Autumn Clusters

21 September 2019, 21:00 – 22:30 BST

Conditions: much the same as Thursday – very mild for time of year, bands of clouds moving slowly from the south.

Started off with a quick eyepiece comparison (viewing the Double Cluster): now I’ve looked through the Ethos a number of times, I can really see the flaws in the Orion Deepview 28mm. It has approximately the same size eye-lens, but that’s where the similarities end. The Deepview’s coatings are inferior (that’s obvious in daylight) and the sharpness falls off very quickly from the centre. I’ve also noticed before that when looking at a bright object like the moon in the Deepview, the shadow of the secondary mirror is visible. To be fair, the Deepview is a perfectly acceptable starter eyepiece (and easier to look through than ones I’ve used in the past), but I wonder if it’s really the best choice to bundle with an f/4.7 scope (especially one marketed in the "Plus" range). I doubt I’ll be using it again other than for demonstrating to others the difference between a budget and a premium eyepiece.

All subsequent observations with the Ethos 13mm.

NGC 6940, open cluster, Vulpecula
Rich, elongated cluster. On this occasion (and in this eyepiece) it looked a little like a swan in flight (which would be more apt if it were in Cygnus).

NGC 7160, open cluster, Cepheus
Attractive little cluster with five bright stars arranged in two groupings. One to revisit at 240x on a better night.

While sweeping the area around this cluster I stumbled upon Xi Cephei (Kurhah) – a really neat pairing of two bright stars. The colours were subtle, but the primary appeared to be white or very pale yellow, with a pale blue secondary roughly 10 arcseconds to the west.

NGC 7235, open cluster, Cepheus
Misty little spray of stars, 2 or 3 moderately bright members.

M34, open cluster, Perseus
Array of bright stars surrounded by a loose hexagon of stars, like a large spider sitting in a web. 2 close stars of equal brightness form the “eyes” of the spider. Looks good in the Ethos.

Nature note
Two large frogs (one of which left the pond to go roaming) and sixteen froglets.

Stars that pass in the night

19 September 2019, 21:15 – 22:00 BST

Conditions: good seeing, but a slight haze affecting transparency. Cloud cover increasing, curtailing session after 45 minutes.

With no time to waste changing eyepieces, all observations were carried out with the 13 mm Ethos.

After quick looks at the Double Cluster and the Saturn Nebula, I turned my attention to:

Veil Nebula, supernova remnant, Cygnus
Viewed unfiltered for a change. Both sides of the loop were visible, albeit very faintly. 52 Cygni was split nicely in the Ethos; the secondary showing up as a faint companion just six arcseconds from the primary.

M73, asterism, Aquarius
Four stars of similar brightness arranged in a tight “arrowhead” shape. Latest science suggests that this is just a chance alignment and the stars are not physically related.

Nature note
1 large frog in the pond, accompanied by 20+ froglets.

Finding Neptune

5 September 2019, 21:30 – 00:15 BST

Conditions: a near first-quarter moon low in the southeast ruled out observations in that part of the sky. A few small clouds passing overhead, air cooling noticeably, otherwise good for observing.

Albireo, double star, Cygnus
At 92x in the 13mm Ethos this presented as a golden primary and pale blue secondary suspended in a sea of stars. This might be the most beautiful view I’ve ever had of Albireo – certainly one worth savouring.

NGC 7027, planetary nebula, Cygnus
Revisiting one of last year’s targets. In the Ethos it resembled a defocused star. At 240x with the OIII filter it was very bright with a tantalising hint of structure. Quite small.

NGC 7039, open cluster, Cygnus
Looks good in the Ethos. A rich band of stars framed by a rhombus of brighter stars. Not far from the North America Nebula.

NGC 7048, planetary nebula, Cygnus
Just visible without the filter at 92x as a faint smudge of light with a star to the west. In the OIII it appeared as an elongated cone of light with a star at the apex. Unusual shape for a planetary nebula, but I think the star probably caused it to appear more distorted than it really is.

NGC 7000, North America Nebula, Cygnus
With the Ethos and the OIII filter, the “gulf coast” region of the nebula was clearly visible as a milky glow, resembling a large question-mark melting into the starry background. I didn’t think I’d be able to see it as well as this in the XT10.

M2, globular cluster, Aquarius
At 240x, the asymmetry noted before appears to be caused by two wings of stars sweeping back towards the west. The foreground star on the eastern side of the cluster seems to sit in its own pool of darkness, adding to the asymmetry. The cluster resolved really well with averted vision.

M15, globular cluster, Pegasus
Also observed at 240x. Member stars brighter than those of M2. Long loose “tail” of stars to north. Bright, dense core. The (rare) opportunity to view these globulars multiple times over the course of a fortnight really makes a difference – the more you look at them, the more you see.

Neptune 
Helpfully very close (maybe a little too close) to 4th magnitude Phi Aquarii, so (unlike last year) very easy to find. Viewed at 240x (5mm Nagler) and 333x (9mm Nagler + 2.5x Powermate). I need to try this again when the seeing is better, but Neptune was a tiny blue-grey disk (like a defocused star), contrasting nicely with the orangey-red Phi Aquarii. No sign of Triton.

M30, globular cluster, Capricornus
Small condensed blur, very low in the sky (-23 degrees declination). Bright leading star to west. Amazingly, with averted vision I could begin to resolve the cluster despite its low altitude: the most prominent features were a straight line of stars to the north and another fainter one (not radial to the core) to the northwest, giving the cluster a very distinctive lopsided, spiky appearance.

Just for fun, I also viewed M57 and M27 at 333x. Despite being on the light-polluted side of the meridian the Ring Nebula looked rather impressive at this high magnification (like a black-and-white photo); the Dumbbell not so much (it's large enough already that it doesn't really benefit from the extra power). But it's good to know I can use this magnification on some deepsky objects.

First Impressions of the Tele Vue 13 mm Ethos

3 September 2019, 21:45 – 23:45 BST

So I’m a little late to the Ethos party, but this particular eyepiece has been in my sights for a while, for the following reasons:

As much as I love the 24 mm Panoptic (I originally got it for my 102 mm Vixen refractor), the large exit pupil and lower contrast at 50x means that a lot of the fainter stars and low-surface brightness DSOs that would otherwise be visible in the XT10 are washed out in my somewhat light-polluted sky. The Nagler 9 mm resolves those problems, but its smaller true field of view (0.59 degrees) makes it harder to tell where I am, and the larger star clusters and DSOs lose some of their visual impact. In the XT10 the Ethos produces nearly the same TFOV as the Panoptic, but at almost double the magnification. (For more on why this matters, see Al Nagler's essay on the Majesty Factor.) I'll still use the Panoptic (for large objects like the Veil and the North America Nebula that respond well to filters, it comes into its own), but the Ethos fills a gap in my eyepiece collection.

And, if that isn't justification enough, having started this hobby squinting through "drinking straw" 0.965" eyepieces, I can really appreciate the value and sheer comfort of looking through a high quality wide-field eyepiece. A recent S&T article on "hobby-killers" warned against small telescopes and their small eyepieces, but I think a case could made for starting small. It forces you to hone your observing skills and certainly gives you a greater appreciation for the good stuff when you can afford it.

Usually the purchase of new astronomical equipment is immediately followed by a month of bad weather, but fortunately I got a chance to try out the Ethos only the second night after it arrived. The forecast wasn’t promising and there were indeed a lot of clouds passing overhead, but there were just about enough gaps to make it worthwhile.

Initial Findings
The eyepiece needs the 2-inch extender to reach focus with the XT10’s Crayford focuser. The Ethos is heavy, but it’s nothing that a tightening of the altitude tension bearing can’t fix (and it’s not as heavy as the Canon 80D / 2.5x Powermate combination).

Because I was chasing the gaps in the clouds, the session was more of a whistle-stop tour than I would have liked, but I was able to make the following observations.

Field of View
I doubt I'm the first one to make this comparison, but going from an 82-degree Nagler to the 100-degree Ethos is like moving from CinemaScope to IMAX. I had to practically bury my eyeball in the eye-lens and move my head around just to see the field-stop. To call it immersive is an understatement. It’s the perfect eyepiece for sweeping along rich star fields, and I found it a very comfortable viewing experience. For telescopes which don't track - like Dobsonians - it's a godsend; you can keep the target in view for longer without having to constantly keep nudging the scope. If you’re into astro-sketching you might prefer a tighter field of view to work with, and putting bright objects outside the field-stop (to reveal faint neighbouring objects) is a little trickier than usual, but otherwise I can’t think of any downsides.

Sharpness
Star-testing confirmed my daylight observations with the TV-60: this eyepiece is extremely sharp on-axis – perhaps the sharpest I’ve ever looked through (and my other Tele Vues aren’t exactly lacking in this regard). I’ve read about this finding previously but I put it partly down to reviewer hyperbole until I saw it for myself. The stars boiled down to perfect little pin-pricks of light, which also made it easier to snap them into focus. As expected (the XT10 is a fast f/4.7 scope), stars towards the edge of the field exhibited the arrowhead shape characteristic of coma, but it wasn’t obtrusive, and the field of view is so huge I didn’t really notice the effect unless I specifically looked for it.

Colour
I couldn’t honestly tell if the eyepiece gave “warm” or “cold” views (I think that test will have to wait for when the moon is high in the sky), but I did notice that star colours stood out particularly well. The red giant stars in and around the Double Cluster were easy to pick out and the pale yellow / pale blue combination of Almach (Gamma Andromedae) made a lovely contrast.

The intensity of planetary nebula NGC 7662 (The Blue Snowball) seems to vary slightly each time I look at it (though that probably has as much to do with my eye as it does with the equipment and the sky conditions), but on this occasion it seemed to have a turquoise tinge. (I struggle to tell the difference between green and blue in low light, so take these types of colour observations with a pinch of salt.)

I won’t go through everything I looked at (for the most part I stuck to “showpiece” objects that I was already familiar with), but here are a few notes on specific DSOs worthy of mention:

The Double Cluster looks great in just about any scope, but this is by far the best view I’ve ever had of it. The field of view is just wide enough to encompass both clusters and some of the surrounding star field. Pinholes in black velvet? Diamond (and ruby) dust on silk? Words can’t really do justice to this vista any more than photos can.

M2 and M15: I think the 9 mm Nagler is still my eyepiece of choice for globular clusters, but the Ethos really makes it feel like you’re looking at them from a vantage point somewhere in deep space. M2 was a little washed out by light pollution, but still partially resolved, whereas M15 showed a sprinkling of stars all the way to the core.

With the addition of the Astronomik OIII filter, the Veil Nebula was an impressive sight. The view through the 24 mm Panoptic is perhaps aesthetically better (but only marginally) simply because the nebula covers such a large area of sky, but the fainter parts of the eastern and western arcs were easier to trace out in the Ethos, and I could see substantially more of Pickering’s/Fleming's Triangle, including part of the wispy section that trails off to the south. I think for detailed study of the Veil, the Ethos wins out.

With the OIII filter still in place I had a quick look at the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus before the clouds got to it. It resembled a letter C hanging in space, not unlike the white C on the underwing of a Comma Butterfly.

The Andromeda Galaxy was big and bright, with M32 occupying the same field of view. It only took a slight push of the telescope tube to locate M110, which also showed up very well. I'm looking forward to exploring the Virgo Cluster with this eyepiece.

The star clusters of Cassiopeia were rich and numerous in the Ethos; this eyepiece really gives you the best of both worlds in that you can view them in the context of the surrounding Milky Way and resolve them at the same time. I could easily spend a whole session just sweeping back and forth across this constellation, but perhaps the stand-out cluster was NGC 7789. In the 24 mm Panoptic many of its stars are just a little too faint to be resolved properly with direct vision, whereas in the 9 mm Nagler it fills the field of view to the point where it looks more like a rich portion of the Milky Way. The Ethos showed it in its full glory; lots more stars were resolved and I could see dark lanes appearing to curve through the cluster (not unlike the straight ones which cut through the Wild Duck Cluster). For the first time I could appreciate how it got its nickname “The Rose Cluster”. The individual groups of stars really did look like unfurling petals.


Disclaimer
I was not offered any incentive (financial or otherwise) by Tele Vue to write this post. Other wide-field eyepieces of similar focal length are available, comparison reviews of which can be found on sites such as Cloudy Nights, Stargazers' Lounge and Scope Reviews.

Exploring Delphinus

1 September 2019, 21:30 – 01:00 BST

A cold night, and too breezy for imaging. Instead, for a change, I put the TV60 to use as an observing scope while the XT10 cooled to ambient temperature.

Transparency: not as good as 30 August
Seeing: Good to begin with, but worsened as the night progressed.

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TV60 + 24mm Panoptic (15x)
It’s a treat to just ramble along the Milky Way at this magnification, but the most noteworthy observations came when I added the OIII filter:

Veil Nebula, supernova remnant, Cygnus
Both arcs were visible (albeit faintly) in the same field of view. (This wasn't a surprise to me as I'd already tried this some years ago using the Ultrablock filter, although my notes from that time state that the western segment 6960 was only just on the threshold of visibility.) I think from a really dark site, Pickering’s/Fleming's Triangle might even be possible with this combination. Something to bear in mind perhaps the next time I take the TV60 on holiday.

NGC 7000, North America Nebula, Cygnus
Large and prominent at this magnification, and the OIII filter confirmed it as clearly nebulous in nature and not just a star-rich section of the Milky Way. The brightest section was the part adjoining the “Gulf of Mexico.” (Again, this replicated an observation made some years previously using the Ultrablock filter.)

NGC 281, Pac-man Nebula, Cassiopeia
Showed up well as an amorphous little glow, albeit devoid of detail.

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Other observations for the night were carried out with the XT10, using (unless otherwise stated) the 9mm Nagler (133x).

NGC 6716, open cluster, Sagittarius
Tight, boxy little cluster, shaped a bit like a backwards “2”.

Cr 394, open cluster, Sagittarius
Sprawling cluster, larger than 6716.

NGC 6818, Little Gem Nebula, Sagittarius
Tough to find (in a bright part of the sky with no naked eye stars nearby), but when I did track it down, it presented as a bright little disc, becoming even brighter with the Ultrablock filter (the OIII was still on the TV60). Prolonged examination revealed a dark core – a typical summer planetary. I also looked for the nearby Barnard’s Galaxy, but (as expected) it was hopelessly lost in the light pollution.

M75, globular cluster, Sagittarius
Grainy little fuzzball, washed out by light pollution. No stars resolved. Seemed quite small compared to other globulars, but perhaps I was only seeing the core region.

NGC 6934, globular cluster, Delphinus
Another grainy, unresolved glow. Appeared to have a slight bluish tinge. Bright field star to west.

Gamma Delphinus, double star
Impressively bright and close double star with an equally close (but fainter) pair of stars to the north. Reminiscent of Epsilon Lyrae.

NGC 7006, globular cluster, Delphinus
Faint round glow, brighter towards centre, but lacking the grainy appearance of the previous two globulars viewed tonight. Looked more like a comet than a globular cluster.

M72, globular cluster, Aquarius
Weak round glow, very faint for a Messier globular.

NGC 6891, planetary nebula, Delphinus
Very small disc of light, almost stellar (which explains why I overlooked it on 25 August). Needed the Nagler 5mm (240x) plus the Ultrablock to confirm its nature. Seemed slightly elongated at high magnification.

Couldn’t find NGC 6886 (I’m guessing it’s even tinier than 6891), but NGC 6905 (the Blue Flash Nebula) showed up well at 240x. Smoke ring of asymmetric brightness sitting in a triangle of stars.

NGC 185, galaxy, Cassiopeia
An exercise in frustration (the sky conditions didn’t really justify the amount of time I spent on this and 147), but eventually I located NGC 185 (one of M31’s outlying satellite galaxies). Soft round glow – very faint and featureless. No sign at all of NGC 147. Not a night for faint galaxies.

NGC 7293, Helix Nebula, Aquarius
A little more washed out by light pollution / poor transparency compared to Friday, but still impressive. With the Ultrablock I could make out several field stars surrounding the helix.

The Helix Nebula and other Highlights

30 August 2019, 22:30 – 01:00 BST

Much better transparency tonight – ideal for photographing my primary target for the autumn: M33. And the previous sessions had given me enough confidence in the imaging and autoguiding rig to leave it alone while it captured two hours’ worth of data. (With no bright stars nearby, the hardest part was getting the galaxy centred in the camera’s field of view.)

After idly touring the Milky Way while my eyes fully adapted to the dark, it seemed only right that I open the session with a closer look at the object I was imaging:

M33, Triangulum Galaxy
Viewed at both 50x and 133x; challenging as always. The northern spiral arm was easier to see than the southern one. The nucleus was star-like, with a faint star close to it (in line with NGC 604). Some of the other HII regions were suspected with averted vision, but not to the point where I could say I was confident of detecting them. I used a finder chart to pinpoint the location of the globular cluster C39 but, not surprisingly, it was below the threshold of visibility.

NGC 7331, spiral galaxy, Pegasus
Viewed at 133x and 240x. At the higher magnification there was perhaps a hint of one of the companion galaxies, but it was extremely subtle. Likewise, there was a very vague suggestion of a misty glow in the region where Stephan’s Quintet is supposed to be, but not convincing enough for me to call it.

NGC 7009, Saturn Nebula, Aquarius
Bright ellipse at 133x. At 240x with the OIII filter it became very bright, albeit devoid of detail. I couldn’t see the ansae directly, but with averted vision I could tell there was something “Saturn-like” about its shape. The nickname is well-deserved; at first glance it does look a lot like a ghost image of the ringed planet.

M2, globular cluster, Aquarius
Best view yet of this globular. Large, slightly elongated, well resolved, particularly with averted vision. The brightest member is just to the east-northeast of the core (though this may be a foreground star).

M15, globular cluster, Pegasus
Viewing one globular straight after another really allows you to appreciate the differences. M15 is brighter than M2 and clearly more condensed. Easier to resolve too (more stars visible in direct vision).

NGC 7293, Helix Nebula, Aquarius
With a declination of -21 degrees and a reputation for having a low surface brightness, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to see this planetary nebula, but a sweep of the area at 133x with the OIII filter quickly brought it into view. It showed up surprisingly well, looking not unlike its familiar photographic representation (albeit minus the colour). Even though I’d read about it before, I was still unprepared for just how big it appeared in the field of view. Overall it resembled a pair of large, ghostly overlapping smoke rings, with a darker cavity on the northwest edge and a hollowed-out interior. At 50x (still with the OIII filter) it was brighter still. The only other planetary nebula I can think of that vaguely resembles it is the Owl Nebula in Ursa Major, but the Helix is superior in every way (not just size). Easily the highlight of the evening. Afterwards, I removed the OIII filter to test if I could see it unaided, but it had left the field of view by the time I put the Panoptic back in and I couldn’t find it again. I’m pretty certain I was sweeping in the right area, so file that as another success for the OIII filter.

Nature note:
At least 10 frogs in the pond, including several of this year’s froglets and the large pale “telescope-hopper” from Monday night.

A Bow-tie in Cepheus

27 August 2019, 22:00 – 23:00 BST

The third clear night in a row, although the transparency was rather poor. The imaging target for the evening was the globular cluster M15.

Observations of M15, M71, M57 and NGC 7662 were affected by the conditions and so not really worthy of note-taking, although the latter (7662) did show a hint of a darker core at the higher magnification of 240x. However there were a couple of other highlights:

M103, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Triangular cluster with prominent red star at centre. While sweeping the scope towards Epsilon Cas I stumbled upon a tiny little cluster of stars, the four brightest stars of which formed an almost dead straight line. Not plotted in PSA, but confirmed in Uranometria as Trumpler 1.

NGC 40, The Bow-tie Nebula, Cepheus
Medium sized planetary nebula; faint envelope surrounding central star (not unlike the Crystal Ball Nebula in Taurus). The addition of the OIII filter gave a hint of a lobed structure, at the expense of the central star (which was swamped by the nebulosity). Worth revisiting under better sky conditions.

Other notes
Saw another late Perseid streaking through Lyra towards the end of the evening.

A Veil, a Snowball and a Bubble

26 August 2019, 22:00 – 23:30 BST

After the success of the previous night’s imaging session, it seemed only fair that I should photograph the other (eastern) half of the Veil Nebula, though without the benefit of a naked eye star (52 Cyg) to use as a target it took a little longer to get it centred.

Conditions: another warm night, slight haze affecting the transparency.

M71, globular cluster, Sagitta
Rich, filmy mass of stars in an already rich section of the Milky Way. More condensed than M11, but lacking the density of more typical globulars.

Albireo, Cygnus
Lovely double star; golden primary, pale blue secondary. (There isn’t really anything new I can say about Albireo, but I keep coming back to it.)

NGC 6819, open cluster, Cygnus
Cluster with a hat-shaped outline. Member stars not particularly bright. Central gap. Resides in a rich Milky Way field.

NGC 6866, open cluster, Cygnus
Another Cygnus cluster - like a larger, looser version of 6819.

Veil Nebula, supernova remnant, Cygnus
A comparison (at 50x) of the Ultrablock and the OIII filter. While both filters do an excellent job on this nebula, it was clear that the OIII provided a much darker background, thus making the nebula itself seem brighter. This also made it easier to see the overall shape of the two arcs and some of their internal structure, as well as the much fainter Pickering/Fleming’s Triangle. When I switched back to the Ultrablock, the triangle was just about visible, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t already seen it with the OIII.

Another thing I noticed with the OIII was that the area inside the loop seemed brighter than outside (particularly on the eastern side). This might be an illusion (long exposure images show that the visible nebulosity is confined to discrete sections), but the photos I took seem to hint at a greater star density inside the Veil. (Is the shockwave clearing away the interstellar medium, creating a window in that part of the Milky Way?)

NGC 7662, The Blue Snowball, Andromeda
Tough to find on this occasion for some reason. Otherwise as before, blue-green colour.

NGC 7331, spiral galaxy, Andromeda
Streak of light, no sign of the companion galaxies (the “fleas”), but not surprising given the less than optimal transparency.

NGC 281, emission nebula, Cassiopeia
I needed the OIII filter to see it (at 50x), but once I did the overall comma shape stood out well, with a suggestion of dark inlets cutting into the nebula.

NGC 7635, Bubble Nebula, Cassiopeia
With the OIII filter still in place, I pushed the telescope past M52, not really expecting to see anything, but the nebula stood out surprisingly well. Not so much a bubble as a little crescent-moon shaped patch of nebulosity. I swapped out the 24mm Panoptic for the 9mm Nagler (minus the filter), but the nebula was no longer visible.

I rounded off the evening with a quick look at two old favourites in Cassiopeia: M52 (a rich little cluster) and NGC 7789 (a rich large cluster with faint stars arranged in clumps).

Nature note
While I was taking a test shot of the Veil I heard a “clonk” from the XT10. Upon investigating with a red-light torch, I discovered that a large pale frog had hopped onto the base underneath the main mirror. It took some persuading to vacate its temporary home, but I eventually sent it safely on its way. Still, at least it blundered into that scope rather than the one taking long exposures.

Three Summer Planetaries

25 August 2019, 22:00 – 23:00 BST

The main objective for the evening was photographing the Veil Nebula (West) using 3-minute subs. This is twice as long as anything I’ve attempted before, providing my first real test of the autoguiding set-up. After the inevitable faffing around with polar alignment etc., I got about an hour’s worth of data before my target crossed the meridian.

Conditions: A very mild, still evening (perhaps a little too mild, judging by the sensor temperatures). Once the imaging rig was up and running, I sat down with the XT10 to look at three familiar targets and one not-so-familiar.

M15, globular cluster, Pegasus
Viewed at 240x and 133x (the latter giving the best view on this occasion). Takes a little longer to “get your eye in” on this globular compared to M13, but very rewarding once you do. Nicely resolved, particularly with averted vision.

M27, The Dumbbell Nebula, Vulpecula
9mm Nagler + OIII filter. Very bright with this filter – the apple-core fills in to become a football. But hard to make out detail other than a sharp edge on one side.

NGC 6905, The Blue Flash Nebula, Delphinus
A new object for me; it helps that there’s a large arrow in the sky (the constellation Sagitta) pointing towards it. At 133x it was obvious as a medium to large-sized, round planetary nebula, though I can’t say there was anything particularly blue about it. Appeared to be some brightness variations across the disc, including a slightly darker core. Field star to the north and a fainter one to the east.

M57, The Ring Nebula, Lyra
Beautiful ethereal ring of light. So bright in the XT10 that I can’t really compare it to a smoke-ring anymore; it’s closer to the photographic representation (minus the colour of course). With the OIII filter it was brighter still, and seemed slightly more elongated compared to the unfiltered view.

Nature note
3 frogs in the pond … and 5 tadpoles!

The Veil in OIII

22 August 2019, 21:45 – 23:00 BST

The first clear, moonless night this side of the solstice and the transparency was unusually good for the time of year.

The seeing wasn’t nearly as good, so the best views of Saturn came only fleetingly at 240x, with the Cassini Division, the planet’s shadow across the rings, and the subtle banding on the planet itself all on display. The moons showed up well at 133x, with Titan, Rhea, Tethys and Dione clearly visible.

M11, Wild Duck Cluster, Scutum
A quick look at one of my favourite clusters, although the fainter stars were a little bit washed out by light pollution. But this was just a warm-up to get my eyes back in deep-sky mode as I prepared for the main target of the evening…

Veil Nebula, supernova remnant, Cygnus
Ever since I got it I’ve been itching to use the Astronomik OIII filter on the Veil and I wasn’t disappointed. At 50x (Panoptic 24mm), the nebula was bright and distinct and very large, showing lots of fine detail in both arcs. The sinuous “spike” of the Western Veil (NGC 6960) was clearly brighter along its edges, and the Eastern Veil (NGC 6992/5) showed faint “talon-like” extensions (IC 1340) from its southern end. I also saw a portion of Pickering/Fleming’s Triangle (Simeis 3-188) for the first time, visible directly as a faint wisp of light, becoming brighter and more extended with averted vision. Overall, the Veil had a wraith-like appearance, quite unlike anything else I’ve seen in the night sky. I’ve written before about the differences between planetary nebulae and emission nebulae as being akin to smoke and mist, but this was something else entirely, like a windblown cloud or vapour trail, frozen in space.

Other notes:
As I was packing up I saw a single late Perseid flashing through Pegasus.

The Moon and Jupiter

May - August 2019

A combination of cloud and short nights (at my latitude, the sky never gets out of astronomical twilight for a few weeks either side of the solstice) meant that I largely missed out on the summer deep-sky objects this year. (Although there was compensation in the form of a striking display of noctilucent clouds.) For future reference, I think I’ll have to put in a really late session in April or early May if I’m to stand a realistic chance of exploring Ophiuchus and northern Scorpius.

On the few occasions I was able to get out in May the moon was dominating the sky, so I used the opportunity to get some images (like the one above), as well as putting a new Baader ND 0.9 filter to the test. The XT10 gathers a lot of light, so the filter certainly makes lunar observing a much more comfortable experience, particularly at lower magnifications. Purists may argue about the need for such a filter, but I’d rather not be swapping out Tele Vue eyepieces when I’m so dazzled by moonlight I can’t see what I’m doing. The Baader’s colour tone is pleasingly neutral and there were no reflections or other impairments that I could see.


10 August 2019, 20:50 BST

Jupiter is even lower in the sky this year (like Saturn, barely clearing the neighbour’s fence), but despite this I still managed to get some brief moments of good seeing – revealing the colour differences between the Great Red Spot, the darker equatorial belts, and the ongoing tan-coloured outbreak in the Equatorial Zone. All four Galilean moons were visible, with Europa gradually moving onto Jupiter’s disc as it began a transit. I was even able to use the 9mm Nagler + 2.5x Powermate combination to get a magnification of 333x, although as usual the seeing dropped off rapidly once Jupiter crossed the meridian.

More Galaxies (and a Quasar)

4-5 April 2019, 21:45 – 01:15 BST

A chilly, gusty evening – again, not optimal for imaging. The seeing was excellent (the scope reached ambient temperature very quickly) and condensation wasn’t an issue. Transparency improved as the night went on (aided by all the neighbours’ lights being switched off – for once).

All observations at 133x (9mm Nagler) unless otherwise stated.

Polaris, double star, Ursa Minor
I don’t why it’s taken me so long to point the XT10 at Polaris, but it resolved nicely as a white/pale yellow primary and a much fainter secondary directly above it in the field of view. Both stars showed near-perfect little Airy discs – not bad considering the scope had been outside for less than half an hour. I hope the seeing is this good the next time I look at the moon.

I also looked for high northern planetary nebula IC 3568 but I couldn’t locate it (probably because I was unaware how small it is). But I did find an interesting “headlight” double star in the area.

3C 273, Quasar, Virgo
With only a red-dot finder to assist me (and a distinct lack of naked eye stars to "hop" from) I wasn't at all confident of tracking this down. However, more through luck than judgement I found the area covered by the close-up finder chart in the field of view of the eyepiece, and from there it was a relatively simple matter to locate the quasar. At 133x it was faint, but easily visible with averted vision, a little brighter than the adjacent “G” star. At 240x it was just about visible with direct vision. On a purely aesthetic level it was unremarkable, but it's staggering to think I was looking at something 2 – 2.5 billion light-years away (sources vary) – or, to put it another way, a thousand times further away than the Andromeda Galaxy.

M53, globular cluster, Coma Berenices
Grainy at 240x, some stars resolved with averted vision. Good, but not impressive as globulars go. Two field stars east of cluster. Reasonably bright star on northern edge, separated from main body of cluster by an apparent dark bay or rift. Couldn’t see NGC 5053 for some reason; perhaps I was looking in the wrong place.

NGC 4214, galaxy, Canes Venatici
Irregular, vaguely diamond-shaped galaxy with grainy texture. Two faint stars to west, brighter one east. Central bar aligned east-west.

NGC 4244, galaxy, Canes Venatici
Fairly large, long streak of light, slightly fatter and brighter in the middle. Star on northern tip of galaxy.

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy, Canes Venatici
Best view of spiral structure since 10 Feb, showed particularly well in averted vision. Dark areas between arms just about visible in direct vision. Also found a faint, round little galaxy roughly south of M51 – not plotted in PSA, but later identified as NGC 5198. After this and 3C 273, it’s starting to dawn on me just how much I can see through this scope given the right sky conditions.

M101, Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
Hint of HII/star-forming regions with averted vision; most prominent one appeared to be east of nucleus. Suggestion of discontinuous spiral arms. Each time I look at M101 the view gets fractionally better, but still very challenging. Maybe I’m asking too much of my suburban skies but I feel like I should be getting more out of this galaxy.

NGC 4565, edge-on galaxy, Coma Berenices
Beautiful needle galaxy with narrow dust lane. Otherwise, not much I can add to previous notes.

NGC 4147, globular cluster, Coma Berenices
Small, condensed; grainy appearance with averted vision, but not resolved.

NGC 4293? galaxy, Coma Berenices
Stumbled across this one while sweeping for M85. (I thought I could ease my way into the heart of the Virgo Cluster from the north, but I quickly lost my bearings.) Presented as elliptical blur; distinctive line of stars to north of galaxy.

M85, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Back on track again. An elliptical galaxy with a stellar nucleus. Bright star north of core. Fainter galaxy (NGC 4394) to east.

M100, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Large, round, extended envelope; brighter towards centre. Faint star northwest.

M98, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Extended ellipse – like smaller, fainter version of M31.

M99, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Round blur, brighter towards centre. Suggestion of mottling and reverse-s spiral structure. Might be worth revisiting this one at higher magnification.

Markarian’s Chain, galaxies in Virgo
Counted ten galaxies in total, starting from NGC 4459. Almost an embarrassment of riches. It’s hard to give one galaxy your full attention when another one is creeping into the field of view. Maybe this section of the Virgo cluster needs to be viewed at low magnification or high magnification to get the best out of it – not intermediate.

M87, elliptical galaxy, Virgo
(Yes, that galaxy.) Appeared as a large oval blur, brighter towards centre. Sharing same field of view with NGC 4478 – smaller, fainter.

M104, Sombrero Galaxy, Virgo
Streak of light, bright core. Long, straight dark lane seen very clearly with averted vision south of nucleus despite low altitude.

Moved down to Corvus to look for the Antennae galaxies again. Didn’t see them (again), but I did find:

NGC 4361, planetary nebula, Corvus
Faintly visible at 133x, but still obvious. The OIII filter improved contrast, but hard to make out any detail other than a rough round shape with ragged edges. Still, it's encouraging I can see planetary nebulae this far south; perhaps the Helix Nebula is a possibility after all.

NGC 6210, planetary nebula, Hercules
Small, bright little disc of light; seemed slightly elliptical. Very bright in OIII filter; a typical summer planetary. Would need very high magnification to show significant detail, I think.

Other notes:
Also saw two meteors falling N to SE through same part of sky (Virgo), separated by at least half an hour.

Galaxies in Canes Venatici

31 March 2019, 21:15 – 00:15 BST

A windy, slightly chilly night with occasional strong gusts (so unsuitable for imaging). A few small clouds scudding quickly across the sky. Transparency better than Thursday, but still nowhere near as good as the memorable session on 10 February.

All observations at 133x (9mm Nagler) unless otherwise stated.

Y Canum Venaticorum (La Superba), carbon star in Canes Venatici
Bright little red-hued star, like a glowing ember. I think descriptions of the colours of stars are sometimes overstated – particularly when there isn’t a nearby companion to contrast it with – but this one was very distinctive. A refreshing starter before I got into the main course of galaxies.

M63, Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Stellar core; extended, mottled envelope. Two bright stars to the west, a close grouping of three fainter ones to the east.

M94, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright core with a circular extended envelope (brighter overall than M63). On first impression it might be mistaken for an unresolved globular cluster, or the Eskimo Nebula (2392) with an additional shell of nebulosity. One bright star some distance west of the galaxy.

NGC 4490/4485, interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici
Elliptical misty patch with smaller, fainter companion, like two fish circling each other.

NGC 4449, irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici
Following on from Thursday's observation – boxy shape, grainy texture. Averted vision appeared to show three “knots” or condensations arranged in a line, the middle one being the brightest. Increasing the magnification to 240x (5mm Nagler) suggested dark mottling and bays around the edge of the galaxy. Also a brighter central bar running diagonally across the face of the galaxy. Averted vision at this magnification showed a bright spot on the eastern corner – hard to tell if this was another condensation or a foreground star. I wish more galaxies showed this much detail.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Viewing at 240x showed a large bright core and a shallow s-shaped spiral – the northern arm was easier to see. Averted vision seemed to suggest a dark area just north of the nucleus. Switching back to 133x and sweeping around the area revealed a couple of neighbouring galaxies:

NGC 4346, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Roughly due east of M106, with a bright star midway between the two. Elliptical fuzzball with a stellar core.

NGC 4220, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Roughly northwest of M106. Small and faint spindle of light.

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici (with NGC 5195)
Tonight the two galaxies had an almost ghostly aspect about them; the spiral arms seemed to fade in and out of existence independently of averted vision. The view wasn’t substantially improved at 240x, other than highlighting some of the brighter areas with a milky glow. The sketch above (compiled from observations carried out over three separate nights) gives an impression of what you can see with careful, prolonged study - even if you don't have the darkest skies (or the largest telescope).

NGC 5005, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Small, but fairly bright galaxy. It’s hard to be sure of detail when you’re looking at an object for the first time, but there seemed to be a suggestion of an inclined spiral and possibly a bar running through the core.

NGC 5033, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Southwest of NGC 5005; similar size but fainter. Stellar nucleus.

A detour “across the border” for two showpiece galaxies:

M101, Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
Large, low surface brightness. Very subtle S-spiral hinted with averted vision (needs exceptional conditions and/or an Ethos to get the best out of this galaxy, I think). Field star superposed on face of galaxy, north of nucleus.

NGC 5907, Splinter Galaxy in Draco
Faint, very narrow edge-on galaxy, well deserving of its nickname. Quite impressive with averted vision. Faint star west of nucleus.

And back to the southern region of Canes Venatici and beyond:

NGC 4631, Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Large, “fat” galaxy (particularly compared to 5907). Foreground star on northern edge of galaxy near centre (I can’t really call it a nucleus) and a very faint blur just beyond that – fleetingly visible with averted vision (confirmed later as the dwarf companion NGC 4627 “the Pup”).

NGC 4656, Hockey Stick Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Faint streak of light southeast of 4631. No condensations that I could see, but one half of the galaxy is brighter than the other, with brighter areas towards the centre and one end (corresponding with the “hook”).

NGC 4559, galaxy in Coma Berenices
An overdue first look at number 36 in the Caldwell list. First impressions: large irregular blur, brighter towards core, but not condensed. Southern side of galaxy framed by three stars of varying brightness.

As Hercules was rising in the northeast, I rounded off the session with a look at two of the northern sky’s best globular clusters.

M92, globular cluster in Hercules
As per previous observation from last year: rich, bright condensed, well resolved. Slight oval shape – not circular. Bluish tinge?

M13, globular cluster in Hercules
Large and “sprawling” compared to M92, not as condensed. Very well resolved. Couldn’t be certain of seeing the dark “propeller” feature, but I did see NGC 6207 for the first time: visible as a small, faint lens-shaped galaxy with a stellar nucleus (I later found out that this is actually a foreground star). As is often the case with these objects, it seems obvious now I know where to find it.

Nature note: heard two foxes screeching at each other a couple of streets away. One frog in the pond (the tadpoles seemed to be purposefully avoiding it).

Spring Galaxies

28 March 2019, 22:00 – 23:30

The priority for the evening was testing the new autoguiding system – which (despite a few early glitches) went better than expected. I even got an hour’s worth of data (90-second subframes) on M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Conditions: hazy, heavy condensation, and my eyes were never fully dark-adapted (because I had to keep checking the laptop), so quick observations only.

I began with a sweep of the Virgo Cluster and quickly became lost in a sea of galaxies. The paucity of naked-eye stars in that region makes it difficult to navigate using the red-dot finder, but I definitely saw the brighter galaxies in Markarian’s Chain – M84, M86 etc., plus plenty of fainter ones nearby. I think the best strategy for future sessions might be to galaxy-hop rather than star-hop, using the 24mm Panoptic as a finder. The challenge then will be to find a recognisable starting point.

M64, Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Quite large, “black-eye” seen with averted vision.

While sweeping through Coma Berenices I found a bright, tight double star – either 24 or 2 Com, looking at the chart.

NGC 4490/4485, interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici
Two elliptical blurs forming a rough right-angle, one galaxy larger and brighter than the other.

NGC 4449, irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright and boxy, hint of structure. Definitely coming back to this one.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
One bright spiral arm.

Rounded off the evening with quick looks at M51 and M13. (Nothing new to add to previous notes.)

Nature note: the frogspawn is no more and the pond is now full of tadpoles. Also heard lots of distant squeaks and whistles – presumably from migrating birds.

Three Globulars and a lot of Galaxies

26 February 2019, 19:15 – 22:15

Very mild for time of year, a little hazy; some condensation, but not as bad as the last few sessions. All observations with the 9mm Nagler at 133x.

M79, globular cluster in Lepus
Grainy fuzzball – small and condensed, but quite distinctive despite the light pollution in this part of the sky. A single faint star resolved on northern edge (and it is a cluster member, not a foreground star; see the DeepSkyVideos take on M79). I was amazed I could see it so well given its declination (-24 degrees = about 15 degrees above the horizon at culmination).

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini
The “leaf” cluster, as described previously. Looked a little hazy tonight.

NGC 2266, open cluster in Gemini
Rich little cluster. Shape resembles a triangle with caved-in sides. Brightest star at southern apex.

NGC 2129, open cluster in Gemini
Two bright stars with a retinue of fainter stars in two lines arranged roughly east-west (southern line straight, the northern one wavy – like an approximation symbol).

M35, NGC 2158, open clusters in Gemini
Latter partially resolved with averted vision; M35 fills the field of view at 133x.

NGC 2419, globular cluster in Lynx
Found it at last (on the third attempt!). The so-called “intergalactic wanderer”. Faint round blur in line with two bright stars. Averted vision increases its size but little else. A few faint foreground stars sprinkled around the cluster, but obviously not associated with it.

NGC 2841, galaxy in Ursa Major
Elliptical shape, stellar nucleus embedded in what looked like a bar-shaped core region. Faint foreground star on western end. Dark lane on southern edge of galaxy?

NGC 2681, galaxy in Ursa Major
Small, round galaxy, fainter than 2841. Stellar nucleus with faint outer envelope. Two stars on western side of galaxy and a fainter one to the east.

M108, galaxy in Ursa Major
Large, extended, seems “mottled” with averted vision. Foreground star near nucleus and another one to the west.

M109, galaxy in Ursa Major
Hazy round blur. Seems kind of faint for a Messier object (albeit a belated entry), especially given all the much more obvious NGC galaxies in and around the same constellation.

NGC 3613, galaxy in Ursa Major
Faint round blur midway between two field stars. Bright, bar-like core. This area (in the bowl of Ursa Major) is one that would benefit from a 50mm finderscope alongside the EZ finder (I was actually looking for 3619).

NGC 3898, galaxy in Ursa Major
Another one inside the body of the Bear. Bright, stellar core; faint outer envelope. Overall, similar in brightness to 3613.

At this point I took a temporary break from galaxies to revisit some familiar double stars:

Mizar / Alcor, Ursa Major
Famous double star in Ursa Major: Both stars well-framed at 133x; Mizar resolves into a pair of icy blue stars.

Cor Caroli, Canes Venatici
Nice split at 20 arcseconds (similar separation to Mizar). Pale yellow secondary?

Gamma Leonis
Closely-paired double. Narrow separation and variable seeing made it tough to discern colours but the primary seemed pale orange and the secondary seemed pale yellow.

Back to the galaxies...

NGC 3607, NGC 3608, galaxies in Leo
Another Leo pair, fairly close together in the field of view. The smaller one (3608) forms a triangle with two stars. Both with stellar cores. Seemed like there were other galaxies in vicinity, but transparency and condensation (and tiredness) made it hard to be sure.

NGC 4565, Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Well this one snapped me out of my tiredness in a hurry. I may have been hasty in stating that M82 was the best edge-on galaxy. After star-hopping to what I hoped was the correct region, it suddenly appeared as a long stiletto of milky light sliding into the field of view. The central bulge was clearly visible with a field star just to the north. The dark dust lane was visible without too much difficulty using averted vision, offset slightly to the north. Easily the night’s highlight despite the conditions and the less than optimal placement. On this evidence, much better than NGC 891, the other well-known edge-on galaxy in Andromeda.

NGC 4631, Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Large, extended. Western end brighter and fatter. Star on northern edge of central region.

NGC 4656/7, Hockey Stick Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Extended blur, smaller and fainter than its neighbour (4631). Tired eyes prevented me from seeing more detail.

I started the evening with a globular, so it seemed apt to finish with one:

M3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici
Rising into view out of the east. A dense fuzzball of stars, well resolved with averted vision despite conditions/tiredness and other factors. After all the colourless galaxies, it seemed to have a distinctly bluish tinge. Weather (and moon) permitting, I’ll be coming back to this object, so it will be interesting to see if this is a real effect (over-abundance of blue stragglers perhaps?).

As I was starting to pack up, the night was capped by a slow meteor which left a brief trail as it descended past Polaris towards the northern horizon.

Nebulae and Clusters in Gemini

23 February, 20:00 – 21:30

Sky transparency not as good as on the 10th. Heavy condensation curtailed the session after 90 minutes.


M44, Beehive Cluster in Cancer
Not surprisingly, too large for the field at 50x (24mm Panoptic), but still an attractive sight. Lots of bright stars arranged in twos and threes.

M67, open cluster in Cancer
Lovely sight at 50x; a “filmy” mass of stars which appears richer than it probably is due to the lower contrast. Bright star nearby (to north), which looks like it's trailing the rest of the cluster in its wake.

NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula), planetary nebula in Gemini
At 240x (Nagler 5mm), unfiltered, the central star was clearly visible, but with both filters it was overwhelmed by the surrounding nebulosity. Very bright in the OIII (a little more so than the Ultrablock). No structure seen other than the concentric rings (which showed up best at 133x).

NGC 2371-2, planetary nebula in Gemini
Small and faint (more so than the previous viewing). The OIII at 240x seemed to “fill in” the nebula: very faint nebulosity completing the circle. Western lobe brighter, with central knot or condensation.

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini
Large, fairly loose cluster – not particularly rich in stars, but still distinctive enough to be pretty. Brightest members form a leaf shape, with a stalk of fainter stars curling north to a bright field star. This cluster doesn’t appear to have a nickname so feel free to call it the “Leaf Cluster” (until O’Meara names it the “Hershey Kiss Cluster” or something similar in his next book!).

M42, Great Nebula in Orion
On the wrong side of the meridian now, but still a majestic sight. Seeing variable, but E and F stars in the Trapezium were occasionally visible at 240x. Lots of intricate dark structure even at this high magnification. The Trapezium seemed to reside in a dark “hollow” within the Huygens region, but this may well be an illusory effect caused by my eyes re-adjusting to the brightness of the stars.

Rigel was a fairly easy split at 240x despite poor seeing.

Castor split nicely at 240x. About a magnitude difference between the pair.

Subsequent observations at 133x (Nagler 9mm).

NGC 2903, galaxy in Leo
Not as good as the last time I saw it, but just a suggestion of spiral arms in an s-shape.

NGC 2683, galaxy in Lynx
Long, bright spindle. Dark lane on northern edge?

Gamma Leonis (Algieba)
Nice split (albeit tight) at 133x. Subtle colour variation (orange and yellow?); needs another look.

With the condensation building, I grabbed a quick look at the following objects (a preview of forthcoming attractions, so to speak):

M63 (Sunflower Galaxy) in Canes Venatici
Bright, finely mottled appearance.

M94, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright, suggestion of dark lane.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Quite large and bright – may well be bright enough to show structure on a better night. Oddly, this is the first time I’ve seen this galaxy. For some reason I always managed to overlook it with the 4-inch (even though I'm sure it would have been easily visible).

Cor Caroli
Double star, wider separation than the other doubles I looked at tonight.


Nature Note
Three frogs in the pond (two mating).

Lunar Detour

14 February 2019, 18:45 – 20:15

A chilly evening after an unseasonably mild day – resulting in the heaviest condensation I've experienced to date, particularly on the secondary mirror. Fortunately, there was only one target tonight - a high, bright gibbous moon.

Seeing was variable with occasional moments of exceptional clarity (a finding backed up by the imaging tests). The moon was dazzlingly bright even at 240x (5mm Nagler) – at least until the condensation set in.

Visually, I saw 3 craterlets in Plato, the centre one clearly resolved.

Rima Birt (adjacent to the Straight Wall) showed up very well despite being some distance from the terminator. (I imaged this with the SP-102, but I don’t think I was ever quite able to see it through the eyepiece.)

Rima Hesiodus was long and very distinctive.

At least one rille was visible inside the rim of Pitatus.

Copernicus of course was the highlight, showing far too much detail to describe here, but the image below gives an idea of what was visible (the eyepiece view occasionally exceeded this).

Galaxy Pairs in Leo

10 February 2019, 20:15 – 23:15

Conditions: Cold, but not freezing; light wind. Some interference from the crescent moon, but the transparency improved considerably once it got out of the way. Only meant to stay out for 90 minutes, but it turned into something of a marathon session.


Began with a low-power sweep across Auriga, stumbled upon M37: rich, lovely cluster. 50x really shows the cluster in context of its surroundings, at the expense of the fainter stars.

Then revisited some old favourites to test a new Astronomik OIII filter:
M42, Orion Nebula: western section greatly filled in. View similar to Ultrablock, but even more contrast between nebula and surrounding sky.
M1, Crab Nebula: OIII made it bigger; the edges seemed “crisper” and more defined, but as always, the Crab is one of those telescopic objects where expectation far exceeds reality.
Rosette Nebula: nebulosity more evenly distributed around cluster, more expansive.
Eskimo Nebula: very bright in OIII, overwhelming the central star.
M97, Owl Nebula: The OIII really benefits this planetary nebula, transforming it into a bright disc with sharper edges. Averted vision brings out the two dark cavities (the Owl’s “eyes”). Faint star adjacent to nebula. Otherwise there’s not much to choose between this (the OIII) and the Ultrablock, but still a huge improvement on the unfiltered view.

NGC 2022, planetary nebula in Orion
Small annulus of light, seemed to have brighter patches on opposite sides. Compared to previous observation, the OIII filter made it look even more like a mini M57.

NGC 2420, open cluster in Gemini
Rich, condensed mixture of directly resolved stars and underlying haze that resolves with averted vision. Brighter stars form a rough outline resembling a three-legged spiral or a propeller with swept-back blades.

NGC 2371-2, planetary nebula in Gemini
Small, elongated, bi-lobed nebula, like two tiny comets travelling in opposite directions. One lobe appeared slightly brighter than the other, with suggestion of a condensed core.

NGC 2683, galaxy in Lynx
Bright, lens-shaped galaxy. Suggestion of mottling around core and dark lane to north.

NGC 2775, galaxy in Cancer
Not as bright as 2683, but rounder, more face-on than previous galaxy. Averted vision shows stellar nucleus.

M67, open cluster in Cancer
Rich, fully resolved at 133x, though would probably look better at lower magnification to provide context.

M41, open cluster in Canis Major
Quick look: rich, sprawling cluster, bright stars forming curved lines. Unfortunately hampered by low altitude (-20 degrees declination) and local light pollution.

NGC 2903, galaxy in Leo
Large and bright as non-Messier galaxies go. Extended envelope surrounding bright core, with suggestion of at least one spiral arm. Slightly ragged appearance – arms not tightly wound, so in that sense intermediate between M81 and M33.

M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, NGC 3412 and NGC 3377, galaxies in Leo
This was a pleasant surprise after the trouble I had picking out faint galaxies last autumn. A casual sweep of the area revealed six bright galaxies all within a few degrees of each other. M105 and NGC 3384 formed a close pair; M95 and M96 a wider pair. Initial impressions: all six galaxies showed condensed star-like cores and faint outer envelopes, with individual variations in size, brightness and roundness. M95 and M96 looked like they might show more detail with prolonged observation.

NGC 3190 and NGC 3193, galaxies in Leo
The atlas showed this pair positioned halfway between two naked-eye stars in the head of the lion – Gamma and Zeta Leonis (Algieba and Adhafera), so I knew I wouldn’t have to waste too much time sweeping the area. As it turned out, they showed up really well in the XT10. Smaller and fainter than previous set, but a pleasingly contrasting pair of galaxies in a star-rich fov. One circular, other edge-on, like mini version of M81 and M82.

NGC 3226 and NGC 3227, galaxies in Leo
As before, another easy star-hop from Gamma Leonis (Algieba). Slightly fainter than previous pair. Very close pair of galaxies, arranged end to end, long axes aligned. Condensed cores.

M65 and M66, galaxies in Leo
Larger, brighter than the M95/M96 pair, but the outer regions have lower surface brightness. Averted vision suggested brightness variations around the nuclei.

NGC 3628, galaxy, Leo
Third member of the Leo Triplet: faint bar of light perpendicular to M65/M66 pair. No central condensation; possible distortion/hook at one end? This galaxy (and the previous pair) was still fairly low down when I observed it – with higher altitude I might be able to see the dark lane.

M51 & NGC 5195, Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici
In a night of highlights, this was the undoubted stand-out. After staring at M51 for a couple of minutes I realised I could see the spiral arms quite clearly, defined by the dark space separating them. One arm curling out from core region around a foreground star. A magnificent sight at 133x, even though it was still some way from the zenith. With averted vision it started to look like a ghostly monochrome photo. A sketch might be in order.

M101, spiral galaxy in Ursa Major
Faint, hard to find (again). Hint of spiral structure, but my eyes were starting to feel tired by now.

M82, cigar galaxy in Ursa Major
Extended streak of light tapering to points at either end. High surface brightness, lots of detail in the form of bright condensations and dark dust lanes and notches. Best edge-on galaxy by far. Again, another sketch might be in order.

M81, spiral galaxy in Ursa Major
Bright core, extensive outer region. Possible dark patches near nucleus, but my eyes were getting really tired now, so time to call it a night.

Nature note 
Two frogs mating in the pond. I guess it’s never too early…

Orion in Forty Minutes

30 January 2019, 19:00 – 19:40

One of those frustrating nights where you collimate the mirror, extricate a spider (a real spider, not the structure that holds the secondary mirror in place) and its web, take the scope outside, let it cool down, and then – just as you’re ready to begin observing – the clouds start rolling in. That said, I did manage to see a few new targets through the ever-narrowing gaps, although the observations were brief and my eyes weren’t fully dark-adapted.

All observations with the Nagler 9mm (now established as my eyepiece of choice for this scope).


NGC 2169, open cluster in Orion
A small, condensed grouping of bright stars. Not particularly rich, but visually pleasing – worth a longer look under more favourable conditions. Begs the question: at what point does a multiple star system become a cluster?

NGC 2022, planetary nebula in Orion
Appeared as a small faint annulus at 133x, like a diminished version of M57. Suggestion of brightness variations – Ultrablock and/or higher magnification should give an improved view.

NGC 1999, reflection nebula in Orion
Small patch of nebulosity roughly south of M42. (I noticed this on the uncropped frames of my December image and thought it might be bright enough to detect visually.) The central condensation looked stellar, but I suspect that higher magnification may prove otherwise. Suggestion of dark patch/hole with averted vision. I wonder how many other DSOs are neglected because of their proximity to the Great Nebula?

Rigel (Beta Orionis)
Close double, easy split at 133x even though the companion coincided with one of the diffraction spikes. Cloud starting to interfere, but used this as an opportunity to fine-tune the alignment on the EZ Finder.

NGC 1788, reflection nebula in Orion
Very faint patch of light north of Beta Eri. Faint star at centre? Literally had less than two minutes to look at this before the clouds finally put an end to the session.

Winter Nebulae

28 January 2019, 19:15 – 21:15

The first clear, moon-free night in over a month. Cold, but not bitter. Light wind. Good transparency. Scope seemed to take longer to reach ambient temperature; best views were at 133x (9mm Nagler).

M45, Pleiades, Taurus
Viewing at 50x (24mm Panoptic); Merope nebula easier to see now I’ve got my bearings: visible as a misty patch fanning out from Merope to the south, framed by dark “lanes” on either side. The nebulosity in the Pleiades is much easier to see when you know which stars aren’t involved in it, such as the distinctive line of stars trailing from Alcyone.

NGC 2024, Flame Nebula in Orion
Tough to see because of the glare from Alnitak. Better contrast at 133x, but more condensed at 50x. IC 434 (the glow behind the Horsehead) was only suggested at best, but NGC 2023 clearly visible as a small patch of light surrounding a star, swelling with averted vision.

M78, reflection nebula in Orion
Twin stars immersed in a cloud, like headlights shining through fog. Some mottled structure apparent with averted vision, sharp cut-off on northern side – NGC 2071 visible on the other side of this dark gap: smaller and fainter than M78, no structure visible.

M42, Great Nebula in Orion
Breathtaking spectacle; can appreciate it even more now I’ve photographed it (above). 133x gave the best view for contrast and detail even though it was too big for a single fov. Intricate detail seen with direct and averted vision, including nebulosity within the “fish-mouth” area. The dark lane between M42 and M43 contrasts nicely with the fainter nebulosity beyond the Huygens region, illustrating that the nebula is much more extensive than its initial bird-like appearance implies. Brighter arc seen on opposite side of cavity, corresponding with sculpted section seen in photos.

Trapezium stars E and (to a lesser extent) F were oddly easier to see at 133x than 240x (clearly not a night for high-power viewing).

The southern wing of the nebula was remarkable: long and irregular but with well defined edges, like a ribbon of light. The adjacent part of the nebula was not the same colour as the ribbon, but hard to say what exactly other than “not green”. Maybe the slightest hint of violet, but it was right on the limit of perception.

The Ultrablock significantly filled out the northern half of the nebula and made the Huygens region seem more boxy, sharper-edged, but otherwise not that much improvement (not a criticism of the filter; just that M42 is bright enough not to need it.)

M43, emission nebula in Orion
Comma-shaped haze surrounding single star. Dark lane visible with averted vision.

Also quick looks at NGC 1981 open cluster and the Running Man Nebula, the latter’s gauzy appearance clearly more akin to the Merope nebula than M42. Averted vision suggested a “bite” taken out of the southern edge.

NGC 2174-5, open cluster + emission nebula, Orion
Obvious and surprisingly large patch of light, somewhat elongated. Nebulosity seemed concentrated around central star, but no obvious cluster, at least not at low magnification.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini
Lovely winter planetary. Small, but immediately obvious fuzzy star at 50x. Nearby star helps confirm its nature. Central star visible at 133x. Averted vision showed two concentric rings of material. Seemed more blue-green than typical grey-green, but difference is subtle; certainly nowhere near as blue as the Snowball in Andromeda. Ultrablock filter improved contrast but not really required for such a bright nebula.

NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster, Monoceros
Very pretty (and “right” way up for a change). Very bright blue star at “base” – seemed to be surrounded by haze, but hard to tell if it was genuine nebulosity. No obvious sign of the Cone Nebula, but while sweeping south I soon arrived at…

NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros
Small and bright (but obvious even at 50x) fan-shaped nebula. 133x showed bright condensation at apex, but I think it would take a still higher power to show significant detail.

NGC 2237-9 (Rosette Nebula), surrounding open cluster NGC 2244 in Monoceros
Took a while to find – the lack of bright stars in Monoceros (not to mention the ever-present lure of Orion) make it a challenge to navigate via star-hopping. Appearance: Boxy cluster surrounded by large, diffuse nebula – too large for fov even at 50x. Brighter arc on northern side. Potential photographic target for TV60.

While sweeping across Monoceros I stumbled upon what I later identified as NGC 2301 – a distinctive rich cluster, well worth a return visit (if I can find it again).

Quick looks (cold, condensation and tiredness starting to play a part):

M97 (Owl Nebula), planetary nebula in Ursa Major
Large and faint (the opposite of the Eskimo). The Ultrablock dramatically improved the view. Hint of dark cavities (the owl's eyes).

M108, galaxy in Ursa Major
Faint sliver of light, with field star imposed over centre. Another potential photo target (pairing with Owl Nebula).

M81, M82, galaxies in Ursa Major
Not as impressive as previous observations – a sign it was time to pack up for the night.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen and M42

9 December 2018

A night of imaging Comet Wirtanen and M42 with the TV60.

Conditions: surprisingly mild, and a good dark sky. Opportunities like this are few and far between at this time of year, so on this occasion I left the XT10 indoors to make sure I could give polar alignment, BackyardEOS etc. my full attention. Though I did have time to scan the Milky Way with the 7x50 binoculars once the imaging session was up and running.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen was faintly visible to the naked eye and appeared as a little fuzzball through binoculars, like a defocused globular cluster, or a diminished version of Comet Holmes during its famous outburst. Not the most exciting comet admittedly, but the first naked-eye one I’ve seen in quite a while.

I saw five meteors, four of which were Geminids. I also saw several winking and flaring objects east of Orion’s belt – presumably geostationary satellites (another one also photobombed a few of my M42 light frames).

Auriga and Beyond

30 November 2018, 20:30 – 22:30 GMT

Conditions: Good transparency - dark enough that the 24mm Panoptic wasn’t hindered by sky brightness. Clear at first, some bands of cloud later on. Cold, but not especially so for the time of year. Set up the XT10 on concrete for the first time rather than the lawn (so I could have a chance of seeing M42 rising) – despite this the scope seemed to cool down relatively quickly.

M37, Open Cluster in Auriga
Lovely rich cluster, roughly triangular – instantly recognisable. Dark lanes and chains of stars give it a symmetrical shape reminiscent of a crab or beetle (very much like O’Meara’s sketch in The Messier Objects). Best view probably at 50x.

M36, Open Cluster in Auriga
Smaller cluster than M37; individual member stars brighter but less numerous. Would be more highly regarded if it wasn’t outshone by its neighbours.

M38, Open Cluster in Auriga
Large, rich cluster; somewhat “straggly” compared to M37. NGC 1907 in same field of view at 50x: small, condensed cluster – some resolution with averted vision at 50x, giving it a “sparkling” appearance. More stars pop out at 133x

Located AE Aurigae in the eyepiece, but couldn’t discern the surrounding nebula with any degree of confidence. However I had more success with…

NGC 1931 (aka “The Fly”), Emission Nebula in Auriga
An obvious streak of nebulosity at all magnifications. Ultrablock filter improved the contrast – quite bright as nebulae go. Higher magnification revealed a tight triangle of stars at the centre.

M1 (Crab Nebula), Supernova Remnant in Taurus
Appeared as a “puff” of cloudy nebulosity. 133x (Nagler 9mm) + Ultrablock improved the contrast, but no detail to speak of other than a vaguely bi-lobed shape. One of those deepsky objects that can only really be appreciated when you think about what you're looking at.

NGC 1647, Open Cluster in Taurus
Large, sprawling cluster – needs a wider field to get the best view.

M77, Seyfert Galaxy in Cetus
Not the most prominent constellation, but this galaxy is helpfully within 2 fovs of Delta Ceti (a distinctly blue star). M77 itself appears as a very bright core embedded in a disc of nebulosity – immediately obvious even in this light-polluted part of the sky. A nearby 10th magnitude star helps with focus and averted vision. The galaxy holds brightness well at 240x, but I couldn’t see the recently discovered supernova. If it brightens by 1 or 2 magnitudes I might get lucky. (Postscript: it didn’t.)

Also: Mira (Omicron Ceti) was visible to the naked eye.

M35, Open Cluster in Gemini
Rich, large cluster; very distinctive chain of similarly bright stars forming an arc. Nearby cluster NGC 2158 was visible as a condensed patch of light – started to resolve (with averted vision) at 133x, but not as easily as 1907 in Auriga.

M42, Orion Nebula (and M43)
Had to peer between branches of neighbour’s tree to see it, but it was still spectacular despite the partial obstruction. Very bright, greenish core almost overwhelming the Trapezium at 50x, detailed structure apparent with direct vision. Long “wings”, one sweeping out towards NGC 1980. Ultrablock filter significantly increased the extent of the nebula, particularly on the northern side. Could easily spend a whole evening on this object.

A Crystal Ball in Taurus

2 November 2018, 19:45 – 21:45 GMT

Cold, very light wind, transparency improving over the course of the session.

Double Cluster, Perseus
Viewed at 50x (24mm Panoptic). Comparing against recent photo (above). The lower magnification is better for framing the clusters – at the expense of some contrast – but the eyepiece view always beats the photographic representation. Red giant stars showing well.

Cr 466, open cluster in Cassiopeia 
Large and loose, would probably look better in a wide field refractor.

vdB 1, reflection nebula in Cassiopeia
First entry in O’Meara’s Secret Deep book. Despite its obscure designation it stood out reasonably well as an extended, if subtle, haze surrounding three stars. Not surprisingly the Ultrablock did nothing to improve the view (other than damping the glare from Beta Cas). Probably worth revisiting at higher magnification on a darker night.

M76, Planetary Nebula in Perseus
Prolonged averted vision (+ Ultrablock filter) seemed to reveal the faint “loop” extensions on either side of the main nebula (brighter on one side). Starting to wonder whether an O III filter might make a significant difference on this and similar nebulae.

NGC 1501, Planetary Nebula in Camelopardalis
133x + Ultrablock filter: green-grey disc which seemed to subtly change shape depending on which side of it I was looking. Otherwise, same details seen as on 9 October.

NGC 1514 (The Crystal Ball Nebula), Planetary Nebula in Taurus
The undoubted highlight of the session – a very pretty planetary nebula flanked by two nearby 8th magnitude stars (which help make the nebulosity obvious even at 50x). At 133x it appeared as a 9th magnitude star peering out from a cocoon of light. Obvious without the filter, but the Ultrablock really enhanced the view. The edges didn’t have a sharp cut-off (unlike other PN I’ve looked at recently), but the nebula had a certain indefinable quality about it that distinguished it as a Planetary Nebula rather than an Emission Nebula (like the difference between smoke and mist). It seems from my notes that I never tried for this with the 4-inch scope, but it doesn’t deserve its reputation as a difficult object. Having two similar-brightness stars in the same field-of-view really helps to “lock in” the averted vision.

Other notes: failed to find NGC 1275 (galaxy, Perseus), but did spot a lovely close double-star pair in the vicinity. Looked a little bit like a condensed facsimile of Eta Cas.

NGC 1342, open cluster in Perseus
133x. Fairly loose at this magnification. The “starfish” shape started to become apparent when I nudged the scope around, so would probably look better at 50x.

Also, a first look at M38 and NGC 1907, pair of open clusters in Auriga: very nice, well resolved at 133x. Two rich clusters presenting very different aspects – would definitely make a good imaging target for the TV60.

Condensation wasn’t so much of an issue this time, being noticeable only on the red dot finder.

Cassiopeia – Camelopardalis

9 October 2018, 22:00 – 23:45 BST

Conditions: Transparency not great again, but still plenty of bright objects to look at.

NGC 281, nebula in Cassiopeia
Ultrablock filter helped a lot to improve the contrast at 50x (Panoptic 24mm). Central portion bright, contrasting against dark “maw”. Some mottled detail visible - dark lanes cutting through the nebula. Hard to determine overall size – nebula faded smoothly into background sky with no obvious cut-off.

Scanned the Cassiopeia/Perseus region for nebulae. Nothing popped out, but did sweep past some attractive open clusters, including Stock 23.

Gamma Arietis, double star in Aries
Pleasing blue-white pair of stars, equal brightness - like headlights.

NGC 1501, planetary nebula in Camelopardalis
Fairly bright medium-size PN, almost round. Slightly darker core revealed with averted vision, but not a “smoke-ring” like M57. Holds brightness at 240x (Nagler 5mm); appeared clumpy/mottled at higher magnification, seemed slightly brighter on north/south edges.

NGC 1502, open cluster in Camelopardalis
Viewed at 133x (Nagler 9mm); bright, rich cluster, pairs of stars running through middle. Triangular or wedge shape – like a racing yacht.