Glob Fest

[WayBig]

What's the collective noun for Globular Clusters?

I decided to take advantage of 2 clear nights a southern location on the Isle of Wight and tick off a few of the summer messiers that were still on the list.

The first night I looked through Ophiuchus and easily found M10, 12 and 14 - nice clusters all of them, though I wasn't able to resolve many individual stars with the Startravel 120, mottling was clear on all of them.

I then lost the rest of the evening looking for the Cat's Eye Nebula....

The second night I drove a few miles to a darkish location with a fairly good view due south to try some objects that remain too low down for my local observing location (my garden). I was astounded how easy it was to find objects from a dark site.

I first located Antares, which was just rising above the trees across the field, as my pointer and started the hunt. First a short hop to M4 and M80, then pointed down to M19 and M62, across to M9 up past Sabik to M107, taking in a couple of NGCs on the way past (6356 and 6293).

All of the globs were mottled though, possibly as they were so low down or perhaps because I was using the small scope, I wasnt able to resolve individual stars. It was great fun surfing from cluster to cluster under a moonless, fairly dark sky.

I got all these down in 2 hours and stopped just because I was expecting a 6:00 wake up call from the kids. Though it was very very tempting to stay for longer and watch the objects in Sagittarius drift past - again most of these are too low to be seen from my garden. Though I'm back there in August so am hoping for some more clear skies.

A great evening that's upped my messier nicely! Cant wait to get back there.

[tony69]

good evening to you the skys always seem better on the island there are some good sites like the culver downs clear views over the channels at night .

[Ags]

Did you ever manage to find the Cat's Eye Nebula? I found it a couple of nights ago, and it a hard object to pick out at low mags - it looked almost exactly like a star. I think it would be particularly difficult on an ST120 - you probably found it ten times over!

[WayBig]

good evening to you the skys always seem better on the island there are some good sites like the culver downs clear views over the channels at night .

I thought about culver down, I dont know the area very well, so stuck to somewhere that would serve my purposes. I'd expect it to be fairly safe to set up in dark lonely locations on the island. Though it was spooky setting up outside a churchyard

[WayBig]

Did you ever manage to find the Cat's Eye Nebula? I found it a couple of nights ago, and it a hard object to pick out at low mags - it looked almost exactly like a star. I think it would be particularly difficult on an ST120 - you probably found it ten times over!

got it in the end - very small and star like (which is probably why it took so long to track down) with no structure visible even when using a UHC filter. I'll try it again with my bigger scope at some point

[tony69]

hi chris i have camped there many a times it was good as there is a pub there that does good meals to get there you go via sandown its on top of whightcliff bay were are you at if you dont mind me asking iam in portsmouth but now the island realy well spend every summer there and every time i get off work was over there this weekend at the zoo .

[WayBig]

hi chris i have camped there many a times it was good as there is a pub there that does good meals to get there you go via sandown its on top of whightcliff bay were are you at if you dont mind me asking iam in portsmouth but now the island realy well spend every summer there and every time i get off work was over there this weekend at the zoo .

I was staying in seaview, my parents moved there last year. Only been there a few times, would like to go more often as it's a lovely area.

[tony69]

it is a lovely place did you go to SEAVIEW WILDLIFE ENCOUNTER love it there.well good viewing speak again .

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I spotted a number of the same globulars yesterday, and could definitely see individual stars in the lot of them. However, that was with the C8, which grabs more than 2.5x as much light (a full magnitude). Big difference, that.

[mdstuart]

That cats eye in Draco is elusive..However when you have it try high power with a OIII filter. It then a sizable blob!

Mark