Finally, Nexstar 6SE alignment worked

[deckardbr]

Finally, happy to report on a good, albeit short because of dew, observing session.

Leveraging the advice from this user:

I finally managed to do a proper align, and to use the precise-go-to features. The objects kept appearing in the middle of the eyepiece during the 2 hour session. It felt good

Location: Hamstead Heath, London (Observatory)

Started easy asking my scope to slew to jupiter. It worked. Then pointed to M45, and those are as beautiful as ever.

Then went to look at M31 at low power. It looked faint, as I expected. But I could clearly see the core, and an ellipsoid of faint light surrounding it.

I then targeted M57 (ring nebula) at low power. I could clearly make out the slightly oblong shape and marked outer ring. I then tried with higher power (15mm), and could see a bigger ring, but so faint I thought it was a mirage.

Looked at M15 next (globular cluster). It looked like an out of focus star, among sharp nearby stars. Not much more detail than that.

Following the advice of a local astronomer, I looked at NGC 884. Really cool double cluster! And then closed out with M34 (open cluster) and Albireo (my first double star).

I tried looking at the triangulum galaxy M33... but couldn't see anything at all. Since the goto had been successful up to that point, I assume it was just too dim for me to make out.

Anyway, all in all, happy. I'm getting the vibe that in central london I need to explore double stars and open clusters more, since they are very good to look at. And leave nebulae and galaxies for darker skies.

Thanks for all the advice on this board!

Andrea

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Sounds like a very productive night. Nice Report

Matt