horsehead seen last night...Sedili ob report

[Gary]

@Jiahao - Thanks for the photos! Impressive as usual! Looking forward to the content of your reserved post.

[jiahao1986]

@Jiahao - Thanks for the photos! Impressive as usual! Looking forward to the content of your reserved post.

The lengthy report part 1 is out already ~

[Airconvent]

three...?

Hmm...you are quite right...!

With such fine company, I can literally sit back and relax...

...and I can happily relegate myself to be just an eyepiece caddy...hehehe!

We love good company, the more the merrier, so if there's anyone who wants to drive up to join us there to observe with the 15" dob, you are most welcome!

oh goodness! How can I forget the greatest human goto of all...the "parrot-owner", mr rlow! So there were 4 "mountketeers" that night.

[Airconvent]

Like what you saw in the images, the sky condition was far less than ideal. Though the high-level haze reduced in the second half of the night, I would rate the overall sky transparency at 6~7 out of 10. Seeing was also mediocre, 7/10 at best.

Nebulae:
California Nebula (NGC1499):
Horsehaed Nebula (B33 against IC434):
Orion Nebula (M42):
Monkey Head Nebula (NGC2174):
Eskimo Nebula (NGC2359):
Rosette Nebula (NGC2237):
Thor's Helmet (NGC2359):
Ghost of Jupiter (NGC3242):
Eight-Burst Nebula (NGC3132):

We also tried a few really challenging diffuse and planetary nebulae like NGC2264 (Cone Nebula), Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula), PK238 34.1 and NGC2610. All could be seen with the help of filters, but featureless at best. Like Yang Beng brought up, the sky condtion was just not there.

Wow! So many non-traditional objects in one night bears testament to the presence of many human gotos that night!

[jiahao1986]

Galaxies:

Pinweel Galaxy (M101) + HII Regions NGC5447, NGC5461 and NGC5462: This was totally not expected. M101 has been famous for its low surface brightness and previously I have only seen featureless disk of diffuse light with a bit of central brightening at best, even under much darker skies.

Apertures really rules for galaxy features. Despite the poor altitude of the object in SG latitude and poor sky condition, the spiral arms of M101 could still be glimpsed by direct vision, at least 3 arms with avereted vision! Embedded in two of the arms, we could see some patches of brightenings, which immediately reminded me of one of the S&T articles about observing the HII regions in this active galaxy.

I'm a big fan in seeing ultra deep and distant objects such as HII regions, globular clusters, supernova etc. in other galaxies. Imagine you are looking through all the thick stardust of our own galaxy, into something way beyond, a great experience which never fails to amaze me. To many others as well, I believe.

Back to M101, below is a photo marking the major HII regions.



Visually NGC5447, NGC5461 and NGC5462 could be seen easily, similar to NGC604 in M33 in appearance, but much more challenging. Given the mere 30 degree altitude and hazy condition, the view could definitely be much better.

Richard's filter slide will arrive soon. Hopefully We have a chance to revisit M101 in the next trip and try flickering among the filters to see which one gives the best view on these HII features!

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51): The arms were direct vision stuff, even better with averted. The portions between the arms finally appeared dark, which made the arms stand out better. The arm that links the galaxy to its companion galaxy was impressive. The shape of the companion was also well defined.

Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83): At my hometown, 45 degress north, this galaxy had been quite a challenge for its low altitude. Over here it's really an easy target. However, seeing the arms is no easy stuff. I failed to see the arms in 5 and 10 inchers in Puggai and Mersing before.

Finally through the 15 incer, the arms are conquered. 3 arms could be seen with averted vision, as well as the central barred arm. In the pictures, there are quite a few small HII regions in the arms, OK let's try with filters next time.

Whale Galaxy and companion (NGC4631 and NGC4627) + NGC4656: The whale galaxy really stands to its nickname in the 15 incher, appearing as a mottled, whale-like spindle, with the baby whale, small NGC4627 sticking to its side.

The nearby NGC4656 has interesting spindle shape with a hook-like curving at one end. Sadly this triplet couldn't be fit into the same FOV with the 17mm Ethos.

The Needle Galaxy (NGC4565): My all-time-favourate side-on galaxy. In smaller scopes it's already very impressive. The view in the 15 incher simply blew me away! It spanned accorss the entire FOV in the 17mm Ethos and the dust lane was so clear! Even the fine mottled structure in the dust lane itself could be seen! In the 8mm Ethos, the structures in the dust lane could be seen better.

Sombero Galaxy (M104): My best view ever. The dust lane really stood out as a pitch black lane, blacker than the background! I could also see clearly how the oval nucleus was partially blocked by the dust lane.

******

We simply saw too many galaxies and I already lost count on many of them after merely 2 days. From memory, we also observed the classic ones such as Leo's triplet, Makarian's chain etc., as well as many other Messier and non-Messier galaxies. One side-note here, we found that an iPad app which is capable of displaying object images can be very useful for visual observations. Espescially when we wish to confirm that some subtle features we see are not mere illusions. Elton's Sky Safari did the job quite well, but sadly not all objects had images.

If anyone knows any good mobile astro apps that provide such image gallery of DSOs with search functions, please let me know!

[rlow]

Thanks to Yang Beng and Jiahao for your wonderful reports. Nice photos from Jiahao as usual. I throughoutly enjoyed the fine company of both of you plus Elton.

So thanks to the three of you for joining us! Also a big thanks to Yang Beng for sharing his Fujinon 10x50 bino, Nagler 17mm and Delos 6mm (nice stuff!).

[Gary]

Thanks to JiaHao for the reports and the scope volunteers that made the event a success!

Thanks to these reports, next time I visit Sedili with you guys, I can just simply request to see the "Jiahao DSO List". LOL.

[VinSnr]

Guys, great report.

Look like I should drop by someday.

Got a Sumerian Telescope to test out.

[weixing]

Hi,
Nice report... Look like you guys had a nice deep sky "buffet"...

Have a nice day.

[rlow]

here is the Delos 6mm with the jubilant owner Yang Beng. The Delos is much taller and heavier than the 5mm & 7mm XWs. Bigger eye lens too. Optical performance is similar to the XW.