April 19, 2012.
Location: Borot Lutz, Negev Desert, Israel. 30o 30’ 49” N, 34o 36’ 31”E
Sky : Bortle Grey (7.2)
Seeing: Excellent, clear calm skies, no mosquitoes, very little if any dew.
Temperature: As low as 10C, maybe 5C, I didn’t measure.
Equipment: AD10 (10” Dobsonian, 1270mm f.l., with 31mm 2in ep, 9mm 1.25in ep), 20x80 Celestron binoculars on a 12 kg-rated tripod. Pentax 110D. Stellarium on a laptop.
Preliminaries:
We (I went with three of my kids – 14 y/o, 11 y/o, and 9 y/o) arrived there after sunset, but since we’ve been there before, we had no trouble situating ourselves. There are three very nice enclosures with an awning over part of each, allowing us to set up sleeping bags for those middle-of-the-night naps. Bathrooms with water in addition to washing sinks are also available, but there is no electricity.
First challenge was to collimate the scope in the dark. Since I am familiar with the scope, it’s not a big problem. Aligning the finder scope was a different story. I needed to see a far-off object that does not move, and the only thing you can see there are stars. So, I had an “ah-hah” moment when I said to myself “it would be nice if I could find a star that doesn’t move”, and indeed there is one: Polaris. So, I used the North Star to align the finder scope, and everything worked out just fine. I used the AD10 to view everything, with a few noted exceptions.
We met a couple of guys from the north who were doing some pretty serious astrophotography, using refractors, tracking equipment and coolant for their CCD detectors. It was really cool meeting some comrades-in-arms. There were things they could do that I couldn’t, and there were some things I could do that they couldn’t. That and a few offers of hot tea and chicken soup were pretty good.
M42, M43 (Orion Nebula): Caught this just before it set, and it was more extensive than what I usually can see from my house (Revava, Bortle sky red, 5.1), but not as bright as I expected it to be.
M41 (binos): Certainly much brighter than at home.
M35: Brighter than at home
Polaris: Shucks, I didn’t know this is a double star. Apparently, everyone knew this except me. Now I do, too.
M51 (Whirlpool): A grey smudge. Disappointing. Our neighboring astrophotgraphers got a great shot of this one. Of course, it took them 45 minutes and some fancy image processing to do it, though.
M101: A bust. I had a heck of a time finding this thing. I thought it would be easy with a 10” Dob, and a truly dark sky site, but it isn’t. I’m going to try again next time I’m out.
M65, M66 : Found them, but they were dimmer than I expected. I think it was an issue of my eyes being right after a blinding by my son flashing a light on me.
M104 (Sombrero galaxy): A grey smudge. BUT I was pleased to find this, as I can’t see it at all from home. The astrophoto guys got a shot of this so good it looked like it was from Hubble.
Saturn: Planets were a welcome break, and Saturn was wonderful. Cream-colored, we could just barely detect the Cassini division. Shadows of the rings were clearly visible, as were Titan and Rea.
At this point, we were all exhausted, so we all lied down for a while. Observing is surprisingly taxing on the body. I thought it would be easy, but it’s not. It requires a good deal of brain activity, but you don’t do any other physical action, so you get cold easily. That and it’s night-time. We all know of course, that the Sun gives us warmth and light, but for me at least, this fact was really driven home that night out in the middle of nowheresville with nothing between us and Mars except a few miles of air.
We missed a few meteors, as there was a meteor shower that night, but when I got up at about 2AM, the Milky Way was in full glory. It was so bright it seemed to cast a shadow. I only realized later that taking a nap – uh, with your eyes closed, genius – does wonders for your night vision.
M57 (Ring Nebula): Easily found, and it was wonderful, with a clear ring.
M27 (Dumbell Nebula): Also easily found. I used Cynus’ Sadr, Albireo, and Gienah, and M27 completed a rectangle. The ends of the “weights” of the dumbbell were clearly seen. This was a big hit of the night.
M8 (Lagoon Nebula): Another big hit. It was a bit spread out, but clearly seen.
M20 (Trifid Nebla): Its two lobes were outstanding and clear.
Then a surprise success that my neighboring astrophoto guys couldn’t get:
B92: This is a dark nebula near M24. Stellarium doesn’t really show this, and it’s a shame I didn’t get a photo of this – oh, wait YES I DID!! It was as if I was looking at a star field and alluvasudden this part of the sky forgot to pay the star bill. Either that, or God just put his black cloak on the stars here. Something like that. If I’ve got it right, this is part of the “coal sack”. Not a very scientific explanation, but then again scientists are having a hard time explaining all of this “dark matter” and their explanations are no less wild than mine here. And – heh-heh my astrophoto neighbors couldn’t get this one.
Finally, I used my trusy Pentax 110D digital camera to get a pic of the sky. I set it up at ASA 1600, F5.6, and opened the aperture for 20 seconds, and this is what I got (see below):
Sagittarius and Scorpio and environs are clearly seen. No enhancement was made, and no filters used. M7, M25, and M22 can be seen, as well as B92, and other parts of the “coal sack”.
M31 (Andromeda): Well, it just wasn’t the right time for this. By the time it was high enough over the horizon, it was getting light.
Mercury: Too low to see properly.
Main lessons learned:
• Although I know this, it is CRITICAL that you make a list of what you want to see, and try to stick to it. Flexibility is OK, but there’s a whole sky there, and you can go crazy looking at this and looking at that. You won’t get everything, so all you’ve got to do is come back again. There were many many objects I missed because of this.
• A red light is a requirement. Duh. I didn’t have one (it was orange), and it ruined my night vision from time to time.
• Buddies are really great – an observing session alone is not a lot of fun.
• Hey, it gets really cold at night, even in April, but especially in the desert. I should have dressed like I do when I go skiing, and instead I dressed for a cool spring evening. It was not enough, and was so uncomfortable as to disrupt the session at times.
