Last night observing Report...Kerry Astronomy Club

A 12" DOB does bear a passing resemblance to a "Barrack-Buster" mortar, for those not yet acquainted with astronomy. I can imagine the confused thoughts going through the Garda's mind as he approached. Funny, very funny.

Clear skies to all.

James

Thats a great report of what sounds like a stunning evening under the stars!! I am very interested in hearing more about your Zodical light observation I assumed of course it was in the evening sky in the SW?

hi all,

great night of observing from Cloon Wood near Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow last night in the company of Paul Tipper, Gordon Nason, and Philip Lardner.

saw the zodiacal light too from there which is the first time I've seen it from that site.

Philip and Gordon showed us Hubble's variable nebula in Monoceros which was pretty neat. M1 was beautiful in Philip's 20-inch Dob while Gordon was able to zero in on some very nice NGC objects in the Winter Milky Way along with NGC 404, a galaxy in the same field as Beta Andromedae. Paul let me have a peek through his Dob at some of the Messier objects on view this time of year.

I used the 22x100mm to track down some very hard to see galaxies (for binoculars). NGC 2903 in Leo was easy while M77, the Seyfert galaxy in Cetus was also a nice find. Harder to get near M77 was NGC 1055 which I confirmed on a chart this morning. I also picked up M108 as a mottled greyish streak and the Owl Nebula, M97, as a large dim oval. M81 and M82, the UMa galaxies, very nice too. A new NGC cluster for me was 2360 in Monoceros, just east of Sirius. It appeared as crushed grains of sugar strewn in a nice star field. Lots of other star fields scanned also.

atb,

John

Excellent observing John! Thats a great target list for binoculars!! I have to confess that i have not seen Hubbles variable nebula yet but i will try for it soon

What were the large binoculars like?

Thats a great report of what sounds like a stunning evening under the stars!! I am very interested in hearing more about your Zodical light observation I assumed of course it was in the evening sky in the SW?

Hi Martin

It was more west that south I reckon, I really will only be guessing at dimensions as I did not measure it at the time, but here goes.

I quess it extended for 10-15 degrees along horizon and extended 50-60 degrees upwards. it was easily visible when we arrived at observing site at 7.30pm. We observed it intermittently for about 15 mins and then continued observing other objects. I did not notice it any more, but then again I was not looking for it. I promise if I see it again to take proper measurements. :oops: :oops:

That sounds like a cracking evening of viewing Trevor. Banna beach is a lovely spot for it aswell. I can't wait to join up with the club soon enough.

Looking forward to it