M41 and a crystal morning.Hurrah !

[cotterless45]

Out of the pit for 1.30. No fireworks or smoke but a lovely dark windy crystal night, least there was no dew. Kicked off with Gemini, M35 at x48 being gloriously chain sparkly. Then onto a few other clusters including NGC 2129, a compact with a pair of eyes.

IC 2157 a busy chain of dim stars.

NGC 2158 dainty to the side of M35. Then a few galaxies in Gemini

NGC 2339 by averted and brighter NGC 2274, NGC 2418 both with bright cores and NGC 2365 by averted. I go left or right to avert , it seems to work.

Then the lovely greenly blue Esquimo NGC 2392, x80 showed it's halo even without a filter. I like the bi lobed planetary NGC 2371 , at x150 it showed it's sausage form. It was dark enough to pick out our Galactic Wanderer NGC 2419, the most distant target we can see in our galaxy and just a fuzz of faint globular ism.

Then down to Monoceros and the wonderful little Christmas tree of NGC 2264.

Lots by eye now including M44, the sparkling Beehive and the wonderfully overlooked M67- a delicious sprinkle of delicate stars.Leo was rising fast with Mars under the belly and a visit to the jaws showed that very bright galaxy NGC 2903 and the old friends M66 and the triplet group.

Swinging around to the south the very gem of clusters M41, very bright and very full up.

M47 in Puppis showed almost a Chinese dragon shape, lovely as well as M50.

M48 in Hydra was similarly impressive with a crescent at the centre.

M93 in Puppis showed a wonderful compact geometric dazzler, find and look at this one.

I noted that Spica was rising at 5 in the north east. It 's good to see the Great Bear on his tail and a wonderfully bright M94 in the Canes V line.

It was odd to see Cassiopeia on it's tail with a horizontal Perseus! all evening. I kept going back to Jupiter and saw the whole transit of a deep red spot. Mars though showed very little.

Night belonged to M41 and M93 you'll be needing a good view south and as always,

Clear skies !

Nick.

Just before sunrise I called over to my smoking neighbour, of the Stalag security light to come over and have a look. I showed him Jupiter and Mars, think that has probably changed his life , not.

[ronl]

Great report Nick, sounds like you had a very enjoyable morning,

I got out about 3.30 am, like you I find morning observation to be

better, plus the rain and wind seemed to really clear the atmosphere,

I was mostly observing Jupiter, Stunning.

[baggywrinkle]

Away with ye' and yer crystal mornings! ... ;-)

Send some of it to Shanghai!

Nice report though....

[jabeoo1]

It was odd to see Cassiopeia on it's tail with a horizontal Perseus! all evening. I kept going back to Jupiter and saw the whole transit of a deep red spot. Mars though showed very little.

Great write up as always Nick. On your mention of Cassiopeia I thought the same last night too, just before climbing into my pit at around 01:00 I went out for a quick naked eye scan of the not too clear sky.  I found myself tilting my head horizontally whilst mumbling something under my breath about the orientation of Cassiopeia & Perseus.  Should the neighbours be scared?

[cotterless45]

My neighbours are scared of work , being sober or quiet and the dark.

I don't think telling them that either the sky or Cassiopeia is falling down would add to their worries !

Old Nick.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great report Nick - glad you had the opportunity to get such a good session. It was clear in Hereford as well but the wind was so strong so I 'chickened out'.

[Special K]

Nice to see you were in the same neighborhood as well last night!  Shame about the Stalag lights!  

Did you pick up any nebulosity around the Christmas Tree with your dob?

[cotterless45]

Not a Dob out, just the beast !

[avtaram]

A great report as usual Nick. Wish I had some clear nights around here for a change.

Avtar

[Special K]

Ahhhhh! Is this one of the classic refactors from the shed?! Looks like about 110mm. You've been in this racket a leeeeetle bit longer than I have and acquired lots of nice gear

[andrew63]

Action packed night of observing Nick. Have you tried for the 'celestial wanderers' in the leo/virgo area?

andrew

[cotterless45]

Ahhhh! I'll get my coat.....! Just joking and thanks for all the good comments. I hope that you will keep up the good work.

Slight mis identity scope.....C6r f8.

( ebay bargain ) it was bought new by a guy who then decided he wanted to spend even more imaging ( or imagining as I call it !) it's a light gulper and from town does the job of a reasonable newt, but with pin bright stars.

Plenty wanderers around are you meaning planets, comets , asteroids ? The Lynx Wanderer is something really special

http://observing.skyhound.com/archives/feb/NGC_2419.html

This was my last foray into Virgo/ Coma Bernices,

Looking forward to the spring galaxies and more, hey it fills retirement time up !

Clear skies, Nick.

[jetstream]

Great report Nick,thanks,more for me to try coming up