Good viewing even through a humid sky

[Unicronicus]

Managed to get the 130p out last night seeing as though the Milky Way was nice and prominent and Andromeda was clearly visible with the naked eye. It wasn't an inky black night due to the relatively high humidity in the air, but it still made for good viewing. All observations were done with our Vixen NPL 30mm eyepiece.

We started off with the dumbbell nebula just to compare it to the other night, it was very bright but you couldn't make out the classic apple core shape though. Still, one object down and we are starting to find objects without needing any apps open now which is rewarding.

The next stop was across to Ursa Major and out from Dubhe towards Bodes and the Cigar galaxy. Directly bob on them using the viewfinder, with both appearing very brightly in the EP's FOV.

From Ursa Major we headed off to Cygnus to find the Veil nebula. I centred the finder scope onto the star 52Cyg and looked through the eyepiece to try and see the witches broom (which runs through it). At first glance you can't really make a lot of the nebula out but there is definitely a hazy streak across 52Cyg which must be part of the Veil. Time to bust out the UHC filter. Screwed it onto the bottom of the 30mm EP and voila, a pretty obvious shape of the nebula appears out of the brightness of the surrounding stars being drowned out. This is one of those sights that require averted vision to see properly but it is stunning to see once focused in. We decided to pan across (or down in the EP) to find the other brighter side of the Veil which resembles a shallow 'U' shape, amazingly it popped out a beauty and did not require as much averted vision to see it which was nice. It just goes to show that even on a humid night you can still make out faint DSO's even with a modest scope like ours.

Next, we decided to try out Neptune on the right thigh of Aquarius (as viewed in Stellarium). I just about managed to view it with the 30mm but by this time the scope, mirrors and EP's had accumulated a lot of condensation and was making viewing hard. So it was time to take the scope etc... indoors to let it warm up slightly to clear the mist, plus it was a good time for a coffee and a ciggy!

Once the scope had been cleared of condensation we took it out again to look at the three main clusters in Auriga, as it was now above the horizon in the east. We started with the starfish cluster and worked our way down to M36 and finally onto M37, all very bright and rewarding open clusters that defiantly deserve a view this time of year. Whilst in this vicinity, we attempted the Crab Nebula just above the mag 2.9 star Tau in Cetus. This took a lot of time to find and then resolve but it is doable circa midnight this time of year. Obviously it would be better once it's higher in the sky.

By this time it was getting late and I had to be up by 6am for work so home ward bound, but what a night!

[scarp15]

Good session, the Milkyway was very distinct last night and as you indicate, familiar objects sharp and bright, though by the early hours up here condensation became an issue.

[Special K]

That's a great session and good choices of things to look at! The Milky Way was really prominent the other night, which is not the norm at my house. Lovely to see it and count myself lucky to live somewhere it is still possible to see.

Clear skies!