A surprisingly good night (need to buy gloves!)

[Special K]

Given the wind and conditions I had dismissed having a session overnight, but at 2:30 it didn't look half bad!  Knowing it was a full moon, it seemed a shame to let this one slip away even if the wind was up quite a bit.  In fact, the wind chimes in the back yard never really stopped!  Funny how the moments of good seeing coincide with when the chimes go quiet.  In short, it was very clear and a lovely lovely sight to see those bright winter constellations against a dark sky.  Having given the hobby a bit of break over the summer months it's been fantastic to get back into the swing of it again in a proper fashion.  The cold is really a factor again, but the number of hours of darkness makes up for that.

I begin my tour with M81 and M82:  great to revisit these two and at lower mags the wind wasn't too much of an issue.  M82 the Cigar was really a treat to look at and took my time trying to gain some detail.  Though M81 has a lower magnitude of 6.9 as opposed to 8.4 of M82, it is the Cigar that seems to have more contrast from my location.  I'm sure at a dark location, M82's features would come to life but I can only see th bright core.  Next up was another visit to M35 which always looks fantastic!  These types of clusters always give an impression of depth and shape.  You feel like you're viewing a living, evolving thing, as if you were to view city lights on a night flight.   I drilled right down to NGC2158, but cannot claim to have hit this.  Definitely homed in on the spot off the end of a Y asterism near M35.  There were only split seconds of averted vision that made me think I could see some needles of light.  Put that one down to the wind because I'm sure I've seen this from my location before.

M44 The Beehive was a bustling city as well!  I never noticed before but the nearby Delta Cancri is a beautiful Orange Giant.  This was highly evident and was one of the few warm stars I detected in the scope in the  session.  It has an original name of Arkushanangarushashutu from ancient Babylonia.  Good luck trying to pronounce that one 

This was no night for splitting doubles, so I reckoned it was Nebula Night!  There have been some fantastic mosaic images of the nebulosity in Orion, etc, posted here on the Lounge which inspired me to have a good ol' college try in that area.  Next was the NGC2264 the Christmas Tree Cluster which is aptly named!  Try as I might, though, with UHC filter and without, I cannot claim any nebulosity spotted for Sh2-273, the Cone, or anything else surrounding the cluster.  I wasn't expecting any color or it to jump out, and simply couldn't find any border to the region to suggest that there is a cloud there.  That was a shame, but we've got Google don't we?!   Need a bigger scope at a dark site for this one.  The Rosette Nebula was a similar experience, though I can see a dark trough to the East of NGC2252.  For both of these nebula I tried lower mag with the UHC (26x in my scope) and also with the 12mm BST.  No cigar.

Orion didn't give away any of his secrets either!  I really wanted to bag the Flame Nebula NGC2024 and thought I might have had at least a chance with my equipment to detect a hint, but no luck.  The whole area around Alnitak was a void except for other stars.  Think I need to study some photos and come back to this one.  When I eventually make it to a Star Party this is an area I'd like to ask to see in some of the members' advanced gear!

Not to be defeated, I decided to finish with a nebula I knew I could see and one that you just cannot miss given Jupiter's location:  The Eskimo NGC2392.  This is a funny little guy that likes to play peekaboo:  averted he is there;  look at him and he disappears!  However, I got the UHC on it with the 12mm BST and was a pleasure to have a look for some detail.  Jupiter reaches the extend of its eastward travel and begins to head back toward M35 and then shoot past the Eskimo again.  It was nice to just twist the DEC a little bit and go from the Eskimo to the Gas Giant!  Seeing wasn't too bad but given the wind, it wasn't the best for Jupiter. 

All in all, a fantatic session and I was frozen stiff!  Mars is visible naked eye which is nice and I was tempted to have another shot at locating ISON.  Took a shot to nothing in the hopes it would just appear where I pointed but of course that wouldn't work!  When I gave up, the fingers just didn't work at all.  I need to use my fingerless leather gloves!  But it's all good.   Clear Skies!!!!!

[cotterless45]

Hope that you're not a mind reader, nearly all of these I posted in Deep Sky !

I went out , although it was windy , it was dark and clear. I gave it a shot and was going to pack up if the wind got worse, 4 hours later I was still enjoying the views !

Clear skies, Nick.

[mjpfc]

Sounds like a good night bud, I knew from the Met Office that there was a chance of a window this morning so got up at 04:30. 

Mars, as you say, was bright but is still very small, and Jupiter to the south had its moons in a line in the correct order out, so they

must all have been wellout to the east.

ISON is now a lot easier to see now down below LEO (Compared to 29th Oct)  with a longish tail visible with averted vision in my 8" newtonian.

In a reversal of my Obs the other night, Enke was difficult to pick out, although I think this may have been the sky down low.

There were still lightening flashes to the ESE, and bands of thin cloud where heading eastwards.

As you say K, It was a cold one this morning - woolly hat 1st outing of the year.

I also have a set of fingerless carpenters gloves that make all the difference - Oh, and a saucepan of soup goes a long way too.

[Special K]

Hope that you're not a mind reader, nearly all of these I posted in Deep Sky !

I went out , although it was windy , it was dark and clear. I gave it a shot and was going to pack up if the wind got worse, 4 hours later I was still enjoying the views !

Clear skies, Nick.

I should have just done a quick copy and paste job!!!!