Deep Sky Autumn Observations End of October - End of Autumn 2019

Vulpecula:
Cr 399 (32 mm): only part of it in the field of view (region around the hook)
M 27 (32, 24, 16 mm): large, more round (perhaps a little elongated...) glow, seen well - located above Sagitta

Sagitta:
M 71 (32, 16 mm): close to Sagitta, looked always more like a nebula and faint, at least fainter than M 27 (I had some problems with finding it...)

Pegasus:
M 15 (24, 16, 10 mm): beautiful at various magnifications, not resolved even at high magnification

Aquarius
M 2 (24, 16, 10 mm): beautiful at various magnifications, not really resolved even at high magnification; perhaps more beautiful and brighter than M 15; I had problems with finding M 2, because I used the wromng star for the connection line to Enif. Using the correct star (eps Aqr), it worked immediately! M2 is positioned at about a fifth on the line at the bottom between Enif and beta Aqr.

At first, I observed the conjunction beetween moon and Jupiter (17-19 o'clock) as well as Saturn (32, 10 mm), then M 11 (moon was setting when observing M 11 and then gone), Cr 399, M 27 and M 71, later M 15 and M 2.

>> All in all, I was very satisfied with the SM127 with respect to DSO performance!

At higher magnifications, however, focusing (sharpness) seemed problematic or difficult to adjust (on small stars)... Maybe, the reason was that the sky was not quite clear...

Observed Cr 399 in TS binoculars; Astrid ditto with LT binoculars, and also M 11

Taurus:
M 45: Also nice (only with 56 mm)

• 56...28 mm: Very bright core is clearly visible
• 18/16 mm: glimpses of fine stars
• 10 mm: large, structured, fine stars with averted vision; a little bit "faint" already (EP = 1)...

Eyepiece comparison (see here)

Als ich M 2 versuchen wollte und nicht finden konnte, kamen Wolken - und nichts ging mehr... Später waren sie wieder weg, aber es war alles etwas schwach zu sehen, also wohl doch feine Wolken...

Taurus:
M 45: Seen just a section with 56 and 38 mm eyepieces. Nice, but probably better in other telescopes...

Crescent of the moon
See my eyepiece comparison

Astrid also saw all this.

Pegasus:
Then, I observed M 15 in different eyepieces (56, 35, 28, 24, 18, 16, 10), which was basically very similar to M 2; at long focal lengths, the bright core was clearly visible. I was not able to resolve the cluster into stars, probably because of the full moon. The sky background was relatively bright, because the moon was still to the left of M 2/M 15.

Orion:
M 42/43 seen well in various eyepieces (56, 38, 35, 32, 28, 18) despite of the half moon; at the end, it looked better and better. Beautiful wings, Trapezium seen well.
Seen well with 28 mm at minimum, 18 mm already enlarged too much.

Taurus:
Saw always just a section of M 45 (Pleiades); I could "walk" a little along M 45 (by moving the telescope)... I used only long focal lengths; there was a shimmer around the brighter stars. No differences found between the 30 mm eyepieces except for details... Also found no differences with regard to edge blur, except at the beginning (possibly, the view in the 32 mm eyepiece was somewhat more blurred).

Orion:
For the first time, I saw M 78 well: a roundish glow and two stars inside; I clearly identified it this way... I used different eyepieces, but did not enlarge too much, because then M 78 became too faint (28 mm was the limit).
(Tests at the Horse Head Nebula did not yield anything...)

Orion:
At the end (the moon had almost set), I tried three filters on M 42/43. No effect found for the light pollution and O III filters, but the UHC filter (actually also only a contrast filter for light pollution...) brought out the Orion Nebula even better (especially, Astrid said so; but maybe she was not enough dark-adapted before...) - and so you can also read it on the astroshop.de Website...
In any case, the sky behind Orion was then relatively dark, the setting moon did not disturb so much anymore.

Half moon
See my eyepiece comparison

>> The ES18 eyepiece was quite usable for observing M 2 / M 15!

Later, I tested two small craters and found them visually:
(1) Ammonius in crater Ptolemaeus - 9 x 8 km
(2) Albategnius C in crater Albategnius - 6 x 6 km

Cygnus
Albireo observed with C8 (35 mm) and Skymax-127 (24 mm)
In the Skymax-127 beautiful star image, in the C8 the stars were "jaggy", that is, not beautiful...

Orion: M 42/43 seen beautifully with 40 mm, wings and Trapezium; no success when using my UHC filter, reflections and everything war darker...

Gemini:
M 35 seen beautifully and large with 40 mm!