Binocular sketch of M101

[astroeddie]

Using a pair od Prinz 10 x 50 bins. An observation of Galaxy M101.

Sketched this whilst working in the North Sea.

Enjoy,

Eddie

[Ursa Major]

Thats better than ive got with my scope. I bet the skies are incredably dark out at sea?

Were you working on an oil rig?

[astroeddie]

No, Supply Ship.

Happily I now sail world wide ..... awesome skies at sea.

Sadly .. no use for a scope ....

Eddie

[bish]

Wish I had skies like that!

[Ursa Major]

Yeh, I was thinking that even using binoculars on a ship must be hard. I cant be possible to use a tripod can it. and doing a sketch while hand holding binoculars must be even harder, having to keep finding the object over and over again. I suppose it is quite an easy star hop.

What do you think the limiting naked eye magnitude was? Could you see any galaxies with the naked eye? I bet the milky way was fantastic.

[astroeddie]

Ursa Major,

I have seen Uranus with the naked eye easily.

Galaxies seen are of course Andromeda, then both the LMC and SMC in the southern skies.

My favourite part of the sky is Scorpius. Especially open cluster NGC 6281. This open cluster is a wonder to behold. Another spectacluar sight is the Zodial Light. I've seen this on numerous occasions. But never see the Gegenshine :-(

Sketching using binoculars is very easy. I have plenty here using my 10x50's.

Cheers for your interest.

Eddie

Edited June 4, 2011 by astroeddie

[DarkerSky]

Nice one Eddie. I remember picking up M101 in 16x50s from a dark sky in North Wales some years ago. It's quite remarkable how binos pick it up well in a dark sky, yet you can almost 'look through it' in a larger scope because it is so diffuse close up.

[astroeddie]

Yes,

I think binoculars are a very misused item in astronomy.

One April night whilst at sea north of the Shetlands, I nabbed the Zodial light, Comet Ikeya Zhang, 4 planets and 91 Messier's.

Using binos whilst down south there's that much to see your head aches.

Love using them

[andrew63]

Eddie

A few months down the line, this sketch of yours has come in handy for locating the supernova! The field of stars is very similar as seen in a small telescope.

andrew