Piercing the clouds

[Nyctimene]

When I looked at the sky yesterday morning at 01h30min CEST, it was covered fully with clouds, leaving only the brightest stars - Vega, Deneb, Altair, Capella - shining through this layer. I was tempted to return to bed; but then I recalled my "first light" experience with the 18" Obsession almost 17 years ago. It had shown me a beautiful view of Albireo, even when the sky had completely clouded out, and not a single star could be seen naked eye any more. So I decided to give it a go, and took out the 5,1" Heritage. Pointing it at Vega, the double double close by was easy to spot - and, with the Seben zoom and the Baader 2,25 barlow, it's components could be splitted quite easily at 182x, as the seeing was remarkably steady. Encouraged by this unexpected success, I went over to Albireo, which presented as usually nicely in golden and blue.

Double star observing is a part of deep sky observing I've mostly omitted; so I was at a loss, which bright objects might be suitable next. Luckily I remembered Alamak (Gamma And), went over and enjoyed the view with its contrasting yellow and blue colours. The sky cleared up a little bit, and I  splitted (AFAIK, for the first time) Mesarthim (Gamma Arietis) and the Dolphin's nose, Gamma Delphini. When I went to bed at 03h, I was pleased to have viewed some objects new to me. So, don't wait for the perfect sky or the best place (and don't worry about eyepieces and collimation) - go out and observe!

Thanks for reading

Stephan

[Astro Imp]

Well done for taking a chance and being rewarded.

BTW Nice report.