Yesterday I returned from La Palma with my travel mates after a great week. I've got stuff for many postings and discussions, and will not give a full report here and now. To begin with, just some general impressions:
Casa Rosabel, our accomodation site, is located at the western side of the island about 600m above sea level. The place offers free sight towards the south and west, but high mountains block the view of the eastern sky. The sky is dark - it was no problem to hold 15.3 mag stars 100% of the time in the 12.5-inch. Seeing, however, is generally poor, only occasionally it is possible to get below 2" there. Steady seeing would have improved the limiting magnitude still further. Five of our six nights down there were clear. The sky above the horizon (ocean) was, however, generally hazy. It vas possible to get a glimpse of Beta, Gamma and Delta Crucis as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri with the naked eye. Some 5 degrees above the horizon, however, transparency improved considerably.
Two of the nights we went up to the observatory camp at Roque de los Muchachos at some 2100 metres above sea level. We were not admitted to the highest peaks where the domes are located, but observed from a helicopter landing pad. From there the sight directly to the south was blocked, but we had free sights to all other directions. It was quite cold up there and the wind was annoying. Seeing generally becomes better as wind increases. The second night we had 15 metres/sec (more than 30 mph), and had to find a place just below the landing pad to get some shelter from the wind. We didn't measure the limiting magnitude from the summit, but it must have been at least half a magnitude better than from Casa Rosabel.The windy night also offered good seeing (It varied somewhat, but occasionally it was excellent).
In spite of some difficulties our trip was a great experience. The most impressive deep-sky objects observed during our stay were the following:
#1: The Milky way of Sagittarius, Scorpius, Scutum etc viewed by the naked eye.
#2: Omega Centauri
#3: M8 viewed with 13mm Nagler and O-III
#4: Veil nebula (13mm Nagler, O-III)
#5: M17
#6: M20 (Unfiltered)
The three gaseous nebulae all showed an incredible amount of detail, and were very beautiful. In addition to the ones listed, there are several runners-up, e.g. M51, M83, NGC5128, M101, M22, M13, M11... And then comes a long list of other goodies. Postings about them will follow later.
Inge S
Casa Rosabel, our accomodation site, is located at the western side of the island about 600m above sea level. The place offers free sight towards the south and west, but high mountains block the view of the eastern sky. The sky is dark - it was no problem to hold 15.3 mag stars 100% of the time in the 12.5-inch. Seeing, however, is generally poor, only occasionally it is possible to get below 2" there. Steady seeing would have improved the limiting magnitude still further. Five of our six nights down there were clear. The sky above the horizon (ocean) was, however, generally hazy. It vas possible to get a glimpse of Beta, Gamma and Delta Crucis as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri with the naked eye. Some 5 degrees above the horizon, however, transparency improved considerably.
Two of the nights we went up to the observatory camp at Roque de los Muchachos at some 2100 metres above sea level. We were not admitted to the highest peaks where the domes are located, but observed from a helicopter landing pad. From there the sight directly to the south was blocked, but we had free sights to all other directions. It was quite cold up there and the wind was annoying. Seeing generally becomes better as wind increases. The second night we had 15 metres/sec (more than 30 mph), and had to find a place just below the landing pad to get some shelter from the wind. We didn't measure the limiting magnitude from the summit, but it must have been at least half a magnitude better than from Casa Rosabel.The windy night also offered good seeing (It varied somewhat, but occasionally it was excellent).
In spite of some difficulties our trip was a great experience. The most impressive deep-sky objects observed during our stay were the following:
#1: The Milky way of Sagittarius, Scorpius, Scutum etc viewed by the naked eye.
#2: Omega Centauri
#3: M8 viewed with 13mm Nagler and O-III
#4: Veil nebula (13mm Nagler, O-III)
#5: M17
#6: M20 (Unfiltered)
The three gaseous nebulae all showed an incredible amount of detail, and were very beautiful. In addition to the ones listed, there are several runners-up, e.g. M51, M83, NGC5128, M101, M22, M13, M11... And then comes a long list of other goodies. Postings about them will follow later.
Inge S
