Observing at last..!

[Tzitzis]

On Monday I got to travel from Athens to Aliveri in Euvoia. I went there to stay over at a friend of mine for a couple of days. Yesterday morning I found a great spot with no night lights by the road so we went there with a couple of sea chairs and beers. The day before I have found in his house the Bresser 10x50 bins so I brought them together.

It was around 2:30. It was really really dark. I could see all 4 stars in square of Ursa minor. In the same sky I saw 3 hours ago Mizar and Alcor as 2 stars. Cassiopeia was glowing on top of us with Andromeda below her and Perseus next to her. I could clearly see the Pleiades - beautiful nebulosity to the naked eye. Lyra and Cygnus were prominent too. Vega was the bottom star in the summer triangle and Cygnus above him due to the late hour. M31 was naked-eye visible but you had to try averted vision too. The milky way was like a huge stream of white dust across the night sky. I could clearly see it but not at it's best. Generally this is the best sky I have ever seen in person. I could also see the LP and the haze coming from Athens (one and a half hour's drive from Aliveri!).

I started with Saturn which was very low. Just a yellow/orange star with the bins. Nothing special. I gazed upon the Pleiades. I refocused cause it was a bit messed up. It was very nice, never seen them through a scope. The magnification and FOV was great for this cluster. I also saw Aldebaran and Hyades. I then sat on a chair and tried the Andromeda galaxy. After a couple of minutes I saw it. Such a great object. I haven't seen this through a scope either xD. Exactly one year before I saw it with binos but it wasn't so nice. It had a bright core and you could see the dusty disc around it. Such a nice sight. I tried the triangle galaxy and I think I saw a hint of a grey faint patch where it was supposed to be. I was delighted... After that I saw Albireo, beautifully resolving in two stars-no color though. I saw Vega, Deneb, Sadr and Altair and then I managed to see the coathanger. Although inverted it was great - I have never seen it before. 

Anyway I had a blast. I managed to bag Hyades and the Coathanger which I have never seen before and get the best view of Andromeda Galaxy. I had one whole year to observe M31. Such a great night... Alas, I'm now in Athens and in a couple of hours the only visible stars here will be Vega, Altair, Antares, Deneb, maybe the whole plough and Saturn. It breaks my heart

Cheers from Greece

Tzitzis

P.S: In the first the landscape from a nearby school (didn't have camera ). The second is a really great beach I went on yesterday :D

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate,you had a good night,Andromeda is wonderfull ,good you are getting some skywatching done.thanks for posting. charl.

[andrew63]

Glad to see you got out under the stars again - looks a very nice spot too !

andrew

[BGazing]

Beautiful. Evia sky this summer brought me back to astronomy...:-)

[laudropb]

Very nice report. Must have been great to get some darker sizes.

[Charon]

Good report Tzitzis.

[Piero]

I just saw this report! Really glad that you could visit a dark place! Even without a telescope a dark sky is always a terrific experience!

Awesome photos too! Hope you have a chance to get there more often!

Piero

[Tzitzis]

Thanks for your kind words guys! I will definitely go there again!!!