Tag Archives: milky way galaxy

All, Messier Certificate, Observations, Sketches

Messier 2: Messier’s First Globular Cluster

Charles Messier’s first globular cluster in his catalog, M2 was a challenge for me because I was not familiar with the Aquarius Constellation. I had to borrow Arnold Brody’s large sky atlas because it showed more faint stars that I could hop than The Evening Sky Map was showing. This has made me even more comfortable with my finder scope and now have a better understanding of its footprint in the sky.

This was my 6th straight night of observation during what has been an amazing week for stargazing. I was back at the DRAACO dark sky site and it looked even darker than last night except there was a little bit of a breeze. I even brought my binoculars for use between breaks. Tonight’s primary targets were M2 and M92.

Last night, my finder scope’s objective did not dew but its eyepiece did. This time, I made it a habit to keep the eyepiece cap on between use and it helped delay dew formation.

Object #11: M2
Location: DRAACO, Orono, ON
Date/Time: Sep. 28, 2013 8:55 PM
Constellation: Aquarius
Seeing: Excellent
Telescope: D=305 mm F=1500 mm
Magnification: 83.3 x @ 82° AFOV
Notes: Globular cluster with a bright center and faint arms radiating from the center.

Messier 2

On September 17, 2013, I officially started the pursuit of my Messier 30 certificate. It is an exciting awards program for astronomy club members and a way for amateur astronomers to keep track of their observations. The Messier 30 is the first milestone in AstronomyForum.net‘s certificate program. The Durham Region Astronomy Association also has one.

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All, Observations, Sketches

I finally found M13 and the Milky Way

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A sketch of Messier 13 (M13)

Tonight, I set out to go to a dark site alone at the Long Sault Conservation Area in Clarington, Ontario. I was there scouting the area last night. I brought my gear with me, but it was too cloudy last night. Tonight, was humid with patches of fog, and below average seeing, but the center of the sky was clear enough.

I left 30 minutes after sunset and the site was 20 minutes away, so by the time I was setting up my equipment, it was almost pitch black.

Milky Way Galaxy: I looked up at the sky and found that there was haze near the horizon. And then, what I thought was a strip of haze across the middle of the sky… was actually the Milky Way. Wow! This was the first time I have laid eyes on it! It was spectacular! There were so many stars, I was disoriented at first and didn’t know where the constellations were.

This was my chance to see if I needed to upgrade my telescope! So I aimed my Telrad at the spot where I knew M13 was supposed to be, looked into my eyepiece and… BAM! There it was! I couldn’t believe it! It was a dark circular patch of dim stars!

M13: Out goes my sketching kit and I started sketching away. As the sketching session wore on, my observation skills improved. I started using averted vision and I noticed more fainter stars that ended up in my sketch. I have attached my first sketch of M13.

M31: After that, I aimed at M31 and BAM! There it was: the Andromeda Galaxy and off to the left is what looks like a smaller faint object. But my goal tonight was to sketch M13 only so I just observed it.

So in the end, I really did “upgrade” my telescope just by driving 20 minutes away. This is my most successful outing so far and it wasn’t even a good seeing night. I am really enjoying hunting and sketching. Clear skies!