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[timothy]

05-05-05
5" newtonian
no clouds
no moon
seeing- 5
trans- 5
LVM 3.5

Hi All
Tonight since I was out a little later than usual I decided to visually trace out all the constellations I could see ( to see what was new ) . The past couple years since I've been active in astronomy I could never find the little dipper, besides polaris. I remember seeing both dippers clearly when I was a young boy in Indiana . So anyway the two stars that I was looking at the past couple months that I thought were the two stars at the tip of the roof in cephus turned out to be the two stars at the outside edge of the little dipper . So I looked to see if I could find the rest of the stars in the handle and low and behold there they were, but just barely . I was also able to trace Draco, Corona Borealis, and some of Libra, which is my birthday constellation . Now I realize Hercules is up, Click, (thats a sound my brain makes once in a while ) M13, All Right. So I train the scope right on it at 60x. Now thats a nice globular. By now my eyes are as dark adapted as there going to get. I bump the power up to 150x and pull my hood up over my head and all the way down around the EP for some serious observing. Alternating between direct and averted vision, after a while individual stars started popping in and out of view. It reminded me of the grand finale at the fireworks. Quite a show!
Working southward I see Ophiuchus so I take a look at ic 4665 and M14. They were pretty low in the atmospheric muck so they did'nt look that great but still a nice sight.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I often set a night or two just to trace out the constellations...referencing a star chart, just to keep my night sky familiar and fresh as the seasons change. I'll leave the scope in it's home and just use a pair of binoculars. I have discovered that I am losing more and more fainter stars as the years go by, but once in a great while, they just "pop back" into view on a rare clarity night.

I haven't targeted M13 this season, but it's always a cool object to view.

Tim, we have to set a joint session soon!

[starbux]

M3 is already visible early in the evening. The first bright globular of the spring easily visible in binoculars roughly halfway between Arcturus and Cor Coroli (alpha CVn).

There are not alot of deep-sky objects visible during the spring compared to other seasons if you live in the city (I have not been able to see more than a handful of galaxies from the city and except for M65/66, M51, and M81/82 I have not seen any of the celebrated springtime galaxies. So I consider M3 to be a nice forerunner of things to come in the year.

[timothy]

Joe
I would enjoy an observing session with you. I'll let you know when I plan on being out by the Adler.

starbux
Hi, I have seen M3 already but I guess I did'nt stop to appreciate it long enough since you use the word
" bright " in your description. I'll have to target it again next time out. I looked up M3 and M13 on my starry night. It shows them both at a mag 7 and the same angular size but M13 is 5000 ly's closer.
Since you mentioned seeing M65 66 and 51, I had to look up your Bio to see what size scope your packin since I have not been able to spot them with my 5" newt. Quite an arsenal you have there.
Whats the limiting visual mag in your neck of the woods. The best I can do is about 4.5

[starbux]

starbux
Hi, I have seen M3 already but I guess I did'nt stop to appreciate it long enough since you use the word
" bright " in your description. I'll have to target it again next time out. I looked up M3 and M13 on my starry night. It shows them both at a mag 7 and the same angular size but M13 is 5000 ly's closer.
Since you mentioned seeing M65 66 and 51, I had to look up your Bio to see what size scope your packin since I have not been able to spot them with my 5" newt. Quite an arsenal you have there.
Whats the limiting visual mag in your neck of the woods. The best I can do is about 4.5

My sky is around the same 4-4.5. On rare occasions when transparency is better than average the sky might show mag 5 and the presence of the Milky Way. Nonetheless, some objects (especially galaxies) that would be easy binocular objects in the country require quite a leap of aperture to catch under urban skies. For seeing M65-66 I've always used an 8" dobsonian (wish it had DSCs but it doesn't) but even then I've only seen it a few times -- not every attempt.

With a 5" I wouldn't count on seeing M65-66 (well at least I wouldn't). But you might catch M51 though it is small it is sufficiently brighter than the background that you know you saw something. You will probably have an even easier time with M81 and M82 as I recall seeing them in my 4" short tube refractor (easier in 8" for sure).

A major tip for urban deep-sky observing is to wait as late at night as possible to observe. Dust settles as the night progresses with fewer vehicles and industriel activity. Businesses shut off many of their lights after 12-2am, greatly increasing your likelihood of catching faint fuzzies. So if you want to see M81-82 high in the sky, NOW during spring when they are high up late at night is better than summertime when they are high up in the early evening. Of course, transparency and lack-of-moon are factors to consider as well.

Late sping/summertime is really the beginning of the urban deep-sky observer's year. With the return of a plethora of star clusters and many bright nebulae, even for urban observers with only binoculars it'll be party time!

BTW one of the faintest objects I've caught from the city is the Owl Nebula M97. Extremely difficult and almost impossible to detect without some kind of LPR filter (I use the Celestron LPR filter). Don't expect to see it in anything less than an 8" from the city --- Sorry!

[timothy]

starbux
I have seen 81 82 and 94. Now that I got on the day shift I have to be in bed by about midnight . I miss the other shift I was on only because I would get home about 2 am, perfect for clear dark skys, and meteor showers . Oh well, there's give and take in everything. I have a vacation week coming up so I'll be able to get some late night observing in and maybe get out to observe with Joe at the planetarium. I have an OIII filter that so far has only worked on M42, and then it looked fuller and more solid but a little smaller. According to the advertisement it is supposed to work good on other bright nebulas like M 8 16 17 20 and the north american. We'll see.

[stargazer]

Starbux,

I also have the O111 filter and have used it with many different obects with great reults. I cant remeber what all fiters I have there is alot of them. I knowI have the color filters, the O111, LP, Moon, Solar, IR, plus about three or four more. You do know you can stack these flters. I have used them on the Planets as well. When I do the planets I stack them. I havent seen them the way you described m42 (smaller) but yes I do see more detail even in my LP skies.

Becky

[starbux]

stargazer said:

Starbux,

I also have the O111 filter and have used it with many different obects with great reults. I cant remeber what all fiters I have there is alot of them. I knowI have the color filters, the O111, LP, Moon, Solar, IR, plus about three or four more. You do know you can stack these flters. I have used them on the Planets as well. When I do the planets I stack them. I havent seen them the way you described m42 (smaller) but yes I do see more detail even in my LP skies.

Becky

Actually, you were addressing Timothy. I'm Starbux. That said, given that my Celestron LPR filter is supposed to be about midway between a broadband and narrowband filter, if I were to buy just one other filter would I better off with an Ultrablock/UHC type or an OIII (I own neither, nor have I tried either)?

[stargazer]

Sorry about that. I think I have them all that you mentioned and all are worth the money you spend for them. If you want and live close to Elgin we could get together sometime or meet at Triton which is this Sat night by the way and if its not raining we could do a run through of the filters. Just let me know.

Becky

PS that applies to anyone who wants to know about the filters and or eyepieces.

[timothy]

starbux
I've just started getting into the filter game. I'll have to see how the OIII works on the the brighter nebulas coming up, but I'm sure these type of filters work better with more aperture. If I knew then what I know now, with a 5" I would go with the Ultrablock/UHC because it would not darken the field so much.
I have a mylar solar filter that I used to look at that huge sun spot the other day, it's so big I could see it naked eye, naturally looking through the filter. Then I put the OIII in cause I read that less bands give more detail on the sun. It did'nt seem to work but the sun was getting low and behind some trees, so I'll have to try again another day. It did turn the sun a really cool looking greenish blue.

[timothy]

I
got out tuesday night 5-10-05 just after sunset when the sky is still just a bit light. So I'm sitting on my patio which faces the parking lot with my scope all set up ,cooling off looking up in the western sky watching the stars pop into view. a man walks by with his dog and comments on what a nice telescope I have, I said thanks and asked if he had one. He said yes but nothing as sophisticated as mine ( a 5" newt EQ ) and here I am feeling sorry for myself because I don't have the 8" I want so badly. Does it sound like aperture fever . he started talking about the comet he saw with his scope about six years ago. I said maybe Hale Bopp and he started smiling and telling me all about it. It was so cool, a total stranger telling me about an obviouslly very wonderfull time in his life, and I hardly said a word. As he started on his way he says " I'm going to get that scope out again . " Wow!
It's gotten dark now so I move my big 5" around the corner to my observing site. I spend about 20' (astronomy humor ) looking for M51, no luck yet. Next I want to compare M13 and M3 since starbux description of M3 as bright and sure enough they are almost identical, but M13 seems a little bigger and brighter to me. I also saw two meteors in the EP, cool. It was 10:00 and time to start thinking about going in but I wanted to check out jupiter first, a good thing too. There were only three moons visible so I start looking for a shadow just in case. For the first time I see it ;D. Now it seems so obvious I can't imagine how I could miss it before.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

All it takes... is to see a telescope to bring out the sparkle in someones eye. I totally enjoy talking astronomy with strangers who stop on by my set up by the Adler. Sometimes, we play the role of ambassadors to the stars, as they get to actually see telescopic objects for themselves and talk with someone who knows a couple of things about the heavens.

You have probably rekindled that gentleman's interest in the skies again. Too cool!

We all have the fever, and I fear it will never be fully addressed...