June DSO Challenge from Kent UK

Place your submissions in the appropriate Topic.

Moderator: kt4hx

Post Reply
User avatar
Graeme1858 Great Britain
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 1
Offline
Posts: 7217
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:16 pm
4
Location: North Kent, UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

I Broke The Forum.

June DSO Challenge from Kent UK

#1

Post by Graeme1858 »


June DSO Challenge from Kent UK, well, M5 anyway.

We're had a good few clear nights over the last week or so, which is really frustrating because the telescope is packed away and we're staying in the caravan over the weekend whilst the builders are in at home. At least I brought my binoculars. I haven't really used them a lot over the last few years. I sat down at the front of the caravan after sunset and used the Moon to match the focus of the left and right sides. A fine crescent with Mars just below. Venus a few degrees to the North.

As darkness fell I moved round to the back of the caravan for a southern view. I had Stellarium on my phone on my lap to help with star hopping and I had already worked out that M5 is just north of a position that would form an equilateral triangle with Arcturus and Spica. My field of view is about 5° (double checked with Merak and Dubhe again tonight (not sure why, it hasn't changed!)) I pointed to where M5 is but it wasn't really dark enough to see much. The next nearest visible star to appear was Unukalhai (α Ser) I confirmed that with the curve formed by γ Ser, α Ser, a dim star and ε Ser. Hopping South to ω Ser then West to a pattern formed by 4, 5, 6 Ser and a couple of dimmer stars. M5 is a fraction of a degree North West of 5 Ser. I just made out the dim grey fuzzy after looking and waiting a little longer and with averted vision. It was the most fun I've had in ages!

With the June DSO Challenge under my belt (kind of, partly!) I moved back round to the front of the caravan for a go at M31 which was sitting at 10° above the lights of Southend seafront, on the opposite side of the Thames estuary from me. I know I was looking in the right place and I might have caught the core without knowing, but the haze, illuminated by the multicoloured lights of Adventure Island and Southend Pier made the rest of the galaxy and the wine glass stars undetectable.

I moved back to the rear for a go at M13 before packing up (work tomorrow!) With Deneb and Vega pointing to the Hercules key stone I quickly found M13. Just a bit brighter and twice the size of M5 it was a pleasure to see an old friend!

I've forgotten what a joy it is to survey the sky with just binoculars. I must make a habit of doing this more often!

Thanks for the target Alan.

Regards

Graeme
______________________________________________
Celestron 9.25 f10 SCT, f6.3FR, CGX mount.
ASI1600MM Pro, ASI294MC Pro, ASI224MC
ZWO EFW, ZWO OAG, ASI220MM Mini.
APM 11x70 ED APO Binoculars.

https://www.averywayobservatory.co.uk/
User avatar
Graeme1858 Great Britain
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 1
Offline
Posts: 7217
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:16 pm
4
Location: North Kent, UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

I Broke The Forum.

Re: June DSO Challenge from Kent UK

#2

Post by Graeme1858 »


Here's an image of M5 I captured last year at about this time with my Canon 600D showing the nice bright dense core that M5 has.

M5.png
______________________________________________
Celestron 9.25 f10 SCT, f6.3FR, CGX mount.
ASI1600MM Pro, ASI294MC Pro, ASI224MC
ZWO EFW, ZWO OAG, ASI220MM Mini.
APM 11x70 ED APO Binoculars.

https://www.averywayobservatory.co.uk/
User avatar
kt4hx United States of America
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 4
Online
Posts: 3489
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 12:18 am
4
Location: Virginia, USA
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: June DSO Challenge from Kent UK

#3

Post by kt4hx »


Well done Graeme. Glad you re-discovered the fun of binocular observing specifically and visual observation in general. A good image of M5 as well. Hope your conditions improve giving you more opportunities.
Alan

Scopes: Astro Sky 17.5 f/4.5 Dob || Apertura AD12 f/5 Dob || Zhumell Z10 f/4.9 Dob ||
ES AR127 f/6.5 || ES ED80 f/6 || Apertura 6" f/5 Newtonian
Mounts: ES Twilight-II and Twilight-I
EPs: AT 82° 28mm UWA || TV Ethos 100° 21mm and 13mm || Vixen LVW 65° 22mm ||
ES 82° 18mm || Pentax XW 70° 10mm, 7mm and 5mm || barlows
Filters (2 inch): DGM NPB || Orion Ultra Block, O-III and Sky Glow || Baader HaB
Primary Field Atlases: Uranometria All-Sky Edition and Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Astronomers, we look into the past to see our future." (me)
"Seeing is in some respect an art, which must be learnt." (William Herschel)
"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." (Sir Isaac Newton)
"No good deed goes unpunished." (various)
Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” (Scarecrow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
User avatar
Graeme1858 Great Britain
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 1
Offline
Posts: 7217
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:16 pm
4
Location: North Kent, UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

I Broke The Forum.

Re: June DSO Challenge from Kent UK

#4

Post by Graeme1858 »


kt4hx wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:42 am Glad you re-discovered the fun of binocular observing ......

Aye! I'm definitely going to be getting those out more often.

Regards

Graeme
______________________________________________
Celestron 9.25 f10 SCT, f6.3FR, CGX mount.
ASI1600MM Pro, ASI294MC Pro, ASI224MC
ZWO EFW, ZWO OAG, ASI220MM Mini.
APM 11x70 ED APO Binoculars.

https://www.averywayobservatory.co.uk/
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Submissions”