Cassiopeia session

[KevUU]

15th May 2012

I'm in the Lakes at the moment and managed to get out for a while last night, so I thought I'd share my notes. I haven't really posted much more than questions until now, so I hope this is the right place and that the musings of a total newbie aren't too tedious to you all...

I think this was my 5th session with my scope. I've dotted around some of the more obvious southern Messier's previously - and stared at Saturn! - but after my last session I realised I was getting myself drawn into Messier-bagging and not stopping to take in the skies generally. Part of the reason I got a scope when I did (and the ST80 specifically) was because I struggle with binos and wanted to be able to get proper widefield views to complement my naked-eye night-sky-wonder-gazing. So this time I resolved to keep it wide and peruse the skies in general exploration.

The first thing I noticed before I even got to the scope was the absolute absence of LP up here! So many stars and the Milky Way really obvious low in the N, even at 11 ish at this time of year. Such an amazing difference!

I spent a while just scanning the masses of stars in the Milky Way at low power (x13!) and being generally amazed at how much there is out there. Then had a nose along Cassiopeia to practice moving the scope 'manually', ie with lock knobs loose and just ignoring the finder and scanning through the EP. Even that was instructive - naked eye there must be about 8 to 10 stars visible in and around the constellation but in the scope each of those was surrounded by another 100 fainter ones. Crikey

Eventually I succumbed and went looking for C13 and C14 near Cassiopeia. C13 was an easy find, C14 has a longer featureless leg and I failed a few times, which taught me to look more carefully at the chart (well, iPad app) and I found some fainter ones along the way which made it easier

Both of these open clusters were a bit hard to isolate from the stars at 30mm, but had better shape and more interest at 8mm (x50)

(At that point my notes read "2am zzzzzzz" as I signed off for bed!)

All told a pleasing night's viewing, and I'm glad I reined back and enjoyed the skies and the wonder of it as well as searching out some more specific targets. Of course there are more Milky Way and Herculean items waiting if the skies comply again

Thanks for reading, and clear skies

Kev

[Double Kick Drum]

Nice report.

The fact that you were looking at Cassiopeia in May gives an idea of the quality of the sky.

I look forward to also spending a bit more time on open clusters, probably when we get to August.

Happy hunting!

[kenmyers]

Enjoyed reading your report.

I really should pick a constellation per nights viewing and stick with it. Usually I am all over the place. I have trouble looking anywhere near zenith though as my mount says "no!"

[KevUU]

Thanks guys. The skies are very very good, there's really nothing around... But I don't think there'll be another clear night for a while

Kev