A Beautiful night with the Quantum 7.4's

[mike.brightmore]

A second crystal clear night so I panned the Universe with the Q 7.4s and DSOs just jumped out at me. I don't often get good transparency towards the Southern horizon but not even the street lights could spoil it tonight. M11 the Wild Duck cluster was magnificent with the left pointing chevron of stars clearly evident. I could make out the outline of the upside down swan in the Omega Nebula (M17) and the Eagle Nebula (M16) was clearly visible. The globular clusters in Ophiucus (M10, M12 and the slightly fainter M14) were a rare delight in Bins. Globulars M15 and M2 were brilliant but M13 at 50x magnification was a show stopper The other Hercules globular M92 also stood out. I could just make out the Ring in M57 at 25x and at 50x it was obvious. The nearby small globular M56 was also clearly visible. M31, 81 and 82 showed their shapes and the open clusters in Cassiopeia were delightful. The shape of the Dumbbell in M27 was clear. Finished off by observing Uranus which at 50x magnification showed its greenish coloured disc.