Wonderful Session

[Epick Crom]

Hi my fellow stargazers! Last night was spent observing the many wonders located in Sagittarius, the constellation closest to the centre of our galaxy. What a great time I had! Started at the star Kaus Australis, the brightest star in Sagittarius and panned down to reach M 69, a wonderful globular cluster. Close by was NGC 6652, another nice globular. Continuing downward I encountered M 70 next. Nice view of this globular with a line of straight stars glittering below it. Turning my telescope further "down" lead me to M 54, yet another globular in this fine constellation. Tiny but bright, this globular  belongs to the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy, which I could not find. This makes it an extragalactic object. Always a thrill to see an object in another galaxy, even though I couldn't detect it's parent galaxy!

Continuing my globular cluster theme, I visited the mighty globular M 22 next. Wow an absolutely stunning sight, a very fine, bright cluster resolved to the core. It looked like a massive ball of fireflies frozen in time. Headed east of M 22 to M 17 next, the Swan Nebula. Another showpiece object, this beautiful, elongated nebula really does look like a swan to me. Passed by the loose open cluster M 18 on my way to the star cloud known as M 24. Incredibly dense, this object is actually thousands upon thousands of stars towards the centre of the milky way. Mind-blowing! It was a freezing cold night so I had to head up to Ophiuchus to try and locate a target I had been after for a while, NGC 6572, the Blue Racquetball Nebula before I froze! After some star hopping I found it. What a glorious sight, tiny blue/green disk that took magnification well. I saw a very faint hint of a central star at 370x, but couldn't confirm it for certain. Lovely planetary.

With that I decided to call it a night. Another relaxing and mind altering observing session with the 10 inch dob. Astronomy is no longer a hobby for me, it is now a deep passion. Thanks for reading my rambling report and clear skies to you all!

Joe

Edited June 20, 2021 by Epick Crom

[Kon]

Excellent report Joe. You seem to have bagged quite a few of these globulars. I think the MW is mind blowing both with the amount of stars and nebulas. Last time i struggled to do any star hoping with the amount of stars in the background. Did you use a filter with the Swan? It brings out its details even more (although my wife described it as a long featureless smudge, she is not into nebulas). NGC 6572 is one that has escaped me so far and the cloudy/rainy nights are not helping. I hope you are all warmed up but I find it hard to associate Australia and freezing. Looking forward to more of your reports; officially our nights are getting longer from today🤣

[Epick Crom]

Hi Kon, hope you are well. Yes I've been bagging a lot of globular clusters recently, this time of year we are looking towards the galactic centre with its many nice globulars. I still haven't got any filters yet Kon, must invest in some soon. "Freezing" for us here is a 5 degree or so night, probably manageable for you guys up north! Yep it's just passed the winter solstice (summer solstice for you) At least your nights will start getting longer😊. Clear skies

[callisto]

Great report...thanks for sharing 

 

Mark