Lighter sights !

[cotterless45]

Clearoutside and Scopenights gave massive cloud cover. Listening to radio 4 , I heard "clear breaks" and a touch of frost. Heading out at 10 gave three lovely clear hours .

Transparency wasn't up to much , I usually don't look south west , but Gemini looked great and I had one of the best views of NGC 2392 , the "Eskimo Nebula". X216 really brought out the central star the bright core and the dimmer halo. 

Had a go at Coma Berenices galaxies , M64 ("black eye"), M85 with a star like centre, the faint M88,M91 ,M99 and M100 by averted vision, no great things there ! NGC 4725 at +9.4 did look bright as did the "needle galaxy", NGC 4565. M53 did show as a globular , but not much contrast. Better luck with binaries, very surprised to see the secondary of 35 Coma.b at low power, it opens out into a stunning triple. What secrets these low power views hold !

Cold hovered around zero degrees , no breeze and still clear.

Porrima showed as very open at 2.8", a stunning sight.

 

Up to Canes Venatici and a lovely view of "La Superba" one of the brightest red stars , on its way to becoming a planetary Nebula. 25 CNv gave a wide 1.7", a bit wider for Σ 261 . Followed this with a view of the colourful Cor Caroli. Just a few years ago and with less light pollution , I'd scan the remarkable CNv galaxies. Nowadays they are hardly a streak ( "whale galaxy") , plenty of accessible targets , under ,

Clear skies ! Nick.

[estwing]

Well done Nick...la superba is a lovely colour...I had to track it down on hearing it's name!, clear skies 

[wookie1965]

Was freezing here but cloudy went out every half hour preying for clear skies.

Nothing at 1am so turned in.

some great doubles there I suspect I could not split some of them.