Hanging with the washing 12/10/17

[domstar]

Clear Outside offered me fifty percent clear skies last night so I optimistically set up on the balcony. The reality was almost completely clear so I should've taken the short walk somewhere darker and more importantly somewhere with a larger view of the sky but the balcony it was.

First up was a first-time view of M2. I hadn't been able to find it on Sunday but my failure inspired me to check more carefully and I found it immediately. I loved it from the start. In my big fat rubbish 28mm 2inch MA it almost sparkled with nearly resolved stars so I upped the magnification expectantly and got no improvement. Then I had a go at Neptune and after looking around the wrong star for a short while, I found it exactly as stellarium had shown. Neptune was not a pretty sight and magnification didn't help it but seeing it has kept me buzzing all day. It's been hard (and sometimes I haven't managed) not to blurt out 'I saw Neptune last night. Did you know it was discovered using maths?' to everyone I meet. It was the second time after December last year and I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE SEEN NEPTUNE. Maybe this forum is the therapy I need.

Anyway over to Al Salib in Delpninus beautiful at 50x in my 18mm ortho. I'm really starting to appreciate my midrange eyepiece. I read in Skyandtelescope that it's good to use the minimum magnification to split the doubles and the view was delicious. This time last year with Saturn gone was when I started looking around for other things in the sky more seriously. Al Salib was the second double I'd ever split. and M71 the first dso (apart from the Andromeda galaxy) I'd seen in a telescope. It was in my scope from Lidl and Hyugens eyepieces. Seeing these objects in a similar position from my balcony blew my mind. Before my upgrade to plossls, before reading and then joining this forum, before my new scope, before I knew what a globular cluster was (although I'd found M71). I've learnt so much but there's so much more to learn. I've been inspired by @cotterless45 and his informative and descriptive accounts of his double stars- tangerine next to Chardonnay. There really is a beautiful subtle difference in the two Al Salib stars and I never would have noticed if not for his reports.

I'll spare you the details of Alberio and the wonderful Dumbbell but I will say that I'm starting to think that globular clusters are slightly different from each other and not just the size. M71 is pleasing in its own way. M2 is different to M13. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

So just to think that a year ago I had no idea of the pleasure and peace of sitting outside in the cold looking at the stars. It's changed my life.

Before I packed up I went back to Neptune as Hydor in Aquarius was naked eye now. Hmmm maybe a disc. Blueish? Not really.

Thanks for reading.

[David Levi]

Great narrative again. Keep up the good work! You're having better luck with the weather than we're having in the UK at the moment. Frustration levels are quite high and reading about your session just makes me itch even more to get out.

[Astro Imp]

That was a terrific read, your enthusiasm a enjoyment comes oozing through.

Good luck and keep enjoying this great hobby.

[domstar]

Thanks for your kind words.

19 hours ago, David Levi said:

You're having better luck with the weather than we're having in the UK at the moment.

That's really interesting. I thought we were having a terribly cloudy autumn here. I read a few reports and thought the UK was in better shape. It's a big country I suppose. A nice forecast for the next few nights, though, and the moon isn't around. I'm excited.