On October the 13th 1773, while observing a comet, the French astronomer Charles Messier discovered what he described as a “very faint nebula without stars”. Catalogued as Messier 51, this nebulous object is actually a large spiral galaxy over 37 million light years away. Under dark skies this island universe is said to be a spectacular sight, but if like me you are trying to view this galactic gem under light polluted conditions; then you’re in for a struggle.
I have endeavored to observe M51 at least four times since I returned to amateur astronomy. Each attempt has left me empty handed, but despite my lack of success I have never abandoned my hope of one day catching a glimpse of this distant galaxy.
Whether it was kismet, experience, or blind luck; the tenuous outline of Messier 51 finally gave itself up to my 25×100 binoculars on the morning of July the 30th. Unfortunately it was to be a fleeting encounter as a colourless brume crept over the sky and obscured the view.
While I waited for the clouds to dissipate I spent my time watching, and photographing Mars as it rose above the eastern horizon along with Venus. Sadly the deteriorating conditions finally overwhelmed the sky; forcing me to pack up and call it quits for another time.
Mars and Venus Rising: Mouseover the image for more information.
Two for the Price of One
As luck would have it the following morning offered some clear skies with another opportunity to tackle M51. This time the elements proved far more agreeable, and allowed me the chance to build on my previous observation. As my eyes adapted to the dark, the subtle contour of M51 began to materialise as an opaque asymmetrical ellipse; which over time began to take on the shape of two uneven lobes.
This completely blew me away because I knew that the smaller of the two lobes was in fact the interacting dwarf galaxy NGC 5195. It was this small companion — after a close encounter between the two galaxies — that helped enhance the pronounced spiral structure of Messier 51.
Adding to this already impressive scene, averted vision revealed the minute cores of both galaxies flickering in and out of view like far flung sky lanterns. A display that was made all the more interesting with the knowledge that at the centre of M51 lies a monstrous black hole which is devouring and tearing matter apart at an incredible rate.
All good things must come to an end, as is so often the case, and 42 minutes after beginning my session a veil of cloud rolled in from the west bringing my observation of this long sought, and rewarding deep sky object, to a close.
Tags: Aldebaran, Canes Venatici, DSLR, Galaxy, Mars, Messier 51, NGC 5195, Strathspey 25x100, Venus
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December the 31st: the last day of 2008 proved to be an exceptionally good one where the weather was concerned. With little more than some cirrostratus clouds drifting high up in the atmosphere there was nothing to stop me from setting up the gear and grabbing some photographs of the Moon, Venus and possibly Neptune.
As I was snapping off exposures a jet plane slipped into my field of view and helped add a little interest to the picture above. This was a 1/20 sec RAW mode shot that was taken using a focal length of 70mm and an f/stop of 5.6 with the white balance set to shaded. While this was a fairly straightforward shot, trying to catch even the smallest glimpse of Neptune meant allowing Sunset to turn to dusk, but this would bring it’s own problems. With a magnitude of about 8, Neptune is a fairly dim planet and in order to successfully capture a shot of it a longer exposure would be required, but not so long that the Moon would become blown.
Trying various exposure timings I found that 2 seconds was all the camera could manage before the bright crescent Moon began to flare. Unfortunately 2 seconds just wasn’t adequate enough to hook a shot with Neptune in it, but as a consolation I managed to bag two stars in the constellation Capricornus: Deneb Algedi, a quaternary star system and Nashira, a giant blue/white type A star. The final picture above was taken in RAW mode at 70mm using an f/stop of 5.6 and an ISO of 100 with the white balance set to daylight. Although It’s a decent enough shot it’s frustrating to think that I almost had this sewn up and it would have been nice to end 2008 with a great picture of the Moon, Venus and Neptune, but as the saying goes you win some, you lose some.
Tags: Capricornus, Deneb Algedi, DSLR, Moon, Nashira, Neptune, Venus, Weather
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For the first time in what feels like forever the skies over east central Scotland on Monday finally cleared and brought the opportunity to once more dust off my old 60mm Tasco refractor for a short study of Venus. Using a magnification of 160X I managed a closer observation albeit with a lot more chromatic aberration, but then Venus is not a planet that often yields much in the way of surface detail when using a small instrument so I felt I could live with it.
Shining at a magnitude of -4.25 Venus was a blazing beacon in the evening sky and through the telescope I could clearly see that the planet was fast approaching it’s quarter phase. If you’re interested in catching Venus during it’s quarter phase then the best time to do so will be between the 6th and 13th of January by which point the planet will also have brightened between -4.31 and -4.34 in magnitude.
As well as taking in a view of Venus I also decided to track down a planet that I have never observed before: Neptune. For this task I used my Strathspey 25×100 binoculars and it wasn’t long before I had the tenuous planet within my field of view. Caught in the glare of Venus and at a magnitude of 7.96 Neptune proved to be a slight challenge. Here I had to use averted vision to precisely locate this distant ice giant and while the 25×100s did not resolve a planetary disc or anything remotely in the way of detail I can at least say that I have finally seen Neptune.
Tags: Neptune, Strathspey 25x100, Tasco 60mm, Venus, Weather
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 5 Comments »
Venus was a truly stunning sight on Tuesday evening as the overbearing cloud cover finally melted away to reveal this awesome twilight jewel. Instead of reaching for my DSLR or the 25×100 binoculars I resurrected a well-worn piece of equipment: my 60mm Tasco refractor. Languishing in the attic for several years now the telescope has without a doubt seen better days, but I knew if I wanted to see more detail in an observation of Venus I was going to need more resolving power.
Turning the dated refractor towards the glare of Venus I could easily discern the glowing gibbous disc of the remote planet which at the moment is around 64% visible and shining at a magnitude of about -4.2. Added to my observation was some dramatic and dazzling lens flaring that would come and go as I viewed the planet. I made a rough sketch at the time in my notebook which I then later translated into the digital sketch that you can see above. My outmoded Tasco telescope certainly delivered a rewarding view and resuscitating it (albeit temporarily) has certainly galvanized my desire to purchase a newer one in order to supplement my observing equipment. Who knows, Santa might be generous this year?
Tags: Tasco 60mm, Venus, Weather
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 2 Comments »
