Back to back nights - Friday and Saturday

[Jove]

I had a couple of great nights under the stars this weekend - we've moved to a new house and I have some new views - decent to the SW and NE, and okayish elsewhere. Still in London so LP is terrible but I have learned to live with that

Friday was a low tech affair - put a blanket out in the garden, took out my binoculars and just looked up for a couple of hours. I thoroughly recommend doing this every now and again - there are no equipment hassles, no cables and lengthy set-ups just you and the sky. An unexpected benefit is (in my location at least) is that lying on the ground means that neighbours lights don't shine in your eyes so much. I had no plan - I just looked around to see what I could see.

I spotted a striking double in Cygnus, with beautiful orange and turquoise (almost green) components - it wasn't one I'd seen before and I looked it up afterwards - it was omicron Cygni. Albireo is the double in Cygnus that you hear most about, but omicron is well worth a look, especially in binoculars.

My gaze wandered through Cassiopeia - where a single bright white meteor streaked - into Perseus. I quickly found an old favourite, the Double Cluster - in my binoculars the two clusters appear quite condensed but are quite distinctly clusters, and I like how they look in the wide field of view of binoculars.

The region around Mirphak (Alpha Perseii) I found to be particularly stunning - as far as I know it's not an open cluster, but to me the region looks like one, a real jewel box of bright stars covering a few degrees of sky.

Later in the evening the Moon, Jupiter and Aldeberan rose together forming a right-angle triangle - incredible to see these together. Later, the view was enhanced as the bright stars of Auriga and Orion rose.

This was one of those nights that really gets you buzzing, relaxing and energising at the same time, it really helped get my enthusiasm levels back up after being away from observing for a while. Awesome night.

Saturday, I set my scope up too.

I revisted omicron Cygni, and to be honest found I preferred the view through with binoculars.

I had a vague plan to see some DSOs before the Moon and Jupiter rose. I started with M31, a fuzzy glow, but nice to see again. I then went looking for M33 in Triangulum. I've never looked for this before and am not really sure it can be seen with the levels of LP I have - I couldn't find it this time for sure.

Next, into Pegasus for the globular cluster M15. I found this without much difficulty, and saw a compacy glowing ball with perhaps a few stars resolving around the edges - would love to see this through a bigger scope. My last DSO was M2, a globular cluster in Aquarius. It was harder to find as there are few bright stars nearby and most of Aquarius is lost in skyglow. After some searching I found it in binoculars and used that sighting to guide the telescope. I didn't think M2 was as impressive as M15 - it looked more compact and there was no sign of individual stars being resolved. This may be partly due to it being lower in the sky.

By now Jupiter was up to I truned the scope that way. I didn't spend long looking but the moons were doing their thing and two belts were clear. I shall certainly doing a lot more observing of Jupiter this autumn, and will try to improve on the images I made last year.

All in all a decent night - two new Messier objects and a couple of old friends. M33 may have to wait for a trip to darker skies.

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing. An enjoyable read.

I go for the binocular option occasionally, especially when there are intermittent clouds.

I had a good friday session but persistent wispy clouds meant I packed up early without viewing anything on Saturday. Shame as it cleared up a bit later.

[KevUU]

Thanks for a nice read, some good successes there and it sounds like you had a good time

I can't seem to get energy and clear skies synchronised at the moment

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. Note that Mirphak is the brightest member of a cluster called Melotte 20, or the Alpha Persei Cluster, so your intuition was not wrong.

[Jove]

Nice report. Note that Mirphak is the brightest member of a cluster called Melotte 20, or the Alpha Persei Cluster, so your intuition was not wrong.

Thanks for that Michael, learn something new everyday. It is a super pretty cluster - will have to try and photograph it.