Baz's 2017 Kelling Report.

[BAZ]

KELLING HEATH. 19/9/17. 20.30-00.30

 

High milky cloud that dropped out as it cooled.

 

I am afraid that the lure of a clear sky at Kelling on the first night does mean you have to do the “chocolate box” objects and why not.

 

My first object was M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, dead easy to find about a third of the way down from the upper right keystone star, Eta Hercules. This is visible as a fuzzy blob in the finder scope and even in twilight it stood out.

Starting with a 26mm eyepiece (57X) it was a mass of bright stars, a central mass surrounded by a fading close halo of outer stars. Increasing the magnification with an 8mm (187X) showed the cluster resolved into individual stars right into the core of the cluster. The hotter blue stars are at the centre with cooler yellow stars migrating to the outer fringes of the cluster.

This does take increased magnification well, so don't worry about abusing it optically, at higher magnifications it looks like a firework going off and is just stunning.

The “propeller” is either residual dust or just gaps in the stars in the group that causes a “Mercedes” badge dark shape either at 2 o'clock or 8 o'clock dependant on what scope you are using. Once seen you won't not see it again. It is faint and takes a while to see it and needs a larger scope and higher magnifications. This is one of my favourite objects and always gets a look.

 

I tried Saturn next, but that was busy hedge hopping, (around 6°) when it did come out of the shrubs, it was very low and to be honest, even this was a disappointment. It was dark, and seemed to be shot in Scooby Doo vision, just dancing all over the place. I couldn't even make out Titan, which normally is very bright.

 

The Double Cluster was by now a naked eye object and stood out between Perseus and Cassiopeia. The 38mm wide field eyepiece did this justice and showed a splattering of stars in two distinct groups amid a backdrop of fainter background stars.

These are NGC 884 and 869. Although they appear as a pair, the group nearer the arm of Perseus is 300 light years further away from us, but clearly part of the same structure. You need a low power to bring out the best of these objects, if I try any larger focal length eyepiece in my scope, the secondary and spider become apparent and ruin the view. Binoculars probably show this better than a scope and you get the whole field of view in one go.

 

While in the area, another of the must see objects was also naked eye, the mighty Andromeda Galaxy, M31.

This also needs low power viewing, binoculars show it in it's entirety, but closer examination needs a scope.

With the 38mm I can get in the same view M31, 32 and 110. By looking at it for a while, the dust lanes begin to become apparent, these are best seen on the M110 side.

M110 rather than M32 is the larger of the two satellite galaxies, M32 has probably had a close interaction with M31 and it is thought that most of it's mass has been stripped by it's larger cousin.

M110 is also having a rough time and although it has faired better, high resolution images show a trail of metal rich stars extending towards M31.

In time both will likely amalgamate with M31.

As our nearest neighbour, M31 just wants to be friends with us and is one of the few objects coming towards us and is blue shifted at around 70 miles a second. In 4 billion years it will be close enough to interact with our own Milky Way, that would both be something to see, but would probably make imaging difficult.

 

Not far away from this is Mirach, this is a handy sign post star to three galaxies. M31, M33 and sitting right next to it is NGC404. It's called the Ghost of Mirach and can be mistaken for a lenses flare of the bright star.

It's actually a dwarf lenticular galaxy, much brighter than a normal one by the concentration of stars within it. It also appears to have an abundance of Hydrogen, letting it have rapid star formation. In higher resolution images there are two clear halo's around it, showing two distinct star forming events.

At 57X it stands out very well from Mirach. Higher magnification just makes it bigger and I am not able to resolve any more detail from it, other than small and round with a fuzzy halo.

 

A change in direction allowed a look at M11, the Wild Duck Cluster in Scutum.

This is both easy and difficult to find. Strange I know, but it sits in a very rich star field that can become very confusing. It is however easy to see with binoculars and finder scopes (10X50).

It is right at the limit of naked eye viewing at Mag 6.3, I can't make it out but it is a bright and packed group. With around 3000 stars in it, it is one of the more compact open clusters, higher magnifications show it to resolve in to a stunning sight with masses of bright stars. I have no idea how it got it's name as I cannot make out any resemblance to ducks, dead or alive.

 

By now, after midnight the sky was closing in with milky high cloud approaching from the west. A final object was M76 in Perseus, the Little Dumb Bell.

This Planetary Nebula is one of the more difficult to find as it doesn't have any prominent stars nearby.

Once found, it is fairly bright at mag 10 and stands out well against the darker background. It has more of a rectangular shape than it's big brother M27 and in high resolution images has a fainter duel lobes that extend away from the longer of the sides.

Rated as one of the most difficult of the Messier's to find, but well worth finding.

Cloud concluded the night for us.

 

 

KELLING HEATH. 22.9.17 00.00-0630

 

Clear after cloud had cleared from the previous night.

 

I had set my alarm for 11.30 the previous evening, but I must have cocked that up, as voices outside gave the game away that the sky had cleared. Chucking my cold weather clothing on and uncovering the scope showed a crystal clear sky.

 

Settling down I tried for a lovely edge on galaxy NGC891 in Andromeda. This took a bit of finding, it's not only faint at mag 10, but is a very thin sliver of light. Sitting at 32 million light years away, (Mly) it is five times longer that it's thickness of 10' by 2'. To help confuse matters it sits in a nice rich area of the sky.

Using the 26mm (57X) eyepiece, I find this one of the most useful for fuzzy hunting, it's a decent magnification with a bright view, anything reasonably faint seems to stand out well in this and movement of the object through the field is better than my other eyepieces. This is of course subjective and you might favour another focal length.

 

Having found it I increased the magnification, unfortunately of faint stuff, although it makes it larger, it also makes it dimmer, so a compromise needs to be found where you have enough light to work with and a large enough view to be able to discern more detail.

Using the Baader Zoom, I found around 100X was the best for me. The whole length of the galaxy stood out well with a brighter central bulge, this is mostly hidden by a prominent dust lane running the entire length of the disc edge. There is a faint star from our galaxy sitting at one end of it and in front of the dust lane. It turns out this one eluded Messier and his chums.

 

Not far from this is M34 in Perseus, an open cluster containing an estimated 400 stars, it does seem a pretty sparse cluster and is spread over a fairly wide area, (35') larger than the full moon. Although a bit sparse, it is visible in binoculars and allegedly naked eye in a pristine dark site. Not with my clapped out mk1's though.

 

A trip over to Pegasus next for a squint at M15, a lovely globular cluster off the nose of the nocturnal dobbin. Found by extending a line from Baham (Theta Pegasi) through Enif (Epsilon Pegasi) by about half the distance will bring you to M15.

Possibly a naked eye object at mag 6.2, it is probably too small and although visible as a fuzzy star in a finder scope it does need a higher power eyepiece to do it justice. It is one of the densest globular cluster known and increasing to 187X resolved the core, but it is compact and there are not many stars escaping to form much more than a slight halo around it. Still a really nice sight and worth digging out for a look everytime it's about.

 

My next target was NGC7331, a signpost galaxy for my target of my visit at Kelling, Stephen's Quintet.

Finding NGC7331 wasn't too difficult, it's a fairly bright galaxy at mag 9.3. This is tilted towards us, so seen nearly edge on, the central bulge is quite bright and seems larger in comparison to NGC891's core.

 

With averted vision I could just about make out a dust lane down one edge. This is a bright galaxy considering it is 49Mly away.

 

Then I tried for Stephan's Quintet. I looked for around half an hour, not a smidge. So I grumpily gave up on that.

 

Needing a bit of eye candy, I went and found M35 in Gemini, a lovely open cluster and large at 40' across. At mag 5.3 it's just about visual naked eye and I have seen it when directly overhead It's dead easy to find in Bino's or a finder scope, sitting off the foot of the top twin.

It sits in a rich star field, so finding the edge is probably impossible, there are around 120 stars down to mag 13 and estimated to be around 500 in total. There are two bright red/orange stars towards the centre of the cluster that stand right out.

With the 26mm in, another cluster, NGC2158 sits off to the west of the group.

This is another open cluster at mag 8.6, although this is total surface brightness, so as with magnitude rated galaxies, it doesn't appear that bright.

That said it does stand out well next to M35, but is not associated with it and is between 9,000 and 11,000 light years further away. It has around 100 odd stars that are apparent, but all are mag 12 and fainter.

 

Daz was then after M74, a face on spiral galaxy in Pisces. Posted at mag 10, this is spread out across a 10' X 9' area of sky, so is much fainter than you would expect and it did take a bit of finding. Daz also bagged it.

It sits at around 30Mly distant.

All I could see was an indistinct core with hint's of a couple of spiral arms with averted vision. This would probably be stunning in a larger scope.

(Yeah, just wondering!)

 

Over then to a target off my list, M77. This is another face on spiral galaxy in Cetus rated at around mag 9. This is a little further back than M74, at 47Mly, but for me stands out better with a brighter and more compact core and having gazed at it for a while, two distinct spiral arms are evident.

Not the hardest to locate, but still a challenge.

 

After this a swing round to the opposite end of the sky found me looking for M109. This is a massive spiral barred galaxy in Ursa Minor, situated not far from Gamma Ursa Majoris. This star is either named Phecdar, Phekdar or Phad, coming from the Arabic word for thigh, or latterly confusion, make your own mind up on this one.

 

M109 must be a truly enormous beast, spanning 8' by 5.5' it sits at 84 Mly away and is still rated at mag 9.6. The light left there when Dinosaurs were trampling about the place on Earth, this fact alone I find staggering. They didn't know what we now know though and they wouldn't have been so smug then would they!

 

Increasing the magnification to around 100X, I could make out the central brighter core and an elongation that could be the bar, but no real detail in any arm structure, more a misty halo. Still damned impressive though. It's rated as the brightest of the Ursa Major group of galaxies, which contains at least 79 members.

 

At this point the mighty constellation of Orion was dragging it's behind out of the treeline, and it was a real pleasure to see it again. Yup, M42/43 had to be seen and they as always are just amazing. The Trapezium, a core of six bright brand new stars at the centre of the nebula, was on show, but I can only manage five out of the six.

The “Fish's Mouth” was prominent and the large “eagle wing” structures arched round either side.

This has to be one of the best objects in the northern skies to view.

 

The sky was beginning to brighten by now, so a quick grab at M78, a diffuse reflection nebula situated above Alnitak in a Betelguese direction.

This is lit by two 10th magnitude stars and would probably be amazing if it were not situated next door to M42. Worth digging out and isn't difficult to find, being a fuzzy blob in the finder scope.

 

The sky was getting proper bright now, so the scope got covered and on a trek to answer the call of nature Venus sat in the eastern sky just before the Sun poked it's head up.

A brilliant nights star bothering.

 

 

 

Kelling Heath. 24.9.17 22.15 – 00.30

 

Waited for the sky to clear, a predicted hole appeared for a couple of hours.

 

Now, having read my previous report, my top target for this year was Stephan's Quintet. So here's a little tangent.

 

On the Saturday when the traders stalls were down the bottom, I had a wander down to see what was available, not really needing any astro clobber, I just had a plod round. I did come across the Webb Deep Sky Society, and asked them about finding Stephan's Quintet. Not as easy as I had thought.

It turns out I was speaking to Owen Brazell and his clearly knowledgeable mates. It transpires I was in the right area, it's just that it's much fainter than I first thought. The sign post galaxy, NGC7331 apparently has four attendant galaxies, nicknamed the “Flea's”. These are really faint. The collective wisdom was if I couldn't see these, then I had no chance of the Quintet.

 

The help and enthusiasm I received from these guys was very welcome, so I joined their group on the spot. I have now been initiated into the “Brotherhood of Faint Fuzzies.” (Quite likely a good few sisters in there as well for PC balance!)

 

So on the Sunday night I awaited the clear patch and decided to go fuzzy bothering.

 

As soon as it cleared, I swung straight round to NGC7331 and looked for the four remote galaxies above the main galaxy. 100X, 150X and finally 214X. Not a thing. To be fair the sky wasn't as good as it had been and after about twenty minutes I gave up, the Quintet will have to wait for another night of better seeing and being higher up in the sky.

 

Never mind. I went looking for and found NGC1023, a faint galaxy in Perseus. Rated at mag 9.5, it really isn't much more than a faint smudge and probably isn't that large being 31Mly away.

 

Another look at M34 while in the neighbourhood and then after another one I haven't bagged yet.

 

NGC752, an open cluster in Andromeda. This is large, better probably in bino's as it's 60' across. The 38mm showed the brighter members of the group, but the scope didn't suit it. I'll look for this again as I didn't want to hang about with such a short window of sky.

Next on the list was NGC925, a barred spiral galaxy in Triangulum. This took some finding, it's pretty much face on and despite being mag 10 or so, it's faint. All that is apparent is the barred core and this is only discernible by gently moving the scope to catch it. Confirmed by Daz.

Again at 30Mly I would have expected a better show, but I suspect it's a bit like M33, which is like a lace curtain and easy to look straight through it. Still a nice first catch.

 

Straight up near enough then for a glimpse of M39, an open cluster in Cygnus. A very large loose cluster, but nice as most of the group are bright stars. Better suited to binoculars this one.

 

The cloud was closing in by this time so a final squint at M15 rounded off a cracking Kelling.

 

I did have a look round other objects previously bagged, in no particular order:

 

M81

M82

M101

M97

M108

NGC 7000, “Baja Peninsula” area.

East and West Veil Nebula, the Western bit is my favourite part.

M45, the Pleiades, just gorgeous!

M51 a number of times, spanning bridge clear on the good night.

 

Also included this year was a binocular tour organised by PhilJ which was memorable for the number of objects viewed for the first time. See Phil's report.

 

Many thanks to all who made this a memorable one. Including Oleg and Tony, the security guards suitably equipped with red torches!

 

[Perkil8r]

That's a hell of a write up Martyn, made for great reading. (even if it is visual )

[philjay]

Great report Martyn, you certainly bagged a few there mate. Glad the scope is up and running well with the new coatings.

 

[BAZ]

Not quite collimated as I would like it, but it certainly does the trick. Cheers Phil.

[+RonC]

Great report Martyn, plenty of fuzzies in there!!

[Tweedledee]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading that Martyn, you obviously had a superb time. 

[BAZ]

One of the best yet Pete, When it's good, it's great. Still not as dark as Yorkshire though, that was the best I have seen.

[Doc]

I agree a fantastic read, well done Martyn.

[BAZ]

Taught by the best eh Mick. 

[Daz Type-R]

Spot on report Martyn, loved reading that, brought it all back!

 

Note to self, make a note of what you were observing, as I cant remember any of the NGC's we did, or how many of the Messiers I saw....

 

[Smithysteve]

Brilliant reading Martyn! Learned a lot of interesting facts too! I followed some of the objects up an skysafari noting them as todo'!

Great stories about Stefan's quintet and the Webb society ?

You obviously had a great time! Memories are made of this!

cheers!

[Doc]

19 hours ago, BAZ said:

Taught by the best eh Mick. 

I thought I detected some of my trademarks