NGC4565 saved the night.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Tonight was a frustrating couple of hours under a clear sky ruined by city light pollution and a neighbour's unnecessary, so bright they make you squint insecurity lights activating.

I was hunkered down in the darkest corner of the garden with a Startravel 120 and AZGTI that wasn't playing ball, then swapping to an AZ5 mount, but the back was starting to ache and I was on the verge of looking for bricks to smash the laser beam lights!

At around 00:50, giving up almost, I decided to go for the Olympus  DPS-I 10x50s. Nearly horizontal in the garden chair scanning the sky, Melotte 111, an open cluster in Coma Berenices really caught my eye. Lovely and what's this smudge to the left. Keeping the binos firmly planted on this big smudge, it was obviously a galaxy! After several minutes it resolved into a distinct rectangular shape, tailing off at the tips.

Looking it up, I'd found an object I haven't seen from my garden with a 120mm refractor, 130mm and 200mm reflectors. Lo and behold, NGC 4565 the Needle Galaxy! It made my night. I even pointed the 120 frac loaded with a 2" Aero ED 30mm right at the spot and couldn't see it.

Binoculars rock!

 

[markse68]

Nice! Shall try to find them both tonight if it’s clear- thanks 😊

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Have a go. It's an object I've tried to observe on a few occasions through the telescopes to no avail. This time it was a lucky find using the 10x50s.

 

[mark81]

It's great when that happens!  I have looked at 111 many times with the Olympus 10x50s so definitely will be looking that little bit closer next time...

[loordspudz]

Might seem a stupid question, bear with me I'm new, but where are the images from?

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Not stupid at all. Sky Safari Pro app. Sky Safari is free. Pro is regularly discounted.

I added my 10x50 binoculars to the equipment database, creating the circle, which represents the field of view through the binos.

 

 

[loordspudz]

Many thanks