Deep sky Sunday 13th

[NGC 1502]

 

Last evening was the first clear night for ages.  After the moon was largely out of the way the sky was quite transparent from my town location.  M44 was a naked eye fuzzy patch with averted vision.  With my trusty 10” Dob I visited many old favourites.  Came in for a hot drink and to watch “Sky at Night” on the box.  Nice program but not much observing......still missing Patrick......

Went back out.   Highlights included galaxy NGC 2903, easy starhop 1.5 degrees S of Lambda Leo ( Alterf ).  Fairly easy to spot at low power, better seen at 86x.   Hadn’t looked at M67 for a long while, an easy starhop from alpha cancer ( Acubens ) just naked eye from my backyard. Panned at low power past 60 Cancer to easily seen M67, nicely resolved at 86x.

Viewed star party favourites M81/82, at low power nicely seen.  Pushed up via 86x to 150x, M82 revealed the diagonal “break” with averted vision.

Loads more......

Nothing groundbreaking here, but just great to be under the stars again.    Anyone who suggests that visual astronomy is a lost cause from the middle of a large town is........erm........wrong........?.......!!

Ed.

   

 

[knobby]

Well said Ed, sounds like a good night.

[Alan White]

Sounds great Ed.
Got 20 minutes with the Bins and then to bed as work today, typical to be clear on a Sunday night.
I agree about observing from town, just depends how much local light intrudes near you I suppose.