Car seat Astronomy by Christopher Hill

Here is a short but fascinating observation report, by a member of my local Astronomical Society, Mr C Hill of Macc Astro.

Car Seat Astronomy – Chris Hill

We have all heard of armchair astronomy but what about car seat astronomy?  Spring 2011 was awash with clear nights, but a strong easterly wind made astronomy sometimes uncomfortable.  Setting up a telescope and observing in the wind can leave you very cold, so on the last good night of a clear spell I decided to observe from the comfort of my car.

After the May workshop I parked in a quiet dark spot in the Goyt valley, which is situated between Macclesfield and Buxton. 

With the open drivers side window facing south. And the sunroof  open as well, I began making observations.   

With my 8x50 Opticron binocular I went hunting for the host of galaxies that are best seen in the spring.  Starting with Ursa Major through the sunroof I could easily spot M81 and M82 at right angles to each other. M51 looked like a pale disk through the binocular and M101 was also visible as a larger but fainter glowing disk.  However M108 and M97 (the owl nebula) could not be seen.

The globular clusters M3, M13 and M53 were easy to spot and a fine sight.  I could also see M64 (the black eye galaxy) clearly.  The Leo triplet (M66, M65 and NGC3628) could just be made out with M66 being easiest to spot.  The Virgo cluster was a bit trickier. While M100 and M85 could be made out I could not pin down M98 or M99.  In the area around M84 and M86 I could not make out any individual galaxies but the sky took on a mottled appearance.

I find that galaxies look quite different through a binocular than the usual view that you get through a telescope.  The core of a galaxy stands out in a telescope eyepiece but the faint outer regions can be elusive.  Through a binocular the core can be hard to spot while the outer parts stand out.  The best view of M31 (the Andromeda galaxy) that I have had was through a binocular. 

The sky was quite good with a limiting magnitude of 5.5 but there was some dust in the atmosphere.  Perhaps on another night more could have been seen but I was surprised how much could be seen from a car seat with a binocular.

03-05-2011  

Thank you Chris, for that excellent observing report. Chris has also very kindly submitted a DSLR image of Messier 51. Thank you again.

Gibbous Phased

What do you do at this time of the year, now the night's getting alarmingly shorter and shorter?

Well. I am now making regular solar observation's through the William Optics 66sd and Baader filter, and I am also observing the Moon and imaging it.

Last night for a bit of fun, I decided to use my little APO, and Nikon D40 for some quick lunar imaging.

Here is the result.

 

I've also been making observation's of the Sun using the same telescope, and below are a small selection of drawing's.

The Sun is now beginning to get active again, and with each day there is something new to observe. These drawings were made through my little William Optics fitted with a home made Baader solar filter. I find the use of a deep Orange filter, helps to increase contrast. And this makes any sunspots stand out.

So you see, there is still plenty of astronomy one can do during the long, dreamy, summer month's...