Wow! Last night (Tuesday the 8th) was spectacular. After weeks and weeks of full cloud, with only the occasional break, and these coinciding with a bright moon, finally we got a good ’un. I’d been checking the forecasts throughout the day (I use clearoutside.com, 7Timer.com and the Met Office websites), and began making plans for where I would look, and what I hoped to see … Basically, I’d planned to explore the constellations of Cetus and Monoceros. The accompanying picture (which I hope you can see okay) is a screen-grab from Stellarium showing the density of the objects located within the two constellations: as you can see, there’s quite a lot going on there. Note the different objects within each constellation. In Monoceros it’s mainly nebulae and star clusters, while in Cetus is mainly galaxies. If you can’t make out the detail in picture, check out the constellations in Stellarium for yourself.
Well, that was the plan anyway. When it came to it, I didn’t get to explore Cetus as the sky was a bit hazy in that direction, and I had only a cursory glance around Monoceros (sufficient to see and tick off the Rosette nebula, though; a first for me). I’d arranged to meet up with some friends for the evening, one of whom was bringing his new TAL 100 scope on a GoTo mount, and one of whom had never even looked through a telescope before, so the evening took a different, and altogether more social direction.
We started off by looking at the Veil nebula in Cygnus. Although fairly low in the north-west there was still a fair amount of detail visible; though, of course I had to use an OIII filter. This lets only a very narrow wavelength of light through, boosting the contrast and revealing detail that would otherwise be swamped by other wavelengths. Next up was Andromeda, almost right overhead at this time of year, the main galaxy and its two satellite galaxies(M32 and M110) all nicely framed in the field of view. Whilst in Andromeda we had a look at Almaak, a pin-sharp, colourful binary star system (one blue, one orange).
The Orion nebula was spectacular, and I returned to this several times over the course of the evening, the detail was amazing, and the tiny cluster of stars at its heart (the Trapezium cluster) was again pin-sharp. Below and left of Orion is Monoceros (the unicorn), home to the Rosette nebula. The cluster of stars at its heart was very clear and sparkly, with the very large nebula itself visible as a very faint dark cloud around the cluster (too large to fit within the field of view of even my widest eyepiece).
Next up was a tour of some open star clusters (the Pleiades, the clusters in Auriga and Gemini), and the red supergiant stars Aldebaran and Betelguese; both clearly very large, and definitely orangey-red.
Besides Andromeda, the only other galaxies we found/had time for were Messiers 81 & 82 and 51 in Ursa Major, and then, later, after everyone else had gone home, I had a look at NGC 2903, just off the front of Leo (another first). I just managed to detect a hint of the spiral arms with averted vision.
Over the course of the evening, we were treated to several meteors: wonderfully bright, fireballs leaving long trails across the sparkling sky. Once, when looking at the star cluster M35 in Gemini, one actually shot across the view in the eyepiece; fantastic!
Although there was little in the way of anything new, I guess what made the night so special was the company, and that buzz you get when someone else looks through a telescope for the first time. John Dobson, a legend in astronomy circles, and inventor of the Dobsonian telescope base, is quoted as saying: “The importance of a telescope is not on how big it is, it’s not on how well made it is – it’s how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it.” Hearing someone else’s gasps and ‘wows!’ when they see something like the Orion nebula for the first time is priceless.
One aspect of the night that I really enjoyed was checking out a new telescope. My friend’s TAL 100 refractor is a cracking scope (and incredibly good value). Well made, yet not very heavy, it gives lovely, crisp, high-contrast views; very impressive. Using a GoTo mount was also a first for me. Although the setup procedure requires patience and careful alignment (unlike my own scope, the setup procedure for which merely requires that you put it on the ground!), it’s very nice to be able to type an object into the keypad and have the scope slew round to find it for you. I’ve always thought of using a GoTo as cheating, in a way: I regard the challenge of finding something for myself part of the attraction of the hobby. However, having used one, I can definitely see the benefits.
By the time I finished up, around 01.00AM, the finder scope was completely fogged up, and the telescope was dripping with dew. If it wasn’t for the difficulty finding things (because of the fogged-up finder), I would have stayed out. As it was, I went home happy; a fantastic evening, with great company!
What’s up?
The Geminid meteor shower peaks early next week (13th & 14th), so look out for that. Gemini is currently pretty obvious in the east from early evening. Not too far from Gemini is the constellation of Monoceros. As mentioned above, there’s lots to see there, many objects visible even in moderate binoculars (lots of star clusters and nebulae). Given that the constellation is fairly low in the sky, everything will be at a comfortable viewing angle.
Clear skies!
Kevin Quinn is an amateur astronomer based in Cerne Abbas, he is the proud owner of a ten-inch reflector, a case of eyepieces, and a pair of 20×80 binoculars. He tweets via @CerneAstro, blogs via theastroguy.wordpress.com, and his ebook Demystifying Astronomy – A beginner’s guide to telescopes, eyepieces and accessories for visual astronomy is widely available.
©Kevin Quinn
