IC the Milky Way!

[stolenfeather]

I admit it. I need more experience with the summer night sky. My navigational skills in the winter months have been sharpened after many years of hunting for Messier Objects but since this is my first time with a telescope in the summer months, I become lost easily. Yes, even with my trusty Stellarium.

What I love doing during this time of year is pointing my telescope anywhere within the vicinity of the Milky Way which reveals images of pure wonder! It's like finding huge clusters of stars anywhere you point without even looking for them. Wait a minute, if the Milky Way is beautiful in itself and that most Messier Objects are found within it's midst then,... aren't they 100 times harder to find? After two hours of trying to find the Messier Objects in the constellation Cygnus, I gave up.

- Maybe it's my lack of being acquainted with my smaller telescope

- Maybe it was just me. I simply need more experience with the summer night sky AND navigating with a smaller scope.

This confusion put aside, I had a wonderful stargazing night. It was warm, nearly no mosquitoes and I had just made a huge pig of myself eating sushi before heading out. Stellarium showed me the presence of the asteroid Vesta low in the horizon (it was reaching opposition). I resisted trying to spot it with my Orion telescope since I'm sure it was too faint to see with a 4.5" scope. Waiting till I'm back in the north with my 10" Sky-Watcher would be better. I'd love to spot the 2nd most massive object in the asteroid belt which is more than 100 million miles away!

I refused to leave my stargazing site until I had discovered something new and opted for an easy target, the star cluster IC 4665. The deep sky object, lying 1400 light years away surely didn't disappoint!

On a different note, I should be returning to the secluded north for a new teaching year in 5 days. Unfortunately, this means saying goodbye to family and friends till Christmas. I will, however, be online more often and have access to my Star-Watcher,...

See you all on the "flip side"

Isabelle

[todd8137]

nice to hear from you again glad the trip was great ,back to the grind wheel soon the summer is keeping me up longer than the winter ,cygnus as some great stuff but still hard to see the pelican ect viel, but i have some great views of the milky way at the min.

pat

[stolenfeather]

Happy that the Milky Way has kept you looking for more Pat. The summer does keep us up longer but in my case,.. at least this doesn't mean frost bite!

Isabelle