Golden Double & Two Plan. Nebs.

[cloudsweeper]

7.00 - 8.30, Mon. evening, 8SE.  Clear sky.  I have tended to concentrate on doubles in the 1 - 2 soa (1 - 2") region, but recently took a greater liking for wide ones (say 20 - 30 soa), as they are very easy to see, are pretty, and are often in more panoramic fields (esp. with a widefield 'scope).

Started with 12 Cap, 22 soa - a fine sight at x48 - close in the EP, bright, well matched.

Next, Alpha 1, 2 Cap.  This is in fact an optical (line of sight) double, with a huge 6.6 moa  (6.6') of separation.  Obviously very well separated at x48, again bright, and well matched.  But the attractive feature is the clear golden hue seen in both stars - well worth a look.  (Alpha 2 Cap has a close pair of mag 11 companions, but I didn't make them out.)

Then for a change, a couple of planetary nebulae in the same region: C55 Aqr (Saturn Nebula), and NGC 6818 Sgr (Little Gem Nebula).  Both easily found with GoTo, appearing star-like at x48, but when taken to x102, being magnified (so not stars!) to small, bright patches.  OIII filter had little effect.

A pleasing session, although I seem to be increasingly plagued by bedroom lights and garden security lights coming on and off.  Not helpful for hunting fainter objects!

Thanks for reading.

Doug.

[cotterless45]

super ! all we had was endless clouds lit up by light pollution. Hoping for clear skies as at this time of year there's so much to see. Very keen on theta Aurigae , nice binary with massive contrast, good test of optics and atmosphere,

Nick.