ETX-125 OBSERVATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2005
This is a selection of viewing sessions for this period, all done from my rear garden in Bury, Lancashire, England (11 miles from Manchester, moderate light pollution). All times quoted UT first, with local time in brackets. These notes are shortened, and I have excluded several sessions where no ‘new stuff’ was to be seen. The weather was a serious handicap, with long breaks between sessions, due especially to rain, mist and fog – regular autumn conditions for this part of the world.
For all observations, low power = 40-50x; medium = 60-80x; high = 120-180x; maximum = 250-350x
Medium power was used unless otherwise stated.
September 12, 2005
Conditions: clear but hazy, 13°C, wind variable light, seeing 7, ZLM 4.4
Time (UT): 21:30 - 23:45 (local) 22:30 – 00:45 next day
21:40 (22:40) Time to check up on some variables. R Cygni was now dimmer than the 10.0 mag comparison star, and Chi Cygni was now down to 8.6 and becoming hard to identify in the field. R Draconis was near maximum at 7.4, but R UMa was invisible, suggesting a value below 10.8.
22:00 (23:00) I took a general ramble through previously-visited targets until Mars came into view past our wall.
23:30 (00:30) Mars still appeared to have a slight gibbous phase at 173x as seen in the light blue filter. Syrtis Major was prominent as a dark triangular patch near the centre of the disk, with the brighter area of Hellas below it. I also suspected the south polar cap as a white dot.
23:45 (00:45) Parked the ETX after a feelgood look at the Pleiades, a sure sign of the colder weather to come !
September 16, 2005
Conditions: clear, chilly, 6°C, wind NW light, seeing 7, ZLM 4.5 (near Full Moon)
Time (UT): 21:20 - 01:10 next day (local) 22:20 – 02:10 next day
21:40 (22:40) Looked at some variables for the first time: the symbiotic Mira of R Aquarii was near maximum at 7.1, R Aquilae was at 9.3, and R Scuti was at 6.4.
21:55 (22:55) Revisited the best clusters and doubles in Cygnus, with a new double: HJ 1470, a wide reddish and bluish pair. It also appeared to be one of an arc of four wide doubles, very nice at low power.
23:20 (00:20) Mars appeared past our house wall. Syrtis Major was a prominent triangle, not unlike a ‘Matterhorn’ well to the right (scope east) of centre, with the lighter area of Elysium and the darker Cimmerium to it (scope) west. Again, I saw a hint of the south polar cap.
00:00 (01:00) I slewed the ETX north to Perseus and revisited the best doubles there, plus a new one: 40 Persei, with a white primary and a faint bluish companion, rather difficult in the moonlit night.
00:25 (01:25) It was time to head back south again, to the rather dull area of Cetus and neighbouring Sculptor. Tonight’s targets were nine new doubles and a bright southern galaxy.
HJ 323 in Cetus – orange and bluish
STF 80 in Cetus – orange and yellow
STF 274 in Cetus – evenly-matched white pair
STF 280 in Cetus - yellow pair needing high power
HJ 5417 in Sculptor – little colour
HJ 1991 in Sculptor – pale orange and bluish
00:50 (01:50) After those new doubles, I made an attempt to log the galaxy NGC 253 in Sculptor, but despite its brightness, the light pollution made it difficult to see. I could barely suspect its core forming a small isosceles triangle with two mag 9 stars to its south. For comparison, I could hold M77 in Cetus in direct vision.
I resumed the doubles search with the yellow and bluish pairs of HJ 3511 and HJ 3524 in Cetus, and the closer pair of Epsilon Sculptoris.
01:05 (02:05) I took a look at Uranus, and it was clearly visible as a small green disk at high power, north of 7th-mag HD 214686, which remained stellar.
01:10 (02:10) Whilst on the subject of the Solar System, I took another look at Mars, and the planet’s rotation had brought Syrtis Major a little closer to the planetary disk centre, while still to its east.
September 25-26, 2005
Conditions: clear spells, 12°C, wind SW light, seeing 7, ZLM 5.0
Time (UT): 21:15 - 00:05 next day (local) 22:15 – 01:05 next day
21:15 (22:15) General target watch, beginning with a review of open clusters in Cygnus and Vulpecula. A new object for tonight was NGC 6885 in Vulpecula. That was a rather weak group of faint stars surrounding a 6th-magnitude one, though there was a nice asterism to its south. I also revisited the brighter globulars of M2, M13, M92 and M15.
22:20 (23:20) I took some time to look for tougher autumn DSOs. The Helix Nebula in Aquarius, NGC 7293, was very ghostly even with the light pollution filter, but positively identified as a glow half the size of the Full Moon.
Two tough galaxies were to follow: NGC 772 in Aries and NGC 925 in Triangulum. The former barely revealed itself, even in averted vision, positioned between two 9th-magnitude field stars. The latter was an even tougher object, and although I found the right-angled triangle of 10th-mag stars to its south easily enough, I cannot say I saw the galaxy even in averted. Its surface brightness must have been very low.
22.45 (23:45) Wisps of cloud beginning to affect the sky, and I could also see the transparency going. I took a tea-break, hoping for the cloud band to pass.
23:15 (00:15) DISASTER ! A sudden increase in the humidity had dewed up the corrector lens. I had to bring the scope in and put the air-conditioning on to remove the dew. Cleared in half an hour.
23:45 (00:45) I returned to viewing Mars. Mare Cimmerium and Sirenum were the only easily-seen dark areas, bisecting the planet. I could not make out the south polar cap tonight.
23:55 (00:55) I made another attempt at viewing NGC 253 in Sculptor. It was only marginally better than last time, since the increased humidity had affected the southern horizon.
00:05 (01:05) Ended with a feelgood look at the Pleiades before parking the scope.
October 1, 2005
Conditions: clear , 10°C, wind S light, seeing 7, ZLM 5.1
Time (UT): 20:35 – 00:30 next day (local): 21:35 – 01:30 next day
This was another nice long session, until the clouds took over.
20:35 UT (21:35 local) I began with the usual top summer doubles (Rasalgethi, Albireo, Gamma Delphini et al), before revisiting the true autumnal groups.
21:10 (22:10) Time to revisit the dull sprawl of Aquarius, with the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009), the globular M2 and the double of Zeta the main attractions. Other DSOs were the tougher Helix Nebula and the globular M72, plus the weak bogus ‘cluster’ of M73. One new double was the yellowish and bluish pair of STF 2838.
21:40 (22:40) I tried to nail NGC 772 again, but still I could only suspect it with averted vision. Another frustrating ‘miss’ was NGC 891 in Andromeda. M31, M32 and M110 were all clearly seen, even the last, so I tried another DSO in the same group to compensate.
NGC 404 was easily found, in the same field as Beta Andromedae (Mirach), but the star’s glare prevented me from seeing the galaxy easily until I had gently slewed Beta out of the way. With Beta gone, the galaxy was plainly seen.
22:10 (23:10) After successfully viewing M30 in Capricornus (fairly easy), M74 in Pisces (difficult) and NGC 524 in Pisces (even tougher than M74), I tried my luck with three more DSOs in Cetus.
The planetary NGC 246 was just visible as a grey smear in the field using the light pollution filter, but was none too easy. I then tried to log NGC 247, and after removing the filter, I saw the 9th-mag star to its south, but I could only suspect the core in averted vision. IC 1613 was a total failure despite its published magnitude of 9.8: I could see the mag-7 star to its north, but there was no trace of the galaxy at all – it must have suffered from very low surface brightness.
22:40 (23:40) I then had another go at NGC 253 in Sculptor. This time, I could barely hold it at 73x, but barlowing to 146x made the core just that bit clearer by diluting the light pollution.
22:50 (23:50) After all those difficult objects, I took a look at the more showy doubles in Aries and Andromeda, led by the Gamma-designated stars of each.
23:25 (00:25) Time to look at Mars again. The light area of Tharsis was near the meridian, and I suspected Nilokeras on the northwestern limb. I noticed a slight gradation of light in the dark area of Mare Australe, resembling a vague ‘eye’. This was all I could make out of Solis Lacus and Noctis Lacus.
23:40 (00:40) I was back on the Messier hunt in Perseus, but I had to see the superb Double Cluster before looking at the Little Dumbbell of M76 and the bright open cluster of M34.
23:55 (00:55) The last objects for the night were the Pleiades and the three Messier clusters in Auriga (M36 ,37, 38) before the clouds took over. All three were fascinating – the bright M36, the cruciform M38 and the rich M37.
Note: With the end of British Summer Time on October 30, local times are coincident with UT on all the following reports.
November 6, 2005
Conditions: clear spells with some high cloud, 12°C, wind SW light, seeing 7-8, ZLM 4.6
Time (UT): 20:05 – 23:45 (rain started 00:30).
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I began this good session with a revisit of top deep-sky objects and doubles, primarily in the ‘Royal Family’ groups. The mild weather meant rather poor transparency, hitting the fainter targets badly, especially when low.
20:20 The first group of the night was Cassiopeia, where I revisited five clusters and five doubles. The open clusters were the Messier pair of M52 and M103, plus the ‘ET’ cluster of NGC 457, NGC 225 and NGC 663. The doubles were the favourites of Eta, Iota, Sigma, STF 3057 and STF 3062.
21:00 Moving from the Queen to the hero Perseus, I had an enjoyable scan of the poor open clusters of NGC 744 and NGC 957, the Little Dumbbell of M76, the better clusters of NGC 1528, NGC 1582 and M34, ending with the Double Cluster.
Still in Perseus, I revisited the top doubles of STF 268 and STF 270, Theta, Eta, STF 331, STF 392, Zeta, Epsilon and 56 Per. One new double was the orange and bluish STF 476.
22:00 Continuing from the Hero to the Princess, I had a scan round Andromeda. M31 and its companions were on view, but since M110 was barely to be seen, I did not bother hunting for NGC 891, but revisited the coarse cluster of NGC 752 and the planetary of NGC 7662. The doubles list consisted of STF 3010, Pi, 59, STF 3042 and the glorious Gamma.
22:35 Time for a look at Mars, and Mare Acidalium was clearly visible as a region north of Mare Australe.
22:40 Next, it was my turn to head for the watery wastes to the southeast, to the huge group of Cetus (Andromeda’s sea-monster, now a harmless whale). The sky was too murky to try any of the faniter galaxies, so I just took a look at the better doubles: 26 Cet, 66 Cet, the faint yellow and reddish 84 Cet, and the off-white and pure white Gamma at high power. The following half-hour was spent in the easternmost of the Wet Region’s groups, and the ‘river crossing’ of Eridanus, anticipating brilliant Orion to its east.
22:55 The colourful gold and blue pairs of 32 Eri and 39 Eri were revisits from last year, as was the unusual yellow and reddish Omicron-2. There were many new pairs in the River seeing first light in the ETX, althought none of them showed much in the way of colour. STF 636 needed high power to split it, but HJ 3565, STF 411, STF 576 and STF 649 were much easier. STF 436, 62 Eri and 66 Eri were very wide and easy. It was a pity that the splendid white pair of Theta was too far south to rise from the UK.
23:25 Wisps of cloud were starting to appear in the sky, so I ended the session with some quick feelgood looks in Orion – Rigel, Sigma and M42. The last objects viewed tonight before the sky became overcast, were the fine clusters of M37 in Auriga and M35 in Gemini.
23:45 Sky overcast – end of session.
November 11, 2005
Conditions: mostly clear, with some broken cloud at times earlier on, min 4°C, wind SW moderate, seeing 6, ZLM 4.8, increasing to 5.0 by moonset
Time (UT): 21:15 – 01:30.
The earlier part of the evening was spent on Mars, plus doubles in Pisces and Cetus. The Tharsis / Mare Australe region was in view, but due to mediocre seeing, the planet just looked like a two-tone disk with bright north and dark south.
For the rest of the night I was blessed with a clear ZLM 4.8-5.0 sky, which though not the best thanks to Luna and average seeing, was a marked improvement to the murky rubbish I had to endure for most of the last forty days.
I concentrated on four splendid winter groups and one that was not quite so bright, yet still full of fine objects.
22:30 In Taurus, after the mandatory look at the Pleiades and the Hyades, I looked at another shield-shaped bright but loose cluster - NGC 1647. Other targets were the faint bluish NGC 1514 and the jumble that was open cluster NGC 1746. Doubles in the group included the wide Phi, Chi and the surprising one of H98, which appeared to have a ghost of itself to its east.
23:10 Auriga was next, and the three Messier open clusters (M36,37,38)were all superb at 73x, but M37 was the best of the trio which looked even better at 146x. I also revisited the lesser clusters of NGC 1664, 1893 and 2281. The last-named was curiously reminiscent of the constellation of Delphinus when viewed in the ETX ! There were many fine doubles there too – among them the yellow and lilac 26 Aur, the tough (at 173x) white and bluish Theta, the yellow and blue STF 872, and the yellow/blue/blue isosceles triangle of STT 147.
23:50 By now, Orion was well in view, so I took a look at M42 - a wonderful green cloud, Trapezium and all. The whole constellation seemed to be a 'binary breeding ground'. The superb quad of Sigma (it looked like Jupiter and three of its moons !) was joined by STF 761 in the field, and Iota was joined by the bright pair of STF 747 and the fainter STF 745. Other doubles were orange and blue Rho, the white and blue Rigel (easy by midnight, when it had risen a bit), and Delta (Mintaka).
Orion's most distinctive cluster, NGC 2169, was also good at 146x. It looked like the Greek letters Gamma and Sigma (in a non-reversing scope it would have looked like a '37')
00:30 After Orion, it was time to look at Gemini. The open cluster of M35 was very pretty at low power, and had a yellow/blue double (STT 134) north of centre. Also prominent was the blue planetary NGC 2392 (the Clown-Face), although the 'face' was invisible at 173x. In Gemini I also took looks at the doubles of Delta (yellowish/lilac), Kappa (orange/blue), 15 Gem (yellowish/bluish), and 38 Gem (white/blue) before ending with the glorious Castor, very good at 173x despite the seeing.
01:00 The last constellation of the night was Monoceros, famous for its clusters. NGC 2264 was very attractive if a little loose, resembling an upside-down Christmas tree, and NGC 2244 was a bright rectangular group. Other open clusters in Monoceros were the 'triangular bird' of NGC 2301, the 'Hyades' of NGC 2343, the small and bright NGC 2232, and the rectangular M50. I also took note of two nice triples in Monoceros: the near-equilateral triangle of STF 939, and the fine white triple of Beta. Beta looked double at 73x, but 173x revealed the eastern star to be itself double, similar in difficulty to Epsilon-2 Lyrae.
01:30 Cloud increasing from the southwest, and I was too tired to wait for Saturn. Parked the ETX and went home.
November 16, 2005
Conditions: clear, min -4°C, calm, seeing 6, ZLM 4.2 (Moon 1.5 days past Full)
Time (UT): 20:00 – 23:45.
This night had to be limited to double stars and Solar System work, as the Moon was so bright.
20:10 A quick glance at Mars showed the Mare Acidalium just on eastern limb and the boundary of Syrtis Major on the western one.
20:20 Lunar sunset was now reaching the floors of several craters on the Crisium limb. The most impressive was Petavius, which showed a marked radial rill emanating from its centre. Its neighbours of Langrenus and Vendelinus were also well-shown.
20:40 A couple of hours reviewing favourite summer and autumn doubles, interspersed with comfort breaks, as it was getting very cold out there !
22:45 Returned to Mars, and by now, Acidalium was well clear of the planet’s limb.
22:50 Time to look at autumn doubles whilst waiting for Saturn, plus a quick look at Orion’s best sights. By 23:30 Orion was high up, and M42 was still easy despite the Moon, but the Trapezium stars were beginning to look indistinct. I then turned the ETX on to the Moon, and the detail there was likewise becoming blurry, as if a fog had come over. I saw the reason – the corrector lens had begun to frost over after four hours. Again, I had to wait for another night before looking at Saturn ! I gave up and parked the ETX at 23:45.
November 17, 2005
Conditions: clear, min -3°C, calm, seeing 8, ZLM 4.4 (Moon 2.5 days past Full)
Time (UT): 23:15 – 01:15.
23:20 – Looked at Mars, and Mare Acidalium was well on view. It was virtually in the same apparent position as at 22:45 on the previous day, illustrating how Mars’ day was a little longer than ours.