Observing report 16/02/2013

[Hobbes]

Despite have a huge to do list this weekend as we are getting ready for 2 weeks of building work on the house I snatched an hour and a half on Saturday night to take my binoculars out for a quick session. This was the first proper outing for my Helios Quantum4 25x100 mounted on the Virgo Skymount I have recently acquired.

First off I have to say that this is a lovely combination and the most enjoyable bino viewing experience I’ve had. The parallelogram mount made getting the bins in a comfortable position really easy I had none of the usual back and neck ache that I’m used to getting after using a Tripod for a while.

Star hopping was easier and even with the tighter FOV I tracked down objects faster than I could with my 20x80’s. The Quantum4’s gave a crisp sharp image over the majority of the FOV and this with the extra light gathering made for some great views.

Despite the location have a bit of light pollution I managed a nice view of the Seagull Nebula – a first for me and I was pleased to be able to easily resolve the Trapezium stars in M42

As the session progressed the bins started to get a bit fogged up and I moved onto some of the brighter objects.

As you can see from the list I hopped around a fair bit and didn’t spend too much time on any one object. My favourite of the night was M46 & M47 which both fitted nicely in the FOV and made a very pretty sight with the fine dense granularity of M46 contrasting beautifully with the bright openness of M47.

• Messier 41
  
• Messier 50
  
• Seagull Nebula - IC 2177
  
• NGC 2360
  
• Messier 47
  
• Messier 46
  
• Messier 93
  
• Beehive Cluster - Messier 44
  
• Messier 67
  
• Leo I - UGC 5470
  
• Messier 65
  
• Messier 66
  
• Messier 95
  
• Messier 105
  
• Orion Nebula - Messier 42
  
• Pleiades - Messier 45
  
• Starfish Cluster - Messier 38
  
• Pinwheel Cluster - Messier 36
  
• Messier 37
  
• Messier 35
  
• Double Cluster - NGC 869
  
• NGC 1502 and Kembles Cascade