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Somerset skies

Stu

By Stu
in Observing - with Binoculars

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Stu

Stu

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I’m still too tired to consider taking a scope outside having moved home on 7th August, but last night was clear and I had found my 10x50 binoculars so popped out for a couple of quick sessions at 10.45pm and again at 11.45.

As mentioned elsewhere, I saw about 9 or 10 perseids, some nice brights ones and and one with a trail which lingered for a few seconds.

I was pleased to see that I could see that whole of the Teapot asterism in Sagittarius so my southern horizon is pretty good, and easily picked up M22 in the binos. The Lagoon nebula was surprisingly obvious, showing some nebulosity, and I saw several other objects whilst panning up, though couldn’t definitively identify them.

The Wild Duck cluster just looked like a tight cluster, almost globular like in the binos, and I’m fairly sure I just about caught M26 as a faint smudge.

The Coathanger looked great once I found it; my neck doesn’t enjoy looking that high up! Similarly I found M27 eventually, smaller and fainter than I expected but awkward due to the altitude.

M13 and M92 both showed clearly, and M31 looked huge compared with what I’m used to from home. No sign of M33 unfortunately.

Kemble’s Cascade looked excellent, over the roof of the house with the little NGC1502 embedded in it.

Finally, M81 and 82 showed faintly in the binos, hopefully they will be better when higher up but still great to catch.

So, ten messiers, and a few other nice objects plus ten perseids, all in a fairly short session. Very pleased with the skies here and can’t wait to get a scope out and on some of these targets!

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Stu

Stu

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10 hours ago, JamesF said:

Judging by the topic title, you've been sampling the local refreshments as well :D

James

Very funny 🤣🤣, too much cider perhaps?

Now corrected from ‘Somserset’ 🤪

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  • Stu changed the title to Somerset skies
Saganite

Saganite

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On 13/08/2021 at 13:02, Stu said:

I’m still too tired to consider taking a scope outside having moved home on 7th August, but last night was clear and I had found my 10x50 binoculars so popped out for a couple of quick sessions at 10.45pm and again at 11.45.

As mentioned elsewhere, I saw about 9 or 10 perseids, some nice brights ones and and one with a trail which lingered for a few seconds.

I was pleased to see that I could see that whole of the Teapot asterism in Sagittarius so my southern horizon is pretty good, and easily picked up M22 in the binos. The Lagoon nebula was surprisingly obvious, showing some nebulosity, and I saw several other objects whilst panning up, though couldn’t definitively identify them.

The Wild Duck cluster just looked like a tight cluster, almost globular like in the binos, and I’m fairly sure I just about caught M26 as a faint smudge.

The Coathanger looked great once I found it; my neck doesn’t enjoy looking that high up! Similarly I found M27 eventually, smaller and fainter than I expected but awkward due to the altitude.

M13 and M92 both showed clearly, and M31 looked huge compared with what I’m used to from home. No sign of M33 unfortunately.

Kemble’s Cascade looked excellent, over the roof of the house with the little NGC1502 embedded in it.

Finally, M81 and 82 showed faintly in the binos, hopefully they will be better when higher up but still great to catch.

So, ten messiers, and a few other nice objects plus ten perseids, all in a fairly short session. Very pleased with the skies here and can’t wait to get a scope out and on some of these targets!

Hope the move went well Stu and that you enjoy your new home.  

As you know, the village in which I now live has pretty decent skies, but I have just returned from a camping trip to Lands End and the sky there is a different level to be sure.  I was quite stunned by the sight of the Milky Way stretching almost from horizon to horizon with such brightness and detail, with chunks of it that I have never seen before, quite awesome.  I did not have a telescope, there was no room for more than a binocular, but just a pair of eyes was quite enough !

I should imagine that moving from where you have lived to where you now live will register a similar improvement, I hope so , and look forward to  your future reports.

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Stu

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Thanks Steve. Land’s End sounds amazing! I’m hoping that the skies anywhere from fifteen minutes South of me down to the coast (35 mins away) will be even better than at home.

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8 hours ago, John said:

We used to camp at Seatown - very dark down there !

Nice pub too and a walk up to Golden Cap to get your thirst up :icon_biggrin:

Seatown is a lovely little place isn’t it? We ‘discovered’ it on one of our trips to visit the area and see a number of houses. We saw one in Chideock which wasn’t for us, but it led us to Seatown. We’ve eaten at the pub (take out only at the time) but I’ve yet to walk up Golden Cap. On my list though 👍

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Stu

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2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

20.5, not too shabby, be interesting to see much better those other sites nearby can get. 
Peter

Seatown should be mag 21.3 or so hopefully.

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