March 30th-31st Clear and brrrrrrrr!

[cotterless45]

Great excitement, Moon rise in the early hours and a forecast to get set up before dark and carry on through until the clocks changed . A couple of old throws on the ground will stop frost from rising up the feet.

Jupiter kicked off just before twilight,with a shadow / surface mark on the Southern Hemisphere, although now bowing out , it's still mesmerising .

Then up to Gemini, The Eskimo planetary nebula, quite detailed halo and just a bit better than most pn's. M35 and NGC2158 now bright and glowing. The Galactic Wanderer NGC2419 found with 2 stars pointing and a gentle glow from the most distant object in our galaxy.

Ursa Major climbing one side and Leo the other, Arcturus just rising, later Vega and a line between them catches the arc of Corona Borealis and Hercules.

Cor Corioli is the door to Canes Venatici, a lovely double, just between this and Chara is the glow of M94.

Between M63 and a bright M106 find "la Superba" brightly glowing , I see this as light orange, but it's very beautiful stand alone star.Then onto the brightest galaxies here: picked out at x58,, NGC5005, NGC5005,

NGC4490 a bright spiral, NGC4631 a humped whale shape, NGC4656, NGC4449 ( bung a load of mag on this)

The Leo triplet is glowing and I found M95 group under the lion's belly.A wide view shows a mass of galaxies between Leo and Vindemiatrix.

Then onto the darker Coma Bernices signalled by the Melotte111. The Needle galaxy NGC4565 is worth seeking out for it's bright very elongated form.NGC4725 and NGC4631 were bright as was M64, then over to M53 on the way to M3 and Bootes.

Try Alkalurops (Mu) a lovely triple group, two close stars that I split at x240, plenty other doubles here, Izar (orange/blue), the wide Asellus Secundus, pi 2, Xi and 44Boo.

Then onto Hercules and a lovely M92 at x150 showing chains of bright stars leading from the centre. Some lovely doubles here, the cutest being the glowing pair of eyes 100 Herculis, rho separated at x130, Rasgethi, gamma,kappa and 95 Herculis. NGC6229 is a tiny Globular , worth finding as is the easy planetary NGC6210 blinking under Hercules.

Saturn had risen over the fence at 10.30 , now a few hours later it outshone Spica to the left.Waning Moon glow lightened the sky , deep sky was gone. Saturn was crystal and very stable at x300, no filters, just the Cassini all the way round, shadows of the open rings and the storm belt on the surface. I sat stunned changing ep's to get the clearest view, it is very beautiful and full of what I see as green shades.

A lovely lovely night, long overdue, very much appreciated.I live on the edge of town with streetlights and security lights, observing is possible ! The best thing that I saw was a lovely V of seagulls flying in the dark lit up underneath ! Ice formed on the ota's and the ground got rock hard, a throw on the ground makes some difference and might save a dropped ep.

Hope that you'll get cracking as we spring into shorter and hopefully

clear skies,Nick.

[kerrylewis]

Nice report.

i didn't find the seeing so good for Saturn at around 3ish BST. The Cassini came and went but maybe the scope needed to cool more but then the clouds came back.

Still, good to get some clear skies as you say. Same tonight?

[cotterless45]

"Scope Nights ". are giving it clear for the next few nights, mind you we've not had the Beeb ruin it, yet !

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report of a great night under the stars, Nick. Lovely set of objects captured.

[Mattscar]

Nick, which part of Swadlincote are you observing from? Im up in Castle Gresley myself.

[KevUU]

Blimey Nick, that's a good session. Good haul, thanks for the recommendations too.

If only I could have got out last night, although it wasn,t clear here pre-midnight but I suspect it must have cleared after.

Are you sleeping the day away ready to do it all again tonight?!?

[mjpfc]

Nice report Nick

It cleared on the Island just after Midnight so I went out into the Garden to try and see M68/m83 as they pass though a gap in the buildings to

the south of me ( I look at the Low messiers each year as they pass across this Gap, Usually finish with either M75 or M30 around mid June)

The moon was too near for these two so I had a look at LEO and observed 7, MAG 12 Members of Abell 1367, though these were only just

seeable in the sky and no details were visible. I think I cought the combined glow of Copelands Septet but that could just have been my eyes

telling me what they know should be up there.

To finish at around 3 BST I had a look at some high messiers, 13, 92, 56 and 57 all of which stood out well despite the moon getting higher.

Tried to see the Comet to the North, but it is too low above or just behind the roofs in that direction and I was getting too cold by then to walk across town.

Skies could be clear this evening so I'll get out early and set up towards the Northwest for sunset.

Clear skies Mick IOW

[Special K]

Great excitement, indeed, and a great report. You made it all sound so effortless and well prepared.....that's a sure sign of experience!!

These sessions are well overdue and thankfully there has been some cloud break. I had a short session Saturday night and found it refreshing just to piece the constellations together. With the moon coming up, it was wise to move quickly on the DSO's. I was on the double star trail, but had another look at M13 using the Barlow. A treat!!! My manual collimating recently has made a real difference. Looking forward to another shot at Saturn. You posted several months ago that it wouldn't disappoint, and how true that was!

Clear skies!

[Double Kick Drum]

Very nice. The Hockey Stick, the Needle, the Whale and the Galactic Wanderer plus a whole host of others. A very productive evening!

At last, there seems to be some action in the observation section of SGL.

No joy for me but tonight is looking promising.

[scarp15]

Inspirational read, I was fortunate to be out joining my local astro club. Totally invigorating to get a chance to go out after such a long absent period. Some interesting suggestions that I will note for next time.