2nd/3rd May report

[Andrew*]

Clear as a bell with beautiful sunshine since I woke up yesterday morning. Usually that's no sign of a good night, however, come 8pm there were smatterings of cloud starting to threaten the blue sky, but otherwise things were looking good for a clear night. I'd been planning a late night for the astronomy group for some time. George had had few looks through the telescope so it was a race against the encroaching light summer nights to get another observing session in.

At 8.30 I went out with the binos with the intention of spotting Mercury setting just after the sun in NW. This is the very worst direction for observing close to the horizon as there are trees in the way wherever you go. A band of clouds in that direction didn't help things at all. But undeterred, I viewed for 45 minutes, dodging between the trees, and the clouds to no avail. I kept thinking that Mercury doesn't exist - it's just a conspiracy. It was not there.

Ach well. George, my brother John and I met up by the set-up at 9.30, but the sky was still light. So much so that not even the brightest stars were out, but soon they popped out one by one, starting with Arcturus, and as they did so, we checked the charts to work out what we were seeing. I soon realised that the spring sky is very unfamiliar to me.

Saturn was our first target, and it was the first time for my brother and George, and of course it produced the usual noises of awe. We talked about the different constellations, about galaxies, satellites, Messier, and the planets of course, which led us to swing over to Mars. Unimpressive, but still they can say that they've seen it.

The sky took its time to get dark, and a few futile searches for some galaxies and clusters turned up some rather dry lemons, so my brother decided to leave. There weren't any targets visible yet, and a burning thirst was coming upon me, so we had a tea break and came out 30 minutes later. That's much better. We were refreshed and the sky was much inkier and looking promising.

M13 had now cleared the wall so we viewed that. George could resolve quite some detail in this beautiful glob and I picked out stars right into the centre - I love globs! Scouting through Leo and Virgo the Leo triplet caught my eye. I'm certain George saw at least M66, and I saw all three. I can never see a distinct difference between 65 and 66, but NGC3628 was much fainter, longer and squarish, with perhaps a darker strip along the centre. While I was scouting this area, the Virgo cluster showed some galaxies flitting across the FOV, but this was not really worth dwelling upon. The blobs were miniscule and very faint. Still, it always gives me some sense of wonderment.

It certainly wasn't the best of nights transparency wise. Seeing was okay though. For some reason I miserably failed to locate Bodes and Cigar until after George left. He was tired and cold. I don't blame him, it was getting on for 12. Before he did so, he expressed a wish to find Saturn in the scope. He knew where it was, and he knew how to work the RDF. He found it in seconds! I was most impressed. So was he when he saw it in the eyepiece again! There's no denying it - Saturn is beautiful!

M51 was quite pleasant at 62x - I could detect hints of a joining between the two components, and definitely evidence of "spirality". I was waiting for Lyra and Cygnus to clear the wall as I hadn't seen those lovely planetaries in ages. Biding my time, I looked at M13 again and also M92. M13 definitely steals the show - it's stunning, but m92 is also pleasant.

Alas, the stars faded before they were high enough, as a sheet of veil cloud obscured all but the brighter points, and it was time to pack up.

It matters little - we had a great night, with a few great sights, all the while discussing all sorts of questions which inevitably arise in such settings. It was also fantastic to show my elder brother what's visible in the scope, because sometimes I detect some scepticism about my hobby. His reaction to Saturn relieved that somewhat!

Andrew

[jgs001]

Nice session and a great report Andrew.

[dogfish]

Nice report Andrew. Nearly went out myself but a cold and these light nights put me off.

Gotta love that "spirality"

Cheers, Martin

[MikeP]

I would not worry about your brother's scepticism - your obvious love of the hobby shines through as it always does in your posts.

Mike

PS Sounds like you and I had identical targets and identical conditions last night.

[Sam]

Excellent report Andrew! I tried looking for Mercury last night as well with no luck - though there's plenty of trees in that direction. Saturn is a real marvel and it never fails to impress - I use it each night to set the focus and enjoy seeing the different moon positions. Thanks for posting, very interesting!

Sam

[Paxo]

Excellent enthusiastic report Andrew, so glad you had a great, though truncated, night. I had a good night last night, concentrated on the Leo Triplet. Seeing was bad last night though so imaging was a bit of a no-no.

Steve..

[lunator]

Andrew

Nice report

I'm sure you'll get Mercury soon.

Cheers

Ian

[Andrew*]

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Gotta love that "spirality"

yup

Nearly went out myself but a cold and these light nights put me off.

Yes, they're getting a bit late aren't they? It was 12.30 and M27 still wasn't up . It'll be July/August before that becomes a sensible target.

I would not worry about your brother's scepticism - your obvious love of the hobby shines through as it always does in your posts.

PS Sounds like you and I had identical targets and identical conditions last night.

Thanks Mike - appreciate the words. Interesting how that happens isn't it?

Excellent report Andrew! I tried looking for Mercury last night as well with no luck

I'm sure you'll get Mercury soon.

I tell you - it's a conspiracy! I'll try and try again. Had 5 minutes at it last night as well and still no luck, but the clouds were even worse so it's no wonder.

Andrew