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Main
Date: 20 Aug 2006 19:02:59
From: Martin R. Howell
Subject: Glob hunting in M31
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Tonight conditions are excellent for attempting something I have always
failed at. . .observing globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. I have
the scope positioned in the roughly 100 square feet of my property which
has no direct external lighting invading it. I am going to set this laptop
next to the scope and pull up an image of the galaxy showing the locations
of the elusive globulars and give it a try one more time (and maybe
tomorrow night if I fail tonight).
--
Martin R. Howell
"The Astro Lines"
http://theastropost.wordpress.com
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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Date: 20 Aug 2006 19:22:13
From: Martin R. Howell
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:02:59 -0700, Martin R. Howell wrote:
> Tonight conditions are excellent for attempting something I have always
> failed at. . .observing globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. I have
> the scope positioned in the roughly 100 square feet of my property which
> has no direct external lighting invading it. I am going to set this laptop
> next to the scope and pull up an image of the galaxy showing the locations
> of the elusive globulars and give it a try one more time (and maybe
> tomorrow night if I fail tonight).
Silly me. I suppose it would be best to save my night vision by not using
the laptop. Instead, the illustration on page 17 of Luginbuhl & Skiff's
"Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects," should serve better
(dimly illuminated with red light, of course). Which of the many, many
globulars in that illustration are easiest for a 12.5 inch scope?
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 02:34:38
From: Hobo
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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"Martin R. Howell" wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:02:59 -0700, Martin R. Howell wrote:
>
> > Tonight conditions are excellent for attempting something I have always
> > failed at. . .observing globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. I have
> > the scope positioned in the roughly 100 square feet of my property which
> > has no direct external lighting invading it. I am going to set this laptop
> > next to the scope and pull up an image of the galaxy showing the locations
> > of the elusive globulars and give it a try one more time (and maybe
> > tomorrow night if I fail tonight).
>
> Silly me. I suppose it would be best to save my night vision by not using
> the laptop. Instead, the illustration on page 17 of Luginbuhl & Skiff's
> "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects," should serve better
> (dimly illuminated with red light, of course). Which of the many, many
> globulars in that illustration are easiest for a 12.5 inch scope?
Thats the curse of laptops. Cant live without em - cant live with em near the
scope.
I envy you your skies. Back in the 60's I wanted to do this in the worse way and
had the skies (and scopes) to back it up, but alas Vietnam came along and all
that -
the skies (and scopes) available to me now are plain putrid. However, I might
suggest something to back the visual work up with, a decent ccd to grab even a
crude image or two each night (as confirmation and to direct the next sessions
work) ............ I would dearly love to be doing this also -
Knisley's post below is extremely good on this topic - sounds like he's done
a lot of this with success. Some people have all the luck.
jw
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 01:16:07
From: David Knisely
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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Martin R. Howell posted:
> Silly me. I suppose it would be best to save my night vision by not using
> the laptop. Instead, the illustration on page 17 of Luginbuhl & Skiff's
> "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects," should serve better
> (dimly illuminated with red light, of course). Which of the many, many
> globulars in that illustration are easiest for a 12.5 inch scope?
Well, the very easiest one is one which is not shown on the image: G1
(mag. 13.7, R.A. 0h 32m 46.3s, Dec. +39 deg. 34' 41" (eq. 2000.0). it
is located about 2.5 degrees southwest of the core of M31 and is a
little distance beyond the usual visual extent of the galaxy (a little
over a degree southwest of the southwestern arm's bend). I have managed
to detect this object in a 4 inch, and in a 10 inch at about 178x it
looks distinctly non-stellar (a bit like like M13 does in a cheap pair
of 7x35 binoculars). As for the others, there is another one at
magnitude 12.3 (Bol 119) but it is imbedded in the glow of the nuclear
bulge so it is much harder to see (I haven't managed it). I have seen
G76 (mag. 14.2) in my 10 inch Newtonian, so after G1, it is probably the
next easiest. At 220x it was definitely non-stellar, but was still
almost star-like. G78 was also visible in the 10 inch, but for some
reason it seemed just a tad more difficult than G76 was. G280 is
another one which should be visible in a 10 or 12 inch with some study
as long as the sky is good and dark and you are using enough power
(there is a faint double star fairly close to it). With a good 12 inch,
you may be able to do at least half the list of M31 globulars found on
P18 in Luginbuhl & Skiff. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely KA0CZC@navix.net
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/
**********************************************
* Attend the 13th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 23-28, 2006, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 05:43:54
From:
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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I believe that Idel Astronomy's sight save works well to save night
adaption.
Hobo wrote:
> "Martin R. Howell" wrote:
>
> > On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:02:59 -0700, Martin R. Howell wrote:
> >
> > > Tonight conditions are excellent for attempting something I have always
> > > failed at. . .observing globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. I have
> > > the scope positioned in the roughly 100 square feet of my property which
> > > has no direct external lighting invading it. I am going to set this laptop
> > > next to the scope and pull up an image of the galaxy showing the locations
> > > of the elusive globulars and give it a try one more time (and maybe
> > > tomorrow night if I fail tonight).
> >
> > Silly me. I suppose it would be best to save my night vision by not using
> > the laptop. Instead, the illustration on page 17 of Luginbuhl & Skiff's
> > "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects," should serve better
> > (dimly illuminated with red light, of course). Which of the many, many
> > globulars in that illustration are easiest for a 12.5 inch scope?
>
> Thats the curse of laptops. Cant live without em - cant live with em near the
> scope.
>
> I envy you your skies. Back in the 60's I wanted to do this in the worse way and
> had the skies (and scopes) to back it up, but alas Vietnam came along and all
> that -
> the skies (and scopes) available to me now are plain putrid. However, I might
> suggest something to back the visual work up with, a decent ccd to grab even a
> crude image or two each night (as confirmation and to direct the next sessions
> work) ............ I would dearly love to be doing this also -
>
> Knisley's post below is extremely good on this topic - sounds like he's done
> a lot of this with success. Some people have all the luck.
>
> jw
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Date: 22 Aug 2006 03:55:27
From: London England
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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"Martin R. Howell" <martinhowell@ilikestarsisp.com > wrote in message
news:1hu8llu0qsf93.1hrgglbn4df9l.dlg@40tude.net...
>
> Tonight conditions are excellent for attempting something I have always
> failed at. . .observing globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. I have
> the scope positioned in the roughly 100 square feet of my property which
> has no direct external lighting invading it. I am going to set this
> laptop
> next to the scope and pull up an image of the galaxy showing the locations
> of the elusive globulars and give it a try one more time (and maybe
> tomorrow night if I fail tonight).
Ohhhh that nasty glob...
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 12:44:26
From: Lumpy Darkness
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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Hobo wrote:
> Thats the curse of laptops. Cant live without em -
In this case you can.
Paul Hodge published an excellent atlas of M31. I printed it out all
41 pages and put it in a binder. Very handy.
Here is a page by Steve Gottlieb on M31's globulars:
http://www.angelfire.com/id/jsredshift/gcm31.htm
Here is a page for Hodge's Atlas:
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/ANDROMEDA_Atlas/frames.html
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 10:02:52
From:
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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Martin R. Howell wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:02:59 -0700, Martin R. Howell wrote:
> I suppose it would be best to save my night vision by not using
> the laptop.
Good idea! Even with better dark adaptation you'll find that steady
seeing is important.
Just a little bit of "jumpiness" will preclude visibility.
Doug Kniffen
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Date: 24 Aug 2006 00:50:41
From: Bless You
Subject: Re: Glob hunting in M31
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I have the Hodge Atlas printed, somewhere. You're a man after my own
heart -
thanks for this. Our club has a 16" robotic projects started. When its up
I may
give some time to Andromeda _ I can think of nothing better I'd like to
do.
Thanks,
Jerry
Lumpy Darkness wrote:
> Hobo wrote:
>
> > Thats the curse of laptops. Cant live without em -
>
> In this case you can.
>
> Paul Hodge published an excellent atlas of M31. I printed it out all
> 41 pages and put it in a binder. Very handy.
>
> Here is a page by Steve Gottlieb on M31's globulars:
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/id/jsredshift/gcm31.htm
>
> Here is a page for Hodge's Atlas:
>
> http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/ANDROMEDA_Atlas/frames.html
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