MKAS 9th MARCH 2007

[orion f6.3]

Had a great night last night (9/03/07). It was constellation of the month at my Astro Club MKAS. For a change it was a clear night! After a talk by Peter I set the 10” DOB up in the car park and what a night! We started in Auriga and took in M36 M37 and M38. A quick look at M42 which was low but bright and superb in my new 2” 70 FOV eyepiece. As it was such a clear night a spot of DSO was in order. M1 was showing structure and after 10 or so club members had a view we took a look at M97 the Owl Nebular, this was the first time for several members. Popped Grahams 2” 31mm Nagler which was just superb in the 10” Dropped down to M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy which proved another easy target, clear bright and with NGC 5195 in the FOV was some sight. Had to stop at Leo to show all the members Saturn which even at low power was a nice sight 4 moon were easy to see. We stayed in Leo and M65 and M66 were clear and their shape stood out well. The easily missed NGC3628 was just visible. Move over to Virgo, M60 and M89 were good targets. Packed up soon after this, set the DOB up at home and took in 11 of the Virgo Galaxies! A great night, no GOTO in sight and all in an eyepiece power of 50X

[Rob]

Nice report there, thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you did indeed have a great night!.... 11 Virgo Galaxies, nice one

Rob

[Andrew]

Nice report - I also had a great night last night - 1st decent sky for a while. Took a look at many of the same targets (inc the Leo trio and M51). It was certainly a night for galaxies. M81 and M82 were showing more detail than usual and I also stumbled on nearby NGC3077 which was very bright although not much more than a uniform circular patch. Spent a bit of time on M106 as well - although the spiral arms weren't obvious there were clear differences in structure either side of the nucleus that were linked to these.

All in all a good night

[Vega]

Don't get so much galactic joy in my humble 120mm frac

A dobbo is on that cards very soon