen. Nevertheless, I was amazed because the size of the planets disk through the telescope was impressive - I can't wait until opposition in June, the view should be tremendous - it'll be a great target for the Society's new CCD camera ...

Messier objects we observed included, The Double Cluster, M13, M57, M81, M82, M51, M52, M29, M27 and M103

Andrew Greenwood

27/04/01 - observing report

How can this be? Three opportunities to observe in seven days. Is that a
record for the UK?!

Last night was a little bit special. Myself, Chris and Stan attended the inauguration of 'Big Bertha' the mighty LX200.

After nearly 5 months of anticipation (and trying to find a suitable carrying case), Stan decided to transport his new LX to Langley for a 4.5 hour observing session. We weren't to be disappointed. After a little struggle attaching the telescope to it's field tripod, we visually aligned it's finderscope to the optical tube and we were ready ...

First up, Vega. Lovely and sharp, the star was so bright it almost showed no colour hue. Well, that was 'first light' - Stan will never forget that initial glimpse of starlight through the 'scope. Vega will always be a favourite for him.

Next, globular cluster M13. Wow, it looked just like grains of salt on a dark grey table cloth - and that was only using the 32mm eyepiece. We tried the 27mm ep next, followed by the 9mm. Unfortunately, sky conditions weren't as good as they could have been, it was a little foggy so the sky's limiting magnitude was compromised. As a result the 9mm proved too much and we couldn't quite focus the image sharply.

Because of the conditions, the air contained quite a lot of moisture (something that is always present) and there was no breeze whatsoever. As a result the finderscope and corrector plate of the LX became dewed very quickly. But before it did we made good use of our time moving to M81, M82, M92, M57 and M29.

Stan vowed that his next accessory will be a dew shield!

We decided that the three of us would take our seats and take a leisurely tour of the heavens through our binoculars, verbally star hopping as we went. It was great. For me, it had to be one of the most relaxing observing sessions we've ever done. I even managed to add 4 new Messier to my total, which now stands at nearly sixty.

Here's the majority of what we saw ... M81, M82, M13, M92, M103, M29, M44, M56, M27, M51 (my new favourite!), M103 and M52 We also saw three Lyrids and numerous, and I mean *numerous*, satellites (including a lovely Iridium flare).

Looking forward to you getting that LX down to Langley again, Stan!

Andrew Greenwood

24/04/01 - observing report

Another visit to Langley, this time just myself and Chris present. The sky clarity was not as good as we encountered the previous Friday, but nevertheless we were undeterred.

Chris settled down into his observing chair for meteor observations and I began testing my new observing equipment - a pair of 15x45 Cannon image stabilising binoculars. I'm impressed!

I decided my first target would be M51 (the Whirlpool galaxy). I found it without too much difficulty and of course, with the image stabilising function on it was as though the binoculars were on a tripod. Many more stars can be seen and the clarity of image and detail is improved many times.

Briefly, I then went on to observe M13, M92, M57, M29, M44 and M67. Time to move on to unplumbed depths of the Virgo cluster of galaxies ... My Messier object observing sessions have very rarely taken me to this part of the sky, so I have not seen any of these objects before. This helps in really finding out how good the binoculars are. If you haven't seen an object previously, then you don't know what to expect.

At magnitude 10.5 (but of varying brightness) the binoculars swept up M85, M98 and M100. Only M99 at magnitude 11 evaded me. I expect this was due to the sky conditions - we had an approximate limiting magnitude of 5.3-5.5. I left the Virgo cluster and hunted down M94 and M106, both magnitude 9.5, just by Ursa Major. These were easily located.

All objects found in the binoculars were backed up with telescopic observations - and all were confirmed. interestingly, when I observed M100 through the 10" reflector, I could see three galaxies (inc. M100) all crowding together in the eyepiece. Fantastic! The two extra were NGC designated objects at magnitude 13.5.

Andrew Greenwood

23/04/01 - observing the Lyrids

Myself, Chris and Stan met at about 2230 and observed until 0300. We saw various Lyrids and sporadics, probably into double figures. A couple were very bright.

At Langley we had a magnitude 5.7 sky which is pretty good. So by 0200 when Cygnus had risen high enough we could clearly see the Milky Way and the Great Rift.

In terms of Messier objects, we looked at M51, M57, M13, M92, M44, M29, NGC 6229 and Mars. I also tried to observe some obscure nebulosity in Cygnus, but couldn't see it probably because it was too low in the sky.

M51. Isn't it brilliant?! I spent at least half an hour just observing it at different magnifications. I could (after concentrating hard) see the spiral arms in the main galaxy. It's the first time I've ever observed arm structure within a galaxy.

I counted my current list of manually found/observed Messier objects and I'm now at 47. I thought I would have observed more by now! I guess it's because I have my favourites which I look at over and over again.

Andrew Greenwood

[ ^ ]