Uh-oh those summer nights!

[kerrylewis]

My mount has been fixed by FLO so I was keen to take advantage of a the first forecast clear night for a while. But these summer nights are not easy are they? With the light skies and a near full moon (super or otherwise) you have to pick your targets. Saturn was good until it disappeared behind the roof. Not excellent seeing but god enough for glimpses of Cassini and some detail on the disc. Nice grouping of moons too. Then what? Faint fuzzies are obviously out but the Ring and Blinking nebulae were not bad. The Hercules clusters are good value too - not so stunning as on a darker night but still worth a long look. I always wonder what the night skies must be like for some being lucky enough to live on a planet circling one of those suns.

Doubles are still good of course. Checked out Albireo as stunning as ever and the Double Double was nice and bright. Called it a night about 1.30 when the big yellow moon started to appear over the garage roof and a thin veil of cloud slid in from the west,

Not as stunning as those Orion filled winter skies perhaps but still satisfying - and warmer!

Good to be behind the eyepiece again

Kerry

[Matt Scunthorpe]

They certainly are tricky. Tonight is forecast to be clear, around here at least. So may just take the camera out rather than the scope as it is a work night also. I do fancy trying to shoot star trials so may experiement with that tonight.

At least you still got alot of good views in. The Moon itself is a brilliant sight.

[ronin]

What gets me is that every year we are surprised by them. :eek:

[Matt Scunthorpe]

But then we have a winter to forget about them

[Naemeth]

I thoroughly enjoyed just panning around the sky and a brief Moon gaze last night, although it was still low in the sky even at 2:00am. Searching for any faint objects around the city seemed almost pointless, but I added M26 . I saw M13, although it was nowhere near as impressive as it is on a darker night, and M57 was barely visible.

[ollypenrice]

You don't have to go far south to find darkness. Here in the south of France we get a minimum of about four hours when moonless. This always surprises me.

Glad you're back in business.

Olly

[cotterless45]

Try double stars, doesn't have to dead dark or moonless,

http://astronomy.eaglecreekobservatory.org/doubles/cyg.html

For which we'll need

clear skies,

Nick.

[kerrylewis]

I agree, doubles for me. I think I'll start with those that I ticked off as a lad - see my Norton's post in the Astro Lounge

[Paul M]

Those summer nights!!

Tell me more, tell me more....

[Matt Scunthorpe]

How much dough he did spend?

Too much

[kerrylewis]

Oh wel-a well- a

I was wondering if anyone recognised the ref! I think I'm still a little bit in love with Olivia Neutron Bomb

[Paul M]

Oh wel-a well- a

I was wondering if anyone recognised the ref! I think I'm still a little bit in love with Olivia Neutron Bomb

Love it

In my case she arrived on the scene at a very delicate time for a boy of a certain age!

I'm sure she is the reason I flunked school

But those were some summers!!

I remember climbing up on our old out building (well it was attached to the house. The bottom part was a coal bunker and the top part was a pantry) during the school holidays and watching the summer stars slowly pierce the twilight!

That was my observatory for many years. My sister's bedroom window was just along side so my observing would be accompanied by loud music!

I knew quite a lot of the lyrics from Grease back then

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I think even at the tender age of 22, i could sing along to most of the grease songs lol.