It's been a long time coming...

[JamesF]

The last clear night we had here was 16th May. It's been a very long month indeed. After a fair bit of the weather teasing us with offers of clear nights snatched away at the last moment tonight started with enough cloud to make observing tricky, but got better and better as time passed. The Milky Way was clearly visible from the southern horizon to well north of the zenith before it was lost in the lighter northern sky and checking Ursa Minor before I came in, the mag 5.7 star between zeta UMi and eta UMi was definitely visible in direct vision which is fairly good for here.

My plan for the evening was to hunt down some of the Messier late teen/early twenties clusters between Sagittarius, Scorpius and Scutum, so I set up the ST120, popped in my 32mm ep and had a quick peek to check focus. Amazingly, bang in the middle of the fov was a stonking great cluster! The only problem now was to find out which one it was. A bit of triangulation from the main constellation stars enabled me to work out that it was M22 and from then on there was no stopping me.

In all I found twelve new Messier objects. Some parts of the sky there feel like you're looking into the total perspective vortex, but the two highlights of the night for me were firstly the whole area around M8, M20 and M21 which I had to come back to several times. If you don't look at that and think you need a bigger scope then I think your aperture fever must be cured. Clear nebulosity even in the ST120, low in the sky and with a touch of LP from Taunton thrown in. The second was M17, the Omega Nebula. Another absolute stunner.

I know it's almost heretical to say it, but frankly you can keep M45. This part of the sky is absolutely jaw-dropping and I want to go back there with a much, much bigger scope as soon as possible.

The only "failure" of the evening was M24. I could find the reddish star that Stellarium shows right next to it, but couldn't make out the M24 cluster at all. I'll try again later in the year if possible, but I think perhaps at the mag 11 claimed for it by Stellarium, it might just be beyond the ST120 except for an exceptional night.

James

[rory]

seems like you had a blast there james. i caught m17 for the first time a few weeks back,it's exellent. shame about m24. ive yet to see this star cloud but cant wait.

its just such a shame that saggitarius does'nt rise higher .

thanks for report, they are few and far between lately .

[swamp thing]

I completely agree with you James this piece of sky totally blows away M45. It leaves it for dust. Pity you didn't catch M24 but when you see it you are in for a special treat. I find it's one of the few open clusters that appreciates aperture, the bigger the scope you use the more you will see. It's also so incredibly rich that, the more power you use, the more stars seem to appear that were hidden by the brighter ones before. I often wonder why so many amateurs go on about the merits of other open clusters and this seldom gets a mention. Its a stunning object specially in larger scopes.

Maybe too many people put their scopes away this time of year and miss out on these incredible summer treats, not me I wouldn't miss em for the world. It certainly is one area of sky where "I'm gonna need a bigger scope" is often softly spoken to oneself.

[JamesF]

this piece of sky totally blows away M45. It leaves it for dust.

I see what you did there

James

[David Smith]

Nice report James, sounds like you had a great night. Glad the weather finally played ball for you! 16th May , think the last time I had a decent session was a couple of weekends back. Have to admit I went to bed last night - tired and still some floaty clouds around. M24 has eluded me several times when observing in this area. Have still to track it down.

[JamesF]

I have to admit that I was feeling fairly tired myself when I stepped outside. Soon lost the feeling mind you, not that I haven't been paying for it today

James

[Double Kick Drum]

Great session. Thanks for sharing.

I love Sagittarius but rarely get the chance to see it in a truly dark sky with low horizons.

[JamesF]

I do count myself very lucky in that respect, though as of last night I'm ever so slightly envious of people who live further south and have a better view of it for longer

James

[Polar Bear]

Thanks for sharing that James. makes me realise how terrible the skies are here in Central Lancashire. last night I got Saturn and Mars ! . I have family in Highbridge and notice a huge difference in the seeing and darkness when visiting, so much so I am thinking of getting them a telescope for when I visit them.

Paul

[m_j_lyons]

M24 is a touch difficult for its large size...when looking into the Milky Way it can be hard to discern the "right" cloud of stars. Have you picked up M6 and M7?...I find them quite lovely clusters in the region.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[JamesF]

I found M6 that night (and M8), but they were only just above the tree line and M7 was actually in the trees already so I couldn't really claim to have had a good view. I shall definitely look for them again next time I'm out.

James