Great observing session last night

[avtaram]

Had clear skies here last night and the seeing seemed pretty good.

With the naked eye I could make out The Milky Way arching across the sky as a dark grey band.

It could be seen from Cassiopeia going through Perseus and Auriga and then passing between Orion and Gemini and then lost in the skyglow past Sirius.

In my year of observing this is only the second time I have been able to see The Milky Way from my back garden.

Last night I decided to do my observing with Binoculars only for a change sitting comfortably on an observing chair ( ironing chair ).

I started with The Andromeda Galaxy which showed as a grey blob and then moved on to look around Cassiopeia. From there to The Double Cluster in Perseus and then to The Alpha Persei Cluster which always appears to me as a cupped hand holding Mirphak.

Next I moved on to The Pleiades which looked like glittering diamonds and then on to Aldebaran and the Hyades where the V shape is really evident in the wide field of Binoculars.

Then had a good look around Orion from Meisa to The Belt which fitted nicely in the same FOV and The Sword which also fitted in the FOV of the Binoculars.

From Orion went on to look at the Beehive Cluster in Cancer and then past Leo to The Coma Cluster in Coma Berenices. There was a lot of skyglow in this area but the Cluster was still visible even though the background was a light grey blue.

I finished off the tour by looking at Alcor and Mizar then Polaris before coming back to Cassiopeia.

I enjoyed my session with Binoculars so much that I am now considering upgrading to a better pair.

They should still be hand held because of the freedom this gives you.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Avtar

[craigr001]

Hi Avtar,

Great little read there.

I'm fairly new to astronomy, did you plan your viewing before hitting the skies or did you just go for it once out there?

[avtaram]

Hi Craig, I wasn't expecting clear skies so when I looked out about 9:30 ish And saw clear skies I grabbed the bins and thought I would just see what was out there, so no planning for a change but turned out to be a great session never the less.

Avtar

[craigr001]

Ah, it's the unexpected ones that are sometimes the best. That's why I keep a pair of bins in the boot of the car - you just never know.

Interested to see what others think about appropriate handhelds.

[Double Kick Drum]

Lovely report. I need to do a little more binocular viewing - a four month old son does not allow me time to get the scope out right now.

Thanks for sharing!