Clear + Dark = Awesome

[lw24]

Hi all,

*Observing report for 31/08/11*

After 2 months of waiting, finally, the clouds cleared above me. This, combined with the fact that the Moon was not in sight, signalled for an observing session at my nearby 'dark site'.

So, onto the observing. The Milky Way stretched out in front of me, across the sky, not quite reaching the horizons at each side, but it still looked magestic. This was the first time I'd ever seen the Milky Way with the naked eye, and it was just...mesmerising. Afte a while, I got to business, opened up Stellarium, and keyed in some Messier Objects. I started with M57 (Ring Nebula). Finding it didn't take long, and the view was sharp. I was observing it at 60x, and didn't really want to push the ST120 much further (it loses brightness at high magnifications quickly). After a while, the gaping black hole in the middle revealed itself...awesome. I quickly moved over to M27 (Dumbell Nebula), and although I couldn't quite see a Dumbell shape at 60x, it definitely stood out like a sore thumb. I look forward to viewing this with a UHC filter sometime later this year. Next came M56 and M71, both fairly bright Globular Clusters, and although they weren't more than a rounded smudge, it was nice to add a few more objects to my Messier count (as you do).

However, the best was left until near the end of my session. I looked up into the sky, and saw a slight smudge in the sky. I didn't know what it was, so I honed in on it with the ST120, put my eye to the eyepiece, and there it was! The Double Cluster! I was more excited that I could actually see it with the naked eye, but the view was absolutely marvellous. The same thing happened again, but with M31 (Andromeda Galaxy). This is the first time I've ever been able to see the Milky Way, the Double Cluster, and M31, all with the naked eye.

A suprise appearance meant I had a quick look at Jupiter, at 120x, but truth be told, the ST120 definitely doesn't excell with Planetary viewings. However, it was nice to get a quick look at the gas giant, showing off it's four moons.

The final minutes of observing were spent surfing the Milky Way star fields. The ST120 does this brilliantly. Through my 32mm eyepiece, the view was breathtaking. I love refractors

So, a great night (my best ever!), 4 Messiers in the bag, Jupiter, M31 and Double Cluster naked eye visible, aswell as the Milky Way stretching across the sky.

Epic

Clear Skies,

Luke

[John]

Great report Luke

It's great to be able to see M31 etc with the naked eye isn't it ? - you just know it's a good night when that's the case.

I've been using a 120mm refractor lately as well - they seem to do very well on deep sky objects - better than you might expect given the modest aperture. I reckon the high contrast that refractors give that does it !.

Thank goodness we have had a couple of good, clear nights at last - I was beginning to forget what the starry sky looked like !.

[lw24]

Thank goodness we have had a couple of good, clear nights at last - I was beginning to forget what the starry sky looked like !.

Yeah, I started to lose reasons for buying new gear, but thanks to that session, 'gear buying' is back on the agenda

Clear Skies

Luke

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. You really got the most important late summer goodies.