mdstuart

David Same here. Found the star but I cannot say I saw the occultation. It did dip out but I think that was when the star was in my blind spot.. Mark

So I could only still pick out mag 5.4 ish stars overhead but the difference from home was the mag 5 limit went almost down to the horizon in most directions. At home near Bristol I would find mag 3 stars hard to the south etc. The clear sky app said Bortle 4 20.9 mag in Angle ..at home near Bristol its Bortle 5 and mag 20.4 Mark

The power station looks beautiful at night...

Lovely clear dark sky here in Angle in Pembroke. Woke up at 5 after the moon had set. Only one orange Street light outside. I walked to a dark part of the village. A bit of glow from the north from Milford Haven and to the east from the power station but other than that it was pitch black. Amazing sky full of stars with the milky way stretching across from Perseus, right overhead and then down past M35 which was visible to the naked eye right down to the left of Sirius. Went galaxy hunting first as usual. The Andromeda galaxy was easy to see with the naked eye. Tried M33 but could not spot it visually. It was easy to see with my 8x30 binoculars. I managed to find M81 in the binoculars with direct vision. M82 was just possible with averted vision next to two mag 8 stars. After that I observed some messier objects. M34 was visible to the naked eye. With the binoculars the Orion nebula showed its shape nicely. I was pleased to see the crab nebula M1 with the binoculars. It required averted vision and was small, not surprising as it's mag 8.4. As the sky was dark to the horizon I had a look at Lepus under Orion. I spotted a mag 4.7 star visually below and right of B Lep right down low at an altitude of 16 degrees. I managed to pick out the globular M79 mag 7 with the binoculars to the left of a T of mag 7/8 stars. Pleiades was magnificent with the naked eye and even better in the small binoculars with four stars visible within the square of the asterism. Well worth getting up early to see the sky as it should be at night before they put up those artificial moon satellites in geostationary orbit. Mark

Has to be the elusive M83 we try to see low down each year at the star party. It also is very beautiful in images.. For those who can stay, Sunday evening should provide some clear skies. Stay safe Helen and everyone. The winds are going to be strong and gusty tommorrow lunchtime and Saturday lunchtime particularly and will come from the south. Place cars on the south side of your tents with any tent openings to the north.

Looks like IC 310 is a special blazar type galaxy with a head and tail jet a bit like m87...

Panic over. I also observed NGC 1171 and IC 310 nearby when the cloud cleared later. Both were faint and fuzzy galaxies. Mark

I am not sure what came over me but I observed a cluster not a galaxy tonight. NGC 1245 is in Perseus. It is a faint glow of stars held in by surrounding brighter stars. Quite beautiful but not faint and fuzzy

A connection, something similar to looking at an amazing painting.

I can now see it with averted vision in my 8 X 30mm binoculars so it must be about mag 8... Mark

That 113 group is one of my favourites... Stunning. Mark

Just a short note to say my evening was very fruitful and I managed to observe a number of the galaxies on the list. The "doubles and triples" were the most memorable so Hickson 93 where I could pick out the three brightest galaxies and the pairs NGC 7563/7559 and NGC 7147/7149. Now I just need a few more clear nights. Mark

Thanks. That 21p comet looks good. Faint tail pointing to the left (west) Mark

Scope base out cooling.. All systems are nominal as they say. Sky is clear... No moon.

The weather looks more promising for tonight.. Mark