2 messiers, 10.04.12

[rory]

after failing on m95/96 a few nights back i went for them again tonight and managed half !

m96 showed itself to me as a faint patch and only with perifial vision.

m95 however would not. out of that bunch of galaxies m105 is the one that stands out to me.

the other target tonight was m63 the sunflower in canes veatici.

now that was impressive( as far as impressive through 90mm and a light polluted garden allows) direct vision was possible,looks like its hanging off a star like a pendant . found it from cor caroli and headed a line toward alkaid. cor caroli itself is a pretty impressive double .

finished this brief outing with a splitting of algieba in leo,just to have a play with the e/p's. the 12mmbst explorer at x83 did split the double but not very cleanly.

lastly viewed saturn for ten minutes,very crisp view of her tonight.really wish i had another higher mag eyepiece,would have been ideal tonight, as would mars. at x83 mars was just begining to show dark areas, really tantilising stuff.

anyway enough of my drivel, two messiers to add to my notes and bed time.

clear skies all....

[swamp thing]

Hi Rory

Whilst up in Canes Venatici try for M94 (the crocs eye) it has very high surface brightness, so your scope should pick it out pretty easy.

It's small and bright.

Regards Steve

[rory]

thanks steve, ive actually seen it in february, but forgot to revisit this time. didnt know it was called the crocs eye, ...i do now, cheers.

[rory]

i was supposed to put this thread in reports section .... doh !