Finally a break from that awful weather

[Kon]

Having been quite rubbish weather and with my busy schedule (home schooling and work) these days I did not notice the weather gave us a break tonight. Putting my 3+5 year olds to bed  they said 'We can see Orion's nebula from our window, are you getting the telescope out?'.....and so I did. Out came the 8" Dob. The sky was very clear with the odd cloud passing through quickly. I went back to the Eskimo and Crab nebulas since the last time I saw them the moon was very bright; they both seemed much brighter with more features  through the EP.  I could not give Orion's nebula a miss (great amount of details in the nebula and managed a few shots using prime focus with my DSLR). They looked great with the 15mm BST. My wife did not seem impressed with the smudgy nebulas (except Orion)  but when I showed her some open clusters she was excited, including me. We managed to see NGC7510 and M52 in the area. Beautiful specs of light and different colours. You could make some lovely yellows and whites in the M52. Then we moved to M35 and Beehive clusters. Again, the amount of stars is mesmerising! She also wanted to see Pleiades and I obliged. 

It was a nice short session, 9-1030, with beautiful viewing. Now, sitting back at my desk  catching up with work instead of being outside 😞. I came to the conclusion that although the clusters do look nice, I prefer the nebulas and the fact they are harder to track, so I think it is adding to my excitement when I find them,  whereas my wife prefers the 'busy' clusters with all the stars. Fingers crossed for more decent viewing nights.

[Epick Crom]

Nice report Kon👍 My kids always ask me the same "Are you getting your telescope out" 🙂. Glad you managed a good session !

[Sunshine]

Nice report, as I said once before, sometimes those fleeting sessions are the most rewarding and, I agree with your wife regarding clusters, they are beautiful objects especially in a dob of 8" or larger.

[Kon]

4 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Nice report, as I said once before, sometimes those fleeting sessions are the most rewarding and, I agree with your wife regarding clusters, they are beautiful objects especially in a dob of 8" or larger.

Thanks.  I agree, any opportunity to get out and have a break is great. That's the beauty of the Dob; you can be good to go in no time (except the cooling time) or the reverse if the weather gets worst. Don't get me wrong the clusters are beautiful and the colours pretty cool and they do make for a more relaxing session.