Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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John Baars Netherlands
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Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by John Baars »

On Friday January 31 it was clear. Like on saturday the first of February. It had not been clear for ages, at least 8 weeks. You can imagine how angry I was since I had some sort of flue and stil was feverish.

So no observational sessions? Hell no! As long as I wrapped myself up thick enough I could last an hour, or so the plan was. I did, however, have to cancel longer sessions with fellow observers. Two short sessions from the garden. I had to make do with that. But that is still better than sitting inside humming and looking out the window in anger.

The accuracy of the mount was slightly off, so I had to reset it. That took some time. At first, the objects I honored with a visit after that were really more to check if the mount was correct. But as it goes with amateurs, you lose track of time once you get busy.

NGC2392, the Inuit nebula was the first. Easy to find near Pollux. A beautiful object, even already findable in a 50mm scope. The central star blinks nicely: seen with averted vision and directly not. Also tolerates high magnification. Really one of those objects where you linger longer.

NGC 2392 planetairy in Gemini .jpg
NGC 2392 planetairy in Gemini .jpg (21.3 KiB) Viewed 424 times


I remembered NGC2420 nearby. An open cluster that I often did borderline magnitude checks on. There is a story attached to that that I will not withhold from You.

ngc2420.jpg


Years ago I was on vacation in Drenthe, a dark part of the Netherlands. My children were still small. At night I went into the field near a farmer where the lights of the vacation park could not reach me. I had my C90 on a heavy photographic tripod with me. I was looking for NGC2392. Couldn't find it right away and began a sweep expedition in the area. After some time I passed a faint glimmer. I did not know what it was and initially thought of a comet. After a long time getting used to it, I saw some individual points of light. Hmm, so an open cluster after all. Back at the cottage, I looked it up in Tirion's Sky-Atlas 2000 and there it turned out to be NGC2420. Looked it up a few more times that vacation. Never thought about it again until one night NGC2392 was in the main scope of observatory Rijswijk. Immediately I had to think of that faint cluster again and aimed the 14 ich scope at it. To my great surprise, in the coarse light pollution of Rijswijk, NGC2420 turned out to be less impressive than I suspected. I saw no more than there in dark Drenthe. Speaking of how severe the light pollution here locally was ( and is )

Looked up more often since then. See the sketch from 2021. I have included a map with magnitudes for my viewing arsenal.

Magnitudes NGC 2420.JPG


To my surprise NGC2392 and NGC2420 were assigned as Challenges of the Month. Without knowing!

The InterGalactic Wanderer is a difficult object here in LP-country. At the time it I spent several evenings trying to find it. Eventually I succeeded with averted vision and slewing. The sketch is from three years ago with a 150mm refractor, although I've seen it with a 140mm Maksutov as well. In the sketch, the brightness has been somewhat exaggerated for the sake of recognizability. It is not that easy at all!!!

NGC 2419 Intragalactic Wanderer.JPG

Last of the double session the planet Mars. I was still not completely better and packed myself in thick. After the observation I felt the bitter cold doing its work and rushed inside to warm up. Not finishing the sketch until coffee the next day.

The overpowering orange color and glare of the planet in the telescope makes life a bit difficult for many observers. I hear them complaining about it. I found on it to use a polarizing filter. That takes away the glare and shows many faint nuances. So the faint spots you see on the surface of the sphere ( not the darkest ones on the edges) were really there and were purposefully outlined
Mars 02 februari 2025 -Final.JPG

Thanks for reading and watching!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ :* TS Optics 50mm ED F4, *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets, but no GnG).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Baader Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
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RitcheyPark United States of America
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

#2

Post by RitcheyPark »

Very nice and interesting report John.
8 weeks of clouds. That's a long time.
Very nice sketches.
Especially the sketch of Mars. Wow!
I would like to frame that one.
Hope you feel better soon.
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by Bigzmey »

Wonderful report John! VROD worthy for sure. Kudos on getting out and hope you are getting over the flu.
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by kt4hx »

Outstanding report John and clearly worthy of a VROD my friend. I appreciate your focus on the Challenge objects for this month. Your sketches are great as usual, and I found your story about NGC 2420 very inspiring.
Alan

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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

#5

Post by helicon »

Great report John. Catching 2419 and 20 are true highlights along with 2392 the "Inuit" Nebula. Fabulous observing and thanks for sharing the sketches with us along with that of Mars. Certainly we all think it is VROD worthy in spades, so congratulations on winning the award for the day!

viewtopic.php?p=293389#p293389
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by messier 111 »

congrat on the vrod , nice report , thx .
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by Ylem »

Hope you feel better John, you are one tough observer, I would be found under several blankets myself.

Great entertaining and inspiring report and absolutely beautiful sketches there.
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Congratulations on the well deserved VROD John!
Clear Skies,
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by Unitron48 »

Great double session, and reporting, John! Congrats on your VROD! Get well soon, my friend!!!

Dave
Scopes: Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94; Stellarvue SVX127D, Meade 8" SCT
Mounts: Losmandy G-11 and AZ8; Stellarvue M002
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John Baars Netherlands
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Re: Two quick sessions, but done and seen a lot

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Post by John Baars »

RitcheyPark wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:05 pm Very nice and interesting report John.
8 weeks of clouds. That's a long time.
Very nice sketches.
Especially the sketch of Mars. Wow!
I would like to frame that one.
Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks. I hope so too!
Bigzmey wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:20 pm Wonderful report John! VROD worthy for sure. Kudos on getting out and hope you are getting over the flu.
Thank you.
kt4hx wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:45 pm Outstanding report John and clearly worthy of a VROD my friend. I appreciate your focus on the Challenge objects for this month. Your sketches are great as usual, and I found your story about NGC 2420 very inspiring.
Thanks. They are nice objects. Even in LP-skies.
helicon wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:09 pm Great report John. Catching 2419 and 20 are true highlights along with 2392 the "Inuit" Nebula. Fabulous observing and thanks for sharing the sketches with us along with that of Mars. Certainly we all think it is VROD worthy in spades, so congratulations on winning the award for the day!

viewtopic.php?p=293389#p293389
Thanks for the VROD, I like it and feel honored. I think my VROD list has the most sketches, never counted them though. Pity there are so few sketchers among amateur-astronomers.I started out as a photographer though in the analogue days.
messier 111 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:08 am congrat on the vrod , nice report , thx .
Glad you liked it. Thanks.
Ylem wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 2:21 am Hope you feel better John, you are one tough observer, I would be found under several blankets myself.

Great entertaining and inspiring report and absolutely beautiful sketches there.
Sometimes observational fever is mightier than ordinary fever. In the end the last one wins, though:-)
Ylem wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 4:11 am Congratulations on the well deserved VROD John!
Thanks to you!
Unitron48 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:13 pm Great double session, and reporting, John! Congrats on your VROD! Get well soon, my friend!!!

Dave
Thanks, I will. Refractors perform!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ :* TS Optics 50mm ED F4, *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets, but no GnG).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Baader Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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