Post by stevie on Mar 29, 2009 2:10:55 GMT
Jonathan, Derrick and I headed up to Killylane tonight, and it turned out to be one of those nights when everything just clicks.
The sky was excellent, and although the transparency was a bit iffy early on, it improved dramatically as the night went on. Melotte 111 was clearly visible to the naked eye, as was the double cluster. I had the Meade Lightbridge 12", Jonathan had his 20x100 binoculars and Derrick had his Meade 5" apo triplet.
I started off with M51, more to check my collimation than anything else. The bridge was clearly seen, as were the spiral arms. Jonathan started with M41, before going to M103, and then moving on to NGC663 and the other nearby Cassiopeia clusters. Jonathan then found M95 and M96 in the binos, while I was looking at M53. Derrick spent some time in the Ursa Major region.
But this was a night for the Virgo and Coma galaxies, and that is where we all headed. I used the 17mm Hyperion with the Lightbridge for all the following.
M64 was first, but the Black-Eye was not clearly seen. So I went to the middle of the cluster and quickly swept up M86 and M84 in the same field, before moving on to M87. The M98, M99, M100 group was next, M99 was particularly clearly seen, while M100 was a bit muggy. M85 was a vast improvement, the best yet.
M59 and M60 were well seen in the same field of view, and M58 was very good. I took a short break at this point, but Jonathan used the Lightbridge to quickly sweep up M89 and M90. There were many NGC galaxies also visible, but I had come out without any of my books, so couldn't positively identify those we saw, and I would only be guessing now. Stupid of me. At least Jonathan had his copy of the venerable Sue French's Celestial Sampler with him, so we were able to identify the Messier's. Derrick left at this point, but Jonathan and I carried on for another little while. He produced a real rabbit out of the hat, again using the Lightbridge while I had another break. He managed to sweep up M104, the Sombrero, although he was practically lying on the ground to do so. This brought to our notice the constellation Corvus, a rarely seen sight in the parts, and we had a quick look at in the binoculars.
It was nearly time to go by now, as Jonathan has to work on Sunday, but we finished off with four more objects, and two of these turned out to be the best of the night. We started with M94 and M63 in Canes Venatici. M63 was particularly good. I then lined up M3, and this was magnificent, with the bright core well seen, and with thousands of tiny bright stars radiating out . The whole thing had a very faint yellow tint to it.
Lastly, I wanted to try and find an object I always have trouble with, M101. I found it quite quickly, and my jaw almost hit the ground. It was absolutely superb, filling almost half the field of view and was easily seen, far and away the best view I have ever had. One of the spiral arms was very prominent, while two others were faint but visible. A superb ending to what turned out to be a memorable night's observing, probably the best since some time back in 2006.
The sky was excellent, and although the transparency was a bit iffy early on, it improved dramatically as the night went on. Melotte 111 was clearly visible to the naked eye, as was the double cluster. I had the Meade Lightbridge 12", Jonathan had his 20x100 binoculars and Derrick had his Meade 5" apo triplet.
I started off with M51, more to check my collimation than anything else. The bridge was clearly seen, as were the spiral arms. Jonathan started with M41, before going to M103, and then moving on to NGC663 and the other nearby Cassiopeia clusters. Jonathan then found M95 and M96 in the binos, while I was looking at M53. Derrick spent some time in the Ursa Major region.
But this was a night for the Virgo and Coma galaxies, and that is where we all headed. I used the 17mm Hyperion with the Lightbridge for all the following.
M64 was first, but the Black-Eye was not clearly seen. So I went to the middle of the cluster and quickly swept up M86 and M84 in the same field, before moving on to M87. The M98, M99, M100 group was next, M99 was particularly clearly seen, while M100 was a bit muggy. M85 was a vast improvement, the best yet.
M59 and M60 were well seen in the same field of view, and M58 was very good. I took a short break at this point, but Jonathan used the Lightbridge to quickly sweep up M89 and M90. There were many NGC galaxies also visible, but I had come out without any of my books, so couldn't positively identify those we saw, and I would only be guessing now. Stupid of me. At least Jonathan had his copy of the venerable Sue French's Celestial Sampler with him, so we were able to identify the Messier's. Derrick left at this point, but Jonathan and I carried on for another little while. He produced a real rabbit out of the hat, again using the Lightbridge while I had another break. He managed to sweep up M104, the Sombrero, although he was practically lying on the ground to do so. This brought to our notice the constellation Corvus, a rarely seen sight in the parts, and we had a quick look at in the binoculars.
It was nearly time to go by now, as Jonathan has to work on Sunday, but we finished off with four more objects, and two of these turned out to be the best of the night. We started with M94 and M63 in Canes Venatici. M63 was particularly good. I then lined up M3, and this was magnificent, with the bright core well seen, and with thousands of tiny bright stars radiating out . The whole thing had a very faint yellow tint to it.
Lastly, I wanted to try and find an object I always have trouble with, M101. I found it quite quickly, and my jaw almost hit the ground. It was absolutely superb, filling almost half the field of view and was easily seen, far and away the best view I have ever had. One of the spiral arms was very prominent, while two others were faint but visible. A superb ending to what turned out to be a memorable night's observing, probably the best since some time back in 2006.