Beehive buzz.

[Alfian]

Went out about 8.15 pm last night to find surprisingly clear skies. It had been quite cloudy earlier.  Out with the little Vortex 6.5 x 32s for a quick scan round.  The Double Cluster, M31, M42 were all easy targets and though obviously small, nice to see in the wider field of view context. The real "buzz"  though (sorry) was the Beehive cluster (M44) which was just great. So easy to find just now with Jupiter being so close. Beautiful.

"Out with the Pentaxs  a bit later" I thought. (other things to do)   Stupid, stupid, stupid!  9.30pm -  total cloud. There's a moral in there somewhere.

[Hallelujah]

"Out with the Pentaxs  a bit later" I thought. (other things to do)   Stupid, stupid, stupid!  9.30pm -  total cloud. There's a moral in there somewhere.

Don't put off until later what you can enjoy right now. 

Stan

[SteveNickolls]

Sorry to read you missed out on using your Pentax binoculars. My rule to myself is always 'go out' when it's clear as the weather can go a month or more at other times without being suitable for observing. Better luck next time :-)

Cheers,

Steve

P.S. The other rule is never 100% believe the weather forecast and with binoculars you can make the most of those brief clear periods.

[Alfian]

Made up for  "lost time" last night.  A beautiful night and not too cold, though frosty later. The WOs with their sharp clarity gave me some great views. For some reason I was drawn to the open group of stars near the Hyades. Stellarium labels some of the stars as 50 Tau, 56 Tau, 67 Tau etc. Does this open group have a name or is it just an extended part of the Hyades? 

The Beehive through the Pentaxs' was brilliant, almost filling the fov.  Occasionally (not recently) I've doubted the wisdom of buying the 20x60s but on this type of target they are superb. Could clearly see three elements of the Trapezium but not the fouth. Good view of M31 too. Why is it that when I've seen M31 through binos and scope so many times, its always irresistible to have another look? Great night.

[pevsfreedom]

One nice thing about Los Angeles is besides the light pollution we are lucky to have clear skies almost every night. I found ~5 mag 6-8 NGC's the other night in Monoceros with my Pentax 10x50's on a tri-pod, and I couldn't see ONE star in monoceros with the naked eye. Was an exercise in star hopping but a lot of fun 'piercing the veil' of light pollution with mini-telescopes on my face.