With clear skies on Thursday night and Friday morning I thought I’d take advantage of the good conditions and spend some time sketching my observations. I really would recommend trying this - the best way to describe it would be ‘immersion observing’ if there is such a thing. I feel that you really do take in much more visually than you would normally, but then again that’s maybe just me.
Having finally finished digitizing my sketches I thought I’d post them up and share my work. Instead of giving you a blow by blow account of my observations, for a change I’ll just let the sketches do the talking . . .
Tags: Albireo, Andromeda, Cygnus, Galaxies, M31, M81, M82, Strathspey 25x100, Ursa Major
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The forecast at the Met Office held out - early Monday morning delivered crisp, clear skies with the odd cloud drifting overhead. I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity like this so promptly geared up to capture another and possibly better star trail image.
The target for the session was the constellation of Orion as it rose over the roof tops towards the south east. Having positioned the tripod and the camera I decided to take a few test shots to make sure that I was focused on infinity as well as frame the image as best I could considering the urban landscape (the backyard).
The final image is a result of thirty six 30 second exposures taken at 24mm using an ISO of 800 with an F/Stop of 4.5. I had originally taken forty six exposures but towards the end of shooting clouds began rolling in and spoiled the view. The exposures were put together in Startrails and post processed in Photoshop.
Orion can be seen rising at the very centre of the picture - I even managed to capture part of The Hyades in there too which can be seen at the top of the shot, again near the centre. All in all I’m pretty happy with my second star trails attempt, but would love to do longer trails, which means either taking more exposures or experimenting with longer exposures, F/Stops and ISO speeds. Certainly food for thought.
After capturing all the exposures that would make up my final star trails image, I decided to go for a wander across the sky using the Bresser 10×50 binoculars. I chanced my luck and decided to see if I could catch a glimpse of NGC 7000: The North America Nebula in Cygnus. No such luck - I’m beginning to think that the skies around Falkirk and Stenhousemuir just aren’t dark enough.
Having no joy with Cygnus I moved on to a current favorite of mine: Auriga and the delights of M36, M37 and M38. I viewed these three open clusters through the Strathspey 25×100 binoculars a few weeks back and I wasn’t disappointed. The view through the 10×50s was no less thrilling if not more stunning. Beautiful deep sky objects and ones I’m certainly going to be observing a lot more in the future. From here I swept over to The Hyades and The Pleiades in Taurus for a quick glimpse but I just couldn’t stop myself from coming back to these two amazing open clusters again and again during the course of my morning observations.
Reluctantly I soon turned my attention to the majesty of M31: The Andromeda Galaxy. No matter how many times I see it, it is always a wondrous sight to behold, but I almost broke my neck viewing it as the constellation itself was positioned almost at the zenith. Moving down towards the constellation Triangulum I eventually found M33, making it only the second time I have seen this fantastic yet elusive galaxy. I spent quite a while in this part of the sky, sweeping backwards and forwards from M31 and M33 just drinking in the mesmerizing view.
Before long I finally surrendered and focused the binoculars on the splendor of M42: The Orion Nebula. Yes I’ve seen The Orion Nebula many,many times before, but it still never fails to make an epic impact on me. Wheeling around to Ursa Major I thought I try and hunt down M81 and M82 but eventually just began browsing around the sky aimlessly. At this point I gradually wound things up and decided to head for the warmth of the house. Unfortunately I never managed to see or capture any Orionids or Taurids, but there is always next time.
Tags: Andromeda, Auriga, Collinder 50, Cygnus, DSLR, M31, M33, M36, M37, M38, M42, M45, M81, M82, NGC 7000, Orion, Orionids, Star Trails, Taurids, Taurus, The Hyades, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Triangulum, Ursa Major, Weather
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Thursday night (04.09.08) proved to be another clear one and I was determined to begin the galaxy hunt of Wednesday night anew. Breaking out the 25×100 binoculars I began my evening as always with an observation of Jupiter and his Galilean moons. I don’t think that you can ever be disappointed with a view of Jupiter. Even if you don’t see much in the way of planetary detail you are always able to see the new positions of the moons, which I think is half the fun. Callisto, Europa, Io and Ganymede were all on show and spotted a very delicate gas band on the northern hemisphere of Jupiter itself.
After about twenty minutes of observing Jupiter I began the galaxy hunt. I thought I would do some reconnaissance this time and use my Bresser 10×50 binoculars to sweep Ursa Major, Canes Venatici and Andromeda/Triangulum in my search for M81, M82, M51, M101, M33 and NGC 891. The sky transparency made things difficult once again and I was left trying to resolve these faint DSOs’ through a fine veil of mist in the upper atmosphere.
I was still unsuccessful in my pursuit NGC 891 and M33 so moved my observations to Ursa Major and Canes Venatici. After a pain staking search I located M81 and M82 but was still left empty handed with M51 and M101. The view of M81 and M82 through my 10×50s’ was mouth watering and I savored every moment of it. I decided to try and squeeze some more detail from these two distant DSOs’ through the 25×100s’. I certainly wasn’t disappointed - the view was incredible and I must have spent at least close to an hour just tracking these two objects through the night sky. It’s hard to fathom just what you are seeing - these two galaxies lie outside of our local cluster at a phenomenal 12 million light years away! It just boggles the mind.
To round the night off, I decided to take in a view of the Pleiades through the 25×100s’. As I have said before, this open cluster never fails to impress me and all the more so through my giant Strathspey binoculars. Tracking the cluster through the eastern sky I could make out hints of light blue and azure in the nine brightest stars . A wonderful view and a great way to end a semi successful nights’ observing.
Tags: Andromeda, Bresser 10x50, Callisto, Canes Venatici, Europa, Galaxies, Ganymede, Io, Jupiter, M101, M33, M45, M51, M81, M82, NGC 891, Strathspey 25x100, The Pleiades, Triangulum, Ursa Major
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Wednesday night was a reasonably clear night with some patches of cloud cover, but nothing too serious so I took the chance to get out and spend a couple of hours under the night sky. The seeing was good but the transparency wasn’t all that great which made observing a little more difficult. Anyway, this was more or less a test run for my latest piece of kit - a pair of Strathspey 25×100 binoculars mounted on an Optical Vision Horizon 8115 tripod.
The night’s viewing began with a look at Jupiter. The view through the 25×100 bins was greatly improved. Colour fringing was minimal and I could almost make out some faint detail on the planet. The moons Callisto, Io and Ganymede resolved with absolutely no problem( Europa was occulted by Jupiter) and I spent around 30 minutes just following the impressive view across the sky.
Next on my agenda were several new DSOs’ that I had never viewed and a couple that I wanted to return to from last weeks observations. M33 the Triangulum galaxy and NGC 891 were first on the list. M33 proved quite elusive and I spent the best part of an hour trying to locate it. I cannot be entirely sure that I managed to pin this DSO down - the lighting conditions and the transparency of the sky all conspired against me. NGC 891 would have to wait for another time as cloud cover rolled in obscuring Triangulum and Andromeda from view.
As this large swathe of cloud blocked my view in the east I turned my attention to Ursa Major and Canes Venatici, the other two constellation on my observing plan. Here I began the hunt for M81, M82, M51and M101. Again, these DSOs’ proved quite difficult to find, but I think I spotted the first two, but will need to spend some more time to refine my observations for all four DSOs’.
I also took the opportunity to have a look at the double star Mizar and it’s faint 4th magnitude companion Alcor both of which lie about 78 light years from Earth. The 25×100s’ easily resolved the two stars otherwise known as the Horse and the Rider and gave a wonderful view of this distant star system. By 2am I was beginning to really feel the cold and decided to call it a night. Hopefully the sky transparency on my next outing will have cleared up.
Tags: Andromeda, Callisto, Canes Venatici, Galaxies, Ganymede, Io, Jupiter, M101, M33, M51, M81, M82, Mizar, NGC 891, Triangulum, Ursa Major
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