First clear night in weeks!

[Greg6498]

WOW! Had a great view! Used my Pocket Sky Atlas to plan the night, then I just shot right out there! Saw the 7 Sisters (Pleiades), then hopped to the Orion Nebula! Used my ES 18 mm to find it then switched to the Morpheus 12.5 mm and could actually see wispy parts of the Nebula! ( I guess that’s what it was! LoL!) Really amazing! Called the wife out to take a look. Next I want to find Andromeda!

Greg

[cloudsweeper]

Great start Greg - there's loads more up there to enjoy.  Have fun!

Andromeda - quite an easy target - 2.5 million ly away - wow!

Doug.

[SacRiker]

Nice report. That Morpheus EP looks like serious business. The 7 sisters is one of my favorite targets with naked eye or Binos. 

[Astro Imp]

Good report Greg.
I enjoyed the content but not the font colour you selected, it made for really hard reading.

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

Good report Greg.
I enjoyed the content but not the font colour you selected, it made for really hard reading.

Sorted now hopefully.

[Astro Imp]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Sorted now hopefully.

Thanks Stu.

[Greg6498]

9 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

Good report Greg.
I enjoyed the content but not the font colour you selected, it made for really hard reading.

I'm sorry! My font shows as white on the forum's black screen. 

[Astro Imp]

1 minute ago, Greg6498 said:

I'm sorry! My font shows as white on the forum's black screen. 

Hi Greg, your font was originally showing light grey on the dark forum background but all good now so no problem.
Hope you get some more clear skies, I've forgotten what a star looks like it's been so long since I saw one.

[Greg6498]

26 minutes ago, SacRiker said:

Nice report. That Morpheus EP looks like serious business. The 7 sisters is one of my favorite targets with naked eye or Binos. 

Thanks! The Morpheus is an amazing eyepiece. Crystal clear, great eye relief and very versatile!

[Charic]

At least when it's overcast  you've got the IC-275 to play with?
I never went full licence, but I've  got an IC-R70.

Here's  how I locate M31, starting from the big  ' W ' in the sky -  Cassiopeia.
Head along to Mirach then back a tad locate M31.

Once you know where it is, its easier next time round!

[Greg6498]

4 minutes ago, Charic said:

At least when it's overcast  you've got the IC-275 to play with?
I never went full licence, but I've  got an IC-R70.

Here's  how I locate M31, starting from the big  ' W ' in the sky -  Cassiopeia.
Head along to Mirach then back a tad locate M31.

Once you know where it is, its easier next time round!

Thanks for the info and map! Yeah, I've been a Ham Radio Operator for 25 years. Even did some radio astronomy back in the day! I plan to give Andromeda a try next weekend!

[Pete Presland]

Sounds like a fine session, not had the scope out since mid December, pretty grim to be honest!

[Greg6498]

6 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

Sounds like a fine session, not had the scope out since mid December, pretty grim to be honest!

We broke all time records for rain in 2018! Haven't had two consecutive clear weeks since July 20!

[Pete Presland]

24 minutes ago, Greg6498 said:

We broke all time records for rain in 2018! Haven't had two consecutive clear weeks since July 20!

Crikey, now that is really grim!

[chiltonstar]

I liked the phrase in a recent weather forecast - "anticyclonic gloom". Just about says it all! I suppose all the kit buying before Xmas has something to do with it....

Chris