Messier century in 57°

[YKSE]

Unable to see M4 in my dark site last time forced me to find new place(s). Lukily I found one, with south view to the sea, only half an hour's drive. Forecast was clear from midnight, but clouds were much thicker in early evening than forecast, first sign of coming clear sky shown at sunset. quickly packed up everything, 15 minutes later, I was on the road. The low Messiers in Ophiuchus and Scorpius were the main target, with M83 and M62 on wish-list too.

Setting up and alignment went smoothly, the sky was still quite bright, SQM about 20.0 in zenith, Swung to M83, just over 2° above horizon, it was right there near edge in 31mm finder EP, re-checked in 84x and 114x, a new record in lowest Messier.

M68, which I baget between tree a couple of weeks, got a revisit and was readily seen, even though it was on its way down.

Sky darkness improved gradually,SQM showed 21.1 after midnight, almost as dark as my other site, with better transparency.

In waiting for the big numbers of Messiers,I tried some NGC's, NGC4361, a nice planetary nebula in Corvus, easily spotted in finder EP without filter; globula NGC5634 was not difficult either, some other easily seen galaxies were 2775, 5746, 5846, 5676 and 5907, while 5660, 5631 and IC1029 were more difficult, needed in 84x with averted vision and some good minutes on EP. NGC5673 was still invisible though.

Now M4 had just surfaced, a red star in finderscope caught my eye, Antares, which I was able to see in my backyard. Zooming in to 228x, it flashed vigorously, not as much as Sirius at this low though, the colors were kind of layers, from red in top to blue in bottom. I made a short comparison with and without the diagonal, the scatter was clearly less without, but the double couldnot remotely be splitted.

Back to M4, now more than 6° high, was an easy target, and M21, M20 were picked up in next move, M20 with clearly better nebulosity with UHC filter.

There was waiting time for last group of Messiers, I had my first view of Saturn in C8, nice Cassini division, a much pleasing view without diagonal in around 200x.

M8 was en easy target, seen somewhat better nebulosity with UHC, M22 and M19 were unmistakable either, M62 caused some anxiety, the eastern sky had started to brighten, SQM droped to 20.3, and no star in the EP because of some low clouds. waited for another 15 minutes or so, SQM down to 19.6, then some stars showed up, and a faint fuzzy appeared in the expected spot, verified in 84x mag. New record again for lowest Messier.

9 new Messiers in a night, adds up to a total of 102.  Only four possible left for this latitude, M75, M79, M54 and M55.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report. Congrats on your Messier century

[Mike73]

Congrats on finding an object just 2˚ above the horizon for a start!!

My local observing site looks south over the sea but quite often suffers from a sea mist, maybe you got lucky that night or maybe your sea and air temps dont give you the same problem?

I finished observing the Messier list back in January but have a few more to sketch which are those low down globs you picked off.

[YKSE]

M

My local observing site looks south over the sea but quite often suffers from a sea mist, maybe you got lucky that night or maybe your sea and air temps dont give you the same problem?

I didn't see any mist that night, I assume it's not a big problem, because there's observatory built there, we are not allowed to get inside the area though.

[cotterless45]

Well done !

Lovely report, wish your enthusiasm would clear our clouds !

Got down to Antares in the southeast horizon from here, but M4 is too low. Must head south,

Nick.

[jetstream]

Great report,I see you are playing around looking straight through your scope.....more purchases coming perhaps!lol! Excellent that you are trying things to maximize your set up-that C8 is a DSO machine!Having dark site options are nice to have,congrats

[YKSE]

that C8 is a DSO machine!Having dark site options are nice to have,congrats

That's the idea some Michael planted on me when I was poundering the choices then.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My enthusiasm for the good old C8 seems to be infectious. I am glad I have been able to dispel the might that C8s are for planets because they are F/10. I am even happier that some who believed me are enjoying their scopes

[andrew63]

A great nights observing.  Scorpio and Sagittarius are endlessly rewarding...

andrew

[YKSE]

I may have chances this long weekend for another trip or two  Fingers crossed.