Wonderful skies

[Stu]

Had a really lovely observing session last night. Am in Radcliffe on Trent for a few days and the skies were the best I've seen for ages. Very clear, and quite good seeing but must importantly, not much light pollution.

As is often the case these days, I just had my WO66 with me, giro mount, 17t4, 7t6 and 3 to 6 nagler zoom which all fits neatly in the scope case.

Didn't look at jupiter for once because there was so much on offer. The beehive was very obviously visible nake eye, not something I get at home, as was the double cluster so these two were first to view through the scope. The 17t4 gives a lovely wide 3.5° fov, great for finding and viewing larger objects. Both looked fantastic, loads of tiny, pin sharp stars. I tried m67 while I was near, that also resolved nicely.

I basically then just did a tour of what I knew how to find easily, including M36, M37 and M38. I also thought I would try for M51 and M81/82 just for the challenge :-). Managed to find Whirlpool slightly later in when it was better placed, resolved as two very faint glows but pleased to see it.

M81/82 I also managed to get, relatively easily. I know how to star hop to them but never manage from home. Given the very small aperture, I was pleased with being able to identify them and see the basic shapes. No sign of M1 though.

Jewel in the crown though was M42 of course. It looked wonderful in the 17t4, but one of the things I love most about it is that it has something to offer at a wide range of magnifications. I went up to x97 with the zoom at 4 mm, but best view was at x55 with the 7t6 which gives around 1.5° fov. The trapezium was beautifully resolved and there was an appreciable amount of structure and detail visible in the nebula, particularly with averted vision but directly too. Really fabulous :-)

Topped off the evening with a quick try at Mars. Small orange blob, no surface detail visible but could see that it is showing a phase at the moment. Nice to see it,.looking forward to next year when it is better placed.

All in all, a very nice evening under lovely skies. I spent just as much time just standing and gawping without the scope, enjoying the stars. Quite chilly though, probably should have changed out of my shorts :-)

Happy Christmas All

Stu

[Mark at Beaufort]

Nice report Stu and you are correct that it was a wonderful clear sky last night. The WO 66mm frac is great to take on trips and you certainly grabbed some good DSOs.

You should have had a looked at Jupiter because there was a transit of Io early yesterday evening.

Mark

[Stu]

Thanks Mark.

I only escaped from social duties with 'mother in law to be' later in the evening so missed the transit. Have seen a fair but of jupiter recently so was happy to concentrate on dso's.

Picture of my grab and go kit attached (hopefully!)

Stu

[Mark at Beaufort]

Nice grab and go setup Stu. I have the orange WO SD66 frac with the WO dielectric 1.25" diagonal.

What are the filters - they look like UHC and O111 but I can't read the box labels on the lid.

Mark

[Stu]

Hi Mark

Thanks. I really like it, so easy to use. I know many would be underwhelmed by the views but to me, better to have something with you and be able to grab every opportunity. I love the crisp, contrasty views, perfect shapes and it is actually amazing what you can see when you try. GRS and shadow transits both quite viewable in my opinion.

The filters are as you say. To be honest, I mainly use them with the 4" or 8" as I think you lose to much brightness in a small aperture. I did try the UHC last night but not convinced it gave anything better, just different.

Stu

[Double Kick Drum]

Nice report and very nice piece of kit as a grab and go.

Last night was a goodun'. I got up at 4am to have a play and didn't regret it for a second.

[Stu]

Thanks very much. Yes, it was lovely and clear most of the night - looked good on sat 24 from earlier on so I am glad I got a chance to make the most of it.