"Curiouser and curiouser "!

[cotterless45]

A really poor sky, like looking through diluted milk, it improved a bit later on. Dew was dripping from the scope, get a grip on dew prevention !

A night for clusters and double stars, kicking off with some from the Cr ( Collinder ) catalogue,

In Cassiopeia, NGC 225 showed fine arched chains. NGC 663 just stunning. IC 1848 showed a small open triangle with dense stars. Cr.463 showed a strung out double headed Draco chain.

In Perseus,Cr.29 aka Trumpler 2 , showed an elegant , elongate chain.

Really too bright to get much joy in the northern sky, but really pleased to get Σ162, a good triple set here. The cluster 1582 looked superb .

The double β533 just cleanly opened to showed a near even , bright 1.1" split. Really good challenge and showing how good the seeing was.

Check out NGC 752 in Andromeda, nice !

Over to Cygnus and an old favourite, NGC 6940 with signs of it's dense star fields.

Just one galaxy, NGC 7217 , bright in Pegasus.

I evicted a large hedgehog who charged into my shed and squeezed in between the half closed legs of a wooden tripod. That's another good challenge in the dark ! Looking forward to clearer skies !

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report and sketches. I also have had a few run-ins with the local hedgehogs. It is amazing how much noise these little blighters can make

[Stu]

Lovely sketches Nick

[Pete Presland]

Great report and love the sketches as well!

[John]

Very nice report and illustrations Nick

Sounds like you had very similar conditions to me last night. I put the ED120 out and stuck to doubles mainly for a couple of hours. It was the 3rd night in a row that I've been out observing though so I'm not complaining

[laudropb]

Lovely report and sketches Nick. Sky was poor here last night too and clouded over amazingly quickly at 12.30

[Piero]

Fantastic report and sketches!  

I also like NGC752, NGC6940 and NGC 663 (or C10). I don't think I have seen the other you observed though. Will have a look next time  

Another of my favourite clusters in Cassiopeia is NGC 457 (C13, Owl cluster).