September 5th, 2011

(9:30 - 10:30pm)

The last time I was out with my telescope, I was pressed for time and didn't experience the night sky as much as I wanted. My earlier quest had been simple, I wanted to harness the light capturing power of my scope in order to observe Messier Objects,... any object! I had not been successful in doing this with my smaller telescope during the summer and wanted to make-up for lost time. Nothing went in my favour and I returned home defeated by the night sky. It's not what I did or what I had as equipment that left me empty handed,.. It was what I didn't do. I had not been prepared and did not take the time to fully orient myself to the sky before commencing my observation of the heavens above. This time,.. It was going to be different.

I took ample time for my eyes to accustom to the lack of light, made sure everything was well aligned and let the pressures of the day escape. I wanted to start my romp amongst the stars with the Andromeda Galaxy but the roof of my own house hid it's many wonders. I would have to wait for it to climb higher in the sky. I therefore looked for an easier area to observe and saw it,... Cygnus!

It had been high overhead all summer but my small telescope was little help in showing me it's hidden beauty (or maybe I was simply not patient enough). Now I had a chance! There were so many clusters and nebulae to discover, why I decided to look for M29 (which does not even figure on the picture above) is beyond me. This little cluster is difficult to distinguish from it's rich stellar background but I did it. Was I looking for a challenge? Maybe. Let's just say that NGC 6960 was a whole lot more easier to locate!

Isabelle