First observation in years

[AustinStargazer]

19 Jan 2012

1am - 1:25am

The winds howl as I prepare to go into the abyss amongst the stars that our forefathers would gaze upon. Clear skies (odd few clouds in the distance) as I go outside I look up and I'm awe stricken at the natural beauty the night sky holds and at it's size as I try to comprehend how far away these objects are and yet they watch over us every night, something we take for granted. As my eyes slowly adjust I almost fell to my knees at the sight of all the stars, so I start to raise my binos to gaze upon the sky. The first star I decided to look at and the star I did adjustments on was Procyon a star that is 11ly away. I struggle to keep the binos still due to the wind and cold but still I gaze. I then try to find Sirius but at much disappointment it was blocked by a tree facing SW then I swivelled towards west to gaze upon a group of stars (don't know what they are called can't find them with my app) and watched these stars all of them in this group was in my view there was a least 7 of them ( aranged in like a v sort of shape) after a few mins of gazing at these I decided to move onto my next target, a bright reddish light ( later confirmed as Mars ) I decided to gaze at this planet ( couldn't see much of it) but due to the wind and me shivering I decided to call it a night.

This concludes my vague and short session, I stopped because I couldn't hold the binos still in the weather condition and plus I got a little bit emotional. Hope people enjoyed this

[MjrTom]

Sounds like you had fun

The V shaped cluster of stars sounds like the constellation Hyades to me, that would have been due west and about 60 degrees above the horizon at that time of the morning

[AustinStargazer]

I did have fun even though I was out there for a short amount of time

Thanks for confirming the constellation for me, I couldnt really check at the time because I didn't want to bring out an iPad in these conditions so I had to remember the location then point my iPad in the general location With the goskysafari planetarium app (has a night mode which is red) through the walls of the house. When it doesn't rain I might sit at the garden table with the stuff I need to gaze for an hour.

[MjrTom]

Skysafari is a brill app I use it on my iPhone.

I try not to rely on it too much as it does kill the dark adaption a bit.

I use the sky & telescope pocket sky atlas and a dimmed red torch for serious DSO hunting

[AustinStargazer]

Yeah it does kill the dark adaption.

Whe pay day arrives I'm planning on getting some kit.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. The Hyades are actually a very nearby open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. You captured a deep-sky object of the Caldwell List.