Finally a two more Messiers bagged.

[TractionMan]

Got a nice session last night. The first one for quite some time. Although the sky won't get really dark this time of year it's nice to be outside with the scope and relax for a bit. Made a short list prior to going out consisting of eight Messiers of which three of them were new to me. While I waited for the scope to cool down, I noticed a beautiful display of noctilucent clouds. Unfortunately I didn't bring my DSLR this time. Then it was time for some DSO hunting. Decided to go for the familiar M13 first. Easily found and beautiful as always. Next up was M92 which was new to me and I've somehow had trouble to locate it before. But now I found it quite fast. Spent some time going back and forth between M92 and M13 to compare them. Now I have no idea why it was so difficult to find M92 earlier. Then I went for M57. Not sure if it was lack of contrast in the sky or bad seeing, but it didn't "pop out" as much as it has done previoulsy. Nice to spend some time on nevertheless. M27 was my next target and was found pretty easy as well. Same as with M57, it didn't quite "pop out" as much as it has done earlier. Next it was time to try to bag Another Messier, M71. Although it was pretty easy find the spot were it was supposed to be, it wasn't as easy to actually see it. Tried averted vision as well as tapping the scope. After a while I did notice a dim, fussy spot. Double checked the Pocket Sky Atlas and the Telrad view and it should be right on target. Spent more time with averted vision and I did see a tad bit more, but not that much more. Quite different from M13 and M92 but then again it is quite a bit dimmer than those according to Stellarium. Changing EP's to gain a bit more contrast didn't help at all. At least not to my eyes. M31 was my next target. Easy to find and very faint. I was hoping to be able to bag M32 as well as get a glimpse of M110 but unfortunatly it was a no go this time. Although I spotted M110 for a second but I'm really not sure so I won't count that.

To sum it all up, Messiers observed thisn session:

M13

M92 (new to me)

M57

M27

M71 (new to me)

M31

Failed attempts:

M32

M110

As a bonus, another fine display of NLC's when I packed up at the end of the session.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Very nice collection you got yourself there.

I too had trouble finding M92 the first time i looked for it, really did struggle for alot of goes before i found it (i assume it was what i found), but then again, i had trouble finding M13 the first time too

Thanks for sharing.

[AndyWB]

I've had the same experience with M71 - that I'm sure I'm pointing at it (thank you SkySafari), but that all I can see is a faint fuzzy spot when I'd tap the scope, and yes, that was after finding M13, M57, M56 (did you miss M56?), and M27 too.

I've not had a good view of M71 yet; I think maybe it needs somewhere dark?

[AlexB67]

That's a nice collection I didn't see M32 either, or not that I can say for sure. I did see M110 one night last week though.

M32 is so close to M31, I imagine it gets easily washed out by it.

[WaveSoarer]

That's a great report and thanks for sharing,

[WaveSoarer]

Incidentally, I found M71 to be quite tricky too. I think that the conditions are really important and I had issues seeing it with my scope, though M13, M97 and the dumbbell were all easy to see on the same nights. Under a very dark sky I could pick it out quite easily with my binoculars. It's been quite hazy recently and this wont help.

[AlexB67]

That's a nice collection I didn't see M32 either, or not that I can say for sure. I did see M110 one night last week though.

M32 is so close to M31, I imagine it gets easily washed out by it.

I meant the reverse there. I saw M32 more likely checking my sketch. I was thinking Newtonian, upside down plus that would make sense in terms of size and magnitude.

Another late one, first night, in spite of the moon and skies were quite decent. Visited some oldies, M57 looked impressive, really beginning to appreciate that one, the ring was clearly there in the 8mm, though small, well defined, like a doughnut also saw the coathanger for the first time, M71 was there, though I have seen it more clearly.

I did notice this late I expect M34, M35 should be coming in view above my house, I always check stellarium afterwards what I may have missed. I will be trying for those soon. bedtime some good views, and it was nice and cool in a T shirt at this time of night

[swamp thing]

M110 is much further away from M31 than M32, and can seem pretty removed from it when observing from so so skies at low powers. From dark skies M31 grows enormous as the outer arms become visible and the distance between the two shrinks considerably.

From urban LP skies M110 is a pretty tough spot.

M71 is a pretty tough object to resolve properly needing moderate sized scopes, and fairly dark skies to be seen well.

Well done, and nice report

[TractionMan]

I've had the same experience with M71 - that I'm sure I'm pointing at it (thank you SkySafari), but that all I can see is a faint fuzzy spot when I'd tap the scope, and yes, that was after finding M13, M57, M56 (did you miss M56?), and M27 too.

I've not had a good view of M71 yet; I think maybe it needs somewhere dark?

I overlooked M56 when making my list apparently. Will go for it on my next session though.

[TractionMan]

M110 is much further away from M31 than M32, and can seem pretty removed from it when observing from so so skies at low powers. From dark skies M31 grows enormous as the outer arms become visible and the distance between the two shrinks considerably.

From urban LP skies M110 is a pretty tough spot.

M71 is a pretty tough object to resolve properly needing moderate sized scopes, and fairly dark skies to be seen well.

Well done, and nice report

I've only caught a glimpse of M110 one time. But when the sky is getting darker I'll make some more attempts on both M110 and M32. I intend to find a good dark place as well.

[cotterless45]

If you get to a pristine dark sky site, then you're in for shock. Just by eye constellations are hard to pick out and the larger fainter deep sky galaxies and nebulae as well as clusters are easily picked out,

Nick.

[TractionMan]

If you get to a pristine dark sky site, then you're in for shock. Just by eye constellations are hard to pick out and the larger fainter deep sky galaxies and nebulae as well as clusters are easily picked out,

Nick.

That's a shock I really don't mind getting! When/if I get to a pristine dark sky.

[AlexB67]

That's a shock I really don't mind getting! When/if I get to a pristine dark sky.

Likewise . I had another go last night around M31, but try as I may no M110, also failed with M35, but added M39, M22 ( While very faint and close to the moon, but luckily the moon vanished behind a house at that time ). M39 was not that exciting, in my scope anyway but M34, a nice new one, plus a few nice new NGCs were bagged also on route to M39. Another prodcutive night, that sort of 1:00 - 2:30 AM is beginning to provide some decent views. Totally forgot in all that session that Neptune should also be visible somewhere, must give that a whirl too Yet to see another planet besides Saturn, assuming we are not counting earth that I see everyday

[AndyWB]

Yet to see another planet besides Saturn, assuming we are not counting earth that I see everyday

You could try for Venus - It's low - about 10 degrees - just after sunset. It might be a bit dull, to be honest, but it is another planet.

[AlexB67]

Unfortunately that side of my garden is blocked to see that low. I should perhaps consider taking a wander up the road. Not far away there is a spot I can get some quite good panoramic views.

[Hobbes]

I grabbed this image at the end of an imaging session on Friday. I have only just got going on imaging so I'm getting some single exposure shots of objects to get an idea of what would be nice targets to devote some time to. I did a 3 minute exposure of M31 just to check that I had it in frame and was pleased to find that I had M32 and M110 as well. It's not a brilliant image by the standards of most on here but just gives a good idea of the relative brightness's and separations of these 3 objects.

[cotterless45]

Nooooooo! It's another sneaker imager trying to drag more of us over to the Dark Side !

Nick.

[kerrylewis]

BTW cotterless, which are your missing Messiers? I'm thinking that they have got to be the trickiest!

Kerry

[Hobbes]

Nooooooo! It's another sneaker imager trying to drag more of us over to the Dark Side !

Nick.

Panic not Nick I haven't gone over to the dark side yet . Having just got a new mount I'm having a little play with taking piccies - Serious imaging is still an activity for the future. I just spent a long time in the past unsure if I had seen all three of these or not and this picture shows their relative positions and brightness's well.