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What's a few hours on a plane? Yeah and then the 2 hour drive north from my city up the east side of the big lake. The cool part of this part of the world is that this is the end of the line, there are no permanent roads any further north, and nothing into the east (we are very close to the border of Northern Ontario). Its just lake after lake and granite and coniferous trees, ha ha. I would like to host any of you up here - the relative dark is really something to see - perhaps someday.
Sounds like you live in an amazing place! Doesn't get much better than that!
Ask me again in January! The winters are tough.
But then, if it's not too cold, you can start observing around 5 PM?
- Juha
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
kt4hx wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:31 pm
That is an outstanding report Ian. Glad to see you moved this scope to your dark site cabin. It will serve you well there, and you will be able to reap its benefits to the max. That Zambuto mirror should be a true work of art.
I last observed NGC 4449 about nine years ago at home with the 12 inch, so your views there would have been better, though I found it very bright and irregular, as its nature.
Regarding NGC 4169, I presume you also observed the other three galaxies that it forms a box with? I last observed this group, known as "The Box" and more formally as Hickson 61, on the evening of 30 May 2022. You can see my experience with them here:
You did very good my friend and nice to see you doing some visual observing. I encourage you to image both NGC 4449 and Hickson 61 if possible. I would love to see the results.
Thanks Alan,
I greatly appreciate the depth of your reports and especially that they are so accessible as a source for the rest of us.
I will make it a point to do both Hickson 61 and 4449. The C8 at native focal length can reach so many Arps, Hicksons etc.
Kind regards,
Thank you for your kind comments Ian. First off congrats on the VROD - well deserved. Pursuit of the Arps and Hicksons is certainly a worthwhile project. Capturing those kinds of objects in detail is challenging and skill building for sure.
I smiled when I read the chatter about using the NEXUS system for locating objects. It made me think about when I first got my 17.5 inch truss dob set up. Initially I had an Argo Navis system on it for that exact same purpose. I tried it a few times, and I know this sounds a bit sacrilegious, but I didn't like it! I actually found I enjoyed finding objects manually as I always had, and still do. I think I am pretty good at it too! So I removed it and sold it. But I am glad you enjoy the NEXUS and that it has worked well for you. In reality, whatever method we choose for object location - go-to, push-to or star-hopping is irrelevant. Its all about getting out under the night sky and enjoying the experience. Well done Ian.
<<Ian bows>> It takes a level of knowledge of the skies that only a few folks that I have met seem to have.
Ian
Fracs: Stellarvue 70T f6; SW 120mm Esprit f7; "Mark Mk. II" - 60 mm Tasco f6; C80 frac f 11.4
SCT: C8 Edge f10 or f7 with reducer
Dob: 14.5" homebuilt strut dob (f4.5 ZOC mirror), Nexus II, Moonlite focuser
Mounts - Ioptron Skyguider pro, Astro Physics GTO900
Cameras and lenses - ZWO 2600 mc, 290 mm mini, Canon 60D modded with Rokinon 10mm 2.8; Rokinon 135mm f2
Skysafari 6 Pro, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight - using Mac tablet and ASIair pro to run the AP rig.
"Mothers! It is there!" - Rafael Gonzales-Acuna, 2018.
Sad to say it but the chirping birds and light at 4:30 has been getting me up at an ungodly hour over the past week. I make some coffee and have fired up TSS as early as 5 recently. So I am not surprised Ian that folks are driving around at 4:30 without headlights!
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Hello Ian. This is a great report from you. I enjoyed the history of your "light bucket", and it seems that you have a great location for it now. You sure grabbed a nice collection of DSO targets on your session. And that is a great photograph of the porch/deck and the nice daytime views you must have there too. Thanks for your well written observing report Ian and congratulations on receiving the well deserved TSSVROD Award.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
Yeah and then the 2 hour drive north from my city up the east side of the big lake. The cool part of this part of the world is that this is the end of the line, there are no permanent roads any further north, and nothing into the east (we are very close to the border of Northern Ontario). Its just lake after lake and granite and coniferous trees, ha ha. I would like to host any of you up here - the relative dark is really something to see - perhaps someday.
The winters are tough.
