cotterless45

Lovely ! It’s been a bit hectic with poor seeing and eponymous hot air . A 4” frac punches well above its weight for resolution and colour . It’s the most efficient size of objective and gives easily focussed fine views. In this case f10 rules ! clear skies , great beers , nick

Ouch ! Stunning comeback. Bravo for waiting for darkness and giving us a great tour . Seems a 100 years ago when we met at a star party . Even greater excitement when you got to find Bode’s and the double cluster . Your moniker of “clusterless 45 “ didn’t last long ! Clear skies ! Old Nick.

One in Middle Earth , https://www.callowtop.co.uk/ keep nay saying and we’ll be left with nothing . “Nothing can come from nothing “

Fourth sparkling clear night . Awoke at 1.30, stepped out into an awesome pristine sky. Just breathtaking to see so many stars and the ragged bright Milky Way winding through Cygnus up to Cassiopeia. We're over 20 miles from town and the sky looks ancient and primeval. Ursa Major was hard to spot , couldn't pick out Polaris easily ! The great tangle of Berenice's hair dominated the sky above a full Leo. A perfect circular crown of Corona Borealis lead to the many stars of Hercules, M13 being a spot by eye . As was the double cluster . At the zenith , so many stars almost making the sky brown ! Stars were sown to the horizon, sat amazed , before a bino scan around . Tried a few shots with my compact camera, just hope you see how packed the sky is ! Makes a perfect holiday , stunning at night and awesome by day . Going to need a bigger holiday ! Take care and clear skies ! Nick.

Awoke at 1.30 and lasted until 2.45. Nice and chill and the wind had dropped. Opening the door and looking up was a shock, just took my breath away . So many stars, I couldn't find a constellation. At first I thought it was another universe , the eye being drawn to a huge spider web buzz of stars. Given its size , Berenice 's hair , the melotte dominating Coma Berenices. Just about picked out Ursa Major. How do those stars disappear into the carpets of stars ? Ok, down to Arcturus and the line to Vega. Corona Borealis was a full crown and M13 was obvious in the extended keystone . Quite low down was the shining carpet of the Milky Way. Ragged and halting through Cygnus up to low Cassiopeia and a shining double cluster . No star chart, no telescope. Still struggling by eye to fit the whole sky together. Low over the hill behind , a curving sweep of stars , the sickle of Leo . Still in a state of awe , I reached for my old Prinzlux 7x15-32 zoom Spacemaster. The Milky Way glide along provided just packed star fields with clusters popping into view. Up to Bode's , M101, M51, galaxies filling the bowl of the plough . Just spring galaxies everywhere . You won't be overawed with tiny bins , it's more " err there's a light bit missing stars " galaxy moment . The double cluster just blended into the full star background. A last look around by eye , soaking in the sky. Not a bad place , off for porridge in the conservatoire! Keep safe , stay happy under clear skies ! Nick.

Woke up at 12.30 and managed three hours . Got a wee bit chilly , but when the moon sank, the sky was darker (SQM 19.3) and seeing was above better. Lovely to observe summer targets in relative darkness. I used the old Vixen 102m f10. Gave pin sharp views and wonderful colour . Managed down to 1.3". Hercules, M92 and M13 followed by the ring asterism "Webb's wreath" SAO 85678. A beautiful sparkling cluster. Eltanin at 2.1" gave an amazing view of its delicate unrelated companion. δ Herculis (Sarin) gave a wee dot just out of the A star. For blue and red, try Rasalgethi. Ophuichus was up and I found M10, M12 and M14 , almost dusty globular. Serpens gave M5. NGC 4672 in Ophuichus gave the " blue racquetball " planetary , real blue. This one really blinks ! Sky now reading 19.3 SQM. Up to Cygnus and the very bright planetary NGC 7027 . To the packed star field and binaries that field the "blinking planetary ", really blinked at x40. Much lower , a first sight this year of M11 in Scutum, just a few flying ducks. A special lone star in Libra, HD140283 (SAO 159459 ) the oldest star ( possibly ) observable from here. " Methuselah star", plenty info , let's say it's incredibly old. Sits alone. Just a shed full of binaries giving colour as Aquila cleared the roofs and I cleared off back to some sleep. Worth a try to see targets often bleached by summer light, happy nights, Clear skies ! Nick.

Now down to new moon SQM 17.01. Just planets , binaries , bright planetaries and clusters left. Don't need a head torch even. i am lucky enough to get to Skye every year. To see so many stars even down to the horizon is awesome . To see the rifts in the Milky Way just lifts the soul. There are dark places around , but nothing beats pristine sky. everyone and their kids should experience it. For me it takes me back to what our ancestors must have wondered about. Light pollution has come last against other concerns such as carbon. lift your soul and go dark ! old Nick.

This used to be a great event at Church Farm campsite , Sixpenny Handley http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubnews/salisbury2009.htm Chelmorton (PSP) was great , but with some light pollution from Buxton and the nearby quarries. It'll such a shame if such meetings cannot take place , clearer skies ! Nick.

Great few hours before moonglow. Only one multiple star , so don't look away yet ! C6r again. Tegmine ( Zeta Cancri ) looked splittable even at x92 with a 13mm Nagler. Put in a 6mm circle T and it was a clean lovely triple . Ok, I put that in an old school Vixen x2 Barlow and at x400 , it held and the split was wide apart. Lower down stars were twinkling so I stayed highish. M94 was the only blur on view , sky gone too light with led lights everywhere. Turned to my old Carbon star list . Now these are variable , the very best being UU Aurigae, just a mouthwatering red orange glow. Enjoy and careful now , clear skies ! Nick.

The last few precious clear sessions have been spent going through constellation lists , picking out showcase targets. Much too light to pick up anything except Bode's , once again the colour of binaries and carbon stars came up with great views. The seeing has been superb away from lower decs. Getting down to 1.1". Hind's Crimson (R Leporus) ( SAO 150058), gave a much dimmer view than usual. The stunning Alula Australis in UMa gave a beautiful view. The rest may be of some small interest , careful now under clear skies ! Nick.

Binaries have a fascination ,but the wow factor must go to triple stars . A few favourite show pieces are , "Tegmine" ( Zeta Cancri ) . I showed this to a few at sgl. Quite amazed that those with little experience immediately got it ! That worked for NGC 2419 as well ! Beta Monocerotis, often described as the finest triple .very bright , but stunning.A winter gem. Iota Cassiopeae, easy to find and quite on it's own. Sigma Orionis. A fish hook. Just take folk away from the great nebula ! My favourite : Σ2816 , easy now. It's at the base of IC 1396 in Cepheus . Always provides a gorgeous view of "green " and violet companions. There are no green stars , it just appears that way ! Also runners , Σ2944 in Aquarius, h881 in Aquila,14 Arietis,Theta Aurigae,Psi Cassiopeae,35 Coma B., "keid" (ο2 Eridanus), 12 Lynx,65 UMa. Great fun to show these , ask the viewer " how many stars can you see ?" , " on a clock , where's the companion ?" That's it , I'd probably go for Tegmine . It has become a bit more challenging , but what a delight . Anyone else ? careful now , clearest skies ! Nick.

Sketching is a great way to relax the eye and concentrate on the views without squinting . Aa your eye relaxes , you'll pick out more details than a glance or strong view provide . first off , get comfy . An observing seat is great , either an ironing perch or an observing chair. A dim red headtorch will let you see what you're drawing . Thick black paper in a spiral bound book is ideal. You can draw out some circles in advance to give the fov. A chinograph pencil will give you nebulosity , comets and galaxies. A white line marker will get you star spots. I always start at the centre with the target . Then work outward using angles and shapes to get what is seen. The fov will move west so you can mark that on your drawing .Along with date Target , scope and ep. whatever your efforts , you'll have an individual record that you can look back on or share . To me , it's similar to fishing , you might have a great time But better to come back with something. its also dirt cheap and you won't end up spending out on a camera / laptop/ imaging and frustration. A couple of minutes will give you something that's actually there . just a few exceptions , I use white paper for planets. Just a few out of about 600, careful now , Clearest skies Nick.

Pretty cool down to minus 4.5c. About the same as the SGL camp that year with the frozen rain and no ehu ! Gives great views of the clouds . Looked out one night and spotted a star ! careful now ! Nick.

What a cracking night ! Calm with seeing that got better after midnight. Frosty down to minus 4.9C. Quite interesting to watch minor ups and downs on the digital thermometer. My guest , Patbloke arrived at a sensible 10pm. 🙄 I'd kicked off at 6 just spending hours on well placed Auriga. Some beautiful open clusters there and bounty of binaries. Just one look at M37 showed how good it was going to be. The sky was incredibly light, just got lighter as the night progressed. Particularly bad over the town to the south. Uranus gave a beautiful green pea disc at x 240. 5mm Vixen LVW in the C6rgave pin sharp gasps. Auriga. NGC 1893 , beautiful cluster holding the "spider" nebula, could not be caught. NGC 2281 open triangle of delight, NGC 2240, a lozenge fish, NGC 1760 , a reverse question mark. Reminded me to get NGC 2169, the reverse 37 cluster in Orion's elbow. Carbon glowing star of UU Aurigae (SAO 59280) kicked off a search for more colour with the winter Alberio of ι Cancri coming up later , what colours ! That's a steely sapphire blue ! ω (Omega) (SAO 57548) gave a yellow and blue. Theta opened out nicely with the tiny companion to the main. 14 Au.(57799) gave a triple with yellow and blue. 14 Aurigae gives a multiple quintet , not all related , but in the mix A, a cool white star with H fusion running out , 4.4 x sol diameter. Gemini. We enjoyed a cracking view of NGC 2392, the Eskimo nebula. A lovely hood at x240 and the reward of the central white dwarf. That's some sight, a lovely glow filling the view. Cancer. Iota Cancri. What colour ! SAO 8041615. 57 Cancri gave a 1.5" split . Then Zeta ( Tegmine) beautiful view teasing out the triple at x216. Reminded me to go to the triple β in Monoceros. One of the finest in the sky . That kicked off a view to the fish hook triple of sigma Orionis. These triples lead to wandering searches. Monoceros. A lovely view of "Hagrid's dragon " NGC 2301. More spectacular from dark skies with spread wings , tail and head. M42 and some colour in the great nebula, surrounded by star groupings. Lepus. Tried for Hind's crimson , but very much washed out as was our visit to Keid in Eridanus. Leo. No galaxies , but colour from 54 Leonis (SAO 81583) giving yellow and blue. Surprising visit to those named stars, Denebola,Algieba and Regulus. Plenty more have slipped my mind . Wonderful company and great to forget troubled times. Nothing beats talking about your first car ( both had leaking minis) and the merits of Netflix, under shared and Clear skies ! Careful now , Nick.

Hi , welcome ! 200P is a great scope , punches well above its weight . Will get you 99% of lovely objects. Lovely part of the uk to live . Cycled and walked there many times , happy hunting and clear skies ! Nick.

Get a mains bench power supply , put it in an airy covered box if outside , best in a shed or under cover. Connect up using an rcd outdoor supply cable . You'll have enough umpf to keep going . Nick.

These are stars within one degree of Caph. A lovely project to keep you busy , Nick.

Just packing up when I saw a descending bright cone of light . Thought it was a helicopter , but no noise . Twigged when I saw this ! What a sight ! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-58719814 careful now , Nick,

My skies stay light , no change after midnight . It's the bright led street lamps giving a sqm of +19.2. It's with trepidation when an astro guest arrives for a long session. Picking out targets that we could observe helped . Saturn: wonderfully sharp , we picked out two moons and the shadow of the rings . Jupiter: although not transits , the views were just stunning with shades of colour and brightness to the many bands seen. Neptune: a blue ping pong ball. Scope : Celestron C6r with Meade 5.5mm and 8.8mm ( old school) UWA.Apertured down to 120mm. Andromeda: 36 Andromedae and its was wide open at 1.2". That's a stable x240 with a 5mm Vixen LVW. Kappa giving a difficult triple (SAO 53264). Onto Almach and what a stunning colourful sight . Often reported as orange / green , debatable but richly coloured. The twins of Σ3050 looked to have widened out from 2". Plenty of open clusters here including NGC 956, 7686, 272,206 (starcloud) and the huge NGC 752 found by Caroline Herschel. Don't forget the blue snowball of NGC 7662. NGC6791 gave an open cluster , no big deal except . It's 8-9 billion years old and ten times larger than others. Lacerta: caught in the MW and some lovely open clusters. NGC 7209 bring best here , followed by NGC 7243,7245,7296,7394 ( a dainty crocodile!) Cassiopeia: the septuplet star AR (SAO 35478) looks like a neat cluster , but it's a multi star system right down to the 1.1 " companion. Perseus :Miram and its a cracking colourful duo. Caught M76 ( little dumbbell) before comparing it to the bright M27. Being nearby we caught M57 and the tiny diamonds of M71 in Sagitta. Carbon stars: many new to the guest . Just dream colours , lucky to catch them at near max variability. Andromedae VX, the deep red of Draconis RX, Draconis UX and Lyrae T. Spent a bit of time playing eyepieces on epsilon Lyrae. Pisces: lovely reds of TX and TV. Draco: UX (SAO 9404) and the better RY (SAO 15945). Just a shout out for Altair . What a star ! Some 1.8x sol diameter. 11 hours rotation, that's 210 km/sec against sol 2m/sec. Also the first , after sol to have the surface image. These stars all have stories ! Amaze or bore the guest ! Retired to the tent very happy . Putting up the tent ( week three) certainly led to a memorable star party ! Oh and very comfy nights sleep. Clear skies , careful now , Nick.

Shaken out of the tent at 4 this morning . East Midlands DHL plane sounded it was going to land next door. Benefits of massive security lights. Looked up and moonless wow ! Auriga, Gemini ,Procyon , Pleiades , Taurus and the whole of Orion up ! Monoceros to come ! What a sight Especially having camped out for a couple of weeks all I'd seen was cloud. Quickly ran off all those lovely targets , Tegmine, Eskimo nebula,M1 , NGC 2419 , Hagrid's Dragon , Averys Island, sigma Orionis and Meissa melotte. Ouch that's before the clusters and nebulae in Orion. Slight wisps of cloud blew in from the south east as I hurried back to camp, thinking of winter delights and clear skies ! Nick.

Bargain basement 20 mm Vixen NPL from FLO. dont go selling anything else , unless it's got your blood flowing through it 😂 Old Nick.

Been terrible think cloud here . Decided to hold my own star party camping in the garden. No sign of clear skies yet , here's hoping for the New Moon , old Nick.

That's a really wonderful book that every stargazer should read. Hope you'll do a review , happy days ! Nick,

Very enjoyable , Jupiter has provided stunning views, it's huge ! Miram is an old favourite and easy to find by eye . Well done ! clear skies , Nick.

Brilliant report , wish that books on stargazing read like that ! I've only seen the propellor once . That was on Skye with a 10" Dob. The Vixen 102 is just a lovely scope to enjoy , matched with a Nagler gives dreamy views, clear skies ,Nick.