Summer Triangle preview.

[cotterless45]

Up and set up under early , dark clear skies. By 4 ,pre dawn light blew the final whistle on the Summer Triangle. The Milky Way ran lightly through Cygnus, coming to a dark stop beyond Deneb. This was a decent bit of dark sky for here ! 

Quite surprised to catch the "Fetus nebula" (NGC 2008),as a glow. Then a cluster trip along Cygnus starting with the huge M39. NGC 7039 is a bright cluster and NGC 7063 gave the appearance of a chair with a curved back. NGC 6866 gave some dense star clouds.

Rukh showed it's close +6.3 companion (2.5")as did ψ (Psi)Cygni . Σ2624 split easily at 1.9" (+7.1, 7.4). S 738 split open as a triple (42.1", 1.8"). This rate I'm going to ditch the fracs for observing binaries !
Couldn't miss the huge glow of M27 with a simple SW UHC filter. Good test for a pre loved tack sharp 15mm TV Plossl. This picked out the binaries with a x2.5 Barlow , giving a useable 6mm or x200 in the scope. The single secondary vane ( Orion Optics) makes binary observation a joy.

Some detail of planetary nebulae spotted; 
NGC 7027, found this to be compact and bright.
NGC 6905 ( in Delphinus) , the " Blue flash".
NGC 7048, faint , but there.
NGC 6826, the "blinking" planetary , doesn't do this with the filter in.

Best of the clusters.
NGC 7039 , large and bright with compact areas.
NGC 6871, bright with four doubles spotted.
NGC 6811, half moon size , packed !
NGC 7086, faint and compact.
NGC 7083, lovely loop and chain.
M29, the "shopping trolley."

Don't forget the speedy "Piazzi's flying star" delightful pair (61 Cygni) and the blood red U Cygni , a pulsating and obviously red variable( +8.5 at the moment) at 21h19.6m. +47 53'42". This area is packed with interest , many many targets easily observable from the edge of town. Although Saturn was up in the south , the low Newt couldn't see it through the fence, looks like the higher frac is returning !

Cracking session, superb seeing and transparency. The frost set in hard about 3.30 under those 
Clear skies ! Nick.

[wookie1965]

Very productive session Nick always great to read your reports gives me inspiration and I write down your targets for viewing in the future.

[johnfosteruk]

Lovely report as always Nick, nice to see the Summer Triangle back with us.

[estwing]

Ditching the Frac?...hurry up then!..thanks for sharing Nick,clear skies!

[laudropb]

Very nice report Nick. That was a really good session. Getting some clear skies here but the seeing is terrible.

[Davesellars]

Where has the year gone?  Summer triangle already?  We're still in galaxy season!!!     Got a tonne of stuff to do yet in Virgo/Coma but the clouds are not playing nice....    I did notice Cygnus reasonably placed last Saturday by 3am and gave it a quick glance over however and also Scorpius rising.  Won't be long now for the wonders of Sagittarius once again

Great report as always, Nick - well done for getting out nice and early in the morning to get a session in - That's proper hardcore especially with the temperature dropping well below freezing last night!     The forecast kept shifting forwards by a few hours when it was "supposed" to clear over last night. It was still cloudy here at midnight and forecast to clear at 1am last time I saw... 

 

[cotterless45]

The forecasts give the most cursed weather. Sometimes it pays to look at the imagined forecast for the next day and wake up early before it all goes wrong ! I was surprised at how light it got a 4am. When I was a lad it was always dark ! ( they didn't let me out of the cellar much !)

?

Nick.

[estwing]

You had a cellar!...lucky you!!

[DeepSkyBagger]

Had a clear night on Tuesday. It looked clear, but so claggy! I got seven galaxies, but so, so dim. A 12th mag galaxy should be easy but I really had to fight for these.

Moved to Lyra to catch some open clusters - at least they'd be visible through the horrible 80% humidity.

NGC 6743 - Uncertain cluster or possibly an asterism. x83 reveals a triangle of fairly bright stars in a rich Milky Way field. x150 shows the triangle to be made up of the brightest stars in a little group, coarse but moderately well detached. Maybe 30 stars, in clumps, seen over 10 - 12' diameter.

Stephenson 1 - Clustered around δ1 and δ2 Lyrae, this is a very bright but poor cluster. Several bright stars are spread across the 36' field with fainter ones scattered amongst them. Although very loose, it stands out well from the Milky Way background on low power, so pretty well detached. About 70 stars were counted in the 36' field.

ASCC 100 - I can't find anything about this object in any reference work. It's not in Archinal & Hynes. Not plotted on Guide, but listed in the OVOC catalogue. Its location is 19h 01m 37s +33° 34'.1. Centred on 6.4 magnitude SAO 67721. There is a bright quadrilateral of stars here, 19' long on its longest axis. Amongst them, and skewed towards 67721 (one of the corners of the quadrilateral) is a concentration of fainter stars, typically 11th and 12th magnitude. A comparison with surrounding fields shows that there is an increase in the number of stars of this brightness here. It looks like a local Milky Way clumping.

ASCC 101 - AKA LeDrew 6. Very similar to nearby ASCC 100. A noticeable concentration of 11th and 12th magnitude stars around some brighter ones across a large diameter. Nicely framed in the x60, 50' field. The brightest of the stars is 7.1 magnitude SAO 68013, spectral type A0.

The clusters (or asterisms) were fun, but a very disappointing night.