Sunday, February 01, 2009

Messier night in Netersel

Last night was very cold, because of the wind. But because of that the sky was very clear. So we decided to go to the small airfield in Netersel with my 200mm newton telescope. I was the first there and after some time 2 fellow astronomers (morelinux with his 200mm LX90 SCT and g0t0 with his 250mm LX-200 beast). Here's a list of my observations:
M3, beautiful globular cluster. With perifhery looking more and more stars become visible. No arms visible. I got the best view in my 8mm Hyperion on 125x.
M44, Praesepe open star cluster in Cancer. It is a real joy to look at this object. It just fits the FOV (field of vision) in my 200mm newton with 32mm Astro-tech titan eyepiece on 31x.
M51, bright spiral galaxy with companion galaxy NGC5195. They are visible as 2 small dots in the 21mm Hyperion at 47x.
M63, galaxy, just visible periphery as a weak dot in the 8mm Hyperion at 125x.
M67, compact and beautiful open cluster. Many stars visible of almost the same magnitude. Best at 47x.
M85, galaxy visible as a bright center with a weak nebula on 125x.
M87, galaxy visible as a bight dot at 125x. No further details visible.
M94, galaxy visible as a bright dot (no nebula visible) at 125x.
M99, galaxy just visible periphery at 125x.
M100, galaxy just visible by looking periphery at 125x.
M101, serious periphery looking necessary to view this galaxy. There is a glimpse of a faint nebula visible at 47x.
M106 bright galaxy, visible like a cigar. Best visible at 125x.
At the end of the session (around 0130hrs) some clouds came from the east. After 30min the whole sky was covered with clouds. It was a clear and especially dry night. My telescope and eyepieces were not covered with condense. That is very unique for Dutch atmospheric conditions.

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