3-4th July , super viewing.

[cotterless45]

The season begins ! A bit of patience brought a wonderfully dark and clear sky. The Milky Way was broad through Cygnus heading off into Cassiopeia.nnot bad from the edge of town.

By 2.30 Deneb was overhead and all of Pegasus was up pointing to outer Taurus and Capella in the north. It was lovely to see Cassiopeia so high and full of lovely clusters.

If you've noticed a long group following Cygnus , it's Lacerta. No drama here, but two good clusters,

NGC7243 being nicely full and a tad nicer than the naked eye NGC7209.

Then on to a higher M11, the Wild Duck cluster. This resolved at x150, the refractor showing deep clumps of stars. It's worth making every effort to see this beautiful flying group in Scutum. It's so bright you can crank it up.

Just before 1am I had my first ever view of M22. There's a thrill when you've read about something and then find it. How good and big is this beauty ? My southern view is nicely lit up by a town scared of the dark, but there it was.

Then onto M8, the cluster NGC6530 is inside the nebulosity which wasn't possible to view with lp. Time for trip further south. I did however gladly spot the globular M28.

Then onto the stunning Blue Snowball NGC7662, for a blue snowball it is easy to spot in the field at x50, then just crank it upto absorb this beauty of a pn.

Onto NGC7009, the well shaped and named Saturn nebula, you 'll need to crank it up. To me it looks like a flying saucer sweet (candy), but good to see the shape in lp.

The rest of the time was spent on M31, Cassiopeia , Serpens and Ophiuchus. What a stunning time , hopefully the beginning of the season. For which we'll be needing clear skies.

Oh, if you wear you pyjamas under your summer arctic gear then you can quickly get back in bed. I could hardly sleep thinking about how lucky we are to see such wonders,

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice to hear you had such a good time. Reports have been few and far between lately.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Very nice report. As Michael said, there hasnt been many reports lately, ive been slacking too on that front.

We had nothing but cloud here last night each time i poked my head around the door.

[cs1cjc]

A truly memorable evening here with the ED120, though it never really got dark. It looked cloudy good earlier so I did not put out a Newtonian to cool, but in the end there were only odd wisps of cloud to dodge around. Now Saturn is further to the West I was able to pick that up and then went on to ring nebula, but was frustrated by cloud. Went over to Ursa Major before it got too low and had good views of M81 and M82. I was able to pick up M63 (Sunflower) but was not able to make anything of M51 or M101 (Whirlpool and Pinwheel). Cassiopea was rising and went to the double cluster and then Andromeda for the first time this summer, but M110 was not apparent so did not try for M33. After this the guide stars for the Ring Nebula were visible and was able to pick it up with little trouble. The square of the Hercules was apparent and I spent some time on the globular clusters M13 and M92. I then had a look at the veil but it was very faint without filter. I finished up with M29, M56 and some double stars, and came in, for once not because of cold for once but because I was being bitten by insects.

[Astro Imp]

Great report there Nick, your enthusiasm comes screaming through.