First clear night in a while

[Shelby]

It has been a long time since I last got a clear night to take out my dob and enjoy the sky once again. Tonight, it finally happened.

Right before I started my session, a plane flew over and I followed it with my telescope, that was fun and exciting. Something out of the ordinary for sure.

I started my session with comet 19P/Borrelly because I haven't seen it in a while as I missed it on the last session. I did find it this time as there was no moon to interfere with my view this time. It was very faint this time around, this will probably be my last sighting of this comet because the moon is reentering the sky soon.

Next, I moved on to the Double Cluster (NGC 869 and NGC 884) in Perseus because it is one of those sights that needs to be seen again. I am always amazed with the sight of all those stars together. It was an impressive sight as always.

Next, I moved to the Pleiades (M45). They are always a beautiful sight and tonight was no different. You can never go wrong with this one. The nebulosity around them was there, but not very impressive. I did get a glimpse of it though.

Next, I moved on to the Hyades which are so spread out, they were best visible in my finder scope. I got a peak at Aldeberan in the eyepiece too since I was in the spot anyways. It was bright and orange as always. Still an impressive sight.

Next, I moved to M42 (The Orion Nebula). This one is just one of sights that you will never forget once you see it and you have to look at it again. It was very impressive and beautiful as always. I have seen it many times, but it never gets old.

Next, I moved to Alnitak and the nearby Flame Nebula. The nebula was just barely visible under the immense brightness of Alnitak, but it was there. Nothing too impressive here, but it was something worth trying for again. I did really see the nebula, but just barely, it was not impressive. Very hard to see.

Next, I moved to NGC 2244 in Monoceros. The cluster is a nice sight to see, but once again, I failed to see the Rosette Nebula around the Cluster. Still, I did see the cluster again. I think I really do need to get a nebula filter to see nebulae like this one.

Next, I moved to NGC 2264 (Christmas Tree Cluster). This cluster is a neat sight to look at being shaped like a Christmas tree as it name implies. I still didn't see the nebula around it, but as I said above, I think I need a filter to bring out these nebula. Even so, the cluster was still impressive.

Next, I was already really close to Gemini, so I moved to the comet in the bottom of Gemini, C/2019 L3 (Atlas). This one was a bit easier to see then Borrelly, but it was also alot higher in the sky, being just after peak altitude when I viewed it. It appeared as a faint fuzzy spot like always, but comets in general usually appear that way, so that is nothing unusual. Still something worth looking at before it is gone for good.

Next, I moved to the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer. It is an easy naked eye target for me and always a nice sight in the eyepiece. It was beautiful to see again, as I have not seen it in a while.

Next, I finally took on some different objects I haven't reported on before. I went to Leo next where I looked at Regulus. My goal here was to see the dim galaxy next to the star, but I don't think is quite capable of doing that because I did not see anything where the galaxy was supposed to be.

Next, I moved on to the double star Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici. In my 25mm eyepiece, it was easy to make out the pair as they were really close, but it became much more impressive in my 10mm eyepiece. They were easily seperated and a beautiful pair.

Next, I moved to Chara, the other star in the constellation. There was nothing impressive about the star, I was really just using it as a step toward my next target.

Next, I looked at the Cocoon Galaxy (NGC 4490). It was not very bright, but it was easily seen. I did not the companion to it, but it was also still low in the sky and would probably be better visible once it gets higher.

Next, I moved to another double star Mizar and Alcor. The pair were beautiful to look at in both eyepieces, but the true double of Mizar was best visible in the 10mm eyepiece, in which it was easily seperated. This was a nice sight to see and my first time seeing it in this scope.

Next, I tried to find the galaxy M101, but it was behind my treeline so not wanting to end on failed mission, I decided to finish off with a more easy to find , but very impressive target, the very bright star, Sirius. It was very impressive and stunningly bright as always. A great sight to see.

I hope you enjoyed my report, this will be the last one for a while as the moon is moving in soon and my forecast is not looking good right now. I had fun out there tonight. It also wasn't bitterly cold either, I was out in a t-shirt so yeah, it wasn't too bad at all.
Anyway, enjoy reading.

[notFritzArgelander]

Thanks for sharing the nice tour!

I think that in a 6" that an H-beta filter or UHC would help with the Rosette. It certainly helped me get the nebulosity with my SV ED80.

PS (in edit) There are rumors that OIII works but I've not tried it.

[Shelby]

Might I ask what brand of filter do you have? I have been trying to figure out which one is best, but there are so many options.

[notFritzArgelander]

Might I ask what brand of filter do you have? I have been trying to figure which out one is best, but there are so many options.

The narrow band filters I use are Baader H-alpha, H-beta, OIII, and SII.
The somewhat broader band filters I have are the Altair Astro Quad and Tri Band filters.

I haven't tried the Altair filters on the Rosette yet. But I think they'd be Ideal. They work like so:

https://landseaskyco.com/products/altai ... and-filter
https://landseaskyco.com/collections/fi ... and-filter

Tri-Band - combines Ha into a red zone, and H-beta + Oiii into a green/blue zone. (Recommended for high to severe light pollution).
Quad Band - combines Sii AND Ha into a red zone, and H-beta + Oiii into a green/blue zone. (Recommended for moderate light pollution).

The images in the Altairs are a bit brighter than the Baader single band filters.

Astronomik and Lumicon are also popular but I'm very happy with what I have.

[Unitron48]

Enjoyed reading your report. Glad you could get out.

Dave

[pakarinen]

Nice session!

[John Baars]

Nice read and report. Thanks for sharing!

[turboscrew]

Nice report!
I was out last night trying to test the fixes they made to my CEM120 in Germany, but couldn't even make a star alignment (goto alignment).
I thought, if the fixes were fine, I too, could check some targets including the Rosetta nebula and Christmas tree.
Unfortunately that didn't happen.

[Makuser]

Hi Shelby. A very well written report and it was fun following your observing session. You took advantage of your skies and the scant moon to grab a lot of nice targets with the 6" Dob. Thanks for your fine observing report Shelby and the best of wishes for more opportunities like this again soon.

[helicon]

Thanks for the report utilizing your 6" Dob. It sounds like it was a productive night with many objects viewed. Congratulations Shelby on winning the VROD for the day!

[John Baars]

Congratulations on the VROD!

[turboscrew]

Congrats on the VROD!

[davesellars]

Great productive session!

Without a filter I can't really see the nebulosity (or the difference in contrast is really subtle) in the Rosette. The OIII filter with the largest focal length eyepiece I had (32mm) worked the best, although the UHC worked to a lesser extent.

Congrats on the VROD!

[Unitron48]

Well deserved VROD! Congrats!!

Dave

[Thefatkitty]

Nice tour of the skies with your 8", thanks for sharing!

All the best,

[Shelby]

I'm glad you all enjoyed reading about my experience. I had fun. I hope to do it again soon, but unfortunately, my extended forecast calls for cloudy skies and some rain at the moment. The moon is coming back into view now too, so that will also affect my views as well. Weather permitting, I will be out on the next moon free night as long as I'm free. Also, my scope is 6", not 8".

[Thefatkitty]

Also, my scope is 6", not 8".

Ahh, my bad on the math... Thank you for clearing that up; I recently sold my 10" (250) and am looking at a 6" as I like the longer F/L it gives for planets and brighter DSO's, plus the lighter weight and portability for travelling.
Your report is a clincher, especially now that I know you weren't using an 8".

Thanks again and all the best,

[Butterfly Maiden]

A very well-written report Shelby, and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD award for your submission.

Thank you.

[Shelby]

Also, my scope is 6", not 8".

Ahh, my bad on the math... Thank you for clearing that up; I recently sold my 10" (250) and am looking at a 6" as I like the longer F/L it gives for planets and brighter DSO's, plus the lighter weight and portability for travelling.
Your report is a clincher, especially now that I know you weren't using an 8".

Thanks again and all the best,

No problem. I did only put the size of my scope in mm in my signature, and not in inches. I might change that for clarity.

I can recommend the SkyWatcher 150p Classic for a 6 inch dobsonian. It has been a really great scope from my experience. It has opened the door to so many new things I never was able to see in my 4.5" (114mm) iOptron scope. It has better optics that that one as well, so that is probably what the greatest improvement is. Things are much clearer in the 6 inch, but dimmer objects tend to become harder to see at higher magnification most of the time.

As for how portable it is, I carry the base and the stand separately by hand to my dark site on our property which is about 300-400ft from our house down the unused part of our driveway. The scope is very lightweight for its size. I have no problem with carrying the scope. The base is much heavier, but once you get a grip on it, it is not too hard to handle either.

I haven't put them in a vehicle so I can't say nothing about that part, but I keep them in a small closet about 5 feet long by 3 feet wide if that helps. There is still room left over too in length.

Thanks for the compliment, I try to push the limits of what I can see in a given area, and once I get a nebula filter, I should be able to see even more.