Grab-and-go insomniac stargazing

I found myself awake at 0130 this morning (biology, y'know),
and seeing that it was clear outside, took a telescope out
to the back yard and had a look.

My skies aren't great at the best of times, and I had a
minor transparency issue, one of those nights where the
sky is awfully bright for no apparent reason. Undaunted
(and already awake :-), I had a look at a whole bunch
of globulars (M3, M5, M10, M12, M13, M53, M92) and a
couple of planetary nebulae (M27, M57).

I find M27 to be an excellent advertisement for nebula
filters. The unfiltered grey blur turns in to a filtered apple
core. All the objects showed how more magnification
enhanced contrast. M13 always looks like a piece of
modern art to me, a sparkling toy hanging in space...

The Moon was still up, but setting behind a building.

Under my skies Virgo Cluster galaxies are challenge
objects, but I still bagged M64. By this time Jupiter was
showing through a gap in the trees so I had a look,
but it was a bit low and had too much competition from
the trees for any serious observing. I ended with Epsilon
Lyrae and Albireo.

The scope: my grab-and-go Celestron Celestar 8 on
its original fork mount. Not the best optics, jiggles if
you breathe on it, but I can set it up in 2 minutes.
Lumicon DSCs with their little Sky Vector 1 computer.
Very handy!

I got back to bed at 0300. Yawn.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

I find M27 to be an excellent advertisement for nebula
filters. The unfiltered grey blur turns in to a filtered apple
core.

Our skies are pushing mag 6, and so maybe darker than yours. However, M27
is an object which I prefer without filters. Nebula filters fill in the
hour-glass shape too much, giving it a footballl shape. However, my younger
son prefers the Omega Nebula unfiltered, while I do like to enhance it with
a UHC or OIII. I really enjoy star parties, where one can view stuff based
on other's preferences for mag, framing, filters, etc.

Dennis

On Apr 23, 5:33 pm, "Dennis Woos" wrote:
I find M27 to be an excellent advertisement for nebula
filters. The unfiltered grey blur turns in to a filtered apple
core.

Our skies are pushing mag 6, and so maybe darker than yours. However, M27
is an object which I prefer without filters. Nebula filters fill in the
hour-glass shape too much, giving it a footballl shape. However, my younger
son prefers the Omega Nebula unfiltered, while I do like to enhance it with
a UHC or OIII. I really enjoy star parties, where one can view stuff based
on other's preferences for mag, framing, filters, etc.

Dennis

I tend to throw a "filter parade" at M27 and one that I get
a lot of mileage from is the Meade Broadband in a zoom
EP. The combo darkens the background effectively and I
can bring up some details with my 10.

Ben