mark81

Great sketch. Maybe this is the wave of stars I was looking at. Clear out tonight, but the Moon may have something to say about that...

Thanks for that. I must take another look next time I have clear skies. I'm using the Cambridge Star Atlas which only shows mag six stars, so looking at the map where 1444 is the surrounding area is empty - but I could certainly see a wave of similar mag stars which did look 'Cluster like'

@daveintheshire Glad your enjoying that mak. I've been thinking of getting a 90 as it will sit nicely on my az3. Keep the reports coming..... great stuff

EDIT It's amazing how a little mag can make such a difference. Just looked again around Perseus 'a' at x16 and its really nothing to write home about. Swap to 10x50s and its a different story...

Has anyone looked at Perseus 'a' recently? I've never really looked at random stars before but when I did, I thought I had stumbled across a cluster... A great tight string of stars sit just below it and a bunch of doubles sit all around it too - one of those little patches that make your eyes jump this way and that. I had it through my 10x50s. Worth checking out at low power. Just over from this star is NGC 1444 - Im not sure if I was looking at the cluster as it seemed to be much bigger than my Cambridge star atlas suggested it was , at low power you see a full f.o.v of faint stars in a 'wave' pattern. But maybe they were just faint stars not listed in m atlas... Anyone veiwed this? Clear skies, Mark

Observe. Whenever the sky is really crystal I like to push the scope a little more than is expected and try and pick out some faint fuzzies - always find that quite satisfying Enjoy

Very dark skies here on the west Norfolk coast so it sounds like a good idea . With Christmas coming up... Who knows

I've always been put off because of the low mag they yeild. But with the use I get out of the 15mm I will definitely look into one in the future

Indeed. With the darker nights coming, I will have a closer look..

That's the one! Maybe I didn't nudge the scope up as much as I thought. Thanks Stu

Thanks I was using an ST80 at x26 with very good seeing conditions.

Hi all, just a quick one, last night I finished up a session with M31 as I have been meaning to have a closer look for the other two galaxies there. Couldn't see anything else untill I nudged the scope up and just as M31 left the FOV I noticed a small grey glow - so definate space between them . No matter which star atlas I look in they all display M32 and M110 on top of M31. So was that 110 or 32? Thanks Mark

Thanks once again. Some great objects on this edition. Looked at 752 in the st80 a few weeks back. Must try it tonight with the 10x50s, very underated. Never had any luck with m33 though...

Nice report John, always great to grab the bins when feeling a little tired. Sometimes the session can be so good and the skies end up so clear that at the back of your mind your thinking 'why didn't I just bring the scope out!'.

Im a little bias because I like to promote Norfolk, but Kelling in North Norfolk can be amazing. I live over on the west coast and even with nearby streetlamps the skies are fantastic. Surrounded by the North sea and miles of farmland seems to do the trick. I'm guessing Scotland or rural Cornwall (isn't all Cornwall rural) would be brilliant...