At last :)

[KevUU]

According to my notes my last session was ... 28th May! So I was itching to get out tonight after a lovely day of blue skies.

I didn't have any real game plan, just to see what's what and find my way around the summer skies a bit.

It was a little grey still when I started at 2300 but by midnight it had darkened, enough that I could see faint traces of the Milky Way - quite a surprise as this is from my garden, in a (admittedly smallish) town, with a street light in full view 15 yards away!

I started with another nose around the top half of Lyra. Took another look at Epsilon Lyrae, just managed to split both at x100 so that's the double double achieved for the first time

Found the tail of Aquila (Eagle) and hopped over to M11 Wild Duck Cluster. A bit of a nothing blur at x13 but larger than expected at x50; very faint but interesting to look at with averted vision (the first time I've managed to use it successfully ) so I stayed with it for a bit to try to see more details, which helped.

Not a long session by many people's standards, but it was nice to get back in the saddle after so long without, and it's always good to get another new object under my belt!

[JamesF]

I think M11 is quite underrated. I thought it was at least as impressive as the likes of M13 when I first saw it.

James

[rory]

I think M11 is quite underrated. I thought it was at least as impressive as the likes of M13 when I first saw it.

James

agree, underated. first time i seen it with larger appeture i was suprised how nice it looked.

[Double Kick Drum]

Interesting to see that like me, after a long hiatus, you didn't have any game plan.

Sometimes it is just nice to casually move around the sky without concentrating on anything in particular.

M11 is right up there amongst the best clusters. It is just a shame it never gets very high up in the sky (unless you live in Morocco or the West Indies).

Clear skies!

[KevUU]

I think M11 is quite underrated. I thought it was at least as impressive as the likes of M13 when I first saw it.

I don't have much by way of comparison yet with globs - and I guess 3" will be a bit limiting here as well. But I was surprised it wasn't more spherical and uniformly dense, atleast that's what my newly acquired powers of averted vision were telling me...

Interesting to see that like me, after a long hiatus, you didn't have any game plan.

Sometimes it is just nice to casually move around the sky without concentrating on anything in particular.

Well I did have a game plan after my last session, but that's all ancient history by now!

I spent the middle half of the session with iPad plus eyeball just getting reacquainted with the skies - the winter skies are at least familiar-ish after years of casual ponderings on dark nights, but this is my first season with a scope so it's all new at this time of year. I really was lostfor a while lastnight - Lyra's familiar but what's it doing there? Wait, that must be Arcturus but then where's Bootes? - oh it's on its side!

All good fun

[Double Kick Drum]

I don't have much by way of comparison yet with globs - and I guess 3" will be a bit limiting here as well. But I was surprised it wasn't more spherical and uniformly dense, atleast that's what my newly acquired powers of averted vision were telling me...

If you thought M11 didn't look much like a globular cluster, you were right. It is an open cluster.

Your eyes did not deceive you.

[KevUU]

If you thought M11 didn't look much like a globular cluster, you were right. It is an open cluster.

Your eyes did not deceive you.

Wait, what? Nooooo...

...

*checks*

...

I see! Uhm, oops. I could've sworn GoSkyWatch told me it was a glob, but it looks like I just assumed from the density of stars in the picture it showed me. Well at least I noticed something was a bit out of the ordinary, in my defence!

Thanks DKD!

(Oh dear oh dear oh dear...)

[KevUU]

PS I forgot to mention, I had a prickly visitor to my viewing session too. I heard a rustling in the long grass by the garden fence then out trundled a hedgehog, wandered across the lawn then was lost to the darkness. A little later it came a-crunchin over the gravel then through the hedge, out through the sweet peas and back over the lawn, off into the darkness again. Excellent!

[JamesF]

PS I forgot to mention, I had a prickly visitor to my viewing session too. I heard a rustling in the long grass by the garden fence then out trundled a hedgehog, wandered across the lawn then was lost to the darkness. A little later it came a-crunchin over the gravel then through the hedge, out through the sweet peas and back over the lawn, off into the darkness again. Excellent!

Excellent. I don't hear them about anywhere near as much as I used to. I intend to make some houses to encourage them to stay around the garden.

James

[KevUU]

Excellent. I don't hear them about anywhere near as much as I used to. I intend to make some houses to encourage them to stay around the garden.

I've seen them a few times here. I've no idea what sort of 'house' you could make them but now you mention it it's tempting. To the google!

[andrew63]

I think M11 is one of the great sights to see in a small telescope of 3 to 4 inch - yes shame it's not higher - but for me not that far of M42 for grandeur !

andrew

[Zaphod360]

I saw M11 for the first time tonight and thought it was great. In fact if I check my note book, I wrote "M11 Amazing!! Wild Duck Cluster x87.5 mag beautifully framed." Also had a prickly visitor as well, scared the life out of me as it was only about 5ft from me when I noticed it. I'll try and knock up a bit of an observing report when I can.

[Black Knight]

I've just had a look at M11 myself, though with my bins, not with a scope. I've not actually seen it before, so it's a first for me!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. It is good to be back in the saddle after such a long time (my last session with the C8 was May 25!!). M11 is special. I first mistook it for a globular with my older 15x70 bins. Only when I set up the C8 did I see its nature properly. It is a wonderfully dense open cluster.