TheSkySearchers

Tonight I left work an hour later than the night before. So when I came home and went target hunting, everything in the sky was in a bit of a different location than previously observed. Because I am tired, and this will be the last clear, moonless night for a while, my goal is simple - M33 the Triangulum Galaxy.

I went straight to M31, then star hopped down to Mirach. I also located the constellation Triangulum, and used the star Metallah to hop again. From Metallah, I moved up in declination and east, about the diameter of my binos lenses. So with Metallah on one side of my lenses, I believe the point directly across was HR485. Repeating that process, I used HR 485 on one side and moved east and upward again. There - at this point - I feel confident that I found M33, the Triangulum Galaxy.

It was very, very faint. It looked to me like a sparse cluster of stars. There appeared to be some fine granularity there, as if someone took a small pinch of salt and plopped it on the table. Umm, I mean sky. The time was 2:28 a.m. Twenty-eight minutes after starting the session. Not bad I guess.

After this, I went to the southwest. I traversed my property, and marvelled at a cop car that has sped by here twice in the last few minutes, unless it is two different patrol cars. Who knows. Anyway, I looked at Jupiter, and noticed the pattern of moons to look like this (° = a moon, ○= Jupiter):

° ° ° ○ °

I could not be certain if I saw 3 or 4 moons, it was way difficult holding steady. I wrote this without checking, because I want to see if I saw it like this pattern I drew.

Well, that is likely going to be it for a while. The moon is waxing gibbous tomorrow, and the weather is turning more cloudy going forward.

Again, thanks for reading, and your support.

Calsky will give you a good map of where the moons are situated over many hours if wanted.
Congratulations with the views

Well done on the M33! Averted vision helps.

You might like this:

https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/ ... piter.html

Regards

Graeme

Edit, Gabby's link is good too!

Graeme1858 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 8:20 am Well done on the M33! Averted vision helps.

You might like this:

https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/ ... piter.html

Regards

Graeme

Edit, Gabby's link is good too!

Thanks. I know, she gave me that link in the recent past. I just am tired, and hadn't bothered looking it up yet. I wanted to post before checking, to see if I was correct.

Thank you for your link too, Graeme. According to that site, and entering the local time of 2:40 a.m., which is approximately the time it was, I have these results. Just like my drawing. I win a chicken dinner!

Congratulations on the chicken dinner!

Just found this on Gabby's Calsky link, visible from my location, might be worth a look:

Graeme1858 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 8:48 am Congratulations on the chicken dinner!

Just found this on Gabby's Calsky link, visible from my location, might be worth a look:

Capture.PNG

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the Starlink satellites! Right before I came into the house, I saw.....it had to be 75 satellites! I couldn't count fast enough. It literally looked like WWII bomber tracers! Sad, actually.

I had seen the ISS very recently, I think it was in May. Plus I saw it back in 2016.

Nice pick up of M33 Eric!

This was one of the first galaxies observed when I got back into astronomy in 2010. Back then, all my observations were done away from home in darker skies. Even though I was working "only" from a red zone, it was on an elevated hill overlooking the city and the skies got darker after midnight, so I could see M33 really well even with a 100mm Newt at 20x - 40x. Even the HII region within M33 (NGC 604) was visible as a fuzzy inside the galaxy.

Congrats on M33 and the Jovian moons!
Under my LP skies M33 is always a pain in the... bino or telescope. Seldom I saw it as well as you did. Well done!

Great catch Eric!

You succeeded where I gave up!

M33 sure does image well though!

Nice on M33. There’s a wealth of internal detail in it, the granulated texture you noted is due to large nebulae and clusters. Many of those grains have their own NGC or IC numbers. (Another fun project!)

Thanks everyone! And nFA, I appreciate the details that you added, because it explains the "graininess" I experienced. It took 28 minutes for my eyes to adjust, which until that time, I could not see a thing. I verified by using the FOV provided, and from looking in my charts, I am content that I did indeed find the Triangulum. I refuse to call it the Pinwheel, as I think M101 is more deserving to have that name between the two.

And Jim (Juno16), I was soooo determined, because this was my best shot for who knows who long. In my last report, I mention a streetlight and the "neighbors' porch beacon". Actually there are two streetlights also nearby contributing to the malicious ambience. Then when the moon heads toward full, you can see why I was determined to find it. Fortunately the moon is at New, and I did not worry where it was in the sky. It was very dark for this area. I did not want to waste time worrying about anything except finding that target.

I will also add, that on both nights I saw many, many doubles. I am thinking I will do a night of just doubles soon. They are pretty fun. I also love the occasional red dwarf, but I haven'y seen any really red stars since April or May.

Eric, you have really surprised me :eek:

I got the impression from previous chats we'd had that you were a relative novice in astronomy.

Now you are talking like an expert and getting such wonderful sightings. You are really a dark horse, I'm impressed (and all done with binoculars.)

Butterfly Maiden wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 3:23 pm Eric, you have really surprised me :eek:

I got the impression from previous chats we'd had that you were a relative novice in astronomy.

Now you are talking like an expert and getting such wonderful sightings. You are really a dark horse, I'm impressed (and all done with binoculars.)

Here is the shortest possible backstory. I started in 2016, with a Meade 50mm refractor. Went to a Celestron Bird-Jones design (do NOT buy one, not good imo. Oh and, Celestron is fine. The BJ design, don't do it). Eventually, I bought a 10" Orion Skyquest Dob mounted reflector. Awesome views! But I am 6'0" , and that sucker came up to my nose when pointed near zenith. It required almost laying on the ground to view at zenith.

Anyway, I learned so much from many people here, when we all were at AF.net. (Astronomyforum.net). Since then, evil bot farms have totally Vandalized the place, like the Vandals did to Rome. But I had observed about 10-12 Messier objects. I learned a lot of terminology, etc, again from help from many here over there and now here at TSS.

So much for the short backstory.... I call myself an "advanced newb/beginning intermediate" sort of.

Oh Vanessa, I left out a part. Divorce, personal issues, etc. led me to decide and get rid of all my equipment at the time. I kept my observing chair and all astronomy books. It was if I knew I wasn't quitting astronomy, only hitting the pause button. Unfortunately, the cost to replace all that will be....astronomical (pun intended). But as you can see, with my Irish blood, I am determined as much as stubborn.

I think if you've got the know-how Eric then you can achieve many things in life with sheer will-power alone.

Although you've had to sacrifice a lot of your most precious astronomical equipment through circumstances beyond your control, you have still been able to pursue your hobby on a limited scale. Good on you for your endurance. You should be an example to others as to what can be achieved if you have the motivation to do so.

@Bucket - Do you know what approx. Bortle zone you're in? I've had zero luck on M33 from home, but I'm in B7 or B8, depending on what you reference.

Going to possibly be at a darker site later this week, so I might give it a try if the weather cooperates and I have time to set up a scope there.

Good for you Eric! M33; that's a target that's elusive from here, especially with the weather lately. Nicely done, especially with bino's Jupiter as well, at least you got to see all the viewable-from-here Moons.By the time my bladder woke me there were only three Moons visible...
And another one, M33, for your Messier list as well!

Happy fathers day and all the best,

Butterfly Maiden wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 3:54 pm I think if you've got the know-how Eric then you can achieve many things in life with sheer will-power alone.

Although you've had to sacrifice a lot of your most precious astronomical equipment through circumstances beyond your control, you have still been able to pursue your hobby on a limited scale. Good on you for your endurance. You should be an example to others as to what can be achieved if you have the motivation to do so.

Thank you for the nice words, Vanessa.

pakarinen wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:08 pm @Bucket - Do you know what approx. Bortle zone you're in? I've had zero luck on M33 from home, but I'm in B7 or B8, depending on what you reference.

Going to possibly be at a darker site later this week, so I might give it a try if the weather cooperates and I have time to set up a scope there.

I am unequivocally and most assuredly in an Orange zone. But as I understand it, that is a reference only. Some people can do well in a red, better sometimes than someone in an orange, due to seeing, turbulance in the air, et al in addition to the initial LP issues.

That said, I am orange as an orange.

Good luck pakarinen !