Stunning night , summer treasures !

[cotterless45]

Probably one of the best observing nights ever. Memorable for the challenging light sky views , the stillness and warmth. 

Cygnus.

A tour around binaries , still bright enough not to catch anything deep sky.  But wait ...

Σ2741,Σ2609,ψ Cygni,Σ2624 and S738 fell open , showing the seeing so good to get down below 2".

Looking to the south west and the Yeds of Ophiuchus led back to this giant constellation. M12, the more expansive M10 and the fainter M14 were picked out.

IC 4665  , the "summer beehive" buzzed with stars.  Unusual in that it's 15 degrees out of the galactic plane.

Serpens and a stunning view of IC 4756, "Graff's cluster", twice the size of the full moon. X30 came in useful in the yard cannon. A rather wide view of M5 and a glimpse of the open cluster associated with M16. Spotted the rich carbon star v Ophiuchi (SAO 159916). NGC 6572 gave an intense blue  of the " blue racquetball "and an averted glimpse of NGC 6309, " box nebula".

Scutum and a view of the wild ducks of M11, a summer classic.

Hmm strange groups of stars low in the south west , Scorpius , Sagittarius and Libra . Graffias (β Scorpii) gave a really bright wide pair. ξ and Σ 1999 gave a lovely view .I'm sure that the orientation of V Scorpii has moved might be my eyes ! The wide view gives a pair of stars , but increase the magnification and it blows open into two pairs.

Vulpecula and a really superb view of M27, one end appeared bright and the field was full.A superb view of M39 behind Cygnus, nice to sit and sketch.

Sagitta and a faint view of M71.

Down to Sagittarius and even low down a view of M17, the swan gliding along star fields .

Cassiopeia was climbing higher in the north . Had to look at NGC 457, the owl. Andromeda was up and a check on M31 and a lovely view of the "blue snowball" NGC 7662.

Coming up to 3 am , so reluctantly packed in . Very surprised to observe such views on the first gorgeous night of summer.

careful now and here's to darker skies ! Nick.

[wookie1965]

Brilliant Nick going to copy a few of those. 

I myself was out doing Solar so left the kit out 10.30pm polar aligned came out about 11.10pm checked all good. Did the trick for alignment went to Vega. 

First M13 Bob on put 15mm in could not make out any individual stars same with M92, went to IC 4593 "White pea" sky was brighter so thought come back to that M56 next now this looked milky. Here is why cloud with more cloud building behind packed electrics up eyepieces then got son get scope and weight. 

Put the tripod and the mount in the shed see if I can get Solar again. 

Wife said what's up by this time was 12.30am full cloud. 

Really disappointed as it looked like my mount was going to hit every target. 

[cotterless45]

Err, are you observing from a fairground !!?

[wookie1965]

36 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

Err, are you observing from a fairground !!?

No that's the wife's solar lights around the Arch the other lights are houses at the back of me. To be fair the solar lights are not that bright and I turn them off just turned them back on just before took the picture. Obviously the ones in the background I cannot do anything about no wonder I cannot see M51 and the Leo Trio another reason I get really excited when I see something deep sky.

Edited June 1, 2021 by wookie1965

[Zermelo]

4 hours ago, cotterless45 said:

Probably one of the best observing nights ever

Great report. My heart wanted to get out again last night, but my body was still feeling the effects of a late session the day before.

You have several objects there that I'll be adding to my next list.  It could be tonight, reading the runes.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Zermelo

[SuburbanMak]

Really enjoyed reading this report and the sketches thank you! 

Like @Zermelo I couldn’t quite drag out another late one having stayed up Messier hunting & waiting for Saturn & Jupiter the night before - did look like a lovely night though… 

Here’s to more clear skies even if they are a bit light! 

[Zermelo]

Taking an average of various websites, they're predicting that the seeing will be as good tonight, but high cloud will reduce the transparency - though possibly not until the early hours.

26 minutes ago, SuburbanMak said:

waiting for Saturn & Jupiter

that's hardcore, I couldn't manage that.

[RobertI]

Fantastic report, what a night, some really interesting and varied objects there. Nice sketches too. 👍

[Paul73]

Nice write up Nick.

What scope were you using?

Paul

[Kon]

Excellent report and very nice targets; I will have to borrow some of your nebula ones. The NGC 6572 sounds very exciting with its blue colour; what telescope were you using? I love your sketches of your targets. Are these done at the EP and do you use some red light when you draw (you seem to be using white pencil on black paper)?

[Zermelo]

Well thanks again, Nick @cotterless45, half of my list from last night was from yours above.

And what another cracking night it was.  It was looking disappointing just after dusk, still some high cloud about and the first couple of doubles I tried were jumping around like crazy; possibly a lot of heat still about. After an hour or so, it all settled down nicely and the clouds disappeared. I think the seeing was at least as good as it was on Saturday, so I tried for some of the tighter Cygnus doubles you mentioned. My previous record with this 150mm scope had been 2.2" - well I broke that with Σ2741 and Σ2624 (both 2.0"), and then again with Σ2609 (1.9").

M5 and M11 I'd seen before but looked very fine last night; IC4756 was a new one on me and another excellent choice, as was IC4665. Planetary NGC 6572, also new to me, was an unmistakeable blue-green blob. I finished with a few more new doubles and globulars down in Scorpius, and packing up at 02.00, I spent a few more minutes just looking up. The sky was as clear as I've ever seen it here, the milky way visible down into Scutum and Ophiuchus, with some structure lanes showing. It's currently raining here now, but I see ClearOutside is forecasting another clear night later.

[SuburbanMak]

16 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Taking an average of various websites, they're predicting that the seeing will be as good tonight, but high cloud will reduce the transparency - though possibly not until the early hours.

that's hardcore, I couldn't manage that.

I only did knowing it was a bank holiday weekend and that if I wanted to I could spend all day on a sun lounger, although as it turned out I was mainly paddle-boarding  

[cotterless45]

Thank you for the kind replies , for  those who asked , I'm using a Celestron C6r. That's 150mm at f8 with a Baader semi apo 2" filter in the diagonal. Yard cannon's do vary in quality , but this one's very very good.

For  more colour I prefer the Vixen 102 SP , old school . There have been some wonderful nights , especially when the air settles and normal folk are asleep with lights off ,asif,

Nick.

[Zermelo]

24 minutes ago, cotterless45 said:

Thank you for the kind replies , for  those who asked , I'm using a Celestron C6r. That's 150mm at f8 with a Baader semi apo 2" filter in the diagonal. Yard cannon's do vary in quality , but this one's very very good.

For  more colour I prefer the Vixen 102 SP , old school . There have been some wonderful nights , especially when the air settles and normal folk are asleep with lights off ,asif,

Nick.

Out of interest, Nick, do you know your local Bortle rating?

My parents used to live in Blackfordby, but I never got around to looking at their night sky.

 

[cotterless45]

Blackfordby is a bit further away from civilisation and on the edge of the National Forest . The area around the National forestry centre (Rosliston )has darker skies than home. That applies to the cycling trails at Hicks Lodge as well.

We're on the edge of town and although it's variable , some nights are great with signs of the MW. before they put in led street lighting .

Folk should adjust their observing to what is enjoyably possible   .Plenty clusters , binaries and bright nebulae around .

I use a phone app.Last reading was +19.14 on the 19/4/21 at 22:09.

We go to Skye every year where the Skye sky will blow you away , if the winds don't !

Nick.

[mapstar]

Nice to see you're still getting some views in Nick and thanks for a great read. Those old faves really do take some beating.

 

[Stephen_M]

On 01/06/2021 at 07:00, cotterless45 said:

Probably one of the best observing nights ever. Memorable for the challenging light sky views , the stillness and warmth. 

Cygnus.

A tour around binaries , still bright enough not to catch anything deep sky.  But wait ...

Σ2741,Σ2609,ψ Cygni,Σ2624 and S738 fell open , showing the seeing so good to get down below 2".

Looking to the south west and the Yeds of Ophiuchus led back to this giant constellation. M12, the more expansive M10 and the fainter M14 were picked out.

IC 4665  , the "summer beehive" buzzed with stars.  Unusual in that it's 15 degrees out of the galactic plane.

Serpens and a stunning view of IC 4756, "Graff's cluster", twice the size of the full moon. X30 came in useful in the yard cannon. A rather wide view of M5 and a glimpse of the open cluster associated with M16. Spotted the rich carbon star v Ophiuchi (SAO 159916). NGC 6572 gave an intense blue  of the " blue racquetball "and an averted glimpse of NGC 6309, " box nebula".

Scutum and a view of the wild ducks of M11, a summer classic.

Hmm strange groups of stars low in the south west , Scorpius , Sagittarius and Libra . Graffias (β Scorpii) gave a really bright wide pair. ξ and Σ 1999 gave a lovely view .I'm sure that the orientation of V Scorpii has moved might be my eyes ! The wide view gives a pair of stars , but increase the magnification and it blows open into two pairs.

Vulpecula and a really superb view of M27, one end appeared bright and the field was full.A superb view of M39 behind Cygnus, nice to sit and sketch.

Sagitta and a faint view of M71.

Down to Sagittarius and even low down a view of M17, the swan gliding along star fields .

Cassiopeia was climbing higher in the north . Had to look at NGC 457, the owl. Andromeda was up and a check on M31 and a lovely view of the "blue snowball" NGC 7662.

Coming up to 3 am , so reluctantly packed in . Very surprised to observe such views on the first gorgeous night of summer.

careful now and here's to darker skies ! Nick.

Great post, please can I ask, where do you get/what to you use for recording your observations? Is that a black paper notebook with white pencil?

Stephen