31/10/2015 - binoculars to north eastern constellations, moon

[gooseholla]

Hi all,

The forecast was for mist and fog so I didn't set up my telescope. Step out after dark perfectly clear sky with only light mist low down. Annoyed but never to be defeated I found my pair of Charles Frank 8x30 (7.5 degree field) and headed out.

Pleiades

The first object I saw was the Pleiades. With the naked eye I could see 4 definite stars and 2 that were hard to see which kept flickering in and out of view. It was low down in the mist and a streetlight. Pointing the binoculars at it I could see 9 stars in the saucepan shape. The lower left two, Alcyone and Atlas, making up the handle were the brightest and the faintest stars resided nearer the upper part of the pan (Asterope, Taygeta and Celaeno). I counted 5 faint stars around the saucepan.

Later in the night I returned and the situation was better. The area appeared fuzzy between the main shape indicating the presence of a lot more faint stars than before. By this time it had risen out o the mist and streetlight and was quite high in a clear patch of sky.

Aries

I moved on to the unremarkable constellation of Aries. 3 stars were seen with the naked eye,  Two were moderately bright - Hamal and Sheratan - and one, Mesarthim, was faint. Of the two brighter ones Hamal appeared brighter and more yellow in colour. In binoculars there were six fainter stars below this pairing and about three above it. Nothing remarkable or interesting about the constellation in naked eye or binoculars!

Perseus

From this disappointment I headed over to one of my favourite constellations, Perseus. It just looks so cool in the night sky. The first thing I noticed was a small fuzzy patch between 4 and 5 degrees from the lower star in his left foot. I take this to be M34, the Spiral Cluster. Nothing much was seen of it, it appeared as nothing more than a faint grouping of what appeared a bright central area.

I swept up and stopped at Mirphak. A lot of stars shining in this area and it looked lovely. About two dozen I'd say lay around this star.

The Double Cluster was high and visible as a faint patch of light in the night sky. About half a dozen stars were seen compact in each cluster and then numerous more fainter ones spread out around them. Placing the Double Cluster just outside the right top field of view, I came to a small though quite easy to find fuzzy patch. If I placed this patch at the lower field of view about two thirds of the way up lay a slightly bigger but duller patch of light. Was this part of the Heart and Soul nebula? These three objects formed a triangle. The larger, duller object was at about the same altitude as the Double Cluster.

Andromeda

There was nothing of interest to be found in Andromeda apart from the galaxy M31. It appeared as a bright core surrounded by a fainter diffuse patch. There was hints that it extended someway across the field of view but nothing definite.

Triangulum

Placing Mothallah at the left hand side of the field, just over halfway was M33. It was really faint and not obvious with direct vision. By either focusing on a couple of faint stars near it or Mothallah itself, it appeared as a faint patch of light. Wouldn't say I 'saw' it but detected it. However, according to my simple sketch and checking it with Stellarium I did get the orientation right, so maybe I saw more than I give myself credit for!

Pegasus

Despite being high in the sky and to the south nothing of note was seen in the constellation. Just stars.

Hyades

They were back to looking impressive again. Aldebaran was blazing away in the left hand field of view with the Hyades above and to the right. In the general field of view I counted 32 stars of varying brightness.

The Moon

Just before 10pm the Moon was rising high enough to see so I switched my attentions to it.

Immediately Aristarchus was easy to spot and was a brilliant white. The Mare Frigoris in the north contrasted nicely with the rough areas either side of it. A few large craters were on display near the terminator in the north.

Copernicus and Kepler were still impressive on the western side of the Moon but their ray system was not very impressive at all compared to the telescope view last night or binoculars a few days ago. Manilius and Menelaus could be seen as bright white objects standing out from the darker greys of the seas near them. Talking of bight white objects Tycho in the south was visible, but like Kepler and Copernicus its ray system was not that stunning tonight.

I noted that the seas to the east of the Moon and in the central southern area were much darker than those on the west of the Moon. I also noted that the eastern side of the Mare Imbrium was a lot lighter than the rest of it. An area in particular stood out, triangular in shape. Next to this was a crater which matched the colour of this area. This was Eratosthenes so I take the triangular area to be the Apennies. Plato could be seen to the north of the sea as a small dark patch unlike anything else in the area.

A large crater was seen to the south of the Sea of Tranquillity. After careful observation I noted that it was in fact in the sea of Nectar. It was round with a white ring around it and a darker centre. I'm guessing this could be Theophilus?

Grimaldi was just about seen in the west. It was very near the edge and foreshortened making it hard to see.

My final observation before the cloud started thickening and the Moon was about to go behind another tree was to note that just east of the Mare Frigoris were two white craters shining away in the north. I take these to be Aristoteles and Egede? They were about in line with Plato and Manilius.

I went inside a happy man after seeing some wonderful things tonight

John

[Size9Hex]

Great report. Surprised it hasn't had a reply yet. I was looking at the same area of the sky last night in 10x50 binoculars. What really impresses me is how much detail you've noted. I guess this comes with experience. I notice a lot more now than I saw when I started a few months ago, but your report is particularly rich in detail, and it's a nice comparison with what I saw on the same evening, in the same part of the sky, with similar kit.

[gooseholla]

Indeed. I've been observing the same bits for about 2 weeks now on and off. You can see some more reports here http://danburyastro.blogspot.co.uk/. The Moon I was actually surprised how much I noticed to even a few months ago in binoculars. I guess careful study is repaid as things become obvious. But if I think back to what I saw when I started 7 years ago, everything was just blank sky, blank discs of planets and the Moon was just grey with no features.  

Keep observing and keep putting some reports up from notes you take. It will really aid your memory and train your eye.

John

[laudropb]

Very nice instructive report. A most enjoyable read. Thanks for posting.