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Epick Crom

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Hi my fellow stargazers! Just completed an epic session last night, having waited for over a week for the rain and clouds to abate. I observed a wide variety of beautiful objects with my 10 inch dob:

NGC 6139: Started the night with this subtle globular in Scorpius. A very faint smudge, but was super excited to find it after many unsuccessful attempts.

NGC 6231: Lovely sparkling open cluster in Scorpius, spent some time admiring this one.

NGC 6153: Planetary Nebula in Scorpius, faint blue colour.

M53: Globular in Coma Berenices. Large and bright, resolved a few pinpoint stars in its outer halo.

Mel 111: Open cluster Coma Berenices. This looked good in the finderscope, split the double 17 Com within this sprawling cluster.

Xi Scorpii: Double star in Scorpius.This one blew me away! Apon turning the telescope on it it morphed into an incredible multiple star! A rival to Sigma Orionis is in my opinion.

M5: Globular in Serpents. This was one of the highlights, my first look at it through my 10 inch. Incredible globular almost fully resolved. Beautiful. As a bonus I also split the near by double 5 Serpentis. Both are attractive in the same field at low power!

M4: Scorpius. The closest globular cluster to us in the sky. Beautiful with a bar layout of stars in its fully resolved core. 

Izar: Wonderful double star in Booties. Rich golden/blue colours!

NGC 6193: Open cluster in Ara. Delightful cluster with dazzling arrangements of stars.

M49: Galaxy in Virgo. I enjoyed this one! Hazy glow with a brightish star near by.

Waxing gibbous moon. Final stop was our beloved satellite the moon. The Straight Wall looked outstanding. I discovered a new feature that I hadn't seen before, Rima Ariadaeus, looks like a gash on the surface of the moon. Amazing sight. Can't wait for next week's lunar eclipse!

It was a great and enjoyable night! Clear skies to all!

 

Joe

 

Edited by Epick Crom
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37 minutes ago, Stu said:

Well done Joe, an excellent session. So great targets in there, some I’ve never seen.

Thanks Stu. I had been waiting a while to get some observations done so built up quite a list of targets!

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9 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

You and @Kon are just throwing up reports !!

I love writing the reports after my observing sessions. I sort of relive the excitement and I think it shows. 

6 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Thanks Voyager 3, yeah Kon and I are out there nightly , in different hemispheres

Reading Joe's reports gives me some new ideas and then I realise that many targets are not accessible on my hemisphere. Therefore, I love reading his reports and imagine what they would look like at the EP.

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2 minutes ago, Kon said:

I love writing the reports after my observing sessions. I sort of relive the excitement and I think it shows. 

Reading Joe's reports gives me some new ideas and then I realise that many targets are not accessible on my hemisphere. Therefore, I love reading his reports and imagine what they would look like at the EP.

This is true for me as well. I get inspired by Kon's reports and try for some of his targets if visible from my lattitude. It is great to imagine what he is seeing from up there , likewise he can imagine what I see down here! We are living vicariously through each other 😁. This is what is great about our hobby, we can "see" what is impossible to see from our particular location through reports 👍

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On 26/05/2021 at 00:28, skyhog said:

Great report and nice to read when my sky won't get dark until the start of August... 🙄

Sorry to hear that mate. Northern hemisphere summer hey? For me the latest until the sky darkens properly to observe is 8pm during mid summer ( Jan, Feb)

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8 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Sorry to hear that mate. Northern hemisphere summer hey? For me the latest until the sky darkens properly to observe is 8pm during mid summer ( Jan, Feb)

Yes, astronomy at certain latitudes is sadly seasonal. It always takes me a while to adjust to the fact when I travel. I don't think the long dark nights during our winter months quite make up for the loss of night during the summer. I have spent a while in Australia and will never forget some of the ink black skies over there. Fantastic memories indeed. 

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17 hours ago, skyhog said:

Yes, astronomy at certain latitudes is sadly seasonal. It always takes me a while to adjust to the fact when I travel. I don't think the long dark nights during our winter months quite make up for the loss of night during the summer. I have spent a while in Australia and will never forget some of the ink black skies over there. Fantastic memories indeed. 

I had never realised that Astronomy could be seasonal as I lived in the southern hemisphere my whole life. Here it always gets dark not too long after sunset, and I thought darkness at 8pm in midsummer was extreme! Yes Australian skies can be jet black, hope you can make it down under again!

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4 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

I had never realised that Astronomy could be seasonal as I lived in the southern hemisphere my whole life. Here it always gets dark not too long after sunset, and I thought darkness at 8pm in midsummer was extreme! Yes Australian skies can be jet black, hope you can make it down under again!

Definitely be back for sure. Bit of a novelty for folk like me whenever I travelled anywhere near the equator and day and night are a nice 12 hour split. I also spent a few years on an oil platform  within the Arctic circle. Getting used to that took some doing!

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