SAC observing report, Sept7th 2007

It really was a great night on Boher hill with the SAC. I was amazed what I could see with an 8" LX10 under dark skies. This is the first time I have ever seen the veil nebula. It was barely visible but with the Baader O111 installed it was unmistakable. As Dave mentioned in a previous message the Telrad is a must have item. I never bothered to use the 8x50mm finder the whole night. The dumbell and ring nebulae showed quite a bit detail without any filters. In fact the filters weren't needed at all it was such a clear night.
Then I looked through Daves 20".... :shock: .........believe me, size does matter :twisted:

What can I say.
Probably the best night ever.
No..
Defiantly.

I nearly fell off the ladder with awe looking at the Veil through the Obsessinator!

It reminded me of the Nexus from Star Trek! :lol:

I've never seen the Milky Way as clear from Ireland.
It was horizon to horizon and totally obvious....
In fact... at times while I was observing some object...
thru the corner of my eye I'd see it and think
''oh no...clouds''

Andromeda galaxy was incredulously obvious with the naked eye.
My battery died on my scope but with my binos at hand and a list of
Bino targets as long as my arm to get thru the time just flew.

it was tough to get up at 10 am the following morning
(after getting into be a 5:30!)

Still, it was so worth it.

John,
I was impressed what the 8" showed when looking at the veil nebula and M13, a fine very portable scope there. !

it was tough to get up at 10 am the following morning
(after getting into be a 5:30!)

Still, it was so worth it.

How did you do it!!, I woke up at 1pm and was still wrecked!.

I might just go to Bir this year ! First timer, are the observing nights good?

Keith..

Basically we start between 9 and 10pm on both nights and lasts as long as the weather is good, the sky glow has become worse over the last few years but is still worth the effort. We're usually very lucky with the weather we normally get in one nights worth of observing.

I did abit of research into M33 and found that the star forming nebula I saw in M33 was ngc609, this is a nebula 1500 light years across, its amazing to see an Messier42 type nebula over 3 million light years away.
Have a look at
seds.org/messier/more/m033_n604.html
There are other knots and bright areas visible in the galaxy that night, so I'm going to try and hunt them down also, although none were as bright as ngc609.

BTW, having used a big Dob, I would seriously consider adding a few years onto the mortgage of the house and get one of these
www.obsessiontelescopes.com/telescopes/30/index.html
if only I had a truck to carry it around in.
having said that, I do seriously think I'd fit the 25 inch into my estate car !