#50 Summer Observing Plans, 2014

With spring galaxy season officially ended (for me it finally ended last night, when I logged a tiny, faint one in Bootes), it is time to bring on the summer milky way and all of the awesome areas of sky contained within. Last summer I enjoyed quite a lot of clear skies, and was able to begin and finish detailed deep sky observations of Lyra and Cygnus, as well as nearly finish Cassiopeia.  The summer constellations are "up there" a lot longer than those of any other season, thanks to the increasing level of darkness creeping back into our lives.  Combined with generally nicer weather, many of us spend entire nights observing in July, August, and September.  I have already observed most of the summer sky with my previous 8" scope, and I am now having another go with my 12".

My summer plans include observing all of the NGC and IC objects in Aquila, Delphinus, and Sagitta, and also getting a start in Sagittarius.  Hundreds of deep sky objects await, many of them completely new to me.  I have also included all of the open clusters from other catalogs shown on Uranometria 2000, as well as the occasional globular cluster and planetary nebula.  My main goal, however, is the NGC list.  Double stars are not forgotten, as I will go back and review some of the best ones seen previously, along with several I could not split with the 8", or could not find back in the day.  Refer to my earliest blogs for exactly how I go about setting up my observing lists. It's an old-fashioned way, but keeps me entertained for hours on cloudy nights and weekends.

I've already had a good start in Aquila, logging four open clusters last night, including 6709.  There are also three (less impressive) clusters in the immediate vicinity.  However, by star hopping to them from 6709 I got to see a lot of lovely star fields, and got to know another small part of the sky very well.  On previous nights I viewed oc 6755 and 6756, along with other open clusters, a few globulars and planetaries, a variable star and a double.  Since I spent April, May and June hunting down (mostly) faint galaxies, it is pure joy to behold the wonders of the Milky Way once again.  I especially like viewing open clusters, and the 12" has revealed them to me in ways only that level of aperture could.  6709, for example, is a minor treasure in my scope, and I spent a very long time last night enjoying the sight.  I began at 43x, and slowly worked my way up to 200x, stopping off for lengthy views at 60x, 83x, 100x, 125x, 150x, and 187x.  Each view gave a new perspective, and it was like arriving amidst the cluster in a spaceship, having begun some distance away. Once deep inside the cluster, I pulled away again and enjoyed low power views.  Believe me, this is a fun way to spend a night!  Afterwards, once the notes are in the logbook, I go back and compare what I saw now with what I saw years ago with the 8".

My wife and observing partner, Deb, has her own method of tracking down deep sky objects.  Deb now has about a year of solo observing under her belt, after assisting me with sketches at the eyepiece for decades.  She started with our Astroscan 4 1/4" RFT, locating all of the Messier objects to boost her driving and hunting skills. Once she had completed that project, she upgraded to an Orion Starblast 6".  That is one fine little telescope, with some of the sharpest views of stars and deep sky objects I have ever seen.  It more than holds its own against all the super expensive 5" refractors that come out to the observatory to observe. It's only drawback is that it does not accept 2" eyepieces. 

Right now Deb is completing her NGC globular cluster project.  Previous to this she took on Spring galaxies. Her next project, just currently getting underway, is finding open clusters within a specific size and magnitude. Basically she observes a large selection of objects in one category (galaxy, open, or globular cluster) and does a comparative study.  She observes each object with the same three eyepieces, comparing size, brightness and ease of finding and seeing the object.  So she is now an expert observer of galaxies and globular clusters using a 6" reflector.

Because we travel to the observatory in one vehicle, and because my 12" scope takes up a lot of the cargo room, Deb is limited to a 6" aperture, though she is often more than happy to take a peek through the 12". Sometimes we have fun by observing the same object at the same time in both scopes, comparing the views.

As always, I am interested in hearing about other observing methods.  Just remember to have a peek at what else may lie around that deep sky object you are looking at, especially if it lies in the Milky Way.  Star chains, small but colourful double stars, tiny asterisms... it's fun to be surprised by uncateloged, undiscovered wonders, too. Happy summer observing!

Mapman Mike

#43 NGC Life List Update--How's My Observing?

When I first got seriously interested in amateur astronomy, I was determined to seek out all of the Herschel objects that were within reach of my Tasco 4.5" reflector, and then later my Edmund 8" reflector.  Star hopping to faint deep sky objects was quite easy with a properly aligned equatorial mount, which both scopes had.  Since acquiring my Orion 12" Dobsonian, and maps that amateurs in the 70s never dreamed of, I have become more interested in the NGC list.  Completing the list in one lifetime would be a daunting task, but I have decided to give it my best shot (see blog entry for 30/03/2013), counting the ones I saw previously with the 8".

I am only including the objects within my latitude range--I could not possibly hope to spend enough time in Chile or Australia to see all of the NGC objects only available to southern viewers.  Someday, however, I hope to get down there and at least view the highlights!  As my latitude is 42 degrees N, I can discount many of the objects in the catalogue, though I have plans to observe once or twice a year from about 36 degrees N, helping me to get the objects in the south skies too difficult from my home base.  And I am not interested in observing all of the NGC "mistakes."  Many objects turn out to be faint stars, or double stars, that perhaps looked nebulous to viewers back in the day.  Still others are duplicates of existing NGC entries.  I haven't yet determined how many objects of the 7800 I have available to me, but I am guessing it will be close to 5000.  As I am currently at just over 800 NGC objects seen, there is a long way to go.  The project would be much easier and faster with a 16", though to date I have found everything with the 12" that I have attempted.  Doubtless there will be some tiny, ultra-faint galaxies that I will never see, but by the time I have only those ones left to see, perhaps I will have a 16" scope or bigger.  Our astronomy club has a 14" at the observatory, and a very good friend of mine has a 22" Dob.  So the really faint ones are not causing me distress at this time.

I was never that familiar with the NGC list back in the early days (I began observing in late 1968), and when I did come across references to it in books it was usually described as a list of mostly very faint galaxies. That still describes the NGC pretty succinctly, though nowadays amateurs have access to telescope objective sizes we didn't even dream about back then!  A list of faint galaxies, while still quite intimidating, is within the reach of many amateurs and their large scopes.  Growing up, my local university had a 6" and an 8" scope.  Those were pretty big back then!  While I think they still are impressive, most observers would laugh at me for this belief (remember, a small scope back then was a 3").

Of course to seek out so many faint objects one must first have some type of mental disorder.  I don't know what mine is called, but I seem to be mostly alone out there in my search for all of the NGC.  The best part, of course, is after a night of observing many fainter objects, suddenly a 12.5 mag. galaxy is sighted and it seems like one is looking at the Andromeda galaxy!  Clusters appear twice as wonderful, as do globulars, after viewing galaxy after galaxy.  I never had much appreciation for fainter galactic nebula before, but I am now quite fascinated by them, even though some of the smaller, fainter ones resemble galaxies.  I am in no hurry to complete the list, either.  My Leo pre-observation rough pages number 30, with about 12 objects on each page.  In almost two years I have barely completed 3 pages!  I average about 3-4 deep sky objects per hour, not all of them NGC.  I like seeing what is in the neighbourhood, so if the NGC object is in an interesting area, I will take some time and have a look around to see what else is there.  Uranometria 2000, All-Sky Edition, accompanies me on every observing session.

I am happy knowing I will likely never complete my goal of seeing all of the available NGC objects.  It is comforting to me to know that there is so much out there.  If I make it a quarter of the way, or perhaps half, it will be an achievement worthy of some kind of award, no doubt self-presented.  "I present the distinguished 'He Tried but Failed to See all of the NGC' award to Mapman, from Ontario, Canada, one of the cloudiest places on the planet.  Good job, Mapman!"

 

Mapman Mike