Just be-Kos I could

[Patbloke]

Kafalos Kos September - October 2014

So my annual two weeks in Kafalos on the island of Kos began on the 25th September and very unplanned ended flying back into Gatwick just yesterday (four weeks) We missed the flights when I collapsed with a brutal attack of Labrynthitis just before we were due to go to the airport … Although that sounds like a fancy constellation in the southern hemisphere; I can tell you now it’s not… It’s horrendous Google it!

A couple of months ago on the recommendation of ‘Count Nocula’ I bought a nifty little OpticStar Ar80 with a view to getting a decent light weight travel tripod and taking the baby on my travels to the clear skies of Kos… When it arrived I fell in love with it and decided it to be far too lovely to subject it to four hours in the dark of an an overhead locker on a 737…

So I decided to take my Revelation 15 x 75s binoculars in my trusty tourist rucksack which I really hadn't had much luck with in the UK - It turned out to be genius decision!

I spoke to the owner of the hotel Zeus and asked if he minded me moving a sunbed around the back of the building in the darker area for late night viewings.. He clearly thought I was barking mad and said yes no problem! nothing is ever a problem in Greece (even if it is)...

It’s fair to say that having a slightly South West facing balcony was just the luckiest thing that happened to me during the hols… it meant that later in my stay I could spend my early evening studying the wonders that surround the teapot asterism in Sagittarius… armed with my latest edition of Sky at Night mag I was determined to do the October binocular tour… However, I couldn't for the life of me find the the first target PSI Aquarii group! perhaps because it was just away from my balcony view in the first few nights… I watched the full moon arrive and disappear during my stay, and boy it did look impressive.

But then it happened on the eight day I discovered Sagittarius and the wonders of that area of the night sky… (it wasn't the eighth just sounds better)

I am only a few years into this hobby and like most - work and cloud usually get in my way of having fun outside in the dark. I live in an apartment in the south of Birmingham which is situated in one of those modern developments where there is no difference between night and day because of  the constant light pollution! so Kos is amazing for me. I've also never written a viewing report so go easy on me, here goes!

Wow! that looks like nebulosity around those stars the the right of the teapot, lots of it? I got Count Nocula to email me a copy of his star map the next day which includes the teapot. It looks crowded and so target rich, I have to find out what I’m looking at.

Next night I scribbled a plan of the amazing things I was finding in such a small area of the sky and sent it back to the Count to decipher… It turns out that I was looking at the Lagoon and Trifid nebula groups which were just beautiful through the bins, both in one view was something else! but the harder and longer I looked the more I saw - M22 the easiest of the clusters to find by the teapot lid, then trying to work out which three clusters I was looking at bending slightly up to the right going up proved difficult on the map in the dark… all of these slightly higher than what I now know as the M24 star cloud… believe me that was an unbelievable joy to see. I love my clusters, but this was something else!

Next night I was slightly earlier on the balcony and caught M6 and M7 which were wonderful the Butterfly and Ptolemy clusters which I now know are situated in the tail of Scorpious… I didn't care at the time as I could not believe how great these objects looked through my 15 x 75s… Back up through the star cloud and around the area  reckon I hit M18, 17 and M16 then M25 and I dug out M2 in Aquarius just for the Count back home!

Later that night I crept out to the back of the hotel hoping to see 25 meteor hits an hour as the Geminids peaked... I saw about six in the time I was out there with the crickets and little suckers biting my ankles every now and then :-) I also saw many of the clusters I had spent hours trying to find on freezing dark nights in Worcestershire including the three in Auriga by naked eye…

Next year I am going to plan my targets, maybe talk the count into coming… and just imagine if I could have got a Goto set up over there… amazing! and to think I was going to see if I could get an offer at PSP for the bins ha ha… you would have got them for £25

During my binocular viewing I learned how to stand and observe with my head resting on the hotel wall, lay back on the sunbed and kneel down on the balcony resting those babies on the rail…

My advice is even if you only go out for one night on holidays with dark skies just take some bins! of course in the darkness over there I could pick out many targets without the bins - just my ouzo filled eyes with drops of Hawaiian tropic tanning lotion leaking in from time to time… great times never to be forgotten (and what about that M24 Star cloud, incredible)

[cotterless45]

Brilliant report ! I'd love to see these southern exotic targets. This area of the sky is staggeringly full.

Taking even a small pair of bins is ouzo good on holiday.

Hope you get well soon,

Count Nocular.