A Nova and a few DSOs

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have not had much observing of deep sky objects recently. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day but the forecast was cloud from 9pm onwards. I have not had the opportunity to observe the Nova in Cassiopeia and I really wanted to have a go before it faded.

I set up the Skywatcher 150P in early evening and hoped for the best. Around 9.45pm I noticed that the sky was clear so decided to try and find the Nova. In the end it was easy using M52 as my starting point. Found the Nova and made an estimate of mag 8.

Sky still clear so had a look look around Ursa Major. Using a TeleVue Nebstar 2 I observed the Owl (M97). Removed the filter and observed M108 nearby. Down to Phecida and took in M109. Then M51, M101, M81 and M82.

Before I ended I observed NGC 2903, M66, M65 and just about NGC 3628.

Not a long session - just over an hour but nice to see the sky again. If it stays clear over the next week I will try and use the 12" Dob.