cotterless45

Excellent read , thrilled that you are back on track. The gem here for the casual observer is Almach , what a beauty ! Nick.

Righto , race the Devils light bulb ! We get a huge Moon glow which sort of puts off further peering. In addition the temperature plummeted giving huge dew . Didn't notice until I sat down on the observing perch. Kicked off with NGC 281 ("Pacman" in Cassiopeia), the little triple here is quite obvious. Didn't get much joy from the "running man" cluster in Perseus ( binary clusters NGC 1545 and the better NGC 1528),too bright. Still waiting for our nearest lenticular galaxy , NGC 1023. At +9.5, this used to be a fair edge of town target. Expect someone up there's saying the same thing about the Milky Way! Then Saturn , picking out the Cassini at x77, impressive with 4" aperture. Something really nice about the 13mm Nagler , gives stunning marble stars. Over to try M11 and a buzz of stars here. Back up to Aquila and some stunning views . Try 5 Aquilae , quite a feat to pick out the multiple. Picked out the 1.8" companion in H1 and the very challenging triple to h881. Best was the very faint companion to Σ2677. As soon as I first looked with a 25mm ep, it popped out just scanning around. However it was the very devil to tie down when doing a quick sketch. Normally it's the other way around. Impressive night , as usual clear with a glaring Mega moon. Least it's waning and we'll get some clear skies ! Can hardly wait for this ! https://www.ukastroshow.com/ Nick.

Gibbous Moon seems to clear the clouds , that's before big mirrors do their worse !🌒 Hoping for some right seasonal dark skies , Nick.

At Derbados cathedral, worth visiting if you're in middle England , Nick. http://www.derbycathedral.org/about-us/what-s-on/478-museum-of-the-moon.html

Lovely start to the night , but packed in with huge moon glow. Last target , the naked eye, omicron Piscum ( https://www.universeguide.com/star/torcularisseptentrionalis ) . A huge glaring giant of a star in Pisces just about beat the Moon ! Kicked off with a stunning view of Saturn , beautiful disc and gorgeous rings. Just absorbed playing about with a 5mm LVW ep to give x200. Cassiopeia ...Σ3062 ,lovely clear 1.6" split. WZ Cassiopeiae and a lovely orange carbon star with a wide companion. Checked out iota Cassiopeiae, just stunning seeing at high power, gripping triple. Got a x40 view of the bottom of Kemble's cascade,NCC 1501 ( " blue oyster") and NGC 1502 ( "skull and crossbones ") each side of the fov. π Andromedae ...very colourful wide couple here. Had a look at some other carbon stars, watch out for variability . Pleased to attach a couple of pages below. Ideal views for brighter skies, under clear skies ! Nick. See y'all here !

Brilliant ! Binaries are just so special , especially in a frac. Spent a few hours pointing away from the Moon , not easy ! Nick.

The gripping sort of night with little dew , super sky and a huge moon. A crystal night when you could stay out all night with a huge Moon. I managed until 1.30 before feeling age and getting tired. A large correx board kept the Moon behind me out of the eyepiece. The huge oak down the road ( middle of the ecliptic) soon swallowed the bright light. Observing away from the low light gave great views .The shedhog trundled by and the noise of nearby roadworks broke into the night. A bright sky , some clusters showed up well. Afraid that once again I had to turn to binary and multiple stars. The star colours and seeing were remarkable. This forty year old scope ( been it's caretaker for ten years) punches into the sky , I've always thought that 4" of aperture produces results. I ended up with the warming Almach at x50, a most delightful sight. I did get orange and green here. Pisces was remarkably high and gave the stunning sight of 38 Piscium, 4" and "grapefruit orange " does it. I was hoping to catch 27 Piscium which had opened up from .9" to 1.3". A very difficult view of Groombridge 34 ( 1/4 degree N of 26 Andromedae) , the nearest binary to us. Andromeda , Perseus and Cassiopeia were dark enough for enjoying. Got down to 1.4" and a +10.3 companion, very pleased pushing 102 to limits. Σ162 is a lovely triple. Waking this morning the sky was a crystal clear cold blue , great kick off to the season, under clear skies ! Nick.

Brilliant report . Lovely sky out there last night. Great when it all comes together. Not kidnapping your thread , but a couple of lovely triples. Both bonuses as in deep sky objects . Σ2816 has been described as "exotic", the colours certainly are , Nick.

I think that Stu put it perfectly. I usually tell folk that GOTO is like using Satnav compared to a map. You need to know where you're going and what's there . I think that you should know the skies before going GOTO. I spent a lot of nights with the PSA and a red torch , being most amazed at the way the sky moved and the seasonal changes. No better way to learn the sky. With the apparent decline in our weather there seems to be less and less time to observe. It's easy enough to find Messier's and targets by star hopping , but you need a bit of time, not always available. In addition star hopping means having enough visible stars hop from. This is a great joy under dark skies, but often impossible from the edge of town. GOTO has it's own challenges, some nights the simplicity of manual chart reading and easy setting up greatly appeals. Any way which we can enjoy the skies is just awe inspiring , under clear skies, Nick.

Some might say "too small scopes "! Very very surprised that the 70mm f10 , that I rescued from the tip ,( lady was about to throw it in ) performed so well. First , the Moon and no ca, nice sharp views of the terminator and the Alpine valley. Then onto Saturn and right sharp at x180 , nice ! A quick cloud dodge to see what it can do, iota Cassiopeiae nice and clear , then over to the fainter eta Cass. Even the glow of M31 showed up. Up to the "double double" epsilon Lyrae. They both split , showing the difference in alignment and magnitudes. Well happy , over to the double cluster , NGC 884 and NGC 891. Even the dark moss of NGC 7789 showed well. Completely enjoyable , with such great contrast and sharpness. The scope generously came with a mirror diagonal and a cracking old school 20mm Celestron ep. Clouds scudded away and a bigger gun , the old Vixen 102. Some cracking views, tested out on 36 Andromedae. Split at x180, not bad for a 1.2" split. Had a look around , but deep sky was beyond this sky. Apart from some clusters , such as the glorious NGC 752 in Andromeda ( another Caroline Herschel discovery) . I can't imagine finding one of these for the first time ever. Tried for M74, but it's very elusive. Went for some Triangulum and Aries targets. Mesarthim (the "Ram's eyes") is just unmissable , discovered in 1664 by Robert Hooke, " car headlights " just about says it. Iota Trianguli gives a lovely view , a most interesting quad , giving a yellow and blue combination. A huge view of the Pleiades and clouds filtered in. Here's to more clear skies and small scopes ! Nick.

Some planetary views , crisp Saturn followed by the discs of Neptune and Uranus. Signs of the Milky Way though Cygnus and on to Cassiopeia. Spent time on the open clusters here , including a great x30 on the double cluster ( NGC 884 and NGC 869). Again right crisp against a dark background . Later M45 , being low down in brighter area of the sky , it looked suspended on a long star chain. The "blue snowball ", NGC 7662 gave stunning views especially over x150. Move the field a bit and focus on a nearby star , then back to this most glorious disc. Not bad views , checked at SQM 19.42. Bit cooler than of late , down to 8.8 C. Had a look at "Caroline's rose" NGC 7789. A superb showpiece at x100. Just filled the view with stars, going to sit down and draw it for a long time ! Then onto a mass of binaries , before turning to the high south to catch Delphinus. It is still amazing to observe a field star , then increase magnification to open multiples out. Iota Cassiopeiae has always been a favourite . Rank it up there with Tegmine and β Monocerotis. Lovely night under clear skies ! Nick.

Great report! Had a go at Aquila and Cassiopeia. Unpredicted clouds rolled in, Nick

Lovely report ! Dark skies rule every night ! Always worth taking bins on jollies! Nick.

Brilliant ! We lived at Dikkebus for a few years. I can imagine the great atmosphere , clear skies ! Nick.

Up and staggered out just before 4 the other morning. No lights , sky so dark. What a sight . The top of Orion rising , Monoceros and the bright Procyon to the north. At the zenith , the "double cluster" by eye. Looking around , Ursa Major hugging the northern horizon , Auriga and Taurus high with Gemini. So stunning , being used to summer skies this year , I just looked at the sky in awe and amazement at how lucky we're going to be , under clear skies ! Nick.

Blooming cracking report , although I'm not used to getting back in the saddle ! Your enthusiasm blasts away light pollution and dew ! old Nick.

Another cracking night through to a growing mushy sky at 1.30. Young hedgehog got into the shed , settled down in a corner . Quite a task to move stuff out and find something long to evict the snorting beast. Skies began as just ace . Cassiopeia rising high and so many clusters there, a few detailed below , more than enough ! The "Pacman" Nebula NGC gives a lot of interest and nebulosity in darker skies. Catch the delicate triple Bu 1 here. Perseus provided great views of the double cluster , simply sumptuous with contrast. Up to Lacerta and a stunning NGC 7209, spend some time here ! Also lovely , NGC 7243 with trails of dusty stars. NGC 7296 an arrow head and a ring. IC 1434 looking dusty. On the border of Perseus and Andromeda find Σ162, a lovely triple. Fine weather cloud (!) arrived , but soon cleared to give , clear skies ! Nick.

Super report ! Sounds an exciting session. Great to keep a record , Nick.

Started this off some time ago. When I get time I'd like to draw the whole field , update the coordinates and smarten this up without the wet ink stars. Very full area ! Nick.

Beautiful night with some stunning seeing . Over x300 still gave sharp Airey discs. Cassiopeia well placed for a comfy seat. A great surprise was h 1887. Just looking around the fov at x92 and two companion stars suddenly popped out like an optical illusion. Worth having a look at this most delicious grouping , I put it all under AR Cassiopeiae. Had a look at OΣ 1 ,but it was a very fleeting transient view. Heres to more clear skies ! Nick.

Yep , yard cannnon on Neq6pro with extension pillar. It's a bit of a weight lifter move to get the ota on about face height ! Nick.

There are maybe one or two nights here when the heat is on full , the skies dark and my wife emerges to wait for the hedgehog and look through the eyepiece. Kicked off with a few showpieces. Takes some patience and time to tease out what appears at first light to be " it's a blurry thing" . "Look again and use the focuser ". Nearly said "use the Force". Down Igor ! Starting with the show stopper Saturn . Awesome .Followed up by , M31 and M110, Albireo ,NGC 752, M76 that little dumbbell, M57 , double double ,M11, M13 we got the x150 full sparkle eventually amazed . No repeat trip in mind , the great indoors called. Soon realised that the early hot air bubbling had settled. Walking between the house and garage and I felt the hot air coming from brick and concrete. Little wonder the low views had been wobbly. Got down to 1.1 arc seconds and some right lovely views . Kind of I'm stooping out all night when only the unforecastable clouds arrived. Andromeda ...Σ162 gave a fine triple. 36 Andromedae opened about 1.2" hitting x240 here . Cassiopeia ...Σ7, opened out along with Σ59.Then a couple of Burnhams. BU 1 showed a buzz of stars around the target at low power . At x216 the most delicate companion popped out. Sat back and first faint indication of town Milky Way through Cygnus, square of Pegasus and Capella rising in the north . Lovely night , fed the hedgehog and the local mozzies , here's to waiting for Clear skies ! Nick.

Welcome to the real world ! Twilight all night and it's binary star fest ! Nick.

Excellent report , cloud dodging here . Settled on 15 minutes of M11. Trying all my eyepieces out . What a gorgeous view ! Heres hoping for clear skies ! Nick.

Some really neat targets in Aquila. Not the best of skies , had to use a bit of magnification to tease out some more contrast. Very nice.y place for a comfy seat snug up against the fence. Our hedgehog came for his feed, topped it up (again). A real stunner was Σ 2677, just by averted vision , the very faint secondary popped out . Seeing was superb with good transparency. I use π Aquilae as a tester . Getting h881 was a real triple treat , under ,clear skies ! Nick.