Fantastic morning

[Ben Ritchie]

4:30am start for a conference call this morning but turned out to be well worth it. As I headed out of the house the sky was stunningly clear - seeing was dire in 30kt winds off the sea, but i've rarely seen such a spectacular sky in the UK. The double cluster was not just a clear direct-vision object but one that jumped out and stopped me in my tracks on the way to the office (a 100-yard commute to the bottom of the garden ), M35 was also a simple direct-vision spot, M44 was very clear and M42 and M45 were remarkable. A morning like this leaves me wondering why Messier thought it necessary to catalogue them at all, and, as he did, why he left out the double cluster. The sky clarity meant that my usual memorized checks of sky conditions were useless, all were easy direct-vision spots, but based on a quick sketch of the fainter stars Hyades i'd guess the NELM at around 6.4-6.5, exceptional for my location, although I didn't take the time to really figure it out.

I then grabbed my el cheapo Meade 10x50 binoculars - ten quid from Lidl, bargain! - and spent a happy fifteen minutes looking at Messier open clusters (the chain of M35...M38 through Auriga is always a favourite of mine) and discovering that my knowledge of the sky isn't quite as bad as I thought it was, until I could postpone the call no longer. A memorable observing session though.

[russ]

Hi Ben,

I had the same experience last night just before midnight. Locking up the house, went out to the shed to make sure that was locked and then glanced up. Wow been a longtime since i had seen such a good sky from Eastleigh. Our North/East sky is actually pretty good, so M31, Double Cluster etc were easy direct vision naked eye objects. And i had never seen the Milkyway so clearly.

Instead of locking up i spent the next 45mins with the 15x70's. Not seen M33 so clearly or easily. Auriga was superb. M45 like a beacon in the sky.

I think that was the one exceptional night we get every year. Exceptional transparency!

Russ

[scotastro]

Think you nicked our weather - it was crystal from 8pm till 10.30pm when it clouded out completely. Plenty of time though to give the guests a good tour of the pretty DSOs. The Veil was full of separate filaments in OIII - beautiful.

Mike

PS

Just come in from a very late night observing (1am to 5am) not the same clarity though, but good all the same.