Dark sky view of summer DSOs

[Starhoparfa]

I recently returned from a short caravan break in the Herefordshire countryside during those hot few nights in the early part of last week. We took the Skywatcher Heritage 130P which occupied very little room in the boot and also the bins. There were two very clear nights on the Sunday and the Monday so I got the chance to familarise myself properly with the Summer constellations and various DSOs which I'm pretty chuffed to have found and observed. Here's the list:-

• The Milky Way- It was amazing to finally see it arching its way acoss the sky in a dark sky site. I also enjoyed scanning its busy starfields with both scope and bins.
  
• M13 in Hercules- I could clearly make out this, my first, globular cluster and even some pin pricks of stars within
  
• The double star in Cygnus, Albireo- Wow! Those contrasting blue and amber colours blew me away
  
• The coathanger cluster just below Cygnus. This one filled the 25mm eyepiece but was good with binoculars too.
  
• The ring nebula in Lyra. This is dead easy to look for mid way between Lyra's two lower stars but I didn't expect to be able to make it out - I could clearly see a small ring with the 10mm eyepiece. Does viewing this detail indicate that our budget scope is pretty good?
  
• I also managed to see a meteorite and tracked three satellites making their way across the sky.
  

As a novice operating a 130mm Dobsonian I thought this was a pretty impressive haul. Studying the constellations in books has certainly helped in locating these objects.

A very enjoyable couple of nights anyway.

Cheers

[Naemeth]

A dark site certainly lets you get the best out of your scope! I can see the ring nebulae, but it is very faint, it's dark skies that really make the difference.

Good thing you got to find so much, well done!

[rory]

thats exellent. im just booked a few nights camping in powys where the owner assures me of really good skies (cloud aside !) .will be my first dark sky outing, and hope to view the milky way.

i see you bagged some of the best objects this time of year offers, nice one .

[Mike73]

Yep some great objects you picked out there and thanks for the great report.

[swamp thing]

A nice haul of objects you've managed there. Some real summer gems.

What can be seen with a modest aperture is often more down to the dogged determination of the observer than the limitations of the scope. I know this as I was for ever guilty of giving up to easily when I had a 4.5" newt.

Dark skies are the greatest tool any deep sky observer can ask for. You'll be very surprised what a small scope can do under them.

[andrew63]

Good to here you had a break in the weather for your trip and a nice haul of objects to wet the appetite !

andrew

[Woking]

Great review.

I find the coathanger better in the bins, it's bizzarre yet really nice asterism. Last year a comet I can't remember the name of passed right by it and it made a spectacular view in the EP.

[Double Kick Drum]

Great bunch of objects there.

Thanks for sharing.

[Starhoparfa]

Thanks all for the kind words of encouragement. Also going to Spain later this month and will take the bins. Any tips for observing - maybe in sagittarius or scorpio that should be higher up than here?

[rory]

Thanks all for the kind words of encouragement. Also going to Spain later this month and will take the bins. Any tips for observing - maybe in sagittarius or scorpio that should be higher up than here?

a chap on the forums by the handle of qualia resides somewhere that way, im sure he would give some tips my mate . have a good un by the way .

[cotterless45]

Nice, we're off to North Skye for 2 weeks, as many scopes as possible go in the car first . I addition my charts and info;

Roll on next Saturday, Nick.

[rory]

crickey nick, those notes look like they belong on one of those blackboards for super equationists .

looks like alot of observing has gone into those charts.