Very quick peep

[Nick Steele]

It's the first properly cloudless night we've had in St. Helens for a very long time, as far as I can remember. The first one I've been able to make use of, at least.

My telescope's a bit out of whack at the moment (Definitely out of collimation and I'm pretty sure one of the mirror clips is overtightened - Don't worry, I'll come asking for collimation help soon enough

I had a quick look around to the west, with the aim of spotting M36, 37 and 38. After I'd figured out which stars were auriga and capella, to orient myself, I'm pretty sure I managed to see M36 and M38 - Two dense starfields, right next to one another. No such luck with M37 though. This time.

Fluch with success, I though I'd chance my luck with M34. Same drill as before, find stars to orient myself, then try and work out where to go from there. Sadly, I didn't manage to pick M34 out. There are a few reasons for this; there's a little more light pollution to the west, I'd accidentally partially dazzled myself with my tablet, trying to use some astronomical app or other, or I wasn't sure quite what I was looking for. What I did see was a single bright point of light moving north-south across my FoV that wasn't visible to (my) naked eye. I'm guessing this was a satellite, which is pretty cool.

To wrap up, I went back to something I'd spotted previously. If you draw an imaginary line from δ Cas. (Ruchbah) and a Pers. (Mirphak), there's a great double cluster. Stellarium says it's NGC 884 and 869. Absolutely stunning stuff.

Not bad for 20 minutes

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice little session. Bins are just fantastic for such impromptu stargazing

[Space Dragon]

The Double Cluster is a wonder, I spend hours on it in both 15x70s and the SCT and binoviewers.

If you like the Auriga clusters, try M44 The Beehive Cluster, if you haven't already, on good nights you can spot it naked eye.

[BinocularSky]

Next time you go to the Double Cluster, take a little diversion to this.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Stock 2 is nice. It is overshadowed a bit by the double cluster, but once you have picked it up you wonder how on earth you missed it