I haven't been to my dark site for four (!) months, prevented by travel, the Moon, and - most of all - the bad weather. Finally, the forecast showed a clear evening (but a cloudy night), and I drove to my dark place. It was somewhat of a gambling, but the clouds never came while I was there. I had with me my new 15x70 binocular, my old 10x50 - to plug some holes in its Messier survey, and C8 with my new binoviewer.
I started with 15x70. This binocular still amazes me with its capabilities. I had a Dew-not eyepiece strip wrapped around the eyepieces to prevent dewing. M74 was immediately obvious with averted vision, and I could see the brighter central part. It was beautiful! M76 was small, but clearly nonstellar. At last I had a good look at M34 and saw some individuality there: it was like a square box of stars, three per side, and a blown-up version of M29 inside. The view was very photographic!
Next to galaxies: I found NGC 185 pretty easily (Warren, thanks for reminding!) as a soft glow between two stars. A look in the Millennium Atlas confirmed that. I couldn't see 147, but I could not see it in C8 either - the sky was not transparent enough. I couldn't see the spiral arms of M33 however I tried - but I saw them clearly with C8 later. M77 was star-like with direct vision, but increased in size with averted vision. The open cluster/galaxy pair in Cepheus, 69639/6946, was clearly seen and the cluster showed some resolution. The large nebula IC 1396 was also pretty obvious, I estimated its diameter 2 degrees. I tried the California nebula - to no avail. But I could easily see the white dwarf companion of Omicron 2 Eridani. Later I could see the dwarf's own companion - an X-ray source - with C8.
After that I mounted 10x50 and looked at M74. It was still there, but small and hard to see. M76 was seen at times as a small speck, and M77 looked like a nebulous star. 6939 was still seen well, but 6946 was difficult. M79 was small but obvious.
C8 had cooled down by now. I used the orange Beta Andromedae as one of the alignment stars, and NGC 404 was very bright close to it - a striking view. The equal stars of M38 filled the field of view, and its compact neighbour NGC 1907 showed a dozen of small equal stars. 891 was obvious at 90x, and I saw the dust lane at 230x clearly with averted vision. 1023 looked like a small version of M31. M33 looked like a knife of a kitchen appliance - the classical pin-wheel look. M77 had a very bright but not stellar central part, and a beautiful disc around it. Besides that I looked at some galaxies from Hartung's list - 246, 524, 772, and 936. I like this list and the book very much!
Finally, I put the binoviewer in C8 and looked at M42. It was MIND-BLOWING!!! I could see the full circle of the nebula with 20mm eyepieces. 884 filled the FOV with stars; I sat there, very relaxed, and could not stop watching.
When I almost started to pack my gear, a guy came by and I showed him M42, 884 and Saturn with four moons, all in 24mm Panoptic. He obviously had a navy connexion, because when he saw 884 he started to describe his night dives: when the water is clear, the reflexions of his lamp from the ripples on the surface create a similar effect. [ I should try that! ] All in all, an extremely satisfying night.
Dmitri
I started with 15x70. This binocular still amazes me with its capabilities. I had a Dew-not eyepiece strip wrapped around the eyepieces to prevent dewing. M74 was immediately obvious with averted vision, and I could see the brighter central part. It was beautiful! M76 was small, but clearly nonstellar. At last I had a good look at M34 and saw some individuality there: it was like a square box of stars, three per side, and a blown-up version of M29 inside. The view was very photographic!
Next to galaxies: I found NGC 185 pretty easily (Warren, thanks for reminding!) as a soft glow between two stars. A look in the Millennium Atlas confirmed that. I couldn't see 147, but I could not see it in C8 either - the sky was not transparent enough. I couldn't see the spiral arms of M33 however I tried - but I saw them clearly with C8 later. M77 was star-like with direct vision, but increased in size with averted vision. The open cluster/galaxy pair in Cepheus, 69639/6946, was clearly seen and the cluster showed some resolution. The large nebula IC 1396 was also pretty obvious, I estimated its diameter 2 degrees. I tried the California nebula - to no avail. But I could easily see the white dwarf companion of Omicron 2 Eridani. Later I could see the dwarf's own companion - an X-ray source - with C8.
After that I mounted 10x50 and looked at M74. It was still there, but small and hard to see. M76 was seen at times as a small speck, and M77 looked like a nebulous star. 6939 was still seen well, but 6946 was difficult. M79 was small but obvious.
C8 had cooled down by now. I used the orange Beta Andromedae as one of the alignment stars, and NGC 404 was very bright close to it - a striking view. The equal stars of M38 filled the field of view, and its compact neighbour NGC 1907 showed a dozen of small equal stars. 891 was obvious at 90x, and I saw the dust lane at 230x clearly with averted vision. 1023 looked like a small version of M31. M33 looked like a knife of a kitchen appliance - the classical pin-wheel look. M77 had a very bright but not stellar central part, and a beautiful disc around it. Besides that I looked at some galaxies from Hartung's list - 246, 524, 772, and 936. I like this list and the book very much!
Finally, I put the binoviewer in C8 and looked at M42. It was MIND-BLOWING!!! I could see the full circle of the nebula with 20mm eyepieces. 884 filled the FOV with stars; I sat there, very relaxed, and could not stop watching.
When I almost started to pack my gear, a guy came by and I showed him M42, 884 and Saturn with four moons, all in 24mm Panoptic. He obviously had a navy connexion, because when he saw 884 he started to describe his night dives: when the water is clear, the reflexions of his lamp from the ripples on the surface create a similar effect. [ I should try that! ] All in all, an extremely satisfying night.
Dmitri
