The Great Rift and other goodies

[pepitoz]

Last night I did a bit of naked eye observing and realised that it is just as fun as any other type!

The spring constellations are setting-Leo is gone, And Virgo will soon follow him. Spica is barely visible to the west, while red Mars seems to be evading the danger by running into yellow Saturn in Libra. He can run only for so long...

Bootes is also not that high, along with Ursa Major. One of my favourite naked eye activities is watching the Big Dipper dance around Polaris as the seasons go. It feels like the bear was overhead just yesterday.

The summer constellations are at their prime. Scorpious and the teapot shaped Sagittarius are easily seen low to the south, while the Summer triangle is near overhead. The Great rift-a huge dark cloud that weighs a million suns-starts from Cygnus, though Aquila, all the way to Sagittarius.  It is like a dark band inside the bright Milky way. What an amazing sight!

Hercules and Ophiuchus are huge, but dim. Many stars are seen in them, but none particularly bright.

The autumn constellations are coming! Early in the evening Pegasus is already partly visible, with Andromeda to it's west. Cassiopea's quite high to the northeast. It borders house shaped Cepheus to the north and partly risen Perseus to the south.

In the meantime, the waves were hitting the beach-relaxing...

Put the telescope down sometimes-try naked eye observing!

[cotterless45]

Too right. First time that I saw dark skies, I lay back amazed. Certainly very thrilling to see the Coalsack and rifts through Cygnus. Just stands on a split tortuous band that glows at Perseus. I looked for the W of Cassiopeia , but found a square kite with a tail ! Before getting set up , make time for the big view ,

Nick.