Hoovering up with the Newt.

[cotterless45]

It's all writing dark !

Low Moon, quite decent sky,time to get out the 8" Newt and hoover up some Messier's. I kept to the north and east, the garden faces East, it was great to observe rising targets in Gemini, Auriga and Monoceros. Including,M38,M36, M37, M35, M81 ,M82,M1,NGC 2392, NGC 1664,NGC 2264 and a proper looking "37",NGC 2169.

Went through to a cold midnight , when high cloud drifted in. The ota was set up so that targets at polar area could be comfortably observed. I hate to disturb the mount by tube spinning, however careful , it affects polar alignment and tracking. NGC 40 was bright and high above In Cepheus, i caught the lovely bright and very ancient cluster , NGC 188, (from the dark side of the net),

 

NGC 188, "The Ancient One" in Cepheus.

Ninth magnitude NGC 188 is one of the oldest known open clusters. Its estimated age, 9 billion years, is about that of the youngest globular clusters. NGC 188's brightest stars, 12th to 13th magnitude objects, are yellow class III giants with spectra of G8 to K4. The cluster completely lacks white main sequence stars.

NGC 188 was discovered by John Herschel on November 3, 1831 and cataloged as h 34 in his 1833 catalog. This object subsequently became GC 92 in his 1864 General Catalogue, and finally NGC 188 in Dreyer's NGC.
This cluster is within 5 degrees of the north celestial pole. It is moderately faint, with a combined magnitude of 8.1. Three dozen pinpoint stars resolve in a rich, concentrated background glow spanning a 14' area. NGC 188 is a nice but faint, round cluster of fifty to sixty 12th to 15th magnitude stars twinkling in and out of resolution against a granular background. Several dark gaps lie west of the cluster's center. Several wide star-pairs stand out.
Unlike most open clusters that drift apart after a few million years because of the gravitational interaction of our galaxy, NGC 188 lies far above the plane of the galaxy. NGC 188 is at an estimated distance of 5,000 light year, putting it slightly above the Milky Way's disc, and further from the center of the galaxy than the Sun.
NGC 1888 is over 5 billion years, and is one of the most ancient open clusters known in our Galaxy. It consists of about 120 stars; the hottest main sequence star is of spectral type F2 V, while the 10 brightest stars are yellow giants of spectral types G8 III to K4 III. These have apparent magnitudes of about 12 to 14, corresponding to absolute magnitudes of +0 to +2.

 

I was missing some of the dim companions to a few binaries , the Newt soon hoovered these up including and elusive +11 companion. including,
Mil 2 in Auriga, very challenging companion, which I hadn't picked up before.
Lambda Gem. Another faint challenging companion .Its a delight with a single straight secondary vane, stars stay without diffraction spikes.

Propus again was not splitting ,but had some lovely views of Wasat and the wide Mebsuta and Bogardus ( Auriga). Finished up with a string of multiple stars ,before noticing ice on the Telrad and transparency going. 

Very interesting session , pushing an 8" Newt, could get used to these mirrors under clear skies. Marking up the ota and rings makes setting up and easy observing, set here for north east. Just about equivalent to the 150 frac ,
Nick.

[wookie1965]

Well Nick hopefully clear skies tonight for me and i will be having a look at those objects and trying out your method keep the eyepiece in one place. Some cracking objects there I must visit the ancient one.

[alan potts]

I have deleted the double thread post Nick.

[estwing]

Great idea Nick...now I have to go to dark skies to read your report!!!

[cotterless45]

Helps with night vision ! Try a red screen cover as well ?

[Astro Imp]

Very interesting and informative report Nick, thanks for taking the trouble to post.

[swamp thing]

Nice report Nick.

That second paragraph spoiled my dark adaption though