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What a night!


mitchelln

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It was the clearest night here in Dorset for weeks and I'm so glad I got the scope out. Had the best galaxy views so far.

Turned into an all nighter. Did a big sky tour taking in the Andromeda Galaxy, M33 Pinwheel, M39, M34, M13, M31, M82, + 82, M15, M2, M92, M27 Dumbbell, M51 Whirlpool, M32, NGC 7009 Saturn Nebula, NGC 6543 Cat's Eye, M57 Ring Nebula and finishing on NGC 7662 Blue Snowball.

I also viewed Almach and Albireo double stars for the first time. A real "wow" moment.

Particular highlights were the M11 Wild Duck Cluster at high power and NGC869 Double Cluster was simply stunning with my Baader 2" 31mm Aspheric. Both real "wow" moments :)

Also got to see Uranus and Neptune for the first time. Not sure if I saw moons or if they were other stars.

Did most of the viewing with my Baader 8-24mm with 2" UHC-S filter attached. This setup is a joy to use as you can go wide field to high power with just a twist. Saves loads of time and significantly reduces the mishap probability ;) The image quality is right up there with my Hyperion orthos.

Last night really drove home how enjoyable and awe inspiring this pastime is. Clears skies are definitely worth the wait!

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Nice report. I love those kind of nights. Surprised you had such great views with the moon out. It should be better when it's properly dark!!!

Barry

Yes, I avoided targets near the moon and caught Uranus and Neptune early on. Fingers crossed for the weekend!

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Last night really drove home how enjoyable and awe inspiring this pastime is. Clears skies are definitely worth the wait!

Glad to here you had a great time. M 11 is the business, ain't it :smiley: Has to be one of favourites. With the Moon up this week I also tried for Neptune and Uranus, no more than blips of light but a joy to see.

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A night like that rewards our patience of waiting sometimes weeks for a clear few hours. 

Most definitely :) I was tempted to break the camera out, but I'm glad I just spent the time on a sky safari instead. Also gave me a chance to compare my various eyepieces with Almach, M11 and NGC869.

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I am still amazed how much light the 300P gathers.  I wondered whether it was complete overkill when I first got it, but now I'm glad I risked it.

Forgot to say that the moon was fabulous as well ;) It was shielded behind a line of trees to start with, so I didn't ruin my night vision looking at it.

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I found last night good as well and incredibly mild temperatures. Early on I concentrated on the area in and around Cassiopeia and then noticed how dark the Southern sky was, did someone turn off the lights, was it mist rising from the Thames ? Either way I got some great views of Uranus, M2, M30 and a few others, Neptune though was poor. Later on I just concentrated on the moon which was fantastic along the terminator line with both 100x and 188x magnification. 

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You know it's a good one when it turns into an 'all nighter'.  Nice one ;)

I remember that one night looking at Jupiter for the first time a month or more back, suddenly the sky was somewhat brighter, oh well I thought, no need to even go to bed anymore :D

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