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Nebula's Astronomy Den

Discussion in 'Observing Celestial Objects' started by Nebula, Feb 2, 2018.

Nebula's Astronomy Den

Started by Nebula on Feb 2, 2018 at 8:12 PM

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  1. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Hello, welcome to my astronomy den. this is the place where I intend to publish my astronomical reports and sketches following my observations, everything consolidated in here!

    I hope it's going to be inspiring. ;)

    [​IMG]

    About:
    I have almost 3 years of experience in astronomy now and quite passionate about it, I started with a Newtonian 130mm for a period of 5 months then upgraded to a Newtonian 200mm, my current instrument. I am currently taking my time and doing visual observation only, my goal is to enjoy the sky and the views simply!

     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
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  2. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Isn't observing from the middle of the road hazardous?



    Game on! Watch out for the blue Firebird!
     
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  3. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    A fresh start with a video of Wayne's World I one iconic film, (I and II) i listend to them many many times at age 14 or so :p

    Thanks for the memories Mak, the Stacy scene :p that is a good one.
     
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  4. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    2018-02-02 - FIELD REPORT - NGC 457 DRAGON FLY CLUSTER
    So this is my first official field report on Astronomy Connect. Last night was a very cold night, pushing close to -20 Celcius but with a beautiful clear sky. I took my gear out for some visual observation in the parking, behind my car (I use the trunk has a stable high table)

    [​IMG]

    The installation of everything was painful, I felt like it took all night to set up but once I installed the eyepiece I felt better instantly, the magical feeling of looking trough it is soothing. I wanted to have a wide field observation of the stars last night (The first after a few planetary and moon observation in the last weeks), at the beginning there was no moon or a very low one which is less of an issue and quite a bit of high clouds.

    #1. Perseus

    First thing, I installed my very best large ES68 34mm to look at Mirphak region.
    [​IMG]
    Many strong stars are visible there, the scene is impressive has always, then I start searching for a small NGC 1444 (cluster not far away) but I could not to find it because of new high clouds. Bad start..

    #2. Cassiopeia

    There are so many clusters around the main stars of Cass. I start swiping the area randomly until I find something and surprise! It's a new one, the DragonFly cluster just bellow beige star Ruchbah. Now thing are getting much better!

    The cluster was a bit too small for the 34mm eyepiece 2d TFOV but the view was still impressive with the surrounding star field, I looked at the scene like that for a while then switched the eyepiece for a 18mm. Now! that was a perfect fit for that little NGC extended to at least 1/2 of the 1d FOV, with still a very clean image @ 55x (I love that 18mm eyepiece). Dragonfly is a very nice cluster with a few bright stars at the edges and at least 2 or 3 orange ones. It has a nice little pattern of faint stars at the core forming 2 small triangle shapes. These are very small at 29x but very easy to distinguish at 55x. Of course more stars are visible using averted, most of these stars are not drawn on my sketch.

    I really like these small NGC which are pushing my instrument to it's limits. ;)

    Then I switched the clock drive on and did the following sketch of the scene: 200x1000 Newtonian / Xcel LX 18mm.

    [​IMG]

    The Sketch took a bit more then 15 minutes to do, with only 1 pencil, a H lead and my dim red light.

    I hope you like it, thanks for viewing.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
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  5. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like a pretty good night. I know the Dragonfly Cluster as the Owl Cluster.
    1517688269633.jpg Screenshot_20180203-200626.png

    Pictures from SkyPortal & Deep Sky (Android).
     
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  6. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    This sub-Fora is an excellent idea, Nebs!

    Something tells me this is going to catch on here - anyone & everyone can do the same here. Rather like an Astronomy-Blog by & for members of A-C.

    Cool! :cool:
     
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  7. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    @Mak the Night wow it's amazing in your picture how the stars of the cluster itself are blue. It's a collection of young and very hot stars attracted to a central point apparently. All the middle, a majority of bright blue stars. This is a very special phenomenon. And there is only one super bright red star in there.

    Why? We will never know.

    Owl cluster is a serious collection of pale sapphires, picture of it is incredible, unique.

    @Dave In Vermont Well yes the inspiration is from the small aperture telescope thread (never ending) I think this could work here too, to concentrate reports instead of dissolving them into many separate threads. It's more comfortable to have 1 never ending thread then 10 000 dead threads.

    (And if my mind is transfered into a computer in 40 years, it will be easier to gather all my data on the web, in order to better manage it :p) Just an idea..

    Have you ever looked at the Owl Cluster?
     
  8. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    This is a novel idea to me. And most certainly a new flavor in the world of the 'fora'* I've seen! And experimentation is, in my perspective, is what we've been doing here since we all strolled in.

    I've been in the world of the 'internet forum' since it all began - back in what I call 'The Wild West Days' when people started doing this sort of thing. Back to Lycos Communitees when your choices were MSN Communitees or Lycos. The thinking person would prefer the Lycos' free-for-all spirit, and the rigid authoritarian approach of MSN appealed to others. I was soon brought aside by a moderator ('host') and asked if I wouldn't me a 'host' as well. I said sure. And it was way back there that we developed a professional-model of how this should - and should NOT - be done & implemented. We had little judges' gavels next to our screen-names. :p

    So I thought I'd seen everything! Until you came along and defined a new idea to run with! Excellent!

    I knew that The Neverending-Thread had a reason behind it - and I wondered what it may lead to. And now I know. :cool:

    D.

    * 'Fora' truly is the plural form of 'forum'
     
  9. Mak the Night

    Mak the Night Well-Known Member

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    Only in Latin. In English it is a 'borrowed' word and is generally pluralised with a suffix derived from the Middle English. English is a Frisian-Germanic language and as such has different grammatical rules and syntax to Latin, although both are technically Aryan Indo-European languages. Latin words that have been absorbed into English can often have Germanic or Latin pluralisations that take on different meanings; geniuses and genii are examples of this as they now have separate meanings in modern English.

    See Fowler's Modern English Usage, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Latin Plurals (latinised-Greek), p325.
     
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  10. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    @Dave In Vermont
    This is a novel idea to me. And most certainly a new flavor in the world of the 'fora'* I've seen! And experimentation is, in my perspective, is what we've been doing here since we all strolled in.

    I am much not into blogs but I think it's close to a blog. A more interactive blog, so it's not a blog no more :p

    At the very beginning in 1994, 1995 there was "Talk City" you had to download Peach chat client, then later came Mirc. I waw more into chats then anything else, these were good times.
     
  11. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    This is a great idea, Nebula. Reading your reports and seeing your sketches are really inspiring! I may do something similar with my space music videos!
     
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  12. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    I think thats a great idea with a My Space music video, you could send us some link when it's on or continue putting your music into videos.

    I once chat with a folk, he liked to visit abandoned building, industrial, residential, all kinds of building and he would do HD videos of the exploration in the forest around or in gloomy chambers, with progressive music from the 60s and 70s, the right music for the the right images, very good stuff.

    Don't have the links anymore..

    Glad the sketch is inspiring, I hope to add more of them and to be able to drive to a dark spot soon and produce a strong DSO sketch, a nebula, a galaxy or even a denser cluster. I want to put extra efforts producing something of higher quality.

    But we are not there yet in therm of weather..

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Good Lord!! My teeth are chattering just looking as that picture!!
     
  14. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Holy smoke!!!
     
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  15. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    YEah it's Canada, and there is not too much thickness in that picture. It's a spot with special wind turbulence and there is nothing there. It's small beer.

    I will go take a nap now and see about an observation after, the sky is not that bad. Maybe find a small DSO to look at, small cluster or planetary nebula.
     
  16. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    That sounds like a plan, Nebula. I look forward to your observation notes. KEEP WARM!:p:p
     
  17. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Ahhh the sky is fully covered with thick clouds now. had the time to take the gear close to the door only.. When I took the tube out for pre cooling, it was already 80% covered.

    No observation for tonight.. But I have Blade Runner 2049 in DVD right here.. I might just go get the bag of chips and listen to it.
     
  18. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    With either a.) Sleep. Or b.) TV-Movie at stake - I'd already be on my nice, warm futon.

    But my left-over Chili Mac is my 'Soporific du Jour.'
     
  19. Nebula

    Nebula Well-Known Member

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    Heheh I watched 2049 instead for the second time, incredible science fiction really.

    Now I have to sleep for real in my warm bed, if I don't think too much because of the science fiction. ;)
     
  20. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Maybe the Cat in your avatar could tell you how to relax and sleep. Cats actually, on average, sleep 16-hours a day.

    They must know a few tricks of the trade....
     

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