Uranus, Perseus galaxy and Cygnus Nebulae from 6 years ago

[Bigzmey]

I was not into writing observing reports until I started reading them on the former Astronomy Forum. Eventually, I got inspired to write my first and could not stop since then. When it became clear that AF is going to crush I have copied all my reports. I am glad I did. It is fun to go back and read them. I hope you don't mind me sharing one of those earlier reports with you. At that time I was not able to find Neptune yet, and was excited seeing my first galaxy (other than Andromeda with two satellites). Good times!

Uranus, Perseus galaxy and Cygnus Nebulae
10/04/2015

The first fall storm is upon us and it has been raining for 3 days now. I did manage nice session before that. Most of the time I have better luck with globular and open clusters than with galaxies and nebula, but this time was different. I started with Uranus. I have spent one hour looking for Neptune the other day and still not sure whether I found it or not. When I found Uranus in under 5 min and managed to resolve the disk, I felt it has to be my lucky day. So, I decided to look for more difficult targets and boom! - found NGC1023 galaxy in Perseus, it was reasonably well resolved in 7 mm and in 5 mm with brighter core and dimer outer. This is my only galaxy other than Andromeda trio so I was pretty psyched. Also, saw nicely looking NGC 1528 open cluster simply because it was next to NGC1023. I tried so many times during the summer to resolve some defuse nebula in Cygnus. So, I figured this is my lucky night why not another try? I have loaded 20mm with OIII filter and pointed at NGC6960 and there it was clear as a day. Wow! star-hopped to another DN - NGC6992 and it is right there!!! Riding the wave loaded in 40mm with OIII and tried for North America Nebula. I think I saw some smoky patches there but could be just wishful seeing.

Nevertheless, I went to bed a happy man.

Clear skies!

[kt4hx]

That is a nice look back Andrey. I have all of my reports saved as I write them in MS Word and keep a copy on a couple of drives just in case. I was actually reading one I wrote back in 2009 and believe I posted it on the old Astronomy magazine site (IIRC) as they had an area where one could post reports. It is a pretty basic one using the 15x70 binoculars I had at the time and had taken with me to a war zone where I was working at the time. Its funny to look back at some of the things we write when we beginning trying to document our activities, and where we are today.

[KingNothing13]

That's really neat, Andrey - thanks for sharing that.

I don't think I have notes on it, but I remember having similar results the first few times I tried to find Neptune as well. When I finally got it, it was very exciting.

[helicon]

Great report and worthy of the TSS VROD for the day. It just goes to show you that big things can result from small beginnings!

[kt4hx]

Congrats Andrey. Memories can indeed be golden!

[Bigzmey]

Thanks Brett, Michael and Alan! And thanks for the VROD, much appreciated!

[Makuser]

Hi Andrey. A nice "blast from the past" and still includes valuable information for observers today. Neptune is the only major planet that has eluded me, so I keep reading the observing reports and watch my skies in hope of finally succeeding. Thanks for your reach into the archives Andrey, and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.

[Bigzmey]

Hi Andrey. A nice "blast from the past" and still includes valuable information for observers today. Neptune is the only major planet that has eluded me, so I keep reading the observing reports and watch my skies in hope of finally succeeding. Thanks for your reach into the archives Andrey, and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.

Thanks Marshall! Neptune is more challenging than Uranus since it is fainter with smaller disk size. The trick is to have an accurate finder chart to ID it among the field stars.

[Juno16]

Thanks for sharing your memories with us Andrey (Bigz)!

You posted the first "Blast from the past" thread and I am now just catching up reading it!

It seems to me that you, Alan, and Bryan (the past blast posters) started way up on the ladder compared to me. I started by getting real kick at seeing space debris, the ISS, and HST going overhead. The only log that I kept are of these objects.

After I got a scope and started looking beyond, I would get such a kick at seeing just one or two targets. I remember seeing Uranus for the first time made my day!

The Messier challenge was so darn much fun! I pretty much tapped out what I could see in my poor skies with the Nexstar 130 SLT at I think 93 Messiers.

Thanks for the memories fellas!

[Bigzmey]

Thanks for sharing your memories with us Andrey (Bigz)!

You posted the first "Blast from the past" thread and I am now just catching up reading it!

It seems to me that you, Alan, and Bryan (the past blast posters) started way up on the ladder compared to me. I started by getting real kick at seeing space debris, the ISS, and HST going overhead. The only log that I kept are of these objects.

After I got a scope and started looking beyond, I would get such a kick at seeing just one or two targets. I remember seeing Uranus for the first time made my day!

The Messier challenge was so darn much fun! I pretty much tapped out what I could see in my poor skies with the Nexstar 130 SLT at I think 93 Messiers.

Thanks for the memories fellas!

Thanks Jim! Catching 93 Messiers with 130mm scope is a fine achievement, you should be proud!

I have been observing on and off most of my life since I was seven. However, it did not occur to me to keep a log or write reports until I joined AF. So, the report you saw is not from a beginner. However, while I was already experienced with scopes and new the sky quite well, in terms of DSO observing I have being running in circles, re-observing the same few targets every year. Once I started keeping logs and doing lists my observing career really took off!

[John Donne]

I like this Andrey.
I pleasure to read.
Thank you.

[Bigzmey]

I like this Andrey.
I pleasure to read.
Thank you.

Thanks Mark!