June 21/22, last clear night for a while + first Messier with the scope.

[TractionMan]

The weather forecast doesn't look good for at least a week, so I decided to spend some time with scope and binos in the backyard last night. Even if it didn't get really dark at all.

I went outside just before midnight and the scope was already in place and well cooled down. First I started with the binos and spotted Arcturus. Unfortunately it was still too light to be able to make out the rest of the constellation at this point. Was hoping to see the Bootids later, but I guess it was too early for this event. Anyway, I used the scope as well and Arcturus showed it's colour beautifully.

Then I sat in my chair for a while, just randomly scanning the sky with the binos. Still too light to make out much of the constellations except for the Big Dipper. While I sat there I saw quite a few satellites passing by. I'm still amazed that it's possible to spot them every now and then. Back to the scope for a while and now I visited Mizar and Alcor. They're easy to split with binos, but this was the first time I aimed the scope towards them. A beautiful sight, first with the 25mm EP followed by the 12 and later the 7mm. Spent a good while just admiring these stars.

I had planned to try to find M13 this night as well, but I didn't have much hope since it wasn't dark. In fact I had trouble to find the constellation of Hercules even if I knew where it was supposed to be. Back to the chair and closed my eyes for a while. It was nice just to sit there and listen to the silence of the night. When I finally opened my eyes and looked up, I was finally able to see the constellaion I wanted to find. I now slewed the scope to the approximate location of M13 and used the 25mm EP. A few stars popped up nice and sharp, but no fuzzy patch of light. Moved the scope slowly up, down, left and right. Still no sign of M13. Double checked the star chart and I confirmed that I was in the right region. Had another go, first slowly up. No luck. Down. No luck... Oh wait! What was that? Back up a little bit. BINGO! There it was, finally! Very faint and a bit difficult to make out. Now it was a good time to practice averted vision. It really made a difference! Although it was hard not to look straight at the object at first. Time to swap to the 12mm EP. Yep a slightly bigger fuzzy patch of light. Now I started to get the hang of averted vision and it was a joy to watch this Messier object just knowing how far away it was. Tried the 7mm as well, but I went back to the 12mm EP soon again as I thought this suited the object better, at least this time. I spent quite some time just looking at M13, very happy that I actually found it.

After this I went back to randomly scanning the sky, either with the binos or the scope with the 25mm EP. I didn't see any meteors this night however. But I was more than pleased with the views of M13 I got and that alone made the hours I spent in the backyard worthwhile.

Oh and as a small side project this night, I rigged my DSLR on a tripod and locked the shutter in continuous mode with the intention to try to make a time lapse video of moving stars. Unfortunately I forgot to charge the battery so I didn't get enough frames. I did however capture two interesting shots quite randomly this way. First a meteor (Bootids I think) and a nice satellite shot as well. Nothing fancy perhaps, but I like them:

Sorry for any typos and grammatical errors. Just wanted to share this night with you.

[carlc]

Gosh - it really doesn't get dark up there does it! At least you've had some clear sky <sigh>.

Well done for seeing what you did - I'd probably not bother (more fool me it would seem).

Nice report.

[Ponoobersie]

Sounds like a great night Im ever so envious! and they are two nice shots too

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. M13 is a nice object, even when the skies are not as dark as we would like.

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing. I've forgotten what a clear sky is to be honest.

M13 is a great object.

I'll be taking my bins with me when I visit Sweden in two months time (I will have a few nights near the lakes).

Clear skies!

[GarethA]

nice report! that second pic looks possibly like an iridium flare - there was one visible from (roughly) your location at the time you were observing I think...

http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?Dur=2&Date=41081.8666122685&lat=64.60504&lng=12.39258&loc=norway&alt=0&tz=GMT

[swamp thing]

Great stuff

I try and keep observing myself, even when the nights are very short.

We don't get that many clear nights, so best to make the most of any occasion, as you ave done