Midnight sky

[Adamski]

I finally got to use my scope last night after over 4 weeks of bad weather and the seeing was still rubbish. I got set up at 9ish and went in until midnight and i couldn't beleive how light the sky was, it was still blue like dusk and i could only see the brighter stars. I had a peek at saturn and the moved on to m13, although i could see m13 it was a struggle even with the lower power ep. In the end i gave up looking for anything else and i'm now considering storing my scope until september to avoid the wind up of not enough darkness. Roll on autumn.

[Moonshane]

I think the key to observing at this time of year is make a bit of a plan as to what you want to observe.

As you say, it's still very light even at midnight although there are still lots of things you can observe.

I tend to observe mainly planets, lunar and doubles at this time of year and this keeps me going for a few hours at least.

Last night (also in a 6" scope but f11) I looked at the following:

Saturn

M13

M57

Then doubles for a bit:

Epsilon Lyrae (the double double)

Delta Cygni

Beta Cygni (Albireo)

Epsilon Bootis (Izar)

Alpha Ursa Minoris (Polaris)

tried again and failed with Zeta Herculis

and then a couple of new ones in Cygnus I have not seen before,

31 Cygni

61 Cygni

I like to take my time over these and watch them for a bit, try different magnifications etc and I have started to see the minimum magnification where I can split the stars. I managed to split Izar and the double double with an 18mm BGO at 89x last night which was quite rewarding.

Your scope with an f8 focal ratio would be very good with double stars I suspect?

'roll on autumn' - OH YEAH!!!

cheers

Shane

[steppenwolf]

It sure was bright last night (but still cloudy) - frustrating isn't it? I don't want to wish my life (or the summer away) but there are advantages to the winter!

[acey]

Deep-sky observing in a twilt sky is pretty pointless, IMHO, unless you're looking for something you wouldn't have a chance to see under better conditions. As pointless, in fact, as trying to do it under a full moon. We're only a couple of days past the solstice and at this time of year, most (all?) of the UK never reaches full astronomical darkness. It's worth bearing in mind that while we're on BST, the darkest time of night is 1a.m.

I check twilight times for my location (and also moon rise/phase) at this site:

Sunrise and Sunset for United Kingdom – England – London – June 2011

Looking on the bright (dark?) side, at least the nights are getting longer now. I'll be bringing out my scope again in August.

[Rusty Strings]

Summer isn't the scope modding season for nothing, roll on Kelling.

[Astro Imp]

I must admit that I haven't been using my scope recently but can see that it must be very frustrating for all those who have just acquired theirs, waiting to try out the new toy and either bright skies or cloud.

[robbie c]

very very frustrating

[Telrad]

I agree with Shane on this, planets, lunar and doubles are good this time of year, so roll on Autumn too..!

[Si W]

A good selection there Shane.

Hi Adamski

Try looking in the arm of the milkway in Cygnus, there's some nice open cluster as well.