Report - 2026 April

Nebo Farm April 2026 - Peter Chappell

Viewing Log for 5th of April

Storm Dave had gone thru the night before, so I knew the air should be fairly clear of dust? As I had a free evening and the skies were clear, I decided I would have a short notice viewing session at Nebo farm, after getting permission from Phil, I made my way up to the farm and had my Meade LX90 GOTO telescope set up and ready to view at 21:05, as usual I would be using a Pentax 14 mm XW eye piece. There was no clouds in the sky, so seeing should be very good if not better? The temperature was 6 °C with some wind, guide stars were Arcturus and Procyon. When I set up the Seestar S50, it needed yet another Firmware update, so that would be off line for another five minutes or more.
First object of the evening was Venus which unfortunately had now gone behind a tree but as there was no leaves had come out, I could just make out the second planet from the sun, I could make out a disc that was multi coloured, diffraction from the atmosphere, did not help only being 6 ° up! On to Uranus, no colour or detail from the seventh planet from the sun, I knew I would have better luck with Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, as it was a lot higher in the sky and shinning very brightly at magnitude (Mag) -2.7, I could make out the two main weather belts with the moons of Ganymede and Calisto out the west and Io and Europa out to the east, the Great Red Spot had just gone around the far side of Jupiter. With the planets finished it was time for part 3 of the Messier (M) marathon. But before I got into them, I had a quick look at M 42, the Great Orion nebula now starting to set in the western sky, the Trapezium stars and two main dust lanes were much dimmer than the last time I looked at them?

Anyway, on to Leo the Lion and M 95, this is a Barred Spiral Galaxy (BSG), a faint fuzzy blob (FFB), hard to see, I had to use adverted vision to pick it up, comes with a Mag of 11.0, very close by is M 96, this time a Spiral Galaxy (SG), another FFB but had a hint of a core. Also not far away is M 105, an Elliptical galaxy (EG), yet another FFB but this time with a Mag of 10.0, I thought I could make out another galaxy very close to M 105 (later on while checking the App Stellarium, this galaxy was NGC 3389. Further along the belly of Leo (to the east), you come across the Leo triplet, looking at M 65 and M 66, both are SG’s and FFB to look at but had a hint of a core. M 66 is the brighter of the two coming in at Mag 10.0, the third member of the triplet is NGC 3628 which Messier did not see? With Leo now finished it was time to move more overhead and in to Ursa Major, the Great Bear, starting with M 81. Bode’s galaxy, this is one of the brighter SG’s on the list coming in at Mag 8.5, a fuzzy blob (FB) to look at with bright core. M 82, the Cigar galaxy is close by and slightly dimmer at Mag 9.5, this is another SG which is edge on to us and yes a FB to look at. The only Planetary Nebula for the evening was M 97, the Owl Nebula (once my nemesis, as I could never see it even using GOTO gear), and a large grey round FB. M 108 is another SG and a FFB to look at, being at an angle of 81 °, I had to go on my knees to view this galaxy. This object was added to Messier’s list in 1960, when he died I think there was 104 objects on his list? M 109, is a BSG and a FFB to view. M 106, is a SG, again a FFB but had a hint of a core, this was added to his list in 1947. The most strange object on the whole list must be M 40, just a double star, not sure what else can be said of this entry?

That was Ursa Major finished and now on to Canes Venatici and M 94, another SG and FB to look at but had a bright core. The Sunflower galaxy in M 63 is a SG with a hint of a core and a FB to look at. Final Messier object for the evening was M 51, the Whirlpool galaxy which was a FB to start with but got brighter the longer you looked at it, it has a smaller galaxy right beside it and interacting with M 51. To get some of these objects this evening I was using the ‘High Precision’ mode, you went off to a nearby bright star, centre that and then go to the object you wish to view. One of the stars I went too was called Cor Caroli, a nice double star to look at.
Time was now 23:21 and time to pack up, the temperature had dropped to 2 °C, still no wind and no dew but some thin cloud and rolled in. Even with it being a Sunday evening I noticed a lot of aircraft flying in to Bristol Airport during my session. The telescope did seem sluggish, I think the battery was getting low as was my phone and the S50, laser pen was not happy nor my head torch. A lot of recharging would be needed on my astronomy equipment, turns out the battery had dropped to 11.2 volts!

Viewing Log for 8th of April

This day had been the hottest of the current year, coming in with a temperature of 24 °C, as I had a free evening and the skies were clear, it was time for another viewing session at Nebo farm. I had my Meade LX 90 telescope set up and ready by 20:46, there was no wind and the temperature was still 16 °C but there was a cloud bank out to the west going north, hopefully this will not come my way for several hours? As usual I would be using my Pentax 14 mm XW eye piece. Unfortunately I could not start as I could not locate the Pole Star (Polaris), the skies were still too bright! While setting up a car actually past me, generally no cars past me but this did not affect me as I was not had dark vision yet? I finally started at 20:58, the guide stars were Arcturus and Procyon. With the battery charged again, the telescope slewed much better.
Venus was a bit higher in the sky and just clear of a tree which affected my attempt on my last session. I could make out a gibbous phase disc and one colour this time, this planet was 9 ° up. Tried to find Uranus but could not detect the planet, so on to Jupiter which I could not miss! Usual two main weather belts with Io very close to the west of Jupiter and much further out was Calisto, I could not make out Europa as it was being eclipsed by Jupiter at this time, Ganymede was out to the east. Light time from Jupiter to Earth was 43.25 minutes this evening, on the 5th it was 42.85 minutes. Thought I would have another go at Uranus and this time I found it, no details just a dot in the eye piece. Now it was time for part 4 of the Messier (M) marathon, starting with M 101, a Spiral Galaxy (SG), this was a Faint Fuzzy Blob (FFB) to look at, it was hard to locate, had to use adverted vision and even move the eye piece for this galaxy to appear! Same story for M 102, an SG and FFB. I went from Draco in to Coma Berenices and M 53, a Globular Cluster (GC), this FB looked like an out of focus star with a hint of a core, the Magnitude (Mag) of this cluster was 8.5, M 64 is known as the Black Eyed Galaxy, this SG was a FB to look at, no detail of the black eye, comes up well with photo gear?

One of the better GC’s on his list is M 3, has a large bright core and I could make out some stars on the edge of this cluster, comes in with a Mag of 6.4, that would be the brightest object on the list I would see this evening? Back to SG’s and M 98, M 99 and M 100, all of these are FFB’s, hard to see and easy to miss completely. First Elliptical Galaxy (EG) for the evening was M 85, this was a Fuzzy Blob (FB) to view with a hint of a core. Another EG was M 84, a FFB to look at and hard to see, yet it had the same Mag as M 85 in 9.3? M 86 was a challenge to see, had to move the eye piece to detect it, another FFB, this object is not part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, most of the other objects I have been looking at are in this major cluster of galaxies. This area of the sky is known as ‘The Realm of the Galaxies’. M 87, is the brightest of galaxies in this area, another EG with a hint of a core, comes in with a Mag of 8.6. M 89 is another EG, hard to see and a FFB. The car that went past me while I was setting up now left the farm, must have been visiting Phil for the evening? My final object for the evening was M 90, a SG which I was not sure if I could see? So I went to a 20 mm eye piece, this gives a greater area of sky and hopefully be able to pick up dimmer objects? I could just about make out this FFB!
Time was now 22:49 and time to pack up, the wind had died down but I think the quality of viewing had dropped, dust in the air, maybe? At least I did not have to wear gloves or a hat for the evening, temperature had only dropped to 12 °C.

Clear skies.
Peter Chappell