August 15 2018

                                           

Preamble: No doubt you’ve heard one or more of these statements before;

” My skies are never good enough to get steady views”

” The bleedin’ jetstream always gets the better of me.”

“The British Isles suck when it comes to doing visual astronomy.”

” Climate change is making our skies more cloudy, making small refractors more profitable to use.”

” It’s been cloudy for weeks and months on end.”

” My refractor cuts through the seeing like nothing else!”

What do they all have in common?

Lies, more damn lies, or gross distortions of the truth!

You see, I’ve been doing my homework, testing out a modest 130mm f/5 Newtonian reflector all over the British Isles, and finding that many places are plenty good enough for doing high-resolution planetary, lunar and double star observing. And from dark places, low-power, deep sky observing is also very much worthwhile.

Don’t believe me?

Do I sound like I care?

Stick this in your proverbial pipe and smoke it: if only you got off your big, fat, wicked, lazy butt and did some real testing you’d soon come to a knowledge of the truth!

Moi? I’ve observed with the same telescope from no less than five counties in Southern Ireland, the windswept Isle of Skye in Northwest Scotland, Aviemore in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, and rural Aberdeenshire in Northeast Scotland, Wigtown in Southwest Scotland, Seahouses in Northeast England and even in the heart of the large cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Most recently, I tested a site in southern Lakeland, Cumbria, the subject of the present observing report.

Thus far this year, I have logged 78 separate sessions under the stars (not all perfectly clear and not all long sessions), either at home here in my rural site just north of the Scottish Central Belt, or while on holiday, and no doubt there were still more nights when I was unable to observe or it cleared too late or some such to conduct any more observations. That’s 78 out of 226 nights, or just shy of 35 per cent! So, more frequently than one in every three nights proved profitable. But I suspect the figure is nearer 40 per cent.

How do these data resonate with the above statements?

They don’t, do they?

 

Sheer dumb luck?

Don’t give me that either!

I don’t believe in sheer dumb luck. Nor do I spend my precious time haunting telescope forums, you know, drooling over this instrument or that.

Nope; I’m an observer!

So I just go observing lol. You know, actually looking through my telescope; it’s not so hard is it?

Anyone with a deep enough interest in such things would quickly draw the same conclusions, at least on the British Isles.

Do I believe these findings are unique to Britannia et Hibernia?

Hell no!

Why should they be?

Surely, most of these observations were conducted during warmer, more settled spells, like in Summer?

Nope, computer says no! Check my logbooks!

Good spells occur in all weathers, from freezing cold nights to sweltering hot ones!

Have these data any historical precedents?

Absolutely yes!

See my up-and-coming book, Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy, for a full disclosure.

If you take the time to examine the frequency of key historical figures who loved the night sky, you’d find fairly similar results in the literature.

How do I know?

I’ve studied those historical cases.

Phew! Quite a rant there!

But better a rebuke than faint praise eh?

Now, shall we get down to business?

 

Introduction:

 

A 5.1″ f/5 Newtonian was transported in its custom aluminium case to a site in Southern Lakeland, Cumbria (Latitude: 54.5 degrees North) to establish whether conditions were good enough to resolve a number of test double stars and to more generally assess the seeing and transparency at this location. The success of this modest ultra-portable instrument at various sites within the UK and Ireland has been truly remarkable, so much so that this author has totally abandoned more traditional instruments such as Maksutovs and refractors in favour of this small Newtonian to pursue all areas of grab ‘n’ go amateur astronomy. As explained in a number of previous blogs, the telescope sports a significantly greater aperture (130mm) than your run-of-the-mill grab ‘n’ go telescopes. Possessing a high quality optical flat resulting in a modest 27 per cent (linear) central obstruction, it is significantly smaller than all commercial catadioptrics and sports very high reflectivity coatings that produce bright, crisp images, very comparable to an equivalent sized refracting telescope. In addition, its relatively low mass and open-tubed optics ensures that it cools more rapidly than a similar-sized refractor or catadioptric.

During the trip, just one evening turned out clear, namely the night of Friday, August 10-11 2018.

Conditions:

Mostly clear with some patchy cloud. Temperatures were cool (12C), with a brisk south-westerly breeze, which continued to gust for several hours, abating almost entirely by local midnight. Transparency proved very good and although there was some light pollution owing to neighboring mobile homes, the sky was good and dark. Indeed, I judged the site a little darker than at my rural observing site in Scotland, with the northern Milky Way seen more prominently, snaking its way from northeast to southwest. The northern and eastern sky was especially dark, prominently revealing the majestic constellations of Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Pegasus, while high overhead lay Cygnus and Lyra. The site had a good view of the southern sky, with Aquila and Delphinus situated very close to the meridian. Two bright planets graced the southern sky low down, a dull yellow Saturn and further east, brilliant red Mars.

Method:

The telescope was precisely collimated using a good quality Chesire eyepiece and left to cool for about 20 minutes, with the open tube pointing straight into the prevailing (south-westerly) winds at the site. A working magnification of 260x was adopted to examine a number of test double stars. This was achieved by coupling a 7.5mm Parks Gold eyepiece and Meade 3x achromatic Barlow lens.

For widefield sweeping, a 25mm Celestron X-Cel LX  was used, deliverng a power of 26x in a  2.3 degree true field. Higher power deep sky views were enjoyed with a 5.5mm Meade ultra-wide angle ocular which yields a power of 118x in a 0.7 degree true field. Mars and Saturn were observed at a power of 177x (using an 11mm eyepiece and 3x Barlow), which proved more than adequate, as both orbs were situated very low down in the southern sky around local midnight.

The test double stars were chosen for their easy accessibility as well as being progressively more difficult;

Epsilon 1 & 2 Lyrae

Epsiion Bootis

Delta Cygni

Mu Cygni

Pi Aquilae

Lambda Cygni (examined at 354x using a 5.5mm eyepiece coupled to a 3x achromatic Barlow).

Double Star Results:

The first five test systems produced text-book perfect splits at 260x, the components being very cleanly resolved, and the individual stars presenting as perfectly round Airy disks with a single but rather subdued diffraction ring. The sub-arcsecond pair, Lambda Cygni, revealed its near-equal magnitude components as ‘kissing’ at 354x. You can’t do that with a 4-inch refractor; see here for just one example.

Additionally, the wonderful triple star system, Iota Cassiopeia, was examined later in the vigil, when the constellation had risen higher in the northeastern sky. I was rewarded with a perfectly resolved rendering of all three components at 260x using the 130mm f/5 Newtonian.

Conclusions: 

Despite enjoying just one clear night at this site during our short vacation, I achieved what I have come to view as fairly typical results for many locations in the British Isles. The telescope was able to deliver excellent high-resolution results on these test double stars. As stated earlier, I do not especially attribute these results to serendipity. Indeed, I have come to expect such results when conditions are reasonable at many sites within the UK and Ireland. Such results can easily be achieved by other observers using the same (read modest) equipment with just a little attention to detail; adequate acclimation and close attention to accurate collimation, which can be executed perfectly in under a minute. I would encourage others to test these claims so that these results become as widely known as possible.

Newtonian telescopes will continue to be my instruments of choice to observe such systems in the future, so as to help dispel a particualrly virulent myth that has arisen within the amateur community; a myth born out of ignorance and old fashioned laziness. Such a myth is plainly false and will allow many more observers to pursue such targets with unpretentious instruments that are very reasonably priced.

Observing the Planets:

Although certainly not a dedicated planetary observer, I have come to appreciate the very good views of Jupiter in recent apparitions using the 130mm f/5 Newtonian. During this vigil, my family and I enjoyed very nice, crisp images of Saturn with the telescope at 177x. Despite its low altitude in the southern sky, the planet revealed its glorious white rings with the Cassini Division being plainly seen. Some atmopsheric banding was also observed but, being much farther away, these features are much more subdued than on mighty Jupiter.

Mars was examined at the same power. This was actually the very first time the planet was observed telescopically during the present apparition. The view served up by the telescope was shockingly good and to be honest, not at all anticipated owing to its even lower altitude near the southern horizon. First off, I was amazed at how large the planet looked at 177x (a rather low power for a 5.1″ telescope on such a target generally). Though the image was roiling in the perturbed atmosphere near the local horizon, I was able to make out some dark markings on the planet as well as a rather subdued southern polar ice cap. I was aware that the planet had recently experienced a planet-wide dust storm that all but occluded many of the surface features but I was pleased to see that, while much dust was still present in the atmosphere, it was clearly settling out at the time the observations were made. Mars was a big hit with the family; its large size and great brightness to the naked eye being a lively topic of conversation with my wife and sons.

Into the Deep Sky:

Plotina is a step above the rest of the grab ‘n’ go herd with regard to deep sky observing. It’s highly efficient 5.1″ primary mirror collects enough light to put it in a different league to 90 and 100mm refractors.

How do I know?

I’ve done extensive tests with a 90mm Apo (shown below) and my notes show that double stars hard to see with a four inch refractor are easier to see and resolve in the 130mm reflector. It’s not rocket science!

With the glorious return of true darkness to northern British skies, my first port of call was the endlessly glorious Double Cluster in Perseus. This is where the 25mm Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece really shone through for me. I don’t know if you’ve ever held on to an eyepiece because of how well it frames a deep sky object, but this ocular delivered an absolutely beautiful, expansive view of the famous open clusters. It’s very comfortable 60 degree AFOV delivers a true field of 2.3 degrees at 26x, centring the clusters perfectly in the middle of the field and showing just enough of the rich stellar hinterland to render the experience particularly memorable. The perfect achromatism of the Newtonian delivers the pure colours of the white, yellow, blue and ruby coloured suns decorating these wonders of nature, each of which are located over 7,000 light years away. I stared at these clusters for a full 10 minutes before dragging my eyeball away!

Next, I pointed the telescope into the heart of Cygnus and drank up the sumptious views of the northern Milky Way, moving the instrument slowly from field to field in awe of the sheer number of stars this wonderful 5.1-inch pulled in. Sometimes deep sky observing is not about seeking out any particular object; for me, it often involves just sweeping the telescope through an interesting swathe of sky, sitting back and enjoying the visual sensations that bring joy to the eye-brain.

My telescopic sojourns eventually took me into Vulpecula, where I quickly chanced upon Brocchi’s Cluster (Collinder 399), otherwise known as the Coathanger, owing to its extraordinary configuation of half a dozen stars arranged just like its common name suggests and spanning over 1.5 degrees of sky, which was easily handled by the 25mm Celestron ocular.

Skies were good and dark enough to observe a number of planetary nebulae in Vulpecula, Lyra and Hercules and for these, I switched out the 25mm ocular for the 5.5mm Meade Ultrawide angle delivering 118x in a fine 0.7 degree true field. Easy to pick up in my 6 x 30mm finder as an 8th magnitude smudge, the 5.1-inch Newtonian delivered an awesome view of M27, the famous Dumbbell Nebula, its enormous size occupying a space fully a quarter the size of the full Moon. I find such structures haunting in the telescope and a kind of shiver went down my spine as I studied its enormous bi-lobed morphology alone in the dark (the wife and kids having now retired for the night). Moving west into Hercules nextdoor, I sought a spot about 4 degrees northeast of the fairly bright star, Beta Herculis. With the generous, wide field of the 5.5mm I didn’t have to switch out for a lower power eyepiece to find the lovely 9th magnitude planetary, NGC 6210. The telescope made light work of picking up its distinctive oval shape and its soft bluish hue. Finally I ventured east again into Lyra, where the telescope made light work of picking up the endlessly interesting M57, the famous Ring Nebula, easily located smack bang in the middle between Beta and Gamma Lyrae. At 188x, this planetary looks big and bright with its inner and brighter outer structures showing up well. It’s amazing that this luminous smoke ring in the August sky is estimated to be a full light year in diameter!

Having studied the bright and comparitively huge globular clusters, M13 and M92 at home in Scotland with my 12″ f/5 Dob, I was impressed at how well they presented themselves in the little 5.1-inch lightcup at 118x. I was in for a bit of shock though when I eventually tracked down M56 in Lyra, located roughly half way between Albireo and Gamma Lyrae. In the 5.5mm eyepiece, this globular was considerably smaller and fainter, looking more like a nebula than anything else. When I cranked up the power to 177x, the view was little improved; just a bright but unresolved core with a smattering of faint stars hovering like little fireflies around it. The view in my 8-inch Dob is far better but still rather lacklustre. I find my 12-inch Dob to do proper justice to this cluster and its gorgeous hinterland of Milky Way stars.

I ended my vigil in the wee small hours of Saturday morning, August 11, with a ceremonial visit to M31 and its satellite galaxies, now riding about one third of the way up the eastern sky. To be honest, galaxies never do much for me and I don’t really understand why folk in possession of larger instruments want to look at them in very small telescopes. Some say it’s heroic and admirable to do that kind of thing but I think it’s bordering on nuts. Why struggle to observe such faint fuzzies when you can more easily study them in larger telescopes? Anyway, the decent light grasp and expansive 2.3 degree field of my new Celestron LX ocular delivered a sterling view of this showpiece object of the autumn sky.

It was good to get away; our first visit to the beautiful Lake District. But all good things have to come to an end I guess.

 

The author did not emerge from pond scum and cannot for the life of him understand why anyone else would have such a low opinion of themselves. Such are the false fruits of evolutionary ‘science.’

 

 

 

De Fideli.

 

July 9 through 21, 2018

It could have been altogether very different.

Having access to a suite of small, portable instruments, like a fine 90mm ED refractor, a first-rate 80mm f/11 achromat, an ETX 90 and a 90mm f/10 achromat, I’m so glad I threw tradition to the wayside and brought along my 130mm f/5 Newtonian telescope on my recent trip to Ireland. As described exhaustively in several previous blogs, the latter instrument is a superior grab ‘n’ go telescope to all of the above instruments on all targets; whether in the Solar System or far beyond. Its mirrors efficiently bring light to a sharp focus and with a relatively small central obstruction (27 per cent), it behaves more like a 5 inch refractor than anything else. Yet it is very lightweight, easy to collimate accurately and, as demonstrated previously, delivers excellent images of planets, the Moon and very tight double stars down to 0.94 seconds of arc: the absolute limit imposed by its 130mm aperture. And, as will be described shortly, it’s not too shabby as a rich field/deep sky instrument either.

These findings were all  previously established in many parts of the Scottish mainland and even on some of the Western Isles, but I was especially keen to see how the telescope would fare at no less than five locations in Munster, the southern-most province of the Irish Republic. I have very fond memories from youth using much smaller instruments, but the 130mm Newtonian promised to reveal much more.

The Journey

The telescope was carried in a sturdy aluminium case in the boot of my car from my home in central Scotland down to southern Scotand, and then by ferry across to Northern Ireland, and from there, southwards to the Republic; a day’s trip.

Upon arrival, the telescope was found to be very slightly out of collimation but a laser collimator made light work of tweaking the optics in a matter of seconds.

Locations tested:

Limerick City: Ballinacurra in the southwest of the city & Caherdavin, a few miles away on the other side of the great River Shannon, in the northwest of the city.

Cobh, County Cork.

Sixmilebridge, County Clare.

Newport, County Tipperary.

 

Conditions: Over ten days, only two nights turned out cloudy, the rest being either fully clear or partially clear. At all locations, true darkness occurred around local midnight, remaining so for about two hours. In general, all observations were conducted on grass, as this was established to be the best surface upon which astronomical observations should be made.

Eyepieces used: Just two oculars were chosen for the trip; a Celestron X-Cel 25mm, delivering a power of 26x in a 2.3 degree true field, and a Meade Series 5000 5.5mm ultra wide angle, serving up a power of 118x in a 0.7 degree true field. Additional powers of 59x and 266x could be pressed into service by attaching a Baader 2.25x Baader shorty Barlow to the 25mm and 5.5mm eyepieces, respectively.

Telescope mounting: The 130mm f/5 is a perfect match for the Vixen Porta II Alt-azimuth mount, which travelled with me along with the telescope. High magnification targets were tracked with ease using the in-built slow motion controls.

Results on the Planets: Planetary views of Jupiter and Venus were conducted earlier in the evening. Mars was not viewed owing to its very late culmination well into the wee small hours of the morning.  The extra 4 degrees of elevation in the sky owing to the sites’ lower northerly latitude (centred around 52 degrees north), proved significant; Jupiter showed a wealth of detail using the 5.5mm Meade ultrawide angle ocular delivering 118x. Much dark banding and subtle colour differences within the bright zones could be discerned. The North Equatorial Belt (NEB) was very prominent throughout all the vigils, being noticeably darker and more disturbed morphologically than its southern counterpart. On one evening, I was able to accurately establish the CM II longitude of the Great Red Spot and the finest images of Jupiter were afforded at Newport, County Tipperary, with the telescope set up on tarmac owing to a lack of a suitable grassy surface, but the relatively high elevation of the shorttube 130mm reflector astride the Viven Porta II above the surface proved an effective dampener of thermals, even though the same day and evening were hot and sunny.

Venus showed its pretty, early gibbous phase at 118x in the telescope, despite its very low altitude at the times of observation. Some atmospheric refraction yielded some false colour but this was expected and largely unavoidable.

The Moon:

On Thursday, July 19, I shared some magical moments with my elder brother, who lives in Newport, County Tipperary. Around sunset, I set the instrument on the tarmac ouside his house and aimed it at a late crescent Moon. The view in the 5.5mm Meade delivering 118x was amazing; my brother being deeply impressed at seeing the entire lunar regolith  in razor-sharp detail, floating through the huge portal hole. At first he couldn’t help but hold the eyepiece (a natural newbie reaction), but as soon as I taught him to let go, he just relaxed and let the telescope do the work. I could tell that he was quite taken aback with this strange little telescope, where you peer through its side rather than directly along the tube. With a few minutes training, he learned how to use the slow motion controls to bring Luna back into the centre of the field.

 Double Stars:

Test double stars examined included:

Epsilon Bootis ( Izar)

Delta Cygni

Epsilon 1 & 2 Lyrae

Pi Aquilae

Such systems were chosen for their sensitivity to ambient seeing conditions and ease of location, even from an urban/suburban setting.

Results: At every location examined, the results proved very much the same: all systems were beautifully resolved at 266x, the companions being perfectly picked off from their respective primaries. One location proved to be windy (overlooking Cork Harbour in Cobh), but this turned out to be largely inconsequential to the observations made. Once the wind died down, the companions yielded easily.

 

Deep Sky Observations:

 

Naked Eye: I immediately noticed the lower elevation of the Pole Star than at home.

I recorded three bright fireball-like meteors streaking across the sky (2 on one evening, the other on a subsequent evening)  from the direction of Cassiopeia/Perseus. These were possibly early Perseid meteors, which will culminate around the middle of August.

Even from a suburban location (Caherdavin), the sky got dark enough to easily see magnitude +4.6, Iota Cassiopeiae, low in the northeast, which was not possible from my Scottish vantage owing to the encroach of twilight. From the same location, I was able to trace out the more prominent parts of the Northern Milky Way streaming through Cygnus and Cassiopeia.

The darkest skies were experienced at Cobh, which is not too surprising, but there was still a significant amount of light pollution from the adjacent harbour to the southwest of my viewing location. Still, magnitude +5.8 Messier 13 could not be seen owing to this light pollution despite its high elevation in the southwest at the times of observation.

Telescopic Impressions:

The 25mm Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece proved very satisfactory with the 130mm f/5 reflector, delivering sharp, high-contrast images of star fields nearly all the way to the edge of its 2.3 degree field. I enjoyed studying the stellar hinterlands of bright stars within Cygnus, particularly Sadr and Deneb, the truly dark skies pulling out a wealth of fainter stars frankly invisible in the twilight of Scotland.

M39 in northern Cygnus was pariticularly captivating in the 25mm wide field eyepiece at Caherdavin; a rich smattering of approximately three dozen suns of the 7th magnitude of glory and fainter, arranged in a neat triangular space approximately 30′ in size. The Barlowed view with the same eyepiece at 59X was much more immersive though. M29 was dull in comparison; small wonder my guide book has nothing to say about it lol!

The 5.5mm Meade ocular was by far my most used ocular during the trip. Having become somewhat disillusioned by high-quality, small field of view oculars, such as the Vixen HR series, with their measly 40 degree fields, I very much appreciated the vastly more expansive (yet very well corrected) fields afforded by this 82 degree ocular. Such short focal length, wide-angle eyepieces are a godsend to those who enjoy manually tracking tight doubles. They are visible for longer, allowing the observer much more time to examine their morphology before having to nudge the telescope along.

The 5.5mm served up excellent, immersive views of showpiece summer deep sky objects such as M13, M92 and M57, the 118x power really helping to darken the sky. The view of M13, in particular, was most impressive, even from suburban locations, comparing very nicely with my 5″ f/12 refractor from my recollections. The outer part of the globular was well resolved with dozens of stars seen directly or by using averted vision.

The same eyepiece is especially good at observing wide ‘binocular’ doubles such as Albireo, 61 Cygni, Gamma Delphini, Beta Lyrae and the incomparable 31 (Omicron) Cygni, all of which were enjoyed with the telescope at most of the sites visited.

At 23:30 UT on the evening of July 16, I aimed the telescope from suburban Limerick (Caherdavin) at Iota Cassiopeiae, then located just above the tree line of the garden. To my sheer delight, I was able to clearly see the three components of this trple system using the Meade ocular at 118x. This was a particularly impressive observation, owing to the fairly low power employed but also because of its low elevation at this site. This is a powerful testimony to the excellent stability of Irish suburban skies.

I enjoyed some special time exploring the rich treasures of the far northern constellation of Cepheus on the evening of July 16, which is drowned out by twilight in Scotland. Delta Cephei was very captivating at 118x. The primary is an old, yellow pulsating Cepheid variable( the prototype of this stellar class) with a gorgeous blue companion; a near twin of the more famous Albireo. Xi Cephei  presented beautifuly also; its blue white and yellow suns well resolved at 118x. Omicron Cephei was also briefly visited; easily resolved at 118x but better seen at 266x; its magnitude +4.9 ochre primary and much fainter (magnitude +7.3) steely grey companion being readily observed. Then, there is the incomparable Mu Cephei, an enormous red giant star, its deep sanguine hue standing out like a sore thumb against a good, dark sky was a sight for sore eyes. Mu is comely at low or high power in the 130mm reflector.

Don’t forget Saturn!

Almost forgot!

Though it was past their bedtime, I showed my boys the planet Saturn for the very first time, located well east of Jupiter and only becoming visible to the naked eye very late in the evening. Being even lower in the sky than brilliant Jove, the telescope still did a mighty good job at 118x showing them the mottled globe of the planet, with its beautiful, icy-white ring system, the Cassini Division being easily dicsernible at a glance. The view at 266x was not so good though; a simple consequence of the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere at this low altitude. Still, I showed off Saturn to friends and family where ever possible. Of all the celestial objects studied, it was the Ringed Planet that received the most oohs and aaws!

Concluding Thoughts

The experience of a truly dark sky in mid-July was a joyous event for me; accustomed as I am to ferreting out things to see in twilight at home in Scotland. The small Newtonian proved to be the perfect travelling companion, its generous aperture, light weight and easy set-up all helped to make the trip memorable and worthwhile. In many ways, Ireland is a transformed nation now (it would be naive not to think so); sadly, it has sleepwalked its way into the pernicious mire of secularism, with all its attendant depravities. But at least the skies overhead are still good to go, a comforting reminder of God’s incomparable glory and omniprescence. Though I would like to have visited a site completely devoid of light pollution it was not to be on this occasion, yet conditions were near ideal during these eight days of observations (especially for high-resolution, double star work), but surely many more such evenings occur on the Emerald Isle?

And I’d do it all again in a heartbeat!

 

Neil English is author of a large and ambitious work; Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy, due out later in 2018.

 

 

De Fideli.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At my northerly latitude (56 degrees north) every year from about the middle of May to the first week in August, the sky fails to get properly dark and twilight dominates the northern horizon. As a result, the glory of the summer night sky greatly diminishes, with only the brightest luminaries being visible to the naked eye. But despite these setbacks, one can still enjoy a great deal of observing. In this article, I wish to outline some of the activities I get up to during this season.

Observing in twilight makes observing faint deep sky objects very difficult, so my attention is drawn to the Moon, brighter stars and the planets. Although a telescope of any size can be used during twilight observing, I find it most productive to field a telescope that has decent aperture and so I generally reach for my larger telescopes. Arguably my most used instrument during these times is a simple 130mm f/5 Newtonian, which offers good light grasp and resolution but I am also very much at home with my larger 8 and 12 inch reflectors for more specialised work. The 130mm has the advantage of being light and ultraportable and so I can move the instrument around to get better views of low lying targets.

The bright planets are very accessible during twilight and I find it fun to observe them with a variety of instruments. Venus is generally uninspiring, showing only an intensely white partial disk, but I find Jupiter much more exciting owing to its constantly changing atmospheric features and satellite configurations. But because of its low altitude in my sky, I employ colour filters to bring out the most details on the planetary disk. This is where larger apertures have their advantages, as some filters can absorb a significant amount of light and dim the images too much. The sketch below was made during twilight using my 130mm f/5 and a Tele Vue Bandmate planetary filter, power 108x, which imparts a lively colour tone to the planet, enhancing the colour differences between the dark belts and light zones. It’s also an ideal filter for enhancing the visibility of the Great Red Spot(GRS).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight nights are also excellent for double star work and summer often brings prolonged periods of excellent seeing at my location. Larger apertures allow higher magnifications to be pressed into service, which also helps to darken the sky making the views more aesthetically pleasing. As in all other aspects of amateur astronomy, you can be as ambitious as you want. The most demanding systems are difficult, sub arc second pairs. As a case in point, I recently trained my 8 inch f/6 Newtonian on 78 Ursae Majoris (78UMa), conveniently located near the bright star, Alioth, in the handle of the Ploughshare. Conditions were near ideal on this evening (details provided in the sketch below) and I was able to push the magnification to 600x to splice the very faint and tight secondary star from the brighter primary.

Another system that I like to re–visit in summer twilight is Lambda Cygni (0.9″), which is easier to resolve than 78UMa, as the components are more closely matched in terms of their brightness and are slightly farther apart. Because it rises very high in my summer sky, it is ideally placed for high magnification work.

Conducting sub–arcsecond work with an undriven Dob mount is certainly not for the faint hearted but does bring its unique challenges, and I for one get a buzz out of doing this kind of work. But there are many easy and visually stunning systems that can be enjoyed at lower powers and it is to some of these that I will turn my attention to in the coming nights.

Last night (the early hours of June 2 2018) my wonderful little 130mm f/5 Newtonian was used to visit a number of easy to find and visually engaging binary and multiple star systems. During warm, settled weather, and with high pressure in charge, the twilight conditions proved near ideal for studying these fascinating objects;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These observations were conducted between 23:00UT and 00:00 UT.

Indeed, of all my Newtonians, it is the 130mm f/5 that provides the most aesthetically pleasing views of double stars. Colours are always faithful and images are invariably calm owing to its moderate aperture and rapid acclimation. Contrast is excellent too. It just delivers time after time after time…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As May turns to June, the twilight becomes ever brighter, with more and more stars becoming invisible to the naked eye. But this greater sky brightness should never deter a determined observer. On the evening of June 12 2018, I set about visiting a score of  double and multiple stars with my 130mm f/5 Newtonian, as is my custom. I turned the telescope toward Polaris at 22:45 UT  and was deligted to be able to pick up the faint 8th magnitude companion to the 2nd magnitude Cepheid primary. Looking for something more challenging, I waited another half an hour to allow the sky to darken maximally but also to allow a summer favourite to gain a little altitude but still several hours away from culmination in the south. I speak of that wonderful binary system, Pi Aquilae( Aql), a pair of yellow white stars of near equal brightness and separated by about 1.5 seconds of arc.

From extensive, previous experience, I know it is possible to split this pair in smaller telescopes than the 5.1 inch reflector, particularly a suite of refractors ranging in aperture from 80mm to 102mm. But under these June conditions, the advantages of decent aperture become readily apparent; smaller telescopes simpy run out of light too quickly when the high powers needed to splice this pair are pressed into action. Locating the 6th magnitude pair at a fairly low altitude under bright June twilight  is even a challenge for the 6 x 30mm finder astride the main instrument. To my delight though, I was able to track it down and once centred, I cranked up the power to 325x ( using a 2mm Vixen HR ocular) to obtain a marvellous view of this close binary system, the components aligned roughly east to west with clear dark space between them. Adopting these powers with smaller apertures is problematical to say the least. Why strain one’s eyes when one can view it in much greater comfort using the generous aperture of this trusty 130mm grab ‘n’ go ‘scope?

I made sketeches of both Polaris A & B and Pi Aql as I recorded them at the eyepiece (see below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the June solstice approaches, the twilight continues to brghten the sky, but there’s still lots to see. Beginning about 10pm local time, I began observing a pretty crescent Moon sinking into the western sky. The instrument I chose this evening was a very inexpensive but optically excellent 76mm f/9.3 Newtonian reflector, which I described at length in previous blogs such as this one. Because our natural satellite is so big and bright, a small telescope like this one is ideal for casual observing. Because the sky is still quite bright at this time, I found it helpful to employ either a neutral density or variable polarising filter to increase the contrast between the lunar regolith and the background sky.

Observing the Moon in June twilight is fun at all magnifications, but I have discovered this little telescope can provide razor sharp images up to about 210x. You’ll not get this information from the telescope forums though; it still seems beneath them to test it and spread the word, but I digress!

On the evening of June 18 2018, I visited a suite of summer double and multiple stars with the same instrument.

At about 11.30pm local time, the sky was dark enough to track down some pretty tight double stars, as well as a variety of easier but just as comely systems. Conditions were good enough for the little Spaceprobe reflector to nicely resolve Epsilon Bootis, Epsilon 1 & 2 Lyrae and Delta Cygni (210x in each case). My study of the Lyra Double Double in particular with this telescope shows that it is significantly better than any 60mm refractor in terms of raw resolving power. As I have reported earlier this year, the same telescope was able to resolve Xi Ursae Majoris, Porrima, Eta Orionis, and the wonderful triple system, Iota Cassiopeiae. Sadly, the latter system, which is still present low in the northern sky in June, was hopelessly lost in the summer twilight. Bootes always presents a nice playground for easy and pretty double stars, including Kappa, Pi, Xi and Nu 1 & 2 Bootis, which were all easily split at 116x.

June is also high season for the beautiful, ghostly whisps that meteorologists refer to as noctilucent clouds. These thin, high altitude formations are lit up by the Sun while still below the northern horizon, creating quite surreal visual delights to the naked eye. I took a couple of low resolution images with my iphone (shown below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I shall endeavour to capture some higher resolution shots of these wonderful meteorological structures in due course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the June Solstice of 2018, I  walked through the garden in the cool of the evening, fetching my trusty Vixen Porta II mount to field my 130mm f/5 Newtonian. A gentle westerly breeze was blowing and the sky was resolutely clear, but I have learned on many past occasions that these conditions often bring very good seeing conditions for high resolution double star work. And my efforts were rewarded with text book perfect images of a suite of difficult double stars, some of which I have mentioned earlier in this report. I also ended my year long evaluation of a variety of eyepieces and Barlow lenses,varying quite considerably in price range. These studies have led to some firm conclusions regarding the effects of moving air upon Newtonian optics, as well as some very surprising results concerning the efficacy of certain oculars in regard to resolving double stars. Do you always get what you pay for? Most certainly not!

Insofar as artificiallly blowing air on a Newtonian mirror has been shown to scrub off the so-called boundary layer immediately above the reflective surface, my field testing over many nights shows that natural wind can also improve the images in exactly the same way. For this reason, I invariably point the telescope into any prevailing wind while the telescope cools and this works especially well for my larger Newtonian reflectors (8- and 12 inches). Furthermore, I am not aware of any historical precedent for this; the work of some notable telescopic ancestors of the ilk of W.F. Denning, T.H.E.C. Espin, T.E.R. Philips, A.S. Williams, T.W Webb and N.E. Green ( the selected work of which I will feature in my up-and-coming historical work) all of whom used Newtonian reflectors to great effect do not explicitly give mention to this result, though there is no doubt it is generally true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On many fine evenings using a variety of Newtonian telescopes, I have compared the views through top-of-the-range eyepieces, such as the new Vixen HR series of ultra-short focal length oculars(1.4mm, 2.0mm and 2.4mm) and those derived from much more modest (but still very good) Plossls and orthoscopics coupled to decent Barlow lenses and my conclusions are that the much more expensive eyepieces do not confer any real advantages over the latter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, the HR series do display slighly better contrast and reduced light scatter compared to Plossls and orthoscopics but the differences were never enough to count. i.e. There was never an occasion where I could not see a tight companion in one over the other at comparable magnifications. Indeed, the HR series of eyepieces have very restrictive fields (42 degrees), even compared with the modest 50 degree fields offered up by a Plossl and/or the Baader classics (which have a larger 50 degree field) when Barlowed allow for significantly larger fields to be exploited. There is thus a distinct advantage to the using the far less expensive Plossl and orthoscopic type eyepieces over the HR series (the three of which will set the consumer back a hefty £750 UK), especially when employing a non-motorised altazimuth mount such as my Vixen Porta II.

Don’t believe the hype; binary stars are very simple, just tight little Airy disks. Save your money and use it more productively on other things.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this blog and that you don’t become discouraged observing throughout the twilight season wherever you live.

Thanks for reading.

 

Neil English’s new book, Tales from the Golden Age, uses history to debunk a few myths that have crept into modern amateur astronomy. Available in late 2018.