NGC2215; Monoceros, a cluster packed with stars.

[cotterless45]

Crystal night, goodbye to Cygnus, sinking in the east in the early hours and hello Monoceros.Vixen 102 on Heq5pro was busy;

To the right of the fabulous Beta (triple) is NGC2215, this is well packed and still pretty at x100. There's ahost of clusters around this area;

NGC2244, set in the Rosette nebula (NGC2237), lovely at x40 with a UHC filter. Even a light pollution filter will boost the view.

NGC2264, the Christmas tree cluster with some nebulosity.

I had a look at the 37 cluster(NGC2169) in the crook of Orion's arm , but clear at x100.

Orion is getting high and the nebulae, Trapezium,Sigma Orionis and NGC1981 were all superb.

Taurus was high and the clusters NGC1647 and NGC1746 are worth a look.M1 was the same fuzz as usual.

What was surprising was that a swing over to Bode's showed them the brightest that I'd seen this year. They even took x100 with pleasing views of granulation.

A quick look at Jupiter at 5am showed the missing moon just rising on the rim and a load of band detail at x160.A look at NGC891 on the night tour showed how clear the seeing was.Also had a neck crane at Eta Cass and the fabulous Iota Cass.

It got down to 2 degrees C, quite cold on the crocs, but what a clear gorgeous night, neat.

Madame's hitting the shops for Xmas shopping today, I'll have a snooze in the car.

Nick.

[Double Kick Drum]

Another great report. You must have been out very late (or started really early).

How easy would you say the Rosette comes out with UHC filter?

I tried last year without and could only see the cluster.

Clear skies!

[cotterless45]

All down to seeing conditions,nebulosity will improve, but don't bother with a UHC below 8" of aperture.

Last super view was in the New Forest, seems a bit tame compared to the view from town.It's on a list for the newbies to see at the next meet.

Last night the sky was awful, but started to clear at 10. I hot footed around, got all the gear together, opened the back door to a cold shower.

Went to bed and woke up at 2am in a planetarium, nice,

Nick.

[SwampStar]

'Don't bother with a UHC filter below 8" of aperture.'

Is that in general, or just for the Rosette?

[Double Kick Drum]

I have used one in a five inch refractor with positive results on the Veil, Orion and a few other nebulae. I did read that the benefits at lower apertures are not as significant as in larger scopes.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Nick a very nice report - I don't think I could stay up that late.

I would say that the other night I used a 2" Skywatcher UHC filter on a William Optics SD66 with my Nagler 26mm EP. I had a 5 degree + FOV and saw the North American Nebula and both parts of the Veil - so its worth trying these filters on smaller scopes.

Mark

[andrew63]

A good read as usual. I have never used filters and did wonder except for a few objects of the value - they rob you of light and in a small scope that's the last think you want when in at the deep end...

andrew