cotterless45

As we head towards Milky Way season , get ready for those most easily observable star clusters. Outside of the NGC there are other enjoyable classifications of these stellar collections. Here's a few to keep you most busy , careful now , Nick. https://clearskies.eu/csog/downloads/starclusters/

The enjoyment being that they're beautiful from town , colours amaze and variability gives different views. Small apertures gain the most from colour. A few here , careful now , Nick.

Wowsers ! Lovely to observe light cool breeze and hot sun , ace ! Lots of activity , careful now , Nick.

Yo. Great views ! θ Aurigae is challenging , best view I had was with Patbloke's 120 Equinox. Just a big marble and a clear small marble. Needs not only great seeing , but great Optics ! Σ872 is a great sight at x50. UU is a great carbon feast ! Σ928 is coupled with ΟΣ147 , giving a quite wide triple and a binary , cool ! Σ929 gives a light orange colour in small scopes. Ψ5 Aurigae aka 56 Aurigae gives great contrast to the secondary. well caught in this packed binary area , careful now , Nick.

Decent pic latest issue. Shows Neist Point , most westerly point on Skye. Overlooking Moonen Bay , the Minch and the Outer Isles ( south Uist and the lighthouse beam have been taken out !) This year is my 50 th year going up there . We fish below the lighthouse and enjoy pristine skies . As many will know , a remarkable place with nine dark sites, careful now , Nick,

Excellent , Draco is so lovely . Got over to Lynx the other night , although high in the west , managed the fishhook leading yo that most distant twinkle of NGC 2419, careful now , Nick.

Shark fin !

Thickened up into a cone , careful now , Nick.

Very fine show today. Filaprom still there , two active areas, careful now , Nick.

Lovely to compare from yesterday , shows equatorial rotation. Really absorbing both in white and Ha the filaprom was a bonus , careful now , Nick.

Look beneath a Corona Borealis , a scattering of stars gives Serpens Caput. Hiding there is the globular cluster M5 . An astounding sight with plenty of sparkle . About 12 billion years old , but these ancient stars have attracted hit blue stragglers. Oh lovely night ! Plenty time to play around with eyepieces and Barlows. Plenty different views of Alkalurops , the clearest being with a 10mm Hyperion in a x2 Barlow. Long session with Hercules binaries, before viewing M92 and over to M53 , dusty in Coma Berenices. Bode's were lovely and high and gave great views of dust lanes . ΟΣ341 in Hercules is really worth a look , a lovely multiple with fainter stars popping with averted vision. Up to Draco and the blue / green cat eye of NGC 6543. Tried the Virgo and Coma galaxies , but not much contrast over town. Accompanied by the hedgehog crunching dried chicken cat food and lapping up water , a beautiful night to be out , Careful now ,clear skies, Nick.

Blooming lovely here , even got some galaxies ! Nick.

What a brilliant night , sort of night that would be a star party showpiece.Some remarkable sights worth spending time on. Kicked off with Alkalurops in Bootes, just a stunning triple with a faint double companion. Swung over to the bowl of Virgo and Coma galaxies. The arrow of "Little Sagitta" pointing directly to M104 , the "sombrero" galaxy. "Little Sagitta" is the quadruple system Σ1664 . 84 Virginis always gives a smoky looking companion almost caught in the glare. A tour of the galaxies , M85,M87, M100( not as bright), M84, M86, M60 confirmed their shapes and fuzzy appearance over town. Some brighter sights were NGC 4565 "needle", NGC 4472, NGC 4303, NGC 4374, NGC 4486 , NGC 4649 and a bright M49. Some averted vision helped , the 13mm Nagler certainly pulled out detail and contrast. Looking around at midnight, UMa at the zenith and a low slung Cassiopeia, I noticed the house of Cepheus and that wonderful mu Cephei , the "Garnet star". Shone bright with a bewutiful orange red colour. Hercules gave à sparky M92 , but sight of the night was the wonderfully , large and colourful planetary "Turtle nebula" NGC 6210, find this as a must ! It blinks well .Also worth tackling are Izar in Bootes and that rather beautiful Rasalgethi ( alpha Herculis). Here's hoping for clear skies , careful now ,Nick.

Some beautiful sights there ! Nick.

Stunning night , so crystal clear . "Hothands " foot and hand warmers kept the warmth as it dipped to minus 4.1. They were still hot a 6am. However the excitement of the north east views kept me buzzing at the f11 old school Vixen 90. A WO prism diagonal gave both correct views , but helical focusing adjustment. A great feeling of how it must have been ,when this was the largest accessible frac ! Arcturus climbed and soon that magic row to Vega appeared with Hercules and Corona Borealis starring . Treasures of the north east included some deep sky small aperture sights. M92 followed M13 and again in Hercules I managed the "white pea" planetary nebula (IC 4593)which blinked in and out of sight. Got the small glow of the "Cat's eye" NGC 6543 in Draco and Lyra's M57 glow. epsilon Lyrae ( "double double") opened out with a 13mm Nagler , x77 not too bad for this scope , making out both splits and their orientation. Bootes. ξ Bootis (Xi) ( SAO 101250) délicate at x77. ι Bootis (Ascellus secundus) (SAO 29071) a delicate ghost . Muphrid (η), see drawing from night before. Alkalurops((μ) a magical view of this astounding triple. Σ1910 1 Bootis (SAO 82942) a 4.5" caught with a 5.5mm uwa. Lovely contrast. Hercules. κ Herculis (Marsic) SAO 101951 ρ Herculis (rho) I could only think "glamorous "! 95 Herculis (SAO 85648) beautiful brilliant. 100 Herculis at x125(SAO 85753) , just a pair of cat's eyes. δ Herculis (Sarin) (SAO 84951)just intermittent speck of a companion almost hidden in the primary. ΟΣ 341, (SAO 85723)just an entanglement of stars. SAO 85678 , the asterism of "Webb's wreath" didn't do much at this aperture. Corona Borealis. Σ1932 (SAO 83756)gave an astounding clean 1.6" split. Seeing had really settled after midnight. Not only did 90mm cope , but exceeded in showing brilliant colours. First sample was Cor Caroli. Followed by Izar (orange and blue), delta Bootis (orange and blue). A simply awesome session probing the north east with a pea shooter ! Caught Σ 1964 in company with Zeta and a lovely sigma CrB. Kind of night you need at a star party ! Careful now , clear skies ! Nick.

90mm here John , fancied the same change ! Nick.

Superb haul there ! I used to get the whale and hockey stick from here , well worth finding , Nick.

Stunning night and the seeing had settled to give crystal views. M3 filled the view at x150 being easier to resolve . Galaxies were spottable with some cores to the Canes Venatici and Coma groups. Tried pushing the old school f10 Vixen to limits. Soon came up with some faint triple companions , rightly described as puffs these soon became clear to view. I was pleased to get a 1.2" split in Σ2034 at x333 it pushed apart and held the view. 65 UMa is another triple favourite, caught clearly at x180. Σ1831 gave a wonderful group with the tiny companion adding to this scene. Σ2682 straight away gave the elusive companion. 90 Leonis gave a lovely almost linear triple at x77. 4 inch aperture and a great sky ! Careful now and clear skies ! Nick.

Kicked off with a wonderful bright ISS pass, very warm out there at 15 C. Got to M3 , nice wide field view and suddenly the Skytrain went whizzing by. Some on line with varying gaps, went by for a few minutes. Very light out there and it didn't improve, our southern sky bright from the town and golf ( now open) illuminated golf range. Gave up on galaxies, so back to binaries and mixed seeing. Some favourites in Coma Berenices and Leo. Finished off with low Porrima, very bright and a simple split, a big change from hardly being able to get it. Some highlights, 35 Coma B.(Σ1687)lovely ra triple, look out for the faint c . Algieba (γ Leonis) simply stunning , especially when you up the power ! 54 Leonis, just a pin sharp marble like secondary. Those marked "contrast " gave wisp ghostly secondaries, worth finding . Careful now and clear skies , Nick.

One vane straight across , blooming magical for star definition, Nick.

Great reports Armand ! For those trying , our skies in the U.K. Haven't been the best with regards to seeing . Some nights even 2" stars jiggle about like a clacker toy ! The Jet stream has added to woes ! For those using Newtonian , a single vane or curved vanes eliminate the distracting spikes of cruciform secondary vanes. My 200 f6 Orion Optics gives almost frac like views of binaries and clusters. Collimation must be spot on to get the most out of high magnification, as does getting "your eye in". Averted vision can help and sketching relaxes the eye , avoiding strain when you end up grimacing ! enjoy , careful now and here's to clear skies ! Nick.

A balmy seven degrees C soon dropped bringing dew and some cloud cover. Just a short couple of hours, seeing wasn't the best. Started off with a view of M94 that bright glow in Canes Venatici. M51 showed two cores , not bad from here. Also spotted a brighter M63 "sunflower ". M3 looked lovely , just a sparkling view at x100. Caught "La Superba" (SAO 44317) , much duller than last look , but a beautiful glowing coal. Leo gave hardly a glimpse of galaxies, but OΣ215 did split open at around 1.4". I tried out Tegmine , really a challenge this time to get the triple. 90 Leonis ( SAO 99673) gave a stunning view of this triple at x92, it showed at lower power as well. That chain of stars around Kochab and Pherkab , it's Draco . Worth finding 16/17 Draconis , another lovely bright triple , spot the close companion at low power. Dodged the clouds , before they stopped play, Careful and clear skies ! Nick.

Superb first light , your frac will show clusters , planetary nebulae and binaries at their very best , Nick. (For those puzzled by V1030 Orionis, it's sigma Orionis )

Superb , keep at it and blame the atmospher ( seeing) and transparency for the results ! Careful now ,Nick.

Brilliant , tight doubles really benefit from great seeing . Sounds like the TAL hit the sweet spot ! careful now ! Nick.