TheSkySearchers

Thanks for your kind comments Alan. I have never been much of a sketch artist. Although I could take quick photos of these objects, they don't convey the extent and distribution of visible nebulosity. The sketches were made in an artist diary with soft and hard pencil and smudging, then photographed. Fine shading and annotation applied in Photoshop.

On this occasion I was in the goldilocks latitude zone where all objects were visible. This la niña winter has been very wet and cloudy. The Saturday of the July new moon was clear but I was hosting a star party for a group of friends that night and while we looked at some of these objects that night, I had three people who didn't bring scopes for a variety of reasons - injuries, recovering from heart surgery. So we were all sharing my two scopes and one other that was brought up.

I had to travel to Canberra just after July new moon to teach a couple of nights of Photoshop classes and also to have my first COVID vax. Covid vaccines available much sooner in Canberra than regional NSW. Fortunately I am still a dual citizen of both states. There were some clear nights that week which went begging. 2nd vax scheduled 2 days after August new moon when I am sure we will have more clear nights that will go to waste.

I have a bit of a fetish for clusters of galaxies. In smaller apertures, the Grus Quartet of galaxies are quite faint. In the 18's, they really pop and the 1 degree field of the 31mm Nagler fits them in nicely. Other favourites of mine are the Leo Triplet and Markarian's chain.

Kind regards

Joe

kt4hx wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 5:05 pm Excellent, excellent report Joe! Nothing wrong with your sketches in the least. Since I do not sketch at all, I find them very nice.

Glad you were able to observe all the objects, and never worry about being a day or a month late. As long as the objects are in the sky, they are fair game. I only wish I could see NGC 6188 and 6193 with my 17.5", as my humble efforts with the 80mm a few years back pale in comparison. I often found myself wishing I had more aperture during those trips!

And thank you for highlighting the Grus quartet. While I have seen it with smaller aperture, I need to try and scrape it from just above my horizon at the dark site!

OzEclipse wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:43 am Thanks for your kind comments Alan. I have never been much of a sketch artist. Although I could take quick photos of these objects, they don't convey the extent and distribution of visible nebulosity. The sketches were made in an artist diary with soft and hard pencil and smudging, then photographed. Fine shading and annotation applied in Photoshop.

On this occasion I was in the goldilocks latitude zone where all objects were visible. This la niña winter has been very wet and cloudy. The Saturday of the July new moon was clear but I was hosting a star party for a group of friends that night and while we looked at some of these objects that night, I had three people who didn't bring scopes for a variety of reasons - injuries, recovering from heart surgery. So we were all sharing my two scopes and one other that was brought up.

I had to travel to Canberra just after July new moon to teach a couple of nights of Photoshop classes and also to have my first COVID vax. Covid vaccines available much sooner in Canberra than regional NSW. Fortunately I am still a dual citizen of both states. There were some clear nights that week which went begging. 2nd vax scheduled 2 days after August new moon when I am sure we will have more clear nights that will go to waste.

I have a bit of a fetish for clusters of galaxies. In smaller apertures, the Grus Quartet of galaxies are quite faint. In the 18's, they really pop and the 1 degree field of the 31mm Nagler fits them in nicely. Other favourites of mine are the Leo Triplet and Markarian's chain.

Kind regards

Joe

Joe, you were truly in the right spot if all of them were reachable. Our summer here locally has not been very good in terms of transparency and/or seeing for the most part. Last year was quite nice, but not this time around. I am hoping for better conditions for in our autumn and will try the Grus Quartet from our dark site. When I observed it several years ago that was with a 5" refractor from about 18N latitude. While it was significantly elevation, it certain was easier than the just under 9° I get here.

Agree about galaxy clusters, they are a fine way to spend some time. I think my most satisfying evening with one was in April of last year when I finally took the time to dig into the Coma Galaxy Cluster or Abell 1656. It was a very tiring outing, but supremely rewarding. If you're bored and have a bit of free time, you can read my lengthy report here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9171&hilit=1656

Glad you were able to get started on your vaccination process. My wife and I have both had Covid and we were vaccinated afterwards. So hopefully we have some immunity working for us. Take care and hope you get some clear skies sans the moon.