September decent sky.

[cotterless45]

Some planetary views , crisp Saturn followed by the discs of Neptune and Uranus. Signs of the Milky Way though Cygnus and on to Cassiopeia. Spent time on the open clusters here , including a great x30 on the double cluster ( NGC 884 and NGC 869). Again right crisp against a dark background  . Later M45 , being low down in brighter area of the sky , it looked suspended on a long star chain.

The "blue snowball ", NGC 7662 gave stunning views especially over x150. Move the field a bit and focus on a nearby star , then back to this most glorious disc. Not bad views , checked at  SQM 19.42. Bit cooler than of late , down to 8.8 C. Had a look at "Caroline's rose" NGC 7789. A superb showpiece at x100. Just filled the view with stars, going to sit down and draw it for a long time !

Then onto a mass of binaries , before turning to the high south to catch Delphinus. It is still amazing to observe a field star , then increase  magnification to open multiples out. Iota Cassiopeiae has always been a favourite . Rank it up there with Tegmine and β Monocerotis. 

Lovely night under clear skies !

Nick.

[wookie1965]

clouded out here from 9pm  great report ive never managed split Iota Cassiopaie into its 3 components must try again. A few more add to my lists.

[des anderson]

A great report, and Iota Cass   always up there with the double double in  Lyra. Des        

[mapstar]

I looked out last night and the thin crescent moon was a lovely sight as it set.

Dark clouds to the west over the usual viewing spot put paid to me getting out as I thought it would blow over further and ruin the clear skies I that may have been there.

By 11pm it had so was a good call.

Glad you got some nice views Nick. The setting crescent moon helping the contrast. 

[F15Rules]

Lovely report Old Nick😁.

Here in Lincolnshire we have had several decent nights recently, but circumstances have limited my viewing to one decent 90 minute session with the FS128 and a short session with my Opticron 8.5 X 50s.

The highlight with the Tak was M13 glob in Hercules. I was trying a new (to me) William Optics 3mm SPL eyepiece and, at 346x the cluster fills the fov..the view was dim, but jet black and ghostly faint stars were popping out all over the field.

The double double was also lovely, with masses of black space between each pair at that power. I feel a driven mount really makes the view at very high powers.

Great to have some proper astronomical darkness again!

Thanks for sharing, Nick

Dave