BAZ Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 127mm Meade AR5. EQ5 Synscan mount,(loaned). 20.00 - 00.00 at Wymeswold At last, a clear night! First up had to be Panstarrs, and it did look nice, both through the scope, and 15x70 Bino's. The nucleus was nice and bright, with a short, fan shaped tail extending from it. Having found it last night, it was easy to see again now I know where to look. Then a quick look at M31, which was washed out due to it following the Sun down, only the central core was apparent. Then a wander over to the Pleiades, both in the scope and the Bin's, loads of stars and lovely to look at. It was then the turn of my favourite cluster, M44, the Beehive cluster. This was superb in the scope, although it couldn't get the whole group in, there were some great colours, blues, orange yellow, and surprisingly for a cluster a good smattering of reds. These all seemed to be on a talcum powder background of millions of distant stars. Not hard to see why it's a favourite. M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy then had the attention of the scope, it was there and discernible as two components, but both were faint. This benefits from the extra aperture my Dob has, and is yet another favourite. I had a look at M3 next, a nice globular cluster. This is stuck in the middle of nowhere, between Bootes, Coma Berenices and is just in Canes Venatici. This is a compact collection and by pushing the magnification I could resolve stars, but doing this dimmed the image, and colour was not apparent. A squint at M104 the Sombrero galaxy seemed a good idea, and this presented a decent view. Knowing where the dust lane is, the shape was quite good, and probably the best galaxy of the night for me. It then had to be Saturn, which had just cleared the tree line at 23.00. I can still see why this Planet got me into the hobby all those years ago in the old dancing Tasco. This is the first time I have seen it this time round, and it is gorgeous. Titan clearly visible to it's side, this just kept me there for a while, until I needed to move due to the cold. I finished the night with M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules. This does take magnification well, and the stars not only resolved, but showed the blue ones in the core with the yellow ones in the outlying area's. It did though look spectacular in Angus's 12" Dob, with a 6mm wide field eyepiece in. It just looked like a firework going off. By this time, everything was getting a good coating of frost, (-4). So I called it a night. The first decent night of this year in fact for me. Thanks to everyone who attended, not only for the good company, but to James helping out with an electrical issue which nearly put paid to the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Great report and glad you had a good night, it was just too cold for me to stay out more than 2 hours so Im afraid I had to give it a miss. Managed 2 hours in the protection of the obs though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Nice haul there Baz I hope you have not fell out with the dob though I was feeling too rough to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 No the Dob has had some love. It's back together now. Iam hoping for great things from it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 yes so I have read hope to do something similar later in the year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldfruit Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Nice report of what sounds like a good evening, looks like we were observing many of the same things last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Great report Martyn-sounds like a great night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Nice one Martyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Nice report thanks. Gutted I missed out. Looking forward the 12th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now