Back on the horse- 13.7.17

[domstar]

After a deliberate summer break since the end of May, I felt there would be sufficient darkness before bedtime to do some satisfying observing so I set off optimistically despite the clouds.

A little bit of Jupiter while I was waiting and then Saturn in a cloud break. Wow I'd never seen it with my new eyepieces before. A bit of banding, the Cassini division and two moons (one averted vision). But I wasn't out there for planets, I'd never seen much of the summer sky before. I was surprised that the sky had changed so much since May. Was that Vega so high up there and Arcturus much lower? So my first time at Alberio. Even an impatient observer such as myself lingered over that one. The sky was getting darker now and I was pleased to see the plough so low so I searched for and easily found M 51-the whirlpool galaxy looking faintly whirly in my imagination. A quick look down and I found M 94 for the first time. 

Into Scorpio and a couple of globular clusters and now I could make out the shape of the teapot that I had been waiting for. A very clear M 22 and M 28 and then up to M 25 and the prize of the evening M 18. Do we say the Omega nebula or the swan? And then again just to prove I'd done it. It was a bit like a reconnaissance mission for next time. I'm afraid I was like a boy at a pick n mix just stuffing myself with random goodies. I even had a random look somewhere south-eastish and stumbled upon a huge cluster which later research tells me was probably M 11. I'll go looking for it next time-it was stunning. By then the view from my finder was oddly white with only the very brightest stars visible and I noticed it had succumbed to dew so I called it a night.

7 new identified dsos and a couple to confirm next time and I feel great for having given it a break through the shortest nights. Every day is getting shorter now- something my dad and my grandmother before him used to say on the 22nd June every year as a negative thing. To everything there is a season- and it took astronomy to teach me this.

Thanks for reading.

[andrew63]

You've struck a rich seam there - from Sagittarius to Ecclesiastes...

 

andrew