Image of the day

Captured by
Douglas Rollain

M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGBHa

About Astromart

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Dmitri Kulginov

September 20, 2007 12:58 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Globulars of all sizes

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Of the smaller globulars we observed, I particularly liked two in the same field of view, NGC 6522 and 6528 in Sagittarius. Another favourite is a small globular cluster NGC 6453 near M7. Some globulars were bright, but showed no sign of resolution which was intriguing, for example NGC 6356 in Ophiuchus.

Contrary to a popular misconception, globular clusters are very different from each other in size, brightness, concentration and degree of resolution, but also in the shape of star chains and outliers. For example, M30 has three or four strange straight chains of stars radiating from in on one side. M15 looks like a plate made by the outliers, with a concentrated, burning core. M22 is cut by straight, thin dark lanes. M15 has an elongated core. Warren can tell more about it, I guess.

Dmitri

September 20, 2007 07:23 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

the goddess

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Alan,

Beautiful!!

Dmitri

September 21, 2007 01:36 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

The glorious diffuse nebulae of the summer sky

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
We observed M17 through the Portaball. Starting at low magnification and trying with and without O-III we soon realised that there was potential to see more. I think we went up to 300x before Dmitri was satisfied.

We went to 375x with 4mm Radian. The filter at high power seemed totally unnecessary, we could see an overwhelming amount of detail! There were recent series of photos by Roland Christen, http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=536710&poll_id=&news_id=&page=3 that can approach to (but not better) what we could see with our own eyes. This is true for many objects from La Palma, we could enjoy a photographic view, only much better.

I spent a lot of time with M20 in my C8, trying to split (successfully) its central quintuple star. An amazing thing was that the dark lanes, obvious at low power with averted vision, could be scrutinized with direct vision at high power of 230x.

Dmitri

September 23, 2007 05:15 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

An open cluster expedition along the milky way

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
I'd like to add some of my impressions. I was profoundly impressed by the distant NGC 6791 in Lyra than Inge mentions; I thought that sometimes I could see hundreds of resolved stars with averted vision, and the literature seems to confirm that. Even in its unresolved, nebulous appearance, the cluster was beautiful and mysterious.

Another highlight was NGC 6520 situated next to a dark nebula B86 (more about them later). The star cloud in the background is immensely rich, and the black void nearby looks almost scary. The cluster features an orange lucida and some blue/orange dimmer stars around it.

NGC 6939 in Cepheus, very close to the galaxy NGC 6946 was a grand sight in Portaball. Triangular shape, fully resolved, cut by dark lanes. In C8 it was not as impressive.

A small open cluster 6444 was in the same FOV as M7 and a small globular cluster 6453. M7 itself was the brightest spot in the Milky Way seen with naked eye, too large for all scopes but Eckart's F4.

Finally, when we revisited 7789 later, we agreed that it looked more like a rose than a Superman's 'S', with chains of stars and dark lanes between them marking the petals - The Rose Cluster.

Dmitri

September 24, 2007 06:56 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Diffuse nebulae of the northern sky and one SNR

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
I think Dmitri was rather impressed by the view of it with the 12.5-inch and the O-III filter.

I was not impressed, I was shaken!! Both in Portaball and 8" F4 Newton. An O-III filter is already in order (Astronomik).

Dmitri

September 29, 2007 09:15 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Where to start eyepiece collection?

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Josh,

You can buy Meads, Stratuses etc, but in the end this will be a waist of money because you will end up with a few TV eyepieces. Why don't you start with one eyepiece, 24mm Panoptic, that will nicely plug the hole between 32 and 15mm? You will never regret this.

(I have the same scope and Panoptics 24 and 19mm plus T6 Naglers 13 and 9mm.)

Dmitri

October 1, 2007 09:00 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

I took the plunge!

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Floyd,

It is not unheard of astro-photographers selling their children to finance their next equipment purchase!

Dmitri

October 4, 2007 07:07 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Galaxy clusters and groups

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Here is my sketch, it took 15-20 minutes to make it if I'm not mistaken. Making it was much fun! Identification was made on the following morning with the help of Uranometria 2000. First I thought that I got the orientation of NGC 1382 wrong, but then I discovered that there are two galaxies, 1382 A and B, and the elongation most likely corresponds to the PA of unresolved pair.

NGC 1365 is incredibly beautiful, we could see the bright bulge, the bar and the curved long arms very clearly.

Dmitri

October 5, 2007 10:12 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

M31 and M33

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Both great galaxies were definitely the highlights of the trip and revealed themselves gradually over multiple observing sessions. The view of all three galaxies, M31/M32/M110 in the same two-degrees-wide field of view of Eckart's Newtonian was excellent, with two dust bands in M31 and a glow beyond them clearly seen. In Portaball we could see at medium and high power how the dust lane turns towards and into the bright central area. High power view of the bright, stellar core (Inge and I seem to contradict here) made me think of black holes.

M33 was easily seen with direct vision without optical aid. At low and medium power it looked with its spiral arms like a kitchen machine knife, the arms were clear and unambigous. But the galaxy was much bigger that the spread of its amrs.

What impressed me most in both galaxies was the delicate patchwork of light surrounding and including their bright features. I could see the true extent of both galaxies for the first time. You could tell exactly where the tenuous light of the galaxy ended and the black space punctured with stars began. It was in total agreement with the photographic dimensions of both galaxies. I spent many unforgettable minutes with these two super-targets, especially M33, which was also the last object I looked at from La Palma.

Dmitri

October 6, 2007 09:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Sculptor galaxy

Posted By Dmitri Kulginov
Does it have a bright core that is partially obscured by the dust?

Dmitri

Funding Member

Sponsors


View all sponsors

Search