Garden of Delights - a few gems stolen among the security lights

[SuburbanMak]

I wasn’t able to get out to the park last night but once the smaller of the children was abed & the teenagers uploaded to their games I popped on a hoodie (cunning anti-security light plan) and decamped to the garden, wine in hand, for an impromptu after dinner tour with the ST80. 
After wrestling with the old wooden tripod on my “new” Prinz 330 60mm earlier in the week, the Manfrotto 55 and full height viewing position made this feel quite the luxury experience! 
 

Wide-field views weren’t bad either...

15.4, 9.30 PM

ST80 & Baader Zoom. 

Seeing good, transparency patchy at Zenith, murky below 30 degrees. 

Castor - almost split @50x  low over rooftop

M44 Beehive - great view, put the red dot right on it. Was above the houses & enjoyed the soundtrack to a neighbour’s party whilst lost in space. 

Melotte 111 - lovely view. Super round pin points & some good colour contrast with white & a smattering of orange stars. ST80 loves these slightly fainter clusters. No hint of CA. This cluster now firmly on my highlight list. 

Chertan & 73 Leonis - but no triplet (well it was worth a try)

Algieba - Split (just) at 50x, nice yellow headlights. 

Had a look for anything apparent in the Virgo galaxy field but lots of white LP to SE so no chance. 

Cor Caroli - beautiful view in the ST80. White primary with smaller fainter white secondary - nice round stars.  

Mizar - again a super field, Mizar A&B look a close pair at 50x with size contrast - easy to imagine as an orbital system. Alcor a way off and a couple of other faint stars making a nice little asterism. 

M81 & M82 - yes! From the garden, a first outside of M31!  Hoodie over the EP.  Dropped the red dot carefully in line from the diagonal across the bowl of the plough/dipper.  Galaxies popped with a slight nudge from original guess.  See an oval and a stripe & that fantastic orientation - obviously no detail but a rewarding view from among the security & streetlights! 

Enjoyed for ages with a glass of wine!  

Civilised galactic travel... 

Edited April 16, 2021 by SuburbanMak

[Stardaze]

Sounds a great evening. Maybe just need a slightly darker spot to find the triplet? I managed two of them in the 15x70 binos last night (bortle 5), but worth persevering. 

[SuburbanMak]

12 hours ago, Stardaze said:

Sounds a great evening. Maybe just need a slightly darker spot to find the triplet? I managed two of them in the 15x70 binos last night (bortle 5), but worth persevering. 

Thank you @Stardaze - I have been lucky enough to catch the Leo Triplet a couple of times ( & 2 of the 3 a few more times) with a Mak 127 from the local park, still suburban Bortle 5 up above but a good open horizon above 10-15 degrees with less much peripheral interference from street & security lighting than the garden. Here views are blocked below 60 degrees by houses to the W, lights to the North & with views to South & East possible above 25 degrees but punctuated with the odd tree! Yet to see them in the ST80. 

[Stardaze]

3 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

Thank you @Stardaze - I have been lucky enough to catch the Leo Triplet a couple of times ( & 2 of the 3 a few more times) with a Mak 127 from the local park, still suburban Bortle 5 up above but a good open horizon above 10-15 degrees with less much peripheral interference from street & security lighting than the garden. Here views are blocked below 60 degrees by houses to the W, lights to the North & with views to South & East possible above 25 degrees but punctuated with the odd tree! Yet to see them in the ST80. 

I guess most of us are working with what we have in front of us, most of the time. My eastern view is completely obliterated by an oak tree on the roadside. SW to West are my best viewing spots, providing the neighbours don’t switch their light on. I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve managed to see from here this last year, but still so much to learn and take in, certainly will keep me searching avidly when time permits.

[Basementboy]

The hoodie filter! Genius

I took my own new ST80 out recently on my first dark skies camping trip – will write up a report on it now ... lots of similar targets to yours