A clear night in December!

[almcl]

Last night was amazing. Dark of the moon and a clear sky.  In December!  I packed the 200P into the other half’s car and headed for the dark sky site.   No sooner had it all set up than tufts of low cloud covered the sky but after 20 minutes of nail biting frustration it all cleared and I could set about finding the night’s targets: three Messier objects which I had somehow overlooked before.  The first, M74 was a bit disappointing  (and didn’t shine too well through the last wisps of stratus, either) but the next one, M77, was much better.  It appeared as two points of light one surrounded by a faint haze.

By now the sky was excellent. M31 in Andromeda was a naked eye object and the two satellite galaxies M32 and M110 were clearly visible in the 32mm EP. Constellations which aren’t naked eye visible in my back garden were shining prominently.  Next a quick look at M42 was interrupted by a car pulling up and the passenger coming across to ask what I was looking at.  So I showed him the great nebula through what he described as ‘a serious telescope’.  We discussed the Milky Way (clearly visible overhead and all the way down through Cygnus  to the horizon) and Cassiopea - clearly he had some knowledge of the subject!

After he left it appeared that Lepus had risen far enough above the West Midlands light and smoke haze to the east that it might be worth trying to find M79.  The red dot finder Dion sold me at the International Astronomy Show  that is now mounted alongside my RACI finder really came into its own here.  I was able to go straight to Nihal (Beta Lep) and from here it was an easy star hop to the double star next to the globular.  As globs go (and I am not always impressed by these) it was a bit disappointing and I could not resolve it to stars with any of my eyepieces, but hey!  I was through the 100 mark on my Messier hunt and that was a cause for celebration.

The final icing on the cake was finding the Veil, low on the western horizon and with the UHC filter plugged into the 25mm EP  a  really nice bonus. 

This morning when I opened the curtains there was a beautiful crescent moon and Venus shining in the pre dawn sky.  Fabulous!

[MarsG76]

Nice report... If you had a look at omega centaurs through your 200P, your disappointment of globulars would be changed... Guaranteed.

[laudropb]

Very enjoyable read. Thanks for posting.

[Alfian]

Good report. Last night took me a bit by surprise, early evening it was clear-ish then a big  cloud band rolled in with some rain, and I thought "that's that!"  At 10.15 I went out with the dogs as usual and it was beautifully clear. Managed a short session with the binos, surprising the number of Messier objects that can be viewed in a short space of time. 

This morning at 6.00 am still very clear and the low crescent moon was beautiful with very prominent earth shine. Such a buzz after so much cloud and rain.

[almcl]

If you had a look at omega centaurs through your 200P, your disappointment of globulars would be changed... Guaranteed.

You know I keep wondering, if I could get away with purchasing one of those expensive 80mm triplets with flight case and then coming to Oz for an extended stargazing holiday, to see all those wonderful southern sky objects that are below the horizon here in central UK :-)

I'll have to star working on the other half, she's always wanted to visit Oz.

[Bioboybill]

Thanks for the report. I wish I could've got out last night. Was looking good when I left work at 4.30, but by the time I had my tea thin cloud had rolled in. Looked out about 9 and it was still fairly cloudy. Went to bed about 10.15 as I had to be up early for work and it was clearing nicely. You would love stargazing in OZ, or at least Perth where I went 2 years ago for 3 weeks. It was clear skies and baking hot every day for 3 weeks over December/early January.

[John]

Thats a very nice report

I was helping out at a public outreach session SW of Bristol last night. We got about 1 hrs viewing in but an unscheduled rain storm sent us running for the cars with both us and the scopes getting a bit wet !

Of course, by the time I got home the sky was clear again !

I did manage to show a dozen or so people M31 and M32 with my 12" dob which they seemed to be impressed by so something was achieved.

[rockystar]

omega centaurs looks ace, would be great to see what it looks like under some outback skies - the magelanic clouds are on my antipodean bucket list too.

I've only see 2 Messier globs (using the same scope as yourself, from my back garden which is about Mag 4.5), M13 in Hercules, which I went back to every night during the summer, when it was nice and high, as it is a fab view and I could start to resolve individual stars after a couple of viewings. And M15 in Pegasus, which I didn't find as impressive.

Moral of that story is: have a look at M13 if/when you can, especially if you are under darker skies than mine.

Nice report though, I also had the scope nearly set up when the rain came back, fortunately it had cleared by the time I got my light shield nailed to the fence.