Just a small one

[jgs001]

I started out with going to watch an Iridium Flare (and take a picture)... I saw several other satellites and a couple of transient meteors too, then the flare, and at -7.2 was good and bright. I was joined by my youngest and was talking to some friends up the road on the phone at the same time so they could see it to. Then, a second flare, at the same magnitude, and a few more satellites and a couple more transients... it sure was busy tonight.

Having done that, I got out the Astrotrac for some imaging, possibly only the second or third time this year... Whilst that was running, I had a good look around with my Binos... All the faves, double cluster, Mirphak association, Kemble's Cascade, M31, Brochis Cluster, a meander around Cassie and up across the milky way into Cygnus. At that time, the band of the MW was nice and clear with faint hints of darkness in amongst the band. And it was still quite warm too... However, the orange murk was up to about 20 to 30 degrees, and continued to climb until just now when the band of the MW was no longer visible amongst it.

[JamesF]

Sounds like a fun evening. I've been doing much the same whilst collecting subs with the Mak. I've been unable to decide if M33 is a naked eye object with averted vision, so I think I might opt for "not" for the moment. It's been quite warm here too. I only put a coat on over my t-shirt about half an hour ago.

James

[jgs001]

Sounds fun too.. I did similar last night, same targets... only this time I also got my ST80 out of storage... however, as I was already using my heavy tripod for the Astrotrac, I was limited to a small ball head on a travel pod.. not a good combination... a small ball head is a major pain with a telescope...