The skies were clear, the seeing was good but some how my observing session early on Tuesday morning quickly became undone. I headed outside at 01:30 UT and set up the tripod and mounted the 25×100 bins. My session, I decided, was going to be split between the constellations Perseus and Cancer; the sole intention here was to grab a few Messier objects to add to the list as well as take a closer look at the double star Eta Perseii and NGC 1499 (The California Nebula).
The first hurdle that became apparent was the position of Perseus. Riding high in the sky I realized that observing was going to be difficult. Not a problem if your a scope user, but if your using bins then be prepared for some major neck strain! I was simply left with two choices: try to observe Perseus at this position or give up - I chose the latter. Reluctantly I moved on to my next target: the constellation of Cancer.
Turning the binoculars south east I began hunting down Cancer but soon found myself sinking in the nebulous orange miasma that light pollution produces. Here I was looking for M44: The Beehive Cluster or Praesepe as it is also known. I was also set on observing M67, a condensed open cluster that can be found near the star Acubens. The only problem was that Cancer was playing hide and seek with me. I could easily make out the top of Leo as it slowly rose out of the east, but try as I might, Cancer just eluded me.
Looking on the positive side of the session, I had an impressive view of the heavens with The Pleiades, The Hyades and The Orion Nebula easily visible with the naked eye while the constellations Auriga, Taurus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Draco, Ursa Major, Leo and Orion were all on show and looking stunning. To add to this, at 02:00 UT I also managed to catch Saturn climbing over the roof tops which is always a pleasing sight, however, my 25×100 bins don’t resolve any real detail on the planet itself, so I was content just to gaze at it unaided.
By 02:45 UT I packed up and headed for the warmth of my bed. I was disappointed with my lack of success with Perseus and Cancer, but putting that aside I did enjoy the chance to be back out star gazing. The lack of observing flexibility has got me thinking about investing in a new telescope, but I’ve not decided anything firm yet. For the moment It’s really just a case of wait and see.
Tags: Acubens, Andromeda, Auriga, Cancer, Cassiopeia, Collinder 50, Draco, Eta Perseii, Leo, M42, M44, M45, M67, M76, Orion, Praesepe, Saturn, Taurus, The Beehive Cluster, The Hyades, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Ursa Major
Posted in Observing | 3 Comments »
It seems as though I have been waiting a long time for some nice clear skies, the old Gods must have heard my plea because last night was the clearest that I have seen for weeks. The seeing was impeccable and the transparency was superb.
I decided to take a break from imaging and concentrate on observing for a change. So having received the heavy duty binocular L adapter that I ordered from Telescope House I thought that this would be an excellent time to put it to good use with my 10×50 Bresser binoculars.
On the menu were two DSOs that I wanted to bag: NGC 6543 also known as The Cat’s Eye Nebula and the Messier Object M102 (NGC 5866), a lenticular galaxy also known as The Spindle Galaxy. Both objects are located in the constellation Draco, a constellation that I have neglected to take much interest in up until now.
I headed out at 23:00 UT to set up the tripod and the binoculars. I began things by browsing through the constellation Cygnus just to see if my chances of seeing The North America Nebula had increased due to the crisp atmospheric conditions. Now this is where things get a bit hazy because I swear that I could make out some detail, but I can’t be absolutely certain if I was imagining it. I’ve been searching for this nebula for a good many weeks now and it’s become something of an obsession, so I may have started going crazy.
After spending some time trying to discern the ‘detail’ that I was possibly observing, I rolled over to Draco to begin search for M102 / NGC 5866 and NGC 6543. To cut a long story short I failed to see both — well that’s not entirely true. I’m sure I could just make out something up around where NGC 6543 is supposed to be, but I’ll need to go back and try again (with both objects).
Having failed to locate The Cat’s Eye Nebula, or The Spindle Galaxy I thought I’d end my short evening observations on a high note by sketching The Hyades in the constellation Taurus. After spending about half an hour making a preliminary sketch which was as close to scale as possible I then packed up and headed inside to warm up.
Once I’d gotten a nice hot cup of tea and warmed up sufficiently I returned to the rough sketch I’d taken of The Hyades. Using it as a guide I was able to produce a much nicer looking render in Photoshop as you can see above. Over to the left hand side of the sketch you can see the orange K5III star Aldebaran while over to the centre can be seen the brightest stars at the core of the open cluster.
I’ll definitely be trying my hand at producing more sketches like this in the future. I’ve found it to be really rewarding and you certainly do plenty of intense observing, so good fun all round. Holding the pencil was a bit hard though; it was freezing!
Edit 16.09.09: The sketch above contains a number of errors. Most notably the unintentional omission of Θ² Tauri which, for reasons that escape me, was not included in the sketch. Also the magnitude estimates that were penciled in are off quite considerably. While it’s not an entirely accurate recording of an astronomical object it has to be remembered that it was my first try. Besides… there’s always next time.
Tags: Aldebaran, Bresser 10x50, Collinder 50, Cygnus, Draco, Galaxies, M102, NGC 5866, NGC 6543, NGC 7000, Taurus, The Cat's Eye Nebula, The Hyades, The North America Nebula, The Spindle Galaxy
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | No Comments »
Another clear sky early on Monday morning offered an opportunity to experiment some more with the Sony a200. After some mild processing I thought I’d post up two of the better images that I managed to take. The first one is a return to the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Draco. Unlike the Sunday morning image, both Cygnus and Lyra are fully visible. The double star Albireo in Cygnus as well as Vega in Lyra can both be seen floating above the roof tops. Again, if you take a closer look at Cygnus you can see part of the milky way running downwards from Deneb throughout the constellation.
The second image shot, shows the constellation Auriga and Taurus. Capella is clearly visible as is The Pleiades just towards the upper right hand corner of the image. If you look carefully, you can make out some fantastic nebula detail that the camera has picked up. Moving to the bottom right of the image, just above the roof top behind Aldebaran you can also see the Hyades star cluster
Unbelievably the clouds began to move in at around 02:30 UT. It happened so quickly that within ten minutes large parts of the sky were just blanketed in that ubiquitos orange and grey gloom that saw me forced to pack up and call it a night for another time.
Tags: Albireo, Auriga, Capella, Collinder 50, Cygnus, Deneb, Draco, DSLR, Lyra, M45, Taurus, The Hyades, The Pleiades, Vega
Posted in Astrophotography | No Comments »
The sky early on Sunday morning (05.10.08) was the best I have seen in a long while. The Astroforecast Dot Org put sky transparency at about average but from where I was observing at 02:30 UT it looked a lot better than that. This wasn’t one of my usual sessions, instead it was a great chance to take my shiny new Sony a200 DSLR for a test drive, and believe me, I had no illusions that there were going to be dud shots a plenty and a lot of experimenting going on.
It’s one thing reading up on f/stops, focal length, ISOs and exposures . . . it’s another putting it all into practice. I thought I’d take small steps and start things off by trying my hand at photographing constellations. First on the agenda was Cygnus. Focusing on infinity proved to be a real pain in the neck and I probably should have had the foresight to set the focus ring on the 18mm - 70mm zoom lens earlier in the evening.
Captures were predictably awful, but I persevered. I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted Orion just rising over the roof tops to the south east at 02.44 UT. I quickly positioned the tripod and the camera and began shooting. I started off at f4.5 using ISO 800 and a 5 second exposure. I then upped this to 10 seconds and then finally 30 seconds. It was the 30 second exposure that won the day and offered up the best (albeit slightly out of focus) capture of the evening revealing both M42 (The Orion Nebula) and M43 (De Mairan’s Nebula) as well as the star Iota Orionis which forms the tip of Orion’s sword.
I returned to my original quarry of the evening - Cygnus, which was now sinking slowly towards the horizon. Using an f/stop of 3.5 and a focal length of 18mm I managed to capture this 30 second exposure at ISO 800. Not the most dramatic shot, but it’s early days. Like the Orion shot, light pollution was quite visible in this capture as was some chroma noise, but I managed to process the worst of it out in Photoshop. I should have had the foresight to take some dark frames (note to self: TAKE DARK FRAMES!).
The white giant Deneb can be clearly seen while the star fields and dust lanes of the Milky Way are just visible as they tumble down the length of Cygnus. The top of Lyra can be seen drifting slowly out of view while Vega hovers just above the roof tops. Over to the far right of the image can be seen the constellation Draco or as the ancient Egyptians called it Taweret which means one who is great after the goddess of the northern sky.
By about 03:20 UT the cold really was beginning to set in so I decided to put the DSLR aside, but before I called it a night I decide to do a little observing through the Bresser 10×50s. Turning the binoculars on to Orion, I took a look at M42 and what a view - just stunning. Randomly sweeping the sky, I eventually landed on Ursa Major and took a peek at The Horse and Rider i.e. the stars Mizar and Alcor. Turning towards the zenith I decided to take in another view of M31 before sweeping south on to The Pleiades and finally back to M42 in Orion.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with my first proper attempts at DSLR astrophotography but I’m sure I’ve got a long way to go yet before reaching the next level.
Tags: Andromeda, Bresser 10x50, Cygnus, De Mairan's Nebula, Deneb, Draco, DSLR, Extrasolar Planet, Galaxies, Iota Orionis, Kupier Belt, Lyra, M31, M42, M43, M45, Mizar, Orion, Photoshop, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Ursa Major, Vega
Posted in Astrophotography, Observing | No Comments »
