Late Summer Deep Sky Observing, from England

Good Morning

I live in the UK. Where we are plagued with cloudy skies. But from time to time. There are occasions when the cloud gods have a night off.

And last night was one of those very rare occasions when they did.

We have a local country park, that is located between the towns of Macclesfield and the city of Manchester.

Although we are only 3 miles from this small town. We can get some very good dark skies, on Teggs Nose. The galaxy was clearly visible arching overhead.

I guess the NLM was a good +4.9

NB: Kelling refers to the Equinox Star Party, that takes place at Kelling Heath Holiday Park every September

Read on.

During yesterday evening, and into Sunday night. I together with friends from my local Astronomical Society. Held an observing session, at our local dark sky observing site. Teggs Nose CP near Macclesfield.

Skies were very clear with very good seeing. Saturn was spectacular. Through all the telescopes. So the Jet stream must have taken the evening off.

I was using my Altair Astro Wave series, 115 EDT on an IOptron Mini Tower 2.

Eyepieces used varied, between.

Baader Hyperion 13mm (x60)
Celestron 35mm Ultima (x 23)
TV 24mm Panoptic (x33)

Filters.
Optolong 2" UHC.
Baader Neodymium.
DSO data. Interstellarum. Then typed into the GOTO controller

M 27 UHC 2" with 13mm

Very large and very bright nebula. Elongated.
I never tire of looking at the Northern skies biggest and best, the planetary nebula. And tonight was no exception.

This object was very easy in the deepening twilight sky. Once the skies were fully dark. M27 was a delightful object to study.

NGC 6826 UHC 2" 13mm

Really difficult to see, through the eyepiece and 2" UHC filter. I saw a bright none stellar core but nothing else. I will have to invest in a 1.25 OIII filter.

Next up was the celestial eye candy, that is M31.

Now the skies were quite dark. Bortal scale Class 4.

M31 was a delight to see. Through my 24mm Panoptic and 1.25" LPR filter. The galaxy was big and very bright. I could see M32.

I wasn't sure but. I thought I could see some very faint dust lanes, visible in M 31. I used averted vision to see them.

I think I had the best views of this be-moth Galaxy, this season. I wonder what it'll look like from "Kelling" next month. Where the skies are very dark.

I tried and tried, to see my next object NGC 6960.

I had the star 52 Cygni, in the field of view. But despite using all my eyepieces and UHC filters. The Witches Broom didn't show herself.

Now I know, I need an OIII for this target. Because I have seen it before through a Lumicon OIII, and my old 8" Newtonian, from the same site.

NGC 6992

This nebula was, a nice faint arc of nebulosity, through my 24 mm Panoptic and 2" filter. So why wasn't NGC 6960 visible?

I decided to take a break for coffee around midnight, and a light snack.

Whilst relaxing. I spent the time just looking at the dust lanes in our galaxy.

NGC 7009

This was a very easy target to see visually. How ever, because of the lack of an OIII filter. I couldn't really see anything other than a small round, nebulous dot. There were know ansae visible.

Now here is something completely different.

NGC 1501.

Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. Has the title of "Camels Eye" nebula.

Using my 13mm and 2" UHC this object was bright, with a faint hint of blue coloration, despite it's listed magnitude of 13. I have not seen this object before. But I will return to it when I am under darker skies.

Whilst in the area. I had a look at NGC 1502 "Golden Harp Cluster, or Water Splash. This lies at the very end of Kemble's Cascade.

NGC 7789 "Caroline's Rose"

This was a very dim target to finish with.

Using my 13mm. NGC 7789 was very faint, but using averted vision. I could see some individual stars.

I also had a look at the Double cluster, M29 and NGC 7331.

By 0145hrs I was beginning to feel tired. And the clouds were beginning to show up. I left the site, with M 45 and Aldebaran rising in the East.

I was very satisfied with my observations.