Welcome to Post #100!! It's hard to believe. So is the fact that I have just finished up observing six clear nights in a row! Incredible!! My nearest dark sky site is a 45 minute drive from home. After doing this for four nights straight, I decided I needed a break. I set up the 12" Dob. on my back deck. I live in a busy suburban area, just north of the center of my small town (pop. 10,000). To my north is Windsor/Detroit (pop. approx. 5 million). To say that I live in a light polluted area is a grand understatement.
However, this year my yard is so overgrown due to a hot summer and sheer laziness on my part, that I seem to be sheltered from the worst of the lights. I thought I would try a night on the back deck instead of driving yet again to the observatory. Guess what? I had a fantastic night! My expectations were set low to begin with, but I received surprise after surprise during the three-hour session. I can see 3rd mag. stars from home with the naked eye, and most 4th mag. ones that are high enough above the horizon. Thanks to my intense double star program (see Post #96 on how to create your own double star lists) I now have hours and hours of work I can do from home. When I do get to a dark sky site, I can then track down fainter deep sky objects.
I did double star work that night in Cassiopeia, which is in my most light polluted area. This proved to be an advantage, as I did not have the massive amounts of background stars to distract me. It was the same when observing open clusters; the stars in the cluster really stood out well without the interference from very faint background stars. Of course nothing looks as good as it does from the observatory site in Comber, ON, but with 90 minutes less driving, I can put up with it once in a while.
Here are the deep sky objects I observed, and some impressions of what I saw:
M 57--as good as ever, especially using a Skyglow filter. I would never see the central star, but I had great views of the nebula.
M 8--in my low south sky, heavily light polluted. With the Skyglow filter I was amazed at how much detail I was seeing. Still a major showpiece object, despite the very milky sky.
M 52--in the worst part of my sky. Certainly not the shimmering beauty I usually see, but the cluster was still pretty decent, with all stars resolving well. This one is small enough to take magnification, which helped darken the otherwise orangey-white sky.
Cz 43--the companion cluster to M 52, it lost nothing tonight. It is mostly brighter stars anyway, and still looked great.
gn 7635--the Bubble Nebula lies very close to M 52. Even in a dark sky there is little to see visually. However, with my trusty Skyglow filter a small but notable patch of haze was seen at 136x, just preceding the accompanying bright star. Yay!
oc 7510--an odd-shaped cluster in Cygnus, not far from M 52, it showed up nicely, with good viewing to 187x.
oc 7209--this very fine open cluster in Lacerta did not impress me as much as it does from a dark sky site. However, there it is, still looking fine. The bright horseshoe shape is easily noted, and with less background stars the cluster stands out well.
oc 7243--another big cluster in Lacerta, this one looked pretty decent. Most of the member stars are quite bright, so it looks pretty much the same as from a dark sky, minus some background stars.
egs 7448, 7454, 7463, and 7465--what better test than to try for some galaxies! I had recently observed these four from Comber, and found all four of them easily tonight from my backyard. What a pleasant surprise! While certainly not as bright as from the observatory site, here I was at home viewing galaxies. It made me happy!
oc 6910--the lovely little "Y" cluster north of Gamma Cygni was as bold and beautiful as ever!
M 39--a big, bright open cluster in Cygnus. As lovely as ever. Bright and exciting object, not unlike the Pleiades, but a bit farther from us.
And now a brief word regarding all of those doubles I observed that night--colours and separation were virtually the same as from a dark site. Anytime I have a large amount of double stars to observe, I will do them from home. That is, until the leaves fall. Then I am out of luck.
Clear skies!
Mapman Mike
I did double star work that night in Cassiopeia, which is in my most light polluted area. This proved to be an advantage, as I did not have the massive amounts of background stars to distract me. It was the same when observing open clusters; the stars in the cluster really stood out well without the interference from very faint background stars. Of course nothing looks as good as it does from the observatory site in Comber, ON, but with 90 minutes less driving, I can put up with it once in a while.
Here are the deep sky objects I observed, and some impressions of what I saw:
M 57--as good as ever, especially using a Skyglow filter. I would never see the central star, but I had great views of the nebula.
M 8--in my low south sky, heavily light polluted. With the Skyglow filter I was amazed at how much detail I was seeing. Still a major showpiece object, despite the very milky sky.
M 52--in the worst part of my sky. Certainly not the shimmering beauty I usually see, but the cluster was still pretty decent, with all stars resolving well. This one is small enough to take magnification, which helped darken the otherwise orangey-white sky.
Cz 43--the companion cluster to M 52, it lost nothing tonight. It is mostly brighter stars anyway, and still looked great.
gn 7635--the Bubble Nebula lies very close to M 52. Even in a dark sky there is little to see visually. However, with my trusty Skyglow filter a small but notable patch of haze was seen at 136x, just preceding the accompanying bright star. Yay!
oc 7510--an odd-shaped cluster in Cygnus, not far from M 52, it showed up nicely, with good viewing to 187x.
oc 7209--this very fine open cluster in Lacerta did not impress me as much as it does from a dark sky site. However, there it is, still looking fine. The bright horseshoe shape is easily noted, and with less background stars the cluster stands out well.
oc 7243--another big cluster in Lacerta, this one looked pretty decent. Most of the member stars are quite bright, so it looks pretty much the same as from a dark sky, minus some background stars.
egs 7448, 7454, 7463, and 7465--what better test than to try for some galaxies! I had recently observed these four from Comber, and found all four of them easily tonight from my backyard. What a pleasant surprise! While certainly not as bright as from the observatory site, here I was at home viewing galaxies. It made me happy!
oc 6910--the lovely little "Y" cluster north of Gamma Cygni was as bold and beautiful as ever!
M 39--a big, bright open cluster in Cygnus. As lovely as ever. Bright and exciting object, not unlike the Pleiades, but a bit farther from us.
And now a brief word regarding all of those doubles I observed that night--colours and separation were virtually the same as from a dark site. Anytime I have a large amount of double stars to observe, I will do them from home. That is, until the leaves fall. Then I am out of luck.
Clear skies!
Mapman Mike
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