View from northern lochs.

[cotterless45]

How to describe a sky so full of stars ?

Day one of the annual migration north ,to Skye.

Forecast promising, set up and waited watching the cloud rolled in. Woke up at 3am, it was so dark that all I could see was the starlight on the back of my hands.

Some cloud in the north and east, but straight up was Cassiopeia disappearing into the Milky Way and kicking Cepheus into the mini plough of UMi. Cygnus was sinking in the east, just time to pick up the dark clouds and rifts of a glowing Milky Way brushing Auriga and making Perseus glow.

First up was a puff of M33, Triangulum hardly visible in the star fields. Plenty puff

Iike clusters around.

A pair of 8x30 binoculars showed M101 sinking with UMa and the three puffs of the Auriga clusters.

The 15x70's just enhanced the view to show massive granulation of stars within the Milky Way.Clouds arrived after an hour , gently stolen from a miserable forecast.what was surprising is that the double cluster at x15 hardly stood out from the star fields !

Those who live under such skies will know exactly what is there. Those who like me are lucky enough to have small access can only attempt describing sublime skies.

If you can , get to

Clear skies, Nick.

[YKSE]

Nice write up Nick! Your neighbors must feel very safe with your surveillance at nights

[Qualia]

Day one of the annual migration north ,to Skye.

You have yourself a lovely time, Nick and I hope the weather plays up. I certainly envy those skies of yours and that kind of dedication! Up at 3am. Wow

Lovely write up and look forward to more installments this week, mate

[Rustysplit]

Keep the reports coming Nick. That tantalising snippet has left me wanting more. Hoping for some decent skies in the Elan valley at the end of this week.

[estwing]

Good ol' Nick hoping some clear skies luck rubs off down elan,eh Alan!? Have a great time and happy hunting..clear skies!

[scarp15]

Good luck, I expect that the air will be a bit clearer of midges up there about now,  look forward to ongoing reports.

[jetstream]

Have fun on the trip Nick, great report and keep them coming!

[cotterless45]

Back home. 1500 miles on the clock. Three scopes stayed unpacked !

We had three days without wind and rain in two weeks. Total dark sky was three very sessions between clouds. The night before leaving I wandered out to see reflections of the Milky Way. A pair of trusty 8x30 bins showed wonderful sights overhead. M33 picked out at the end of Triangulum and the wonderful dark areas to Deneb. M31 filled the whole fov with it's elongate shape. Had trouble picking out Cassiopeia with so many stars and clusters. Pegasus in brief moments showed a square packed with stars.

Great break in the wilderness, we saw hen harriers , golden eagles and four sea eagles. Had a lovely walk through the Cuillin. Can hardly wait for next year's annual migration, hoping for those,

Clear skies !

Nick.

[estwing]

Nice one Nick...alas dark sky = cloudy skies...brief glimpse of what could of been just wet the appetite for more..

[faulksy]

very nice nick, beautiful part of the world, maybe dobfest 4