While the camera clicks, the binoculars ticks.....

[geoflewis]

Ticks off some more faint fuzzies for me that is..... 😀

I set my camera running in the obs collecting more data on M81, then brought my Apollo 22x85s out on the P mount to take a look at the Moon. I was very pleased to get my first visual on the lunar X and tried a quick capture with my iPhone at one of the eyepieces. It barely shows in the photo, but I was pleased to see it visually.

I wasn't expecting to see much else with the binoculars with a bright Moon in the sky, but how wrong can you be...?

M42 the Orion Nebula was pretty washed out, but the trapezium was an easy split. I scanned the general area, then popped over to the Double Cluster, which was a fine sight despite the bright sky, then further over to Cassiopeia to see the Owl Cluster (NGC457). Gaining confidence I decided to try for some galaxies, so started with the M81/M82 pair which were very easy and pleasing, clearly revealing their different shapes. From there I dropped down to Mizar, another easy split and over to M101, followed by M51, both found without too much difficulty, with M51 just giving up it's 2 bright lobes.

By this time I'm thinking that maybe the Moon isn't damaging the sky as much as I feared, so perhaps I can shoot some luminance on M81 after I've completed the Ha currently being gathered. I'm also thinking that later on I'll target some fainter galaxies in Leo and Virgo once they rise above my house roof after 11pm. Until then I stayed with some brighter open clusters in Auriga (Ms 36, 37, 38 and NGCs 1907, 1893, 1857, 1778) and the 'ladder asterism to the west of NGC1893. Staying with open clusters I headed east to M35 in Gemini, then dropped down through the chain of fainter clusters NGC2158, IC2157 & NGC2129. It's just so much fun panning through star fields with these binoculars mounted on the parallelogram mount, whilst I'm comfortably seated in my relining chair. Continuing east of Gemini I found the magnificent Beehive Cluster M44, then dropped down to M67 another lovely open cluster.

By now the sickle of Leo was just showing above my roof, so I tried for the 9th magnitude NGC2903 to the west of Algenubi (epsilon Leo), the end star of the sickle; the galaxy appearing as a faint ellipse, hinting at it's true barred spiral shape. It would be an hour or more before I would be able to see the Leo triplet and other galaxies below the lion's abdomen from where I had set up the binoculars, so I popped the lens caps back on and headed into the observatory to check progress there.

Returning to Leo maybe 45 minutes later and dragging my P-mount and binos further away from the house I could start to search for some more galaxies, albeit standing not sitting. Starting with the Leo triplet, M66 was an easy get, but I could not see M67 or the 'Hamburger' NGC3618 which was disappointing, but I think this was primarily due to me having to stand and strain my neck as this region was still too close to my rooftop to be able to sit down, so I had to wait a while longer. Whilst waiting I revisited M51, M101, M81/M82 then remembered M45 the Pleiades which being very close to the Moon, turned out to be a waste of time as it was really washed out.

By about 11:30 Leo was well clear of my rooftop, Regulus had already transited and the Virgo bowl was tantalisingly coming into view, so I settled down to see how many galaxies I could find. This time all 3 of the Leo triplet were found, followed by what I call the other Leo Triplet M95, M96 & M105. The galaxies in the Virgo bowl could not be seen whilst seated, so I headed east to M64 the Black Eye galaxy, then whilst there dropped down to see globular cluster M53, which view enticed me to go hunting for other globular clusters M3, M13 and M92 all of which were easily found.

Finally I returned to the Virgo bowl, initially standing, but eventually being able to sit back and relax, which I've learned makes a huge difference to what I can observe. Starting east of the star Denebola I found a 'T' or reverse 'J' asterism of stars where I know to find Ms 98, 99 & 100. M99 was an easy get, but with perseverance I was able to tick off M100 and eventually M98, which at mag 10.14 in a still fairly bright moonlit sky was very pleasing. Next I tried some, for me, yet to be seen galaxies. I found another asterism of stars which to me looked a bit like a Corgi or Jack Russel dog. By reference to those stars I started to look for firstly M87, then panning east M89 and M90, all of which were found. Back to the Corgi face and up to another similarly bright star I unsuccessfully searched for the Eyes (NGCs 4435/4438), but did find M86. The Eyes are each in the Mag 10+ range, so maybe I can get those later in the year when there is no Moon about and Virgo has gained a higher altitude and moved further west of my house.

Checking Stellarium this morning I realise that I missed a trick or 2 in not seeking out some other bright galaxies in Canes Venatici, e.g. M63, M94, M106 and several NGCs, so those will be for another night.

Not recently being much of a visual observer, I feel like these binoculars have me starting over with this hobby again. I'm having enormous pleasure once again learning to navigate the sky by star hopping and learning star asterisms that point the way to fainter targets. For a night when I though the Moon would not allow much, I think I ticked off nearly 40 different targets (several being binocular firsts for me), plus wonderful general views of rich Winter/Spring star fields. By the time I'd finished with the binoculars, clouds were rolling in from the SW and my camera had collected 2 hours Ha and 1.5 hours L on M81, so with what I'd already captured last week I may now have enough data to process an image of that glorious spiral galaxy to go with the M82 that I completed in January.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about my session last night and thanks for looking.

 

 

[Stormbringer]

Looks like you had a great session with the binns 🌌

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

Looks like you had a great session with the binns 🌌

Thanks Alan, yes, great fun. So far these large bins + P-mount are proving to be everything I'd hoped for 😎

[Ciaran Meier]

The Apollo must be a crack'n set bins.  I've the Stellar II 15x70's and there're getting a lot more time than the scope. Your right about the joy of just sweeping the sky with a good set of bins, there's something magical about it.  Gonna try a few of your list with my bins too. Cheers. 

[geoflewis]

Thanks Ciaran, go for it. I got mine because my scopes are always tied up imaging when it's clear, especially when I'm using the C14 as I don't want to swap the camera for eyepieces mid project. I thought about getting a small dob, but that requires more storage room and the wide field view with the bins somehow connects me to the sky better than any scope I've use.

[Fraunhoffer]

Fabulous report. Thank you. 

 

[geoflewis]

12 minutes ago, Fraunhoffer said:

Fabulous report. Thank you. 

 

Thanks 😀

[Mick H]

Well done Geof, you had a brilliant session there, and that was a really nice report/read.

Thanks.

[geoflewis]

38 minutes ago, Mick H said:

Well done Geof, you had a brilliant session there, and that was a really nice report/read.

Thanks.

Thanks Mick

Geof

[BinocularSky]

Great report; thanks for sharing. Seems like you've hit a sweet spot with the 22x85.

[geoflewis]

55 minutes ago, BinocularSky said:

Great report; thanks for sharing. Seems like you've hit a sweet spot with the 22x85.

Thanks Steve, yes, for the price they perform very well, I'm delighted with them and the Orion Monster P-Mount.