Clusters & Nebulas (and a warm night).

[Paul73]

It is great to see some observing reports coming through again.

So, here is my two peneth worth.

Is it possible to have visually clear sky with a bright naked eye Milky Way and have rubbish seeing? Even the Ring was a bit granulated at 100x, but very bright with some texture and a nice bluish hue. Arcturus was a seething ball of mush at 200x. So I decided that anything needing much magnification was out.

With that decision made, I spent a very happy couple of hours messing around with clusters. They were as clear as a bell.

Ophiuchus with the Binos:

- IC4665 - Big loose open cluster

- M14, M10 & M12

- Unidentifed Snaking 4-5° long Astrism 2° to the SE of Rasalgethi

Wild Duck to the Lagoon:

What a run of splendours. A dozen Messiers tumbling through your eyepieces on after the other!! Still with the binos at this stage and beginning to see the advantages of a short widefield frac.....

Then out with the Dob for a rerun of the highlights.

- Wild Duck (M11) is always a favourite and takes some magnification well. Somehow less unruly than the more famous M13.

- Eagle nebula - hard to get the detail tonight but perseverance, a combination of magnifications and filters gave some really nice, but low contrast, views (20mm MV and UHC at 60x).

- Omega / Swan - Bright and detailed. Clearly a swimming Swan (it isn't often that these things actually look like their namesake). I spent some time on this one. By swapping between the above MV and 12mm Delos bags more detail emerged. The raged edge to the bottom of the swan and the additional Nebulosity streaming out behind it were all new to me.

Then a quick M51.

The Swan and the wide field bino vies were the highlights of a thoroughly enjoyable session.

Thanks for reading.

Paul

[Andy 5312]

Hi Paul. Nice post. But what is even better, at long last i managed to find the ring last night after i forget how many failed attempts . Wasn't sure at first , but the discription you give confirms it. Well worth all the unwanted attention of the pesky mozzies. Oh happy days......and an even happier night .

[Paul73]

Hi Paul. Nice post. But what is even better, at long last i managed to find the ring last night after i forget how many failed attempts . Wasn't sure at first , but the discription you give confirms it. Well worth all the unwanted attention of the pesky mozzies. Oh happy days......and an even happier night .

Congratulations. Once you have found it, you wonder how you ever missed it!

Paul

[andrew63]

A good nights observing Paul,  will have a look at IC4665 next night out.  You have to take every opportunity as these southern wonders will soon be gone.

andrew

[John]

Great report Paul. I'd not observed the Omega / Swan nebula for long time before I discovered it again last night. It's a lovely and interesting target