Bino Session - 23 November 2011

[asteria]

Been out tonight with the binos. The sky was reasonably good - steady seeing but transparency seemed a bit poor. Not the best night I've had with the binos, but not the worst either.

I was able to track down some new stuff and some old favourites like the Double Cluster. M34 was good at times, with the cluster resolving into some individual stars with averted vision.

I tried for NGC 1502, which lies at the foot of Kemble's Cascade. I picked this up on a hop from gamma Persei to eta Persei, and from there to the cluster Stock 23. The final clue is a chain of four relatively bright stars that point towards the Cascade and 1502.

Other highlights of the session included M103, NGC 654 and 663, NGC 457 and the Garnet Star, mu Cephei. I also tried for M52, but it proved elusive.

Might go out again for another look now that I've warmed up.

Ed

[cotterless45]

Quite dazzling! We were out at a dark sight last night , just with a pair of 15x70s.The double cluster was excellent .The Milky Way was stunning through Cassiopeaia and Perseus ( why is it overlooked?), through to Cygnus,the Rifts and nebulae. We could see the full expanse of M33 aswell as masses of clusters . M52 is straight on from no.5 of Cass. same distance as from 4 to 5, nice.We could see the Auriga clusters clearly even though it was quite low.Things got a bit frosty and damp.

I never realized , being stuck behind scopes, how much you can see with binoculars.