Halo Roger, you are indeed busy, but as always so nice to share and talk astronomy…
A few nights until the sun gets up and observed a few galaxies in the constellation Grus. What a nice constellation, elegant showing off of the Crane quite well in formation.
My trusty 16-inch telescope with magnification 350x to 462x.
Two days ago, I decided to take solar images as it was clear and many sunspots were present.
With my solar scope I did take Ha images, both at prime focus and also with a Televue powermate, which came out well.
However, I also attempted to take white light images of the many sunspots with my Hershel wedge mounted on my 6-inch triplet refractor. I placed my scope pointing to where the sun was, took off the lens caps, and then opened my dome.
As the slit opening reached my scope I almost immediately saw smoke from the back end of the telescope. I had left the plastic dust cover on my focuser, and the concentrated light of the telescope vaporized it.
I covered up the scope and removed the lens cover with a large hole in it. (I have others, not in itself a problem). Can you imagine if anyone was looking out the back of the tube? So be very careful when pointing at the sun, or Venus nearby, etc. especially with uniformed visitors or children nearby. Instant blindness!
As I removed the burnt cover, lots of smoke came out of the tube. I left it for a while, but still the smoke continued. I used a small vacuum cleaner and tried vacuuming out the smoke, but it was still present.
So, at this point, I did an invasive “colonoscopy” on the telescope. I tried a “Flex tube” at first, but it kept getting caught by the baffles I built into the tube. I then resorted to a “rigid tube” and this finally got all the smoke out.
Yet when I viewed the sun, it was very blurry, I could not get good focus. I finally had to unmount the telescope, and take off the lens, which is a Zeiss style triplet, very heavy lens.
This was originally made by Roland Christian as an experimental lens which I obtained directly from him at a Stellafane meeting around 1990. It has a front element, air space to the second element, and a third element which is oil spaced.
Looking at the back of the lens, a film-like deposit which was from the smoke (?) and was able to clean it off. However, the oil space area didn’t look right, so I took the assembly apart, and with a rubber mallet separated the third element.
The oil had streaks and splotches. It’s hard to imagine that some smoke did this as I cleaned it, and noticed a blue tinge on the cleaning wipes.
I recall last fall cleaning the optics with my spray polymer from photonics Inc. This is a polymer gel spray, wait a half hour, peel off the polymer. Works very well on my 32-inch EQ mounted telescope. I tried it on my refractor, and it also looked good afterwards.
But…I suspect the spray somehow got into the oil space between the elements. So the oil was wiped off, then cleaned with acetone. When completely clean, a small amount of mineral oil is placed on the surface, then the third element is re-positioned onto the second element.
One must be very careful to match the alignment exactly as before, as you will notice in my photos that I have the elements marked on the edges to make sure of this.
I use a strip of old camera film, it’s just the right size applied as a girdle around the outer edge to keep the elements stable, tape that up, then carefully placed back into the cell.
Conclusion: I tested it last night, and happy to report that all is well, and now back to normal.
The advantage of building your own equipment is you know how to take it apart and repair if necessary. This job would have cost a fortune to “send back” to an optics or telescope company for repair.
So, the moral here: Be careful near the sun….Mario Motta
Jim Mullaney is coauthor with Wallace McCall of “The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” (Sky Publishing) and “The Cambridge Double Star Atlas” and also the “Cambridge Atlas of Herschel Objects” which were both coauthored with celestial cartographer Wil Tirion. Jim’s last two books are “Celestial Harvest” (Dover) and “Celebrating The Universe” (Hay House).
Observing the “FDSO’s” and getting to know James Mullaney more than 30 years ago: By Roger Ivester:
“The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” was one of my first reference books, and the first list of deep-sky objects I would complete, with both notes and pencil sketches.
Shortly after observing all of the “FDSO’s” I found James Mullaney’s mailing address, from one of his S&T articles. I wrote Jim a hand-written letter telling him how much I enjoyed the book. This was in 1993, long before most were using email. Jim responded, and we became friends, and have communicated with each other, ever since. However, for the past 25 years, we use email. 🙂
The following card file contains over 350 of my observations, complete with notes and pencil sketches. I actually self-published “The 105 (+1) Finest Deep-Sky Objects Revisited” which required more time and effort than I could ever have imagined.
It was all three that inspired my interest in double and multiple stars in the early 90’s:
It was the FDSO’s, James Mullaney and Tom English who was an astronomy professor at a local university during the 90’s that inspired my interest in double star observing.
Jim signed my FDSO’s in April 2015, when he was a speaker at the “Southern Star Astronomy Convention” in Little Switzerland, NC.
Articles as following:
The FDSO at Palomar!
Thirty-three years ago, my wife and I were privileged while on our honeymoon to be given a behind-the-scenes private tour of the Palomar Observatory facility. In the control room for the 200-inch Hale reflector was a dogged-eared copy of the Sky & Telescope reprint of “The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” by Wally McCall and myself. The story-line is that no one ever looks through the 200-inch except for research purposes since time is very valuable on the scope. But apparently someone – maybe several someones – had been using our showpiece list to look at between “takes.”
Can you imagine seeing the Orion Nebula, the Hercules Cluster, or the Sombrero Galaxy at the prime focus of this huge Big Eye? (BTW – while on the floor of this mammoth instrument I actually hugged part of the mounting!)
Sir William Herschel used a magnification of 6,000x !
Sir William Herschel, the greatest observer and telescope-maker in history. He made and used the largest telescopes in existence up to his famed “40 foot” (48-inch aperture) but his favorite was his “7-foot” (6.2-inch aperture) speculum-metal mirror with which he discovered Uranus.
While he used relatively wide fields (for that time period) and low powers (generally 400X or less) for his legendary sweeps of the heavens. However, for the Moon, planets and double stars…the unheard of magnifications of over 6,000 times were sometimes employed !
Despite his fame, many “or most” doubted his claims regarding the magnifications he sometimes used. W.H. Stevenson actually measured 48…yes 48 of Herschel’s eyepieces and found that indeed his claims were valid.
Focal lengths as short as 0.2-inches to just over 0.01-inch were found! How Herschel ever managed to make them is somewhat of a mystery. (He actually used 6,450x once on Vega and also again on Gamma Leonis.)
No Star Diagonal? Ouch!
With the exception of reflectors, most of the classic observers of the past used refracting telescopes. I really don’t know when star diagonals first appeared, but all of the early observers were viewing “straight through” their scopes.
For low declinations this wasn’t so much an issue but for objects high in the sky, or overhead, it was a neck and back breaker. And this didn’t just apply to amateur observers, but professionals alike.
E.E. Barnard (Yerkes 40-inch), Aiken (Lick 36-inch) and Lowell (24-inch) all worked without diagonals. In the more than 40 years I used the superb 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor (see my the great lensnapping piece below) at Allegheny Observatory I never used one.
One of the problems is the mirror image views, of standard star diagonals, which plays havoc for measuring double star position angles among other issues. There are now, of course, correct image, known as “Amici Prism Diagonals” but early observers didn’t have them.
The most shocking example came to me when I realized that my dear friend and one of the greatest observers of all time, Leslie Peltier, never used a diagonal to make his more than 120,000 variable star estimates for the AAVSO. He used his 2-inch spyglass, 4-inch Mogey refractor, 6-inch comet seeker or his 12-inch Clark refractor. However, Peltier used only the 4-inch and 6-inch scopes for comet seeking, as well as variables.
A Mystery Surrounding NGC 6826 Better Known as: “THE BLINKING PLANETARY“
Wally McCall and I first called attention to the strange behavior of the planetary nebula NGC 6826 in Cygnus in a letter to “Sky & Telescope Magazine” and was featured in the August 1963 issue.
As seen in the 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor at Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Observatory, it has a bright central star surrounded by an obvious nebula. Staring directly at the star itself, the nebula disappears – but changing to averted vision the nebula reappears nearly drowning out the central star itself! Alternating between direct and averted vision results in a striking blinking effect, so we named this object the “Blinking Planetary.” We’ve seen this effect in scopes as small as a 2.4-inch refractor and as large as a 30-inch refractor. A few other planetaries exhibit this behavior, but none anywhere to the degree as this one.
Now here’s the mystery:
My idol Sir William Herschel (who discovered this object), nor his son Sir John nor any of the early classic observers like Smyth or Webb apparently ever noticed the blinking. Has something changed in the nebula itself to shift its emission lines into a part of the spectrum where the eye is most sensitive since its discovery? Jim Mullaney
MAKING THE PHOTON CONNECTION
Roger, I feel sure that most of your readers are aware that the photons which we see by have a strange dualistic nature…they are both waves and particles. This means that when you observe a celestial wonder such as those Roger writes about on this site with your telescope, you are getting photons within your eye.
Think about it…particles that were once inside of the galaxy you are viewing have traveled across the vastness of space and time and ended their immense journey on the retina of your eye. You are in direct physical contact with what you are looking at!
As the poet Sarah Teasdale said: “I know that I am privileged to be witness of such majesty.”
June 17, 2020
Roger, I don’t know how many of your readers have heard of the “Great Lensnapping” that happened at the original Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh in the late 1800s.
My beloved 13-inch Fitz-Clark had it’s objective lens stolen and held for ransom. At the time, it was the third largest in the world! (Now it’s the third largest in the current Observatory.)
Samuel Pierpont Langley was director at the time and refused to pay anything, as no telescope in the country would then be safe from theft. He finally met the thief at a hotel in a Pittsburgh suburb – the thief agreed to return it if Langley didn’t prosecute. He subsequently found it in a waste basket at that very hotel.
The lens was pretty well scratched up and Langley sent it to Alvin Clark for refinishing. Thus the dual name Fitz-Clark. As I’ve stated before, it is without question the finest visual telescope I’ve ever seen or used bar none!
To read more and see a photo of the famous 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor, see the following link:
https://sites.pitt.edu/~aobsvtry/fitzclark.html
This is the telescope that Wally McCall and I used for our visual sky survey in the mid-60’s that resulted in the Sky & Telescope series The Finest Deep-Sky Objects and its eventual Sky Publishing reprint that went through three printings. My personal total eyepiece time logged using this amazing instrument over many years was some 10,000 hours! It clearly showed markings on several of the Galilean satellites and spiral structure within Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. One of the “discoveries” we made using the 13-inch was the “Blinking Planetary” in Cygnus (NGC 6826) which has become a favorite showpiece at star parties and public viewing sessions.
“The Finest Deep-Sky Objects by James Mullaney and Wallace McCall”
“On Public Nights at Allegheny Observatory, when the dome of the 13-inch refractor is crowded with visitors, all anxious to look at everything in the sky, a handy finding list of impressive objects is invaluable.”
These words prefaced our short list of celestial showpieces published in the December, 1962, issue of “Sky and Telescope”. We now present an expanded version, intended as a roster of the finest star clusters, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects, for the convenience of amateur astronomers with telescopes of all sizes. It is the result of our five-year visual survey of the heavens north of -40º declination….
Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina
Date: June 19, 2012
Galaxies: NGC 5350, 5353, 5354, 5355, 5358
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian, at a magnification of 208x.
The brightest galaxy in the group is NGC 5353 at mag. 11 and very easy to see. Elongated with a brighter and more concentrated middle.
NGC 5350 is mostly round with fairly low surface brightness. I didn’t note any central brightness, however a fairly bright mag. 6.5 orange star is just a few minutes west, and was very distracting.
NGC 5354 is just north of NGC 5353 and almost in contact. NGC 5354 is mostly round with a very subtle brighter middle.
NGC 5355 is just SE of NGC 5350 and very faint, requiring averted vision, with no visible detail being noted.
NGC 5358 is the faintest and most difficult of the group, appearing as a faint blur of light, and I couldn’t hold constantly, using averted vision. A difficult galaxy from my 5.5 NELM suburban back yard. Very difficult for sure!
James Dire: Observer from Texas
NGC 5353 is the brightest member of a galaxy group known as Hickson Compact Group 68. More specifically this is the 68th entry in Paul Hickson’s 1982 publication of small galaxy groups.
NGC 5353 shines at mag. 11.0 and is approximately 110 million light years away. The galaxy measures 2.4 by 1.2 arc minutes in size, which puts the diameter of the galaxy at 70,000 light years, if the distance is accurate.
The next brightest galaxy in the group is NGC 5354 (mag. 11.4), which lies just north of NGC 5353. NGC 5354, like NGC 5353, is classified as an S0 galaxy (spiral with no spiral arms). NGC 5354 is slightly smaller in apparent and real size and may be 20 million light years farther away. Just north of that pair is NGC 5350 at mag. 11.5.
NGC 5350 is a face-on barred spiral galaxy and also a Seyfert galaxy (has an active galactic nucleus). It lies at the same distance as NGC 5353 and is slightly larger in size. NGC 5355 and NGC 5358 are fainter members of Hickson Compact Group 68.
NGC 5355 is a mag. 13.2 elliptical galaxy while NGC 5358 is a mag. 14.6 lenticular galaxy.
My image of Hickson Compact Group 68 was taken June 16, 2012 through a 102 mm (4-inch) f/7.9 apochromatic refractor with an SBIG ST-2000XCMCCD camera. The exposure was 90 minutes, just enough to pick up the spiral arms in NGC 5350.
Visually, in a telescope, the three brighter members look like fuzzy spots with no discernible detail. There are other dwarf galaxies in this group too faint to be captured with my small telescope and not bright enough to make it into the New General Catalog.
The bright foreground star in the middle of the image is HD121197, an orange giant star shining at mag. 6.5. My image also captured the impressive face-on spiral galaxy NGC 5371 (also known as NGC 5390), which shines at mag. 10.6.
William Herschel discovered it (NGC 5371) first in 1788 and his son John Herschel discovered it (NGC 5390) again in 1831 and didn’t realize it was already cataloged by his father.
NGC 5371 lies at the same distance as NGC 5353, which may make it a distant member of Hickson Compact Group 68. If so, that would make it the biggest and brightest member of this galaxy group.
Mario Motta: Observer from Massachusetts
I took this twice, once in Florida with my 14-inch telescope, though it was reasonably bright, too small for good detail. So, I reimagined with my 32-inch for a much better image scale. This is also known as Hickson 68, and a very nice group of 5 galaxies in a small field of view. Spiral galaxy, NGC 5350 is the centerpiece. The two interacting lenticular galaxies are also quite picturesque.
The following image was with my 32-inch f/6.5 scope from Gloucester, using Lum, and RGB filters, for a total of about three hours of imaging, then processed in PixInsight.
I have attached a clean image, and also an annotated image identifying the 5 major galaxies seen. It should be noted that in the background are many faint and distant galaxies much further away.
Seeing this group visually could be a challenge with the nearby bright star HD 121197
The optical tube assembly: Purchased from OPT (Ocean Pacific Telescope
6-inch OTA, f/6, with a 2-inch focuser, a 6 x 30 finder (I changed to an 8 x 50…later) and it also included tube rings, designed for a narrow-Vixen style dovetail. An excellent quality telescope in all aspects.
The original dovetail was too short for proper balancing, but I found a unique way to utilize. I flipped it over or upside down which made for a nice carrying handle and for setting up on the mount.
Shown with Vixen short tripod legs, for Newtonian’s, allowing for a seated position. Perfect for making pencil sketches. The longer tripod legs, are for my 102mm refractor.
To use with my Celestron CGE-Pro mount, I purchased a Losmandy wide-dovetail, and it works great.
When I first became interested in amateur astronomy, during the late 60’s and 70’s, the 6-inch reflector was definitely the most popular telescope for the backyard observer.
The OPT Newtonian is a very nice quality and compact telescope, made in Taiwan. The mechanics and cosmetics are excellent with beautiful paint and a coat of clear to top it off.
When using a modest 32 mm (2-inch format) 65º apparent field eyepiece, the true-field is 2.2º with a magnification of 29x. I’ve found this to be an excellent combination for many larger, faint and diffuse deep-sky objects.
The Trapezium in Orion was a beautiful sight at 232x, including the fifth star, but averted vision was required. The F star could not be seen during several observations, on different nights.
10-inch Newtonian, which I’ve spent more than 3,000 hours at the eyepiece as following:
My 10-inch vintage Meade DS-10A, which has been my primary telescope for the past 30 plus years, but more about this later.
If you’ve never attempted this faint galaxy cluster, give it a try this October or November. I’ve never been able to see this small group of galaxies from my suburban backyard, with a 10-inch Newtonian.
I have seen the galaxy group with a 14.5-inch from a dark-site, but without notes or a sketch.
However, I have plans for this fall (November 2024) in an attempt to see the Deer Lick Galaxy Group from my backyard, using my 10-inch f/4.5 Newtonian
Image credit: Mario Motta using a 32-inch telescope:
I have read articles over the years and heard stories about great telescopes in America for one reason or another, sit idle. Some of these telescopes are classic and very old, but still worthy of great things.
However, some are relatively new and computer controlled, but for reasons, and some very good reasons are no longer used. The following telescope is in an observatory that was “just built in a bad location” about 35 years ago. When the observatory was first built it was in a fairly isolated area and actually pretty dark. This observatory and telescope is located only a mile or so from my house, as the crow flies.
The observatory is now surrounded by multiple soccer fields, a baseball field, and multiple tennis courts with a massive number of incredibly very bright LED lighting, so very close. It would have been impossible for anyone at the time of the building of the observatory to have imagined there would be so much growth in the area.
Unfortunately the same thing has happened to many observatories throughout the country in the past 50 or so years. And with the increase of high wattage LED lighting, there are very few dark sites left.
The following telescope sits on top of a mountain, but unfortunately the club that owns it has lost access, due to a land sale. I’ve suggested to the club officers, the telescope and all salvable domes and anything else should be disassembled and “at least” put in storage, until another site can be found. However, I have no control over this, but just a logical suggestion.
I was fortunate to be able to play a role in the Mount Potosi Observing Complex in Southern Nevada, facilitating a $50,000 telescope donation by Dr. James Hermann, M.D. from North Carolina. The facility was featured in the February 2016 Astronomy Magazine, the Las Vegas Review Journal and other publications and media.
https://rogerivester.com/category/mount-potosi-observing-complex-in-southern-nevada
The road to the top of Mount Potosi is listed as one of the most dangerous roads in Nevada. The mountain is “infamous” due to the Carol Lombard DC-3 plane crash in 1941.
Interested in hiking to the crash site? https://www.birdandhike.com/Hike/Red_Rocks/Lombard/_Lombard.htm
The following Information taken from “Deep-Sky Wonders” by Sue French:
Sweeping 2 1/2º eastward brings us to the cluster NGC 2395. My little refractor at 87x reveals 20 stars loosely scattered across 15′. At 28x, it merely shows a granular-looking patch with two faint stars, but something remarkable happens when I add an oxygen III filter. Although completely invisible before, Abell 21, the Medusa Nebula, joins the scene 1/2º southeast of the cluster! I can see it with direct vision, but it shows up better with averted vision. This unusual planetary nebula is about 8′ across, dented in its northwest side, and brightest toward the northeast and southwest. With my 10-inch scope at 68x, I prefer viewing Abell 21 with a narrowband nebula filter (rather than the oxygen III filter) which shows this large, impressive detailed planetary to be very uneven in brightness. SF
MONTHLY OBSERVER’S CHALLENGE
Compiled by:
Roger Ivester, North Carolina
&
Sue French, New York
March 2022
Report #158
The Medusa Nebula, (Abell 21, PK 205+14 1, PN G205.1+14.2)
Planetary Nebula in Gemini
Sharing Observations and Bringing Amateur Astronomers Together
Introduction:
This month’s target:
Abell 21 was discovered during the course of the Yerkes-McDonald survey of symmetric galactic nebulae. The ensuing catalog was published by Hugh M. Johnson in the May 1955 issue of the Astrophysical Journal, in which it was given the designation YM 29. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/1955ApJ…121..604J/abstract
The nebula was independently discovered by George O. Abell among globular clusters and planetary nebulae newly found on the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. His paper was published in the August 1955 issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which listed 13 globular clusters and 37 planetary nebulae.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/1955PASP…67..258A/abstract
Although the nebula is number 16 in Abell’s list of planetaries, it’s now commonly known as Abell 21. His well-known, updated list of 86 planetary nebulae was published in the Astrophysical Journal in 1966, and since the nebulae are given in order of right ascension their numbers were changed accordingly.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/1966ApJ…144..259A/abstract
In his 1961 “A Description of Fifty Planetary Nebulae” https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/1961AZh….38…75V/abstract, B. A.Vorontsov-Vel’Yaminov, credits the name Medusa Nebula to a 1961 entry in Astronomicheskij Tsirkulyar No.221 (1960), which unfortunately or mercifully, depending on your point of view, I do not have access to. Sue French
Bertrand Laville: Observer from France (pencil sketch)
Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina
Pencil sketch using a 10-inch f/4.5 equatorially mounted reflector
Abell 21 also known as the Medusa Nebula:
After spending four nights and ten hours, with two different telescopes, and multiple eyepieces and filters: I was finally able to “visually” see the Medusa Nebula. For me…the euphoria of seeing an extremely faint deep-sky object after many nights and hours, can “or might be similar” to something physical, such as running a marathon, which I’ve never done, but I have competed in bicycle races.
To be able to locate and “visually” see the Medusa Nebula, a very dark sky is most desirable, but which is something I don’t have from my suburban backyard. My best NELM seldom exceeds 5.0-5.2 on a superb winter night. But I’ve always tried to make-do, and thus far, been successful in seeing all of the challenge objects for the past almost 14 years, and now exceeds more than 200 deep-sky objects.
The Medusa Nebula is the most difficult (visual) object featured to-date in the Observer’s Challenge report for the past almost fourteen years. This might be proof that a dark site with a 6.0-7.0 NELM is not necessary to enjoy the wonders of the night sky.
The Medusa Nebula:
Easy for the imager, but extremely difficult for the “purist” back yard amateur astronomer, using an eyepiece, an O-III or UHC filters, a pencil, note and sketch pad.
Amateur astronomy can be anything the amateur wants it to be. But for me, I want it be “not too distant” from the nights, taking out a 60mm refractor, in what I called the “weedy-field” beside my childhood home. I wanted to see some of those fabulous spiral galaxies (and in color) that I’d seen in my 6th grade science book. Of course I never did, but without any support or guidance, I learned what was possible.
I’ve never been disappointed in those very faint objects that are barely visible in the eyepiece, and requires hours or nights to finally see, but somehow “for me” those are my favorite. Where in the solitude of the night, I might whisper to myself: THAT’S IT !
For those few that choose to carefully, and with patience, observe and sketch a deep-sky object, also supplementing with copious notes, they will never forget what that object looks like, and with instant recall.
After 50 years of observing, I’m so glad I never lost my EP, my pencil, or my sketchpad, as I never had any desire to become an imager. I also have a library with hundreds and hundreds of “one of a kind” pencil sketches, to review, and for future reference.
If you’ve never attempted to make a pencil sketch, with supporting notes, you should consider. And we need to keep the ancient art of visual observing and “pencil sketching” alive. A skill or facet of amateur astronomy that fewer and fewer seem to be interested in these days.
After all, this was the original reason or concept for the founding of the Observer’s Challenge back in 2009. Roger Ivester
rogerivester.com 
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