Observing Reports
July 2007
14th July 2007 - First Light for the Birch Tree Observatory
It was around 11pm and I noticed that the sky was clear and steadily darkening so this would provide my first nights viewing with my new backyard observatory.
Rolling back the roof and being able to view in under 10mins has to be the best things I have experienced since I was so used to battling with the wind and rain. The scope could be used almost instantly and I carried out a 2 star alignment which worked very well and began my long awaited adventure.
The sky was never fully dark through out the observations but it proved to be a most memorable night.
After the alignment I took a look at Vega which was riding high above the observatory. The Orion 80ED is an excellent visual scope and the star colour and resolution was great.
First deepsky object was M13 “The Hercules Globular Cluster” but this could not be viewed as the sky was still too bright, so I would wait till later to give it another try.
As Cygnus was high above and had a wealth of deepsky objects to view I turned my attention to M29 and it was easy to spot. Sticking with Star Clusters I moved over to NGC6871. This was the first time viewing this object and I noticed 2 sets of close stars with a loop towards one side. It was an interesting cluster and shall need to be viewed another night when the skies are darker to really appreciated it.
Next up was M39 and at x24 magnification the cluster was perfect in the field of view. Tack sharp stars sparkled in a triangular formation.
Now over to NGC7243, which would have been better under darker skies, but none the less an interesting close grouping of faint stars.
M27 “The Dumbbell Nebula”, sky still to bright, shall have another go later. A satellite flew through the field of view. Although it did appear to have a reddish appearance so it could have been a meteor.
The Globular Cluster M56 was only just visible with averted vision.
At the head of Cygnus lies Albireo, a famous colour contrasting double star. I could see bright orange, red and the fainter star was a light blue. Looked really good at x100.
Back to M27 and this time I managed to view the nebula with averted vision. Another satellite whizzed past, this time to the North of the Dumbbell.
M13 as very bright now and was easy to spot at x24. I couldn’t resolve any stars but the shape of the globular was well defined. Also tried at x60 and the view was still excellent.
Further North was M92 another globular. It was smaller than M13 and fainter, but easy to spot. More of a rounder appearance.
M57 “The Ring Nebula” and at x60 the ring was easily spotted with the blacker centre. Using x24 the ring was too small but could still be noticed and at x100 the view was very faint but still the doughnut shape was on view.
I ended the session at around midnight and still cannot believe just how good having an observatory is. The ease of setting up and just rolling back a roof to be greeted with a full sky of sparkling stars was amazing. This has been the best addition to the hobby and I’m really looking forward to getting out under some winter skies later in the year.