Quick but satisfying blast with the bins

[FenlandPaul]

Hi everyone

A quick but satisfying blast with the bins this evening. I was on my way home from a cloudy Worcestershire and as I came along the A14 I was accompanied by a beautiful waxing crescent moon setting. Sadly got home after it dipped below the horizon, but as soon as I'd wolfed down some dinner I was in the back garden, set up and ready to go. Well, nearly ready to go. I appear to have lost my red torch, so this had to be a "by memory and trial and error" session.

Kicked off with the Pleiades, which I'd caught a glimpse of the other morning when it was nice and clear. But this was the first time I'd given them time in the bins. Nothing new to add, really - they are simply stunning and even though I've been into this game on and off for over 20 years they never fail to wow me. It seems there's a tiny bit of haze around tonight as they weren't quite as sparkly as they were the other morning, but lovely nevertheless.

A quick tour round Auriga next. Capella was magnificently yellow/orange and the Kids sat nicely all in the same field of view (Kids on their own, not with Capella). Then I scoured the "interior" of the Auriga pentagon for those 3 pesky open clusters. I could track down two of them, but the third was somewhat elusive. The first, M36, was quite compact with some starts resolvable; the second, M38, seemed a lot more dispersed and irregular. Having just looked at the atlas I don't think I searched far enough west for M37.

Next swept over to Lyra and M57. I do like looking at this in the bins because it has such a high surface brightness and small diameter that it's easy to confuse it with a star. But once you've nailed it, you can't fail to spot that it's not pin sharp and then at times I can persuade myself - incorrectly I'm sure - that I can see a ring shape. Before leaving Lyra I remembered a glorious double which sits the other side of the line that joins Beta and Gamma Lyrae from M57. For me it's like a lovelier, more secret version of Albireo, with a straw-yellow primary and blue tinged secondary. It's 91 Lyrae. The colour contrast in the bins was great. I like the fact that it's not as famous as its pal in Cygnus and so to me it feels special. I have the same feelings about a lovely, conical peak in the Lake District called Catsteye Cam, which sits at the other end of Swirral Edge to Helvellyn. No-one goes to Catsteye because it is eclipsed by its more famous neighbour and the path drops away to Red Tarn before you get to it. But it's a magical place and no-one thinks of walking the extra ten minutes to have lunch in peace!! This double is also special as it symbolises a project I ran for the BAA Student Group about 18 years ago with a young Chris Lintott to get people into observing doubles. I don't know if we made any impact, but let me tell you the guy has been stargazing mad and encouraging others to do the same ever since he was at school. Dreadful handwriting though!

Swept over to Sagitta next and took in M71 (which I love for hoe it just seems to hang between Gamma and Delta Sagittae, and M27. My my isn't M27 BIG!!?? A very clear apple core shape even in my bins. Can't wait to get a scope again to have another gawp at it with the benefit of aperture.

After taking in the Coathanger I decided to look at a few stars just to enjoy the different colours. The binoculars really seem to improve the colours of things. Had never realiseed just how orange Gamma Sagittae - the point of the arrow - is. I also looked at Deneb (too high up to do comfortably) and failed again to see the North America nebula. This has always eluded me, but I'm determined this year to nail it down in the bins.

Quite an enjoyable hour, and now settling down with a nice beer before an early start tomorrow. Got to love the simplicity of big bins for snatching the odd half hour without the faff. But I think I would enjoyed it a lot more had I not misplaced my torch!

Paul

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[cotterless45]

Nice ! You can't beat the ease and beauty of binoculars. M27 always looks huge in bins, something we take for granted with scope views. I like the way in which deep sky targets sit in wide view star fields,

Nick.

[Anthonyw85]

I have had better moments with the Bins than with the scope at the moment , nice glimpse of Mars close to the Moon yesterday and visible to the naked eye (if I'm not mistaken)