Double Double, Callisto, & Coma B Cluster

[cloudsweeper]

Got the ST120 out for a change - nice to just sweep across the sky and track things down manually.  Jupiter appeared about 9.45, with one moon on show.  The other three followed shortly afterwards, along with Arcturus and Vega.  

From Vega I got onto Epsilon 1 & 2 Lyrae, the Double Double - a close pair, easily split into two themselves, with similar separations, making a very attractive spectacle at x150.

Callisto was close to Jupiter, approaching its north pole.  By 11.30, it was almost directly north of Jove, and according to the simulation at shallowsky.com was due to continue across the top.  

Being a big fan of clusters, I thought I'd try for Mel 111, the Coma Berenices Cluster, so I aimed roughly between Denebola and Cor Caroli and struck gold straight off, confirmed as usual with Stellarium.  It is a very pleasing loose cluster, shown off to best advantage at low mag and over 4 degrees of TFOV.  (Couldn't do that with the 8SE, although it would have split the doubles better!)

A very enjoyable couple of hours on a warm evening, with bats for company early on.  Just goes to show what's up there even when the sky isn't very dark, and fuzzies are hard to spot!

Doug.