Post by stevie on Feb 13, 2011 5:54:40 GMT
Down to Bragan again after a long break due to the weather. The prospects for a good night were not too promising after rain all day in Belfast, but the forecast clear sky did arrive at about 9.30pm, although a bright Moon, near first quarter, wasn't very welcome.
I have managed to acquire a Nexstar mount for my 6 inch Celestron C6 scope at long last, and I really wanted to give it a good run out. Setup was very easy, and using Auto 2 star align, I managed to get all my targets in the field of the 17mm Hyperion eyepiece with no difficulty.
I viewed a few of the usual suspects to begin, just to ensure that the go-to was working well. M41 and M35 were both a little disappointing, as the Moon blotted out out some of the fainter stars in the clusters, but the view of M42 was surprisingly good. M67 was also well seen, but again, not quite as well as on previous occasions.
The best bet seemed to be to view objects with the Moon to my back, so I decided to try and view some of the Leo galaxies (great to see Leo well up in the sky again). M66 was quite faint, and a slight nudge to M65 showed it to be not much better. M105 and its companion NGC3384 were a bit better, but not much, and M95 and M96 were just wisps. We managed to get a nice view of 105 and 3384 later in Simon's 14" reflector (along with a superb M82). After this, I had a cheeky look at M99 and M100, but both were near invisible.
so I decided just to view some of my favourite doubles. Amongst a couple of dozen viewed, Sigma Orionis and Beta Monocerotis were disappointing as they started to set, but Gamma Leonis and Iota Cancri were well seen. Cor Caroli was ok, but Nu Draconis was excellent (and a quick look at the nearby Cat's Eye nebula produced a nice view).
I finished off with a look at M53, the globular cluster in Coma, but it was not well seen. Simon then found it with the 14", and the view was excellent, the highlight of the night for me.
It was nice to get out again after such a long time, and the Nexstar mount performed well, so I can't complain too much. Thanks to Simon for sharing the session.
I have managed to acquire a Nexstar mount for my 6 inch Celestron C6 scope at long last, and I really wanted to give it a good run out. Setup was very easy, and using Auto 2 star align, I managed to get all my targets in the field of the 17mm Hyperion eyepiece with no difficulty.
I viewed a few of the usual suspects to begin, just to ensure that the go-to was working well. M41 and M35 were both a little disappointing, as the Moon blotted out out some of the fainter stars in the clusters, but the view of M42 was surprisingly good. M67 was also well seen, but again, not quite as well as on previous occasions.
The best bet seemed to be to view objects with the Moon to my back, so I decided to try and view some of the Leo galaxies (great to see Leo well up in the sky again). M66 was quite faint, and a slight nudge to M65 showed it to be not much better. M105 and its companion NGC3384 were a bit better, but not much, and M95 and M96 were just wisps. We managed to get a nice view of 105 and 3384 later in Simon's 14" reflector (along with a superb M82). After this, I had a cheeky look at M99 and M100, but both were near invisible.
so I decided just to view some of my favourite doubles. Amongst a couple of dozen viewed, Sigma Orionis and Beta Monocerotis were disappointing as they started to set, but Gamma Leonis and Iota Cancri were well seen. Cor Caroli was ok, but Nu Draconis was excellent (and a quick look at the nearby Cat's Eye nebula produced a nice view).
I finished off with a look at M53, the globular cluster in Coma, but it was not well seen. Simon then found it with the 14", and the view was excellent, the highlight of the night for me.
It was nice to get out again after such a long time, and the Nexstar mount performed well, so I can't complain too much. Thanks to Simon for sharing the session.