Moderator: kt4hx
John Baars wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 5:22 pm Very nice objects for the Northern Hemisphere. Good choice. For new observers too. Thanks!
I have seen and sketched them all of course. I hope to renew them this month! I'll report back.
helicon wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 6:21 pm Great objects Alan. My first view of M27 through my 10" Dob took my breath away, it was so bright and large. I also enjoyed M71 the loose globular. Now Sagitta was only partially visible naked eye from my previous locale but formed a nice asterism in my 8x50 finder. Setting the crosshairs I zeroed in on the cluster's spot and wow what a sight because of the rich star field behind it. I also had a nice view of the faint and loose M56 in Lyra on the same eve, another of those rich star field globulars.
M57 just happened to be the first object I looked at after a 20 year hiatus back in 2012.
sdbodin wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 11:11 pm Just imaged M71 with my Rokinon 135mm telephoto. Accidentally, got the whole Arrow asterism of Sagitta in the image too. So, a wide field view of M71 and the Arrow. Exposed just 5 minutes in 30 second subs thru the Rokinon at f2.0 and Asi1600MC-cool camera w/Baader FK filter, just raw data cropped, about 30% and about 50% full frame size. M71 hiding in plain sight in a sea of stars.
Clear skies,
Steve
Graeme1858 wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2024 9:40 am That's a great list of everybody's favourite Messiers Alan! M57 was too my first ever proper astro image and I was proper proud of it even though it was rubbish! And I remember the first time I captured M27 was a bit of a wow for me too. M71 is ticked in my Messier Contest list But it's not a great image. So I'm going to have a go at all three again with my new Grab and Go rig on the next clear night, which is tonight! The field of view will go from Sulafat to Sheliak so M57 will look quite small but not as small as NGC 6210 from last month!
kt4hx wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2024 9:55 pm Nicely done Graeme. Certainly does show the vast difference in angular size between M27 and M57.
Graeme1858 wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2024 9:01 am Your description of M8 makes me want to move house! I don't get to see a lot of Sagittarius objects from 51°N with the Medway Towns to the South of me. That was a good read Alan, cheers.
messier 111 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 10:48 pm here are my 2 photos that I happily submit to you.
m27 and m57
m27 100 x 10 sec
m57 60 x10 sec
seestar 50
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John Baars wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2024 10:56 am Back to the first time M57
My signature says "amateur since 1970". I was a 15 year old boy. I searched the sky with 7X35 binoculars ( I had worked for them in a printshop), and had a planisphere as well. A few years later I made my own telescope from a cardboard tube and a ( single!) lens (from a pair of old glasses). With it I "discovered" the moons of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn and plenty of Lunar craters. At night I scared my mother, she heared my noises on the roof, but she never prohibited my nightly observations. I am still thankful for that.
As a student I lived 15 stories high in Delft ( typical student-town) and bought a 4 cm F15 Newton at the local Wallmarkt. It had to be cheap, as I was on a students' budget. At least I had CA-free views with it. Great views! I will never forget the beautiful Pleiades in it. Never heard of aberrations.
Later on in 1980 or so I lived in an appartement in Voorburg, with my wife. Not the best views from the balcony, but it was there that we decided that the boys's days were over and a real telescope had to be bought. Telescopes were exorbitantly expensive in those days. Chinese manufacturers were still in diapers. So it became a 60 mm F15 refractor. It costed me two weeks wages as a beginning teacher. A 65mm costed twice as much! Here it is.
I put the 7X35 binoculars on it as a finder, because the build-in viewfinder was to small and dark.
002 6cmF15kopie.JPG
I joined a local public observatory ( still an active member as former chairman) and met other enthusiastic amateurs. It was there I heared from the Ringnebula for the first time and became influenced by aperture fever. So I started building 6 and 8 inch Newtonians, which I could use in the small backyard of the ( still to build) new house.
Back to M57. In 1982 I met a fellow observer who was searching for M57 too. We exchanged experiences and kept each other sharp. The circumstances under which we operated were far from ideal. We both lived in very light-polluted towns. Each time I was in the neighborhood of the famous Ring, but I couldn't spot it. Over and over again.
The help I got from the Norton's Staratlas wasn't very great. Look at a copy of it.
Norton's - Search for M57 1980.jpg
It sure doesn't give you much help. Only thing I could think of that it was hidden somewhere between Sheliak and Sulafat. It was one grey mud over there. Finally, after months of searching ( at least 7 attempts) I realised that the small grey feature I saw with averted vision, was in fact M57. I nearly fainted. So this was the way to look for faint objects in the light-polluted urban skies with my 60mm! My buddy saw it on the same night! Unfortunately he passed away too soon.
I draw the path to M57 in November 1982. I just wanted to remember it for next time. Nowadays, with my 120mm Evostar I can see the total area in one view. Every time I see it, I remember this story. See the pics.
Original sketch:
M57 in 1982 60 mm F15 refractor..jpg
Path
M 57 Ring nebula find your way.jpg
Regular view in my 120 mm Evostar
M 57 Ring nebula final 1.jpg
And a close up:
M 57 2023.jpg
End of story? No!
CENTRAL STAR!
Some ten years later as group leader ( analogue) photography I stood with 3 other observers in the dome of observatory Rijswijk. We were just observing with the C14. M57 stood out quite bright, it was a transparent night. The Ring was above our heads on the 20th of August 1991. We were using an exorbitant magnification for our location. Well over 700X. Not really expecting, but all of a sudden it blinked, visible with averted vision: the central star. We never got a steady direct view, it kept on blinking, but we had done it! Great!
I think it is clear why the Ringnebula has a small special place in my observers-heart and why I never skip it when I am out there!
John Baars wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2024 10:49 am It took me some time, but here on my holiday address in Den Osse it was finally clear. Bortle 4-5. So I took out my 102mm F5 refractor and sketched M27. It took me about an hour. This morning I made the final sketch over coffee, photographed it and put it in the computer. I didn't have to correct much in the computer. The sketch was made through my 102 mm F5 Achromat. I used a 14 mm Morpheus eyepiece for 35X and a Zeiss barlow for 70X. An UHC filter was used in the diagonal of the telescope.
Enjoy!
Messier 27 Den Osse Herckenstein 28th july 2024 final.jpg