Seizing the moment - a mid summer session!

[Smithysteve]

I was invited over to an Astro buddies house for a star gazing session last night.

Well, I was a bit dubious about the weather at first, there was light cloud across half the sky, but no moon, and it was pleasantly warm. But I thought what the heck! Let's do it!

 

So I gathered a few bits, 3 sets of bins and an iPad, and headed over to Bilsthorpe, a village 4 miles away.

 

He had already got his 10” Meade ‘push to’ dob set up and was searching for M27 when I arrived.

 

We had, over time, modded his scope with a lazy Susan, azimuth 360 deg. Setting Circle, and wixey inclinometer etc (as per Daz Type-R mods, cheers Darren!) and these along with live info from Sky Safari 5 Pro, about each objects altitude in degrees above horizon and it's current azimuth position really works well in locating faint fuzzies.

 

We dropped on M27, M57, M56, M13, and M31 was observable… several other globs were seen too.

We also spent an enjoyable time trying to see the Western veil NGC 6960, we had located 52 Cyg easily but could not see the veil at first. We tried various eyepieces with an OIII, but finally cracked it with a UHC filter. This was a first time see for my friend, an 81 year old, life long veteran of astronomy. He was quite emotional and very excited about the experience too!

 

The Milky Way was eminently visible by 00.30 hrs… wow!

We used my Vixen 2.1 mag bins and scanned the Milky Way running through Cygnus to Cassiopeia taking in the tens of thousands of stars… the coat hanger burst into view, the North America neb… so much richness in countless stars across the whole sky…! It was a great show!

 

Perseus was there and the double cluster could easily be seen naked eye… Saturn was still visible but low to the horizon. The ISS floated over bright and beautiful!

We wrapped up around 01.15 am,

Yes, another wonderful, memorable night spent with a happy likeminded astro buddy.

Brilliant stuff!

Thanks for reading! ??

 

[Tweedledee]

Sounds like a really enjoyable session Steve. 

[tuckstar]

The setting circle and wixey make all the difference when hunting those faint fuzzies.

I remember seeing the witches broom with my dob. Managed to see it with out a filter, but it was in Scotland under exceptional skies.

Sounds like you had quite a night.

[Smithysteve]

3 hours ago, tuckstar said:

The setting circle and wixey make all the difference when hunting those faint fuzzies.

I remember seeing the witches broom with my dob. Managed to see it with out a filter, but it was in Scotland under exceptional skies.

Sounds like you had quite a night.

 

I agree, the wixey and setting circle make for fast and accurate fuzzy hunting... it was spot on every time! If I end up with a push to dob I will be doing similar mods. I don't understand why manufacturers don't do stuff like this as a basic standard!

First time I saw the veil was through someone else's 12" dobby, but again I only saw it with a filter... that time I used an OIII, but it was a wow moment. Sounds like you had a great night in Scotland to, however long ago that was ?

4 hours ago, Tweedledee said:

Sounds like a really enjoyable session Steve. 

Its great to share a astro session with people with a similar passion. It's great to have a go with other scopes and ep's too. Yes I enjoyed it! ?

Edited July 25, 2017 by Smithysteve

[Tweedledee]

4 minutes ago, Smithysteve said:

 

Its great to share a astro session with people with a similar passion. It's great to have a go with other scopes and ep's too. Yes I enjoyed it! ?

 

Even more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about getting up for work in the morning. Lucky you. 

[Daz Type-R]

Nice write up and what sounds like a great evening, managed the veil through my 8" at the 1st or 2nd EMS star party at Anderby, it stood out really well.