Constellations, clusters, craters, coathangers and condensation.

[Size9Hex]

A great second week with binoculars, and some school-boy errors.

Highlights:

• The stand out highlight was the moon. Spent more time looking at it than I care to admit over the course of two evenings. Long shadows on the plains behind the Caucusus mountains. Pinpricks of light on the tallest summits surrounded by a sea of black just ahead of the dawn. A sharp contrast of sunlight and shadow in the crater covered south, against a lovely gradual transition from night to day across the flatter terrain in the north. With 10*50 binos, I could idenitify craters as small as 40km or so across (when ideally located in the dawn light) which meant plenty to look at. I took my binoculars off, and the best I could manage was "part of it is lit up, and the rest isn't".
• Seeing the angry flickering red strobe of Antares (low in the sky) for the first time, and contrasting against the calm golden glow of Arcturus, and an icy looking Deneb.
• Searching out a few new deep sky objects: The Pleiades (spotted just above the horizon with naked eye before turning in the night; stunning with binoculars), the Double Cluster (spotted a ring of stars above it, and then realised there was more to it; nice with binoculars, but maybe needed a darker sky), and the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (amazing to contemplate what it is, but in my binos on the night in question, it wasn't much to look at).
• Finding the coathanger. Brought a smile to my face. It delivers what it promises.
• Using a star wheel/map for the first time. I could point out 15 or so constellations now compared to 3 a fortnight ago.
• Saturn. Still up there, and still looking awesome.
• Getting trapped inside Wikipedia once again.

Stupid stuff that's probably obvious to everyone, but might help other beginners:

• After the first session or two, start getting a bit more organised, and take pen and paper with you, including a list of things you're hoping to see, and so you can write down or tick off what you saw. The list you can download from http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.htmlis great for beginners without much kit, and without much knowledge of what to look for.
• It turns out that absolutely everything astronomy-related gets soaking wet at night, even on a hot dry summer evening. I'll try shoving my notes in my pocket next time, and taking a lens cloth.
• Until you buy a proper red light torch, a rear bicycle light makes a great substitute. It will inevitably go into strobe mode at some point during the evening and blind you.
• A tripod turns a wobbly view into a jaw dropping view. My old camera tripod wrecks my neck on anything steeper than 45 degrees, but is completely worth it.

What has everyone been enjoying this week? Any other daft tips you've learned along the way?

Best wishes everyone,

Paul.

[laudropb]

Great report Paul. It was a joy to read. Your enthusiasm and enjoyment was so obvious. These are what it is all about. Thanks for posting.

[samgray128a]

I agree. Lovely report. Can clearly feel your joy and enthusiasm. Last week I rediscovered Caroline's Rose open cluster in Casseiopiea in my small frac. Never really appreciated it before but a lovely smattering of very fine stars like gold dust. Beautiful. Also captivated by Swan nebula in Sagittarius and Kemble's Cascade in ? Camedopolaris which a friend pointed out for me. So much to see! Hope you continue to enjoy these magical sights. :-)

[Paul73]

Good writeup.

M31 - the Adromeda Galaxy is well worth a look. It may only be a gray smudge, but it is a completely different Galaxy to our own Milky Way!

I'm always amazed at what can be seen with a normal pair of 10x50's.

Paul

[Stu]

Very nicely written Paul, a successful evening

In 10x50's, you should get the Double Cluster plus Stock 2, another open Cluster in view.

Melotte 111 is a lovely one for binos, a little low at the moment though.

Also give Kemble's Cascade a go, another lovely binocular object

You might just pick up the little cluster NGC1502 at the end of this run of stars, depends upon your skies

[Astro Imp]

Great write up Paul, good to see you are still having fun.

As others have said M31 is a must see in bins, on a good night my 8x42s show it really well.

Good luck and keep posting.

[hgjevans]

Any other daft tips you've learned along the way?

Okay - you asked for it!  I learnt (or rather, was reminded of) several salient points for observing in my back garden:

• There are four - not three - steps down from the lawn to the house;
• It's not a good idea to make that mistake whilst carrying an EQ5 mount with counterweight attached;
• Wheelie bins make a heck of a lot of noise when you crash into them at 2am;
• Knees make lousy shock absorbers.

The first of these is obviously specific to my house, but hopefully the others may be usefully adapted to your own circumstances. 

[hgjevans]

More seriously, for anything higher up in the sky try just lying back in a garden lounger, if available. It won't be as steady as having the binoculars mounted on a tripod, but it will save you a cricked neck, and it's great for just soaking up those lovely dark skies up around the zenith. Try panning down through Cygnus and around the Summer Triangle - not many finer sights than that, IMHO.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks for having taken the time to reply everyone. I'm looking forwards to hunting for (and hopefully seeing!) the things you've all recommended. I love the image of stars looking like a scattering of gold dust. Thanks in particular for all the screenshots too; Possibly quite time consuming to put together, and I really appreciate it.

Paul.