Best session in a while 1 April 2012

[webboid]

I went to our local dark site with a couple of other observer friends. Arrived about 8.30 so wasn't quite dark enough yet. After setting up spent a bit of time on Jupiter then Orion nebula. This gave me a chance to try out my new 11mm Nagler. Very impressive, even though my scope had not cooled properly. Nebulosity every where. So a very satisfactory start.

The plan was galaxies in Ursa Major, Canes Venatici & Leo. I had already viewed several of my targets from my back garden in less favourable conditions so was hoping for better views. I was not disappointed. It was getting pretty dark by now & one of my friends asked what was a fuzzy patch he could see naked eye. We noted it to be M44. As we scanned around other clusters were easy naked eye too. I have not much experience observing from proper dark sites but this was awesome. So much easier to navigate with so many stars visible.

On to Leo. I had not seen the Leo Triplet from home only M65 & M66. So that was my first target. Easy to locate. Roughly halfway between Chertan & Iota. A small adjustment at the ep & there were the two galaxies. At 54x they were delightful. But still no sign of NGC 3628. I would have to return to this location later with better dark adaption maybe. Off to revisit NGC 2903 at the top of the sickle. Oddly this did not seem as good as the view I had at home. Back to the middle of Leo. Looking for M105. I failed to spot this at home. I lined my red dot finder in roughly the right area in between 52 & 53 Leonis,which were visible naked eye! Then using my wide field low mag 32mm ep had a scan. There seemed to be a lot of fuzzy patches. Eventually I got my bearings & homed in on M105. To my surprise it had a companion NGC 3384. I wasn't expecting that so that was another lovely sight to see. On to M95 & M98. Both fitted in the same FOV at 54x just. Very nice pair with hints of detail. I returned to Leo triplet to be rewarded with the three galaxies in the ep. NGC 3628 was much further away than I expected so I must remember for next time.

On to Canes Venatici where I revisited NGC 4490 & M94. Much better views than at home. Interesting how M94 could easily be mistaken as a small globular cluster. Then on to M106. I had never seen this before & was quite impressive.

Finally over to Ursa Major. Had several targets in mind but it was getting late & we were cold. So I just managed to view M81 & M82. Two of my favourite at the moment. Tried out my 11mm Nagler on M82. Very good indeed. Dark lanes seen in the middle too. Finally over to M101. Quite a large face on galaxy which I was able to see a hint of spiral structure with averted vision.

Brilliant session & great sharing with my friends.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report of a wonderful session. I visited M106 yesterday evening too, and it is a stunner, isn't it. There are quite a few smaller fuzzies well within range of you 200P surrounding it, BTW. It is a very rich area of the sky.

[webboid]

Thanks Michael. I read your report too great session for you as well.

I plan on looking more in Ursa Major so thanks for the advice.

[KevUU]

Sounds like a really nice session - dark sky and friends, what more do you need?

Cheers for posting.