Yeah at last clear sky last night

[Eastridge]

Sorry to those of you further west who I suspect had clouds before dark but their travel eastwards was slow enough that we, AT LAST, had clear sky until at least 1.30 (when went to bed)

So first use of Telrad & GSO 32 for finding and despite having to look north where a nearby street lamp polluted the sky and stopped eyes fully dark adapting we ( I should say Glen ) found the Ring Nebula and Andromeda. Other than Orion Nebula these are the first 'fuzzies' we have observed.

Really loved the Ring, even though it took averted sight to get a sense of the openess in the middle.

Andromeda was a bit diappointing as the conditions meant only saw the central bit rather than any sense of elipitcalness. As I could see a vague fuzzy patch in binoculars I hoped for a little more from the scope, but given the LP guess that's not unexpected.

Now we know we can find them easier in future & can't wait to see them in darker conditions.

This is addictive isn't it!

[JamesF]

I think you did pretty well to get that much out of the evening. Good to hear that not all of us are stuck under grey skies, at least. Although the heavy stuff cleared for me last night, there was a huge amount of haze giving very poor seeing and scattering light everywhere. At around 1am I gave up waiting and went to bed. Perhaps I should have gone to bed at 10pm and set the alarm for 2am instead, particularly as I woke up at 6am and the sun was streaming down. Hey ho. There'll be another clear night along one of these years.

James

[Tyr]

Sounds like a good night Eastridge, it's always really satisfying to find something new the ring nebula is really nice little object one of my favourites, although I'm sad to say so far the only planetary nebula I've spotted from my location.

I'd not considered Andromeda into July, I'll have to check out when it's visible from my garden, thanks for the reminder.

If you're plagued by light pollution in your current location, you might want to check out some globular clusters as they are small relatively bright objects, I see you have a copy of TLAO it certainly has some good ones.

I too have a street lamp that shines into my garden, I find a big hoodie helps keep the light from the lamp out of my peripheral vision while I'm at the eye piece and it keeps me warm to boot.

Tyr

ps I'm not in the south west (as much as I would like to be) but I hope no one minds

[Bluemaris]

'twas cloudless in the great metrolops of Manchester last night too - and the seeing good. Unfortunately, the sky (and everything else ) was quite bright, and with the naked eye I couldn't see anything fainter than mag 3 - so there was no darkness to get adapted too - especially after the local cats started setting off the neighbour's security lights

However it was a good opportunity to see some easy colourful doubles - Albiero was ace!

[LukeSuppalot]

Nice to hear that someone had clear(ish) skies. It's been raining almost non stop for what seems an age down here and set to continue for at least another week.

I take it that you like the telrad then?

[jeremy1]

I shall be down in Bude this weekend but with the summer we've had so far I dont feel like taking the scope just for a wasted journey. I bet just because I've not taken it, there will be brilliantly clear skys. It comes under the usual heading of Sods Law.

[JamesF]

There were hints of clear night skies in the forecast for this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. Not for Bude at the moment, but for here, and they wouldn't need to be out by much for Bude to be clear.

James

[sologuitarist61]

Yeah, 10/10ths cloud down here as well.

Glad you managed a good nights viewing - you certainly covered some ground

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Was little clear here for few hours also didnt last long thought was going to be nice sunny day nope!

Just earned my sub dwarf for posting on this thread

[sologuitarist61]

Congratulation Cliff, only another 1000 to the next milestone

[Eastridge]

Hi,

Jeremy1 - BBC has just made here ( c. 20 miles from Bude) clear for Sunday night & occulation - but sadly I will be in Southport Mersayside as Glen's Mum has been taken into hossie & need to go up there. Not sure if any 'grazing' will be visible from up there but weather forecast doesn't hold much promise anyway.

Yep - Telrad worth every penny.

Tyr, thanks. We usually view out back to the south & streetlight not a problem from there, but thanks for the hoodie tip, will keep in mind. Had limited views north / east last night so had to choose objects within that range, and so choose Andomeda although appreciate it's really a winter object. Loads of clustery type stuff seen sweeping around Cassopiea but dind't have time to work out what was what.

[scoobee]

Eastridge, note taken of your post I am going to take the bull by the horn and search for some clear skies for the occulation, well within reason as an hours travel or so will be worth it.

[Mike73]

This is addictive isn't it!

Certainly is!!

Just wait till you get out to a decent dark site and those objects will REALLY blow your socks off!

[Eastridge]

Nebula - now it's only forecast as part cloudy at 10 & cloudy by 1pm, makes me feel better about being away but sadly may mean no joy for the rest of you.

Mind you I find these change every day and sometimes multiple times a day so never sure until a few hours before, so fingers crossed for you all.

[JamesF]

To be honest at the moment the only reliable way to tell what the weather is going to be like seems to be to wait until it gets here

James

[sologuitarist61]

As someone said on a previous thread 'If you want to know what the weather is doing look out of the window'. This especially true in Cornwall where you can have all four seasons in one day.