Messier 30 Challenge

[scmitchell]

Well after a few months and getting acquainted with telescope i decided to take the Messier 30 challenge last night. I'm looking forward to learning the different objects,shapes & sizes in our massive universe. I have always had a passion for Astronomy since i was young.It has been great so far from what i have learning from other members since joining AF. I will be using my Apertura AD8 to attempt this HUNT.(Lookout Messier's were coming to get you!)

It was a clear night for sure.A few clouds rolled in but moved out rather fast.Last night was one of the best nights for viewing i have seen.I was in a green area bout 35 miles from home.Got to see about (3) satellite & 5 or 6 shooting stars.All in all it was a great night under the no moon & dark sky.Below is a few i got bagged so far.


1) M4 | A fuzzy ball of light near Antares, a clearly loosely concentrated cluster.|EP 2" 30mm,1.25 9mm|7/16/2012 10:10 PM CST
2) M80 |Also near Antares,it was a mottled ball of light,densely populated globular cluster.|EP 2" 30mm|7/16/2012 10:25 PM CST
3) M7| l Looks like faint spray from fireworks.Distant stars from milky way in background.2"30mm 1.25 9mm|7/16/2013 10:40 PM CST
4) M22|Bright stellar swarm,remarkable cluster.A rare cluster that contains planet nebula|EP 2"30mm 1.25 9mm|7/16/2013 10:50 PM CST
5) M24|Star cloud in milky way.I had to check out what was out of my FOV.Nice....|EP 2"30mm 1.25 9mm|7/16/2013 11:10 PM CST
6) M25|Another remarkable open clusters in constellation Sagittarius.|EP 2"30mm|7/16/2013 11:20 PM CST
7) M18|Quite of few fairly bright loose stars. |EP 2"30mm|7/16/2013 11:30 PM CST
8) M13|Was hard to find this one but managed to pull off this.Not sure why it was so faint..No detail|EP 2"30mm|7/16/2013 11:40 PM CST

[I Am Marsha]

You're off to a great start. Have fun!

[scmitchell]

Thank You Marsha!
It makes it all worth finding them with excellent conditions we had last night.I had the day off today so i took advantage of going out to start my M 30 Hunt last night.

You're off to a great start. Have fun!

[bigjack]

Good luck, I started a couple of nights ago and got 6, tonight am at 12 more and counting
Clear Skies

[scmitchell]

Good luck, I started a couple of nights ago and got 6, tonight am at 12 more and counting
Clear Skies

Thanks & good luck as well.
Clear Skies & go get Em!

[Alec in France]

Good luck with your M30 quest.

Its a really worthwhile project.

Alec.

[Cunningr]

Good luck I am working on mine as well I am at about 20.

[scmitchell]

Good luck I am working on mine as well I am at about 20.

Thanks & good luck to you!

Clear Skies!

[scmitchell]

Second night out last night on: 7/20/2012

9) M6 |Beautiful cluster of stars. The Butterfly shape was visible.|15mm,30mm 2"
|7/20/2012 10:15 PM CST
10) M7 |An large and loose cluster consisting of mostly blue/white stars.15mm 2"Superview
|7/20/2012 10:30 PM CST
11) M8| A oblong-shaped path of diffuse light.It had some detail with a dark lane.30mm
|7/20/2012 10:40 PM CST
12) M20 | A large, faint hazy patch of light surrounding a pair of bright stars.15mm,30mm
|7/20/2012 10:50 PM CST
13) M21|Near M8,M20 is patch of light,somewhat scattered group of 30 stars ,the central part of the cluster is condensed w/15mm,30mm
|7/20/2012 11:15: PM CST
14) M55 |Just off the Teapot is a fairly large, bright ball with not much defined central core. Averted vision used,looks to a nebula-like cloud.30mm
|7/20/2012 11:20: PM CST
15) M54 | It's just outside the Milky Way.Small & bright core.Masses a lot of variable stars.15mm,30mm
|7/20/2012 11:35: PM CST

[scmitchell]

Well i managed to complete the M30 Hunt last night on 7/21/12

We had another great night,conditions were nearly perfect!I had a great time finding these and have learned a lot on how to get around the night sky better.Thanks for giving me the chance to earn my M30 award.Now were HOOKED!

16) M69| I found Ngc6652 first, then slewed around to M69. I seen a small & faint grey cluster of stars with more dim core.HiP70772 was about the same brightness with 15mm.

17) M70 | I started at Kaus Austrails,its almost dead center in a straight line from Ascella.It was a small & faint cluster with bright core, it's close by neighboring M70,NGC6652-2" 20mm,15mm

18) M62 | The core was strongly condensed and seemed to rest toward the south end of the cluster rather than centered.Its core is off center to the SW with 1.25.9mm

19) M19 | Parrallel of Antares between Scorpius & the right foot of Ophiuchus.M19 was large and loose. Granularity appeared with averted vision. The core,while soft, had an irregular shape.- 15mm,1.25 9mm

20) M10 | I seen a round, globular which condenses to a packed core. A very rich cluster, one of the better ones in the summer sky.-15mm,1.25 9mm

21) M12 | I seen a nearly twin of its apparent neighbor, M10.It is only slightly larger and an idea fainter.It's notably much less concentrated toward the center core than M10.-15mm,1.25 9mm

22) M14 | I seen a slightly elliptically shaped steller swarm.It was dimmer than the great Ophiuchus clusters M10 and M12.-15mm,1.25 9mm

23) M107| ( It was fairly easily to find about 4 degrees south/southwest of HIP 81377)
I seen a very loose globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.It has several blue straggler stars.A very beautiful extremely compressed cluster of stars, extremely rich in diameter with Ad8.After a longer observation, it was gradually more compressed toward the centre.I spotted it with my 8X50 finderscope as well.- 15mm,30mm

24) M5 | The globular was visible as small fuzzy patch.It was brighter toward the center.-15mm,30mm

25) M3 | M3 has a compressed, dense round core comparatively large for a globular.The light gets lost fading outward.It showed up very easily in the 8X50 finder scope.-15mm,20mm
.
26) M38 | I seen a rich a & irregular cluster.The stars stream away radially from a mostly clear central void that has a conspicuous center star.The small cluster showed some granularity.- 15mm,20mm

27) M36 | The cluster was nestled within a finely-grained backdrop of Milky Way stars.(After a quick search on google i found out thatt if this cluster were 10 times closer it would appear as conspicuous and very similar to the Pleiades.)WOW!-15mm,20mm

28) M37 | This is a dense cluster. It had a roughly triangular shape, trisected by dark lanes focusing on a bright yellow-orange central star.-15mm,20mm

29) M45 | I seen a beautiful open cluster of mostly bright stars shrouded in dust reflecting the blue starlight.The Seven Sisters has always been one of my favorite open clusters.-15mm,20mm


30)M34 | Some stars are arranged in pairs, notably near the cluster's center. Also some brighter stars are surrounded by a larger number of the fainter stars.-15mm,20mm