Burn-out?

The posting frequency under this forum is low at present. Are users of this forum experiencing a burn-out?
I have a good excuse for myself for not contributing much. We had rain here for the last 82 days, and observation has been practically impossible. Therefore it has not been possible to contribute with observation reports. In fact I have been observing only twice since last May, the reason being the long summer season followed by this awfully long period of unsettled weather.
However, there may also be other reasons for unfrequent posting. Maybe the level has become too high, making observers with modest equipment or little experience refrain from posting.
It is ok, of course, to discuss observation of difficult objects like the Horsehead nebula. However, this is an example of an object that is out of range for most of us, and there's a huge number of targets around the sky that are visually far more interesting, that never get any attention. Maybe observation of e.g. M37 or M42 is an everyday matter for many of us, but I would welcome postings about any object, and also encourage experienced observers to contribute in such discussions.
Discussion about observing tecniques are also becoming rare. Although this is not an "equipment" forum it must be allowed to talk about the importance of aperture, field of view, magnification, filters and even telescope type. Lengthy discussions about telescope brands, however, should be placed under another forum.
Come on, guys! Let us get some new posts here. Personally I want to see posts about objects in Sculptor, Fornax, Eridanus and Canis Major. And when did we last see a post about M67, M50, M41, M35 etc.....

Inge S

One additional comment:

On some occasions I have commented on posts, that they probably belong to a different forum. If anybody find that I'm too restrictive, please give your feedback.

Any good ideas that can help making this forum more interesting are welcome.

Inge S

Inge
Thank you for your post. I don't feel burned out in the least, but have also struggled with the weather of late. Last night the Clear Sky clock predicted excellent observing conditions. Unfortunately a cloud bank predicted to be just south of my location covered us the entire night. I find this forum to be of great value. I am waiting for another opportunity to try for the UGC galaxy next to M81 mentioned in a previous post. WSP is coming up and may stimulate some conversation about the southern targets you have mentioned in Fornax, Eridanus, etc. I have never found your moderation of the forum to be heavy handed. I may test it with a post about thermal issues and atmospheric conditions in the early AM hours with larger reflectors.

Incidentally, yesterday evening was clear - against the forecast, and I rushed out with my emergency gear, 80mm APO and the new 15x70 high quality binocular. The sky was unusually transparent, with some light pollution SW.

First I looked with 80mm at M42/43, M78, M1 and M50. The stars in Trapezium had pronounced colours. The satisfaction from seeing them again was great! On my star-hop to M50 I found a small, but rich cluster NGC 2360 that showed some 20 stars at hight power. After that I looked at M35 and its neighbour, 2158. The contrast between these two clusters is amazing. The latter showed no resolution and looked like a small nebulous spot even at high power.

After that I mounted the binocular to proceed with its obligatory Messier survey. I looked at M42/43 (of course); they looked very bright, but the view at higher magnification was better. Not so with M50, M47 and M46: they looked phenomenal, especially M47 and M46 that were in the same field of view. Again, a striking contract between a close M47 and a much more distant, large, ancient and mysterious M46. One of the best views in the sky with any instrument!

Just for kicks, I looked at the Rosette nebula. The nebulosity was clearly seen - a tenuous bluish glow with black darkness in the middle around 2244. This binocular is probably the best instrument for it. After that, to Auriga: contrary to my expectations, M38 looked best of the OC trio. It was large, rich and well resolved. M37 was compact and bright and showed some resolution with averted vision. M36 had brightest stars.

After looking at M34 (nothing special), I tried the California nebula, but could not see it - probably because of the city lights in its direction. M31 was very long, I would say 4 degrees, with a sharp SW edge where the dust lane is. M32 and M110 were obvious. M33 was also very obvious, but I could not see the spiral arms. I think I will be able to see them from a dark location. I looked for M76, I think I saw it as a 'star', but will need to revisit it with Millennium Atlas. I finished the session with Double cluster, Stock 2, M103 (that looked like a Christmas tree), NGC 663 (big, rich, half-resolved) and NGC 659 (compact and nebulous). I had had a very pleasant observing session, nothing exotic - the showpieces of the winter skies.

The binocular is truly excellent, I fullheartedly recommend it to anyone with slightest interest for deep sky. Unfortunately, in Europe it is twice as expensive as in the US. The views are much brighter than in my 80mm, and about as bright as in 120mm refractor at low power. For some objects it has perfect magnification, some objects ask for more.

Dmitri

Okay, here's a report...
Been doing astronomy for about ten years now, so I guess I qualify as an experienced beginner. Used a variety of 60 through 90 mm long focal ratio refractors. a 4" apo, 8" inch dobs, a 12.5" dob, and now a 14" dob. Last night I took my newest scope out--an 80 mm short tube on a camera tripod. What a blast!! I brought it home in a Toyota Celica. Travel scope? Oh yeah! Carried it outside in one hand with an observing chair in the other hand. Lightweight, quick look scope?
Oh yeah! Began observing immediately, with no waiting for cool down. Allright, so it's not a 14", the images aren't as bright or detailed. But in the time it took me to set up the 14", I observed M-31, M-32, M-81, M-82, M-45, M-42, the Belt stars, and Saturn! It's kinda of a charge to see how much detail can be seen through smaller aperture, once you know what's already there. When the scope needs to be moved to access a different part of the sky, I just picked it up and walked with it, no EQ aligning to worry about. I know this is starting to sound like a mini scope review, but the point is this: It can be a blast getting out under the sky with minimum aperture and doing a quick tour, just to see what you can see. All in all, I had a great time last night, visiting some old friends, and seeing them in a new way!
Larry Seguin
Taos, New Mexico

I'm glad to see several observation reports already. I'll be travelling a few days, but I hope to make some contribution myself when I return.

Inge S

Ok, Inge, you asked for it. Here's a long one featuring the southern beauties 1365, 1300, and 2477, or,

"How I Spent the Night Sitting on the Dirt."


OR 1/19/07—Lake Sonoma, north of Santa Rosa, CA. Seeing quite soft, transparency good, about mag 6. 16” f/5 dob with 27 Panoptic, 16 and 11 mm Naglers.

This appeared to be my last chance this season of a good look at ngc 1365, which I had only glimpsed once, a year and a half ago, in the pre-dawn twilight of a late August morning. Trusting in the clearskyclock, I got on the road with an hour to spare—an hour that evaporated due to a bad accident on the highway ahead of me—and I arrived about 5 minutes before the galaxy was to transit—about 7:50 local time. So I drove the last 20 minutes with a ski mask over my right eye (probably not a good idea, but I really wanted this target) and achieved a personal best for setup and collimation!

I’m not familiar with this part of the sky, and it took a few minutes to identify the two groups of upsilon-eridani, which point toward a little triangle of mag 4.5 stars (sao 194559) about 3 deg east of 1365: this group was just visible, about 15 degrees above the horizon—I was fighting the light-dome from Santa Rosa. Once I had these, the galaxy was easy to find: it showed a bright E-W bar of 5’ extent, perhaps tilting toward the WSW; the arms extended N/S from the end of the bar another 5’ each. A faint (mag 13, I guessed) star was at the tip of the northern arm—well, I didn’t quite see the arm extend this far, about 8’—I intuited it in AV with a little shaking of the cage, and may have imagined the glow of an HII region nearby—another mag 13 star nestled in the juncture of the bar and N arm about 1.5 to 2’ NW of the core; and a pair of similar stars 6’ ENE of the core were arranged N/S sep 1.5’ or so. The galaxy was best in the 16mm, though a little washed out; the 11mm did not quite let enough light in—it was one of the few times I wished for something in between (sigh). The N arm was much easier, though both arms were strongly suggested at the “corners” where they leave the bar. The S arm required AV, esp in the 11mm. This must be a spectacular galaxy in large apertures from a southern location.

To the south I spotted 1326 (sm., f brt, rd) and the pair 1316 and 1317 (1317 quite bright, 6’ south of 1316, v sm and ft.) and to north I found 1350, a hazy oval. A quick perusal (in my 27mm) of the Fornax I cluster nearby yielded 10 galaxies in a 2 degree circle—I was too lazy to dig out my detailed charts and make IDs, and I was anxious to go north to ngc 1300.

1300 appeared 5 to 6’ long, roughly EW, by 3 to 4’ high. At first glance, it seemed oval with a bright bar running the full 5’, but mottling on either side of the bar helped to define the arms, which curve back, running parallel to the bar EW on the north and south. The W edge of the northern bar is particularly well defined, but overall the S arm is brighter. The nucleus was stellar, at least in this poor seeing. Another fine galaxy.

I turned to Puppis, first to look at M46—the PN 2438 was very bright in the 11mm and showed its ring structure), and then to find 2477, a rich OC far to the south. A week ago I was in Kauai on a family vacation, with my trusty 8x40’s, and I spotted this cluster, about 2 degrees NW of zeta-puppis, not knowing its identity—clearly an open cluster, but very bright and compact, almost like a big globular in the little binoculars, and I figured it had to be a nice target in any telescope. At Lake Sonoma, it was just 10 degrees off the horizon in the heart of the Santa Rosa light dome—the only visible reference star was pi-puppis, 7 degrees to the WNW. In my binoculars I was able to identify ngc 2451 (very coarse, large, close OC), about a degree from 2477 and so point the scope. Well, it was very washed out in the glare, but evidently very rich, compact OC of about 15’ diameter, a little oblong. It must be a beauty in southern skies, perhaps comparable to M 37.

Other objects visited: Orion: M42 (duh! Fabulous, the wings curved around into a full circle of about 50’ diameter, broken only toward iota-Ori—when I placed the trapezium at the edge of my 16mm, the entire field of 40 minutes was filled with nebulosity of varying density); ngc 1977 et al, the nebulosity around the northern part of the sword, very pronounced, running EW in layers; the flame nebula (2024) very bright, in two lobes separated by a N/S dark streak, the easterly lobe showing 3 dark fingers--I preferred the unfiltered view in the 16mm to the UHC; 2023, a bright nebula about the mag 8 star sao 132464 just south of zeta-Ori near the horsehead. Ursa Major, galaxies near the two paws: 2639, NE of iota-UM, f brt, elong 2:1, and little (mag 13) 2684, a smudge 1 deg NW of iota-UM; at the southern paw, just W of mu-UM, 3184, a face on spiral: it showed (in the 16mm) a circular, fairly bright, featureless haze of 7’ diameter, with slight central brightening. And of course M81 and 82.


Best wishes,
George

p.s. I finished at 10:30 with a look at Saturn. It was a mess. I guess the moral is you can have a lot of fun even with mediocre seeing.