Under the stars
There have been many weeks recently when it has either been cloudy (though without much rain) or I have been too tired, too busy or both and have seen the stars only through a window. Last night was not great for astronomy, but I got the telescope out anyway. By 10:30pm BST, it was becoming reasonably dark and through gaps in the cloud I could see the summer triangle and in some patches of the sky there was a real dusting of stars – the gentle, calm and rich skies of summer.
The telescope aligned quickly on Altair, Deneb and Vega and the goto worked perfectly all evening – landing the object right in the middle of the field every time. I was trying out a new “flip mirror” – so I could look through the eyepiece then “flip” to my ccd camera. In the event, I did not take any images. The flip mirror assembly limited how far the scope could turn, and I could not get the camera in focus. Examining it this morning, showed that I should have removed a length of tube which will give free movement and I hope will allow a clean focus. Instead, I decided to observe visually. This suited the conditions as there was a haze of thin cloud everywhere – which caught enough of the twilight and artificial lights below to make the sky background quite bright – with lower contrast. There were also larger patches of thicker cloud, so many objects were only visible for short periods of time. I scooted around the sky with my Celestron e-lux 40mm wide angle lens, taking in the views. As I was using a f6.3 focal reducer, the field was about a degree wide (low magnification of x32)
I started with M29 in Cygnus. Although the sky background was very bright I noted “A lovely little asterism in the centre of a rich starfield”.
Next was M39 in Cygnus: “Simply gorgeous. Lots of pin-prick stars on a bright, rich star background”.
Then I went looking for M71 in Sagitta. I was able to glimpse the object but the thin cloud was interefering with things and the contrast was too low to give a good observation.
I moved on to M27 in Vulpecula. I could see this very clearly, though without detail as an “elongated gassy blob appearing to hang in front of a rich, deep star field”.
I tried for another globular cluster (NGC 6934 in Delphinus) but had similar problems with the high cloud and still fairly bright background. I could see the object, but no detail at all. A satellite rushed through the field at one point – very bright in the eyepiece but not visible to the naked eye.
I had my first ever look at M11 in Scutum – the wild duck cluster. This is fascinating and I am longing for a proper look and some photography under better conditions. It appeared at first as a diffuse glow around a couple of stars, but once fixed in the vision it resolves into a compact, very rich cluster – quite beautiful.
Finally, I returned again to M13 – the great globular cluster in Hercules. It is always stunning, but even this magnificent object was limited by the low contrast and haze.
Although this was a quick tour – without careful study or even sketching – there is something deeply interesting and soothing about looking at these wonders of the universe with your own eyes (albeit with powerful help!), from your own back-yard. It is very nice to be able to do so so comfortably in shirt-sleeves.
I decided to pack up and head for bed. As I was doing so I saw just one perseid meteor skimming fast over the roof of the house. That, the delightful, delicate views of the summer sky and the couple of bats who I was able to see flitting around the house and garden, made me feel part of it all: “no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should”. A very peaceful and pleasant way to spend a late summer evening.