Town targets under bright sky.

[cotterless45]

Just setting up after quarter to ten , when glanced south and a lovely bright fireball shot by and fizzled out. There's a pic and other sightings on widefield. The sky was lightly glowing with light pollution , the background was like pea soup. Little point in faint hunting !

Had a look at Saturn, absolutely crystal definition to the rings and surface at x200 up. It was like sitting in a planetarium and up comes Saturn and moons.

In Canes Venatici NGC4631 showed the elongated shape of " The Whale Galaxy" , this is bright at magnitude 9.8 and worth finding, as was NGC5005 also at x40.

In Coma Bernices NGC4565 at x40 is a beautiful edge on spiral as good as most Messiers.I also found the bright NGC4494.

Ophiuchus had risen in the east enough to show the globular clusters M14, M10 and M12 and the stunning planetary nebula NGC6572 , "The Blue Raquetball". I was itching to get further down into the Antares, but led by the Yeds all floated off into town glare. The best black sky was overhead so I had a search for doubles instead of fighting the zenith. Although M81 showed more detail than ever.

d1 and d2 Lyrae are a lovely pair of 90 degree doubles at x200. Beta Lyrae at x125 showed the bright main star in this multiple group. I found the other double double Struve 2470/74 , beautiful parallel pairs. M56 was a bit washed out, but don't forget this tight globular.

There are some stunners in Hercules, delta at x125 showed a bright main with a faint companion. 100 Herculis looks like an equal pair of cat's eyes at x125. Then onto

Serpens, quick view of M5 , 49 Serpentis was clear at x160, close then. Struve 2007 was a bit wider.

Had a shot at 39 , after all that try for 39 after all the info on it:http://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/category/4-choose-a-constellation/serpens/

Plenty to keep busy with here.

After 1 in the morning, I found M11 faint and low in Serpens, one of the best open clusters later on.

A look out at 3.30 showed mighty Cygnus overhead.

Above with 4" refractor and an evening not spent chasing the unseeable in the glare of town. Hoping for

clear skies,

Nick.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Very nice report.

Ive never really looked at doubles before apart from the obvious ones.

[WaveSoarer]

NGC 4565 is one of my favourites. I managed to get a nice image of it too.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. Shows that a lot can be seen in suboptimal conditions.

[DMA]

Hello

As said nice report.

Can anyone recommend a good book dedicated to things you can see from

a light polluted urban location.

Dave

[cotterless45]

Think there's a gap in the market here. Most books assume that folk observe under pristine skies and a few just include Hubble type images ,

Nick.

[Qualia]

Can anyone recommend a good book dedicated to things you can see from

a light polluted urban location.

Mollise's Urban Astronomers Guide is a useful and informative read. It's not perfect but is a decent enough guide for general readers, especially for those using an 8" or so in the city.

Other great resources you might want to check out are as follows:

Urban Observing Program

Suburban Observing

Urban Skies

Doubles

Astro League's Observing Programs

I hope that gets the ball rolling.

- - - - - -

Cotterless, thank you for writing up these reports. They are a fantastic resource and a huge help and inspiration

[Special K]

Nice report Nick, and thanks for pointing out the other double double; that requires my immediate attention! Doubles are definitely something one can get enjoyment from when the skies are only fair.

[DMA]

Thanks Qualia I will investigate your recommendations.

Dave