cotterless45

Clouds thinned and cleared by 10 revealing a glistening dark sky . Temperature soon dropped to give frost in the air. The seeing was very variable , starting off really wobbly, even moving diffraction discs around . Then after midnight the sky settled wonderfully . Holding x266 on Σ1037 in Gemini got a split below 1". Pretty impressive for a 4.5mm TMB in the yard cannon. Lovely to start off with Gemini and M35 , filling the view at x90. Central white dwarf of NGC 2392 easily spotted , some lovely transparency. Heard a pheasant put up , fox must be about. Followed by a rapid yipping of a low flying owl, delighted to be hunting in the dry . Magic hours after midnight , settled air and so free of direct lights and racket . NGC 2419 gave a fish hook leading to the averted sparkle of this most distant globular cluster in Lynx. Caught the very bright Vesta in Cetus, very bright and non stellar. Orion looked ace with bow (club) filled with stars. Couldn't miss out on NGC 2169 and the Trapezium , with an easy "E". Check out rho Orionis ( SAO 112528) , a delicate almost planet like secondary hovers nearby , almost proudly held ! Don't leave without sigma Orionis , a wonderful multiple fish hook .To the west the long string of Eridanus gave a low view of the triple , bright Keid. Compared that to Tegmine (Zeta Cancri) and the very bright beta Monocerotis (SAO 133317). Some handy comparisons , firstly with the variable carbon stars R Leporis ( the glowing Hind's crimson star ) SAO 150058,what a lovely glowing goal . Later "La superba" Y CnV. Then the two winter Albireos, in Canis Major and Cancer. Both filled with colour. Monoceros holds many clusters , but my favourite is NGC 2301, O'Meara's "Hagrid's dragon". A fine cluster nearly as good from darker sky kept me at the view. Don't forget the ancient M67 and the bzz of M44 nearby . Leo was climbing high and a quick view of NGC 2903 , bright up near the head. A small fuzz of M94 in CnV, sky was light low down throwing light around in heavy humidity. Packed up at 2.30, buzzing with a rare and remarkable session, under Clear skies ! Nick.

Still amazes me that in November we're still getting the best of the Summer Triangle. Try NGC 6811 in Cygnus , certainly lives up to "hole in the cluster", best under clear skies ! Nick.

Zeta Cancri , Tegmin(e) is a great challenge . Along with beta Mon. Very fine triples. Had a go last night , got down to minus three for a few hours . Very mushy sky and frost covered everything , waiting for more clear skies ! Nick.

Always used a Baader solar film made into a tight fitting holder. Fine for several years . I always check the filter before use and was very surprised to find several small areas where the light came straight through.the filter was keep in a plastic box when not in use and never touched or dropped . I decided that a Herschel wedge would work well in a 4" frac. Wonderfully surprised at the results. Much finer resolution and much safer to use . Although at a minimum the odd small AR has woken up and it's always a pleasure to observe anything , under clear skies ! Nick.

Ultimate pic of Mercury in Transit ! Old Nick.

Very lucky to get these with the mobile telephone , Nick.

Superb from first contact until 12.55 when it peed with rain. So pleased to get something . Hope others enjoyed the superb view , Nick.

Lovely placed , from here quite invisible to the eye , but some treasures. Early frosty evening , sno boots and down trousers on ( that sounds wrong !) NGC 2419 is a favourite and I never tire of getting folks to spot it and tell them how far it is away . That's the furthest target that we can see in our galaxy.Look for the fish hook with the double star in the middle , continue the shank and that slight sparkle is there. Tried for the "UFO" galaxy , a bright edge on (+9.7) NGC 2683, but hardly a smudge with the moon in the south. Very high up on the ecliptic sat the lovely disc of Uranus , so non stellar. Vesta was a bright target in Taurus. Kicked off with the best of Lynx binaries. 5 Lyncis giving an orange giant with an unrelated companion. 19 Lyncis is an attractive triple, but I was after that wonderful 12 Lyncis, quite stunning. Beautifully calm sky , seeing and transparency was terrific , a high cold mist drew in. Had to towel down the ota and mount , dew attack. Hoping for some less Soggy , clear skies ! Nick.

Along with the short video , I was looking forward to sharing these at the now cancelled ( flooded ) SGL 2019 star party. There's a few off the beaten tracks beauties here . Hope that you enjoy them and keep dry ! Old Nick.

Gutted . Trailer all packed , got to get through a carrier bag of Pot Noodles and instant porridge. Will post my observing lists on "Observing ", thanks for the advance notice and all the work that goes to making these events a success, old Nick.

Beautifully done ! Separated by a distance comparable to the Sun and Saturn and what movement ! Nick.

NIMBY !

Stunning clarity by eye , but lots of high twinkling . Quite stunned by Zeta Cassiopeia which flashed on and off like a beacon. Early kick off and south to Capricornus , sitting east of Saturn. Poorly placed over town with wobbly seeing , fireworks and glow , who could ask for more ! Motivated by a report from a great report from cloudsweeper , a visit to Capricorn binaries. β2 is an interesting Mercury manganese star and β1 has its own story . There is possibly a quadruple group here. A beautiful grapefruit orange here . I put on an aperture mask ( cardboard with a hole in) to get the colour boost. No chance of any small separations here , but worth finding the open views. Looking north , good view of our most ancient cluster , NGC 188. Got a smidge from NGC 40 ("bow tie" planetary . Then up to a full Pazmino's cluster in Camelopardalis. Checked out NGC 1502 (" skull and crossbones") and the blinking "blue oyster" NGC 1501 to the base of Kemble's cascade. Miram (η Persei) gave lots of colour. Seeing as Cassiopeia was high and filling with stars , gave a bright Perseus galaxy a go. NGC 1023 is astoundingly bright , member of the Canes Venatici cloud , part of the Sagittarius super cluster. Focusing sharp stars and there was the delightful streak that so exites some ! Just a smaller smudge from our local NGC 891. Really a fantastic sight from dark sky areas with a dust lane and halo. Things must be getting better since our streetlights changed to small leds. Had a look at the star cloud in NGC 7789 ( Cassiopeia) and packed up as thick cloud came into from the west . Lovely views from the Summer Triangle to the rising winter Triangle , under clear skies ! Nick.

lovely ! making the most of rare clear skies. The colours are just gorgeous. pleased you got the planetary discs. Nick.

super ! all we had was endless clouds lit up by light pollution. Hoping for clear skies as at this time of year there's so much to see. Very keen on theta Aurigae , nice binary with massive contrast, good test of optics and atmosphere, Nick.

Found this grazing the web and observing endless rain , just lovely ! http://www.starobserver.eu/articles/ Nick.

Looking around as darkness fell , first signs of the lunar light arriving . Looking south , still available are M11 , M17 and M22. Glorious view of Graff's in Serpens,IC 4756. Found "The coat hanger " using x10 binoculars. Half way between Albireo and Altair. Reminded me to check out " Kemble's cascade", go one top span of Cassiopeia to the left to find this chain heading pole-wise. Caught NGC 188 , the "Ancient one ", about 6 billion years old , a compact twinkle of an open cluster. Very near to Polaris. Camelopardalis showed Stock 23 , "Pazmino's cluster" at 03h16.2m +60 00'. Some lovely shapes there , including the bright Σ362. Seeing as the sky was getting light , I caught the delicate triple Σ1127 in Camelopardalis, lovely view. Had a look around at this early sky , from Perseus to Pegasus with Auriga rising . At the zenith , Cygnus and the last of the Summer Triangle. Just waiting for Orion and winter treasures and clear skies ! Nick.

SQM 21.3 at 6.30 am ! A week long break just south of the Wall ( Hadrian's). Right stormy , right dark and at times very wet. Looking out of the window at 6am , lots of stars , but I couldn't tie them to constellations . I realised that I was looking at the Hyades pointing to a packed Taurus. Went out and just stunned. Auriga , just unrecognisable , Capella hardly looked the bright beacon at home. It looked slightly brighter than the other stars with a web of stars to the "kids". Signs of the Messier clusters here . Perseus , a glowing band overhead with an obvious double cluster . The Milky Way brushed Auriga ,Gemini through to the great kite of Cassiopeia. Incredible amount of stars , walking around the house each view was spectacular. Going to return in calmer weather to this beautiful part of the country. Hoping for clear skies ! Nick.

With light pollution around , you're better off getting an 8" Dob. It's not that old chestnut about a big aperture scooping up light pollution. It's getting contrast and easily moving out a lighter useable scope. My experience was with a 10" Meade LB ( 63lbs) compared to a SW 8" Dob. There was hardly any difference in the views from town. Taking the 10" on holiday to very dark skies gave superb views , but for everyday (!) use I'd go f6 200p. In addition anything below f5 and you'll get lots of coma. You might care to ask others about their opinion. Our garden gets direct light from neighbours who don't use curtains and love security lights. I use a couple of 6ft panels and some dark throws clipped onto washing line poles. Keeps the breeze out ! Clear skies ! Nick.

They said " clear " , but it was just milky without stars filling the constellations. View of Saturn , but it was shimmering . Ideal to view brighter clusters and a few hours meandering through Cassiopeia and Perseus. There's good bright ones , compact cores and those that are best overlooked ! M34 is often overlooked , give it a shot. Quite amazed that when spending a few minutes observing , the number of doubled up satellites that pass across. Almost like a Star Wars chase ! Quite fascinated by the young star clusters, certainly numerous multiple stars there . Not enough darkness to get to the dusty cored clusters , Herschel classification puts these as top class. You can imagine shapes here , I think that the "running man" in Perseus is quite glorious. Here's a few in that area . Here's to clear skies ! Nick.

A cracking night , kicking off at midnight . A great winter preview and an early chance to enjoy favourites and show pieces. After midnight the air settles and its noticeably locally darker with folk asleep and lights off. Temperatures fell giving a massive amount of dripping dew. The sky was just divine , with some superb seeing and transparency. Started with the lovely cluster , NGC 1582 in Perseus. Sitting and drawing just relaxes the eye and soul ! Auriga kicked off with Cassiopeia at the zenith and the double cluster by eye. A lovely view of M37, try x90 here and it fills the fov. The fabulous eclipsing binary , one of the "kids" Zeta , showed a beautiful star fired with this most orange star. I managed Theta using a bit of aperture masking , just caught the delicate companion. An early look at M1 and it was there by direct viewing . Over to the "Eskimo", NGC 2392 in Gemini. Cranking up the power above x200 and some hood detail and the central white dwarf. M35 and NGC 2158 gave ages of viewing. Orion rising high with a complete bow and the Meissa melotte by eye . The Trapezium gave just the fifth E star with a lovely view of M42 nebulosity. Sigma Orionis was a elegantly sharp. Had a look at NGC 2169, the "37" cluster. Over to the buzzing beehive of M44 filling the field with binaries. A visit to NGC 2301 in Monoceros , the wonderful "Hagrid's dragon" wings outspread over a jewelled body. A view of the clusters NGC 2264 with the Christmas tree, NGC 2244 , M50 and "Avery's island", NGC 2353. Back to Cancer and Zeta Cancri , the fabulous Tegmine. Seeing superb and over x240 to crack this bright beauty open .Iota Cancri is a contender for "winter Albireo", lots of colour here. Reminded me to check the red "Hind's crimson" in Lepus. Lovely glowing coal, SAO 150058 is the only one I can remember if asked ! Packed in with Sirius and the front of Leo rising. A lovely tour , first autumn view of a lot of these . Hoping for Clear skies ! Nick.

Ace report , full of wonders and colour , Nick.

Another darkish free few hours before our moon climbed up. Lacerta is lovely area , rich in clusters. NGC 7209 is a favourite here . Down to another favourite and it's "Graff's", IC 4756 in Serpens Cauda. Quick look at NGC 663 in Cassiopeia. All these small fine stars soon appear with a relaxed eye sketching. A few new ones for me in Perseus, really climbing high . Don't overlook Miriam, oh what colours. Hopefully another night coming under , clear skies ! Nick. see y'all there ! https://www.ukastroshow.com/

You'll need a bigger mount for this baby. It's not do much the weight , but the length of the ota. You'll be needing an extension , unless you like observing on your knees . Which you might do after emptying the wallet. Very interesting looking scope , at least unlike SW , they've detailed the glass. Nick.

Excellent source , Some great clusters and small drawings from the ep. Plenty around . ."Graff's" IC4756 in Serpens , NGC 752 in Andromeda, the binary cluster "running man" NGC 1545 and NGC 1528, Lacerta clusters NGC 7209 IC 1434 and NGC 7243. Coming up in Monoceros M50, NGC 2301 " Hagrid's dragon" and NGC 2353 "Avery's island". NGC 2360 "Caroline's cluster" and M41 in CaMa. Nick.