last nights bag

[G4YVM]

great seeing here in Salisbury lkast night, no moon and not too much ambient artificial light.Well, yes, TOO much, but not enough to trash everything.

Anyway, as a beginner to informed stargazing (as opposed to lots of "oohs" and "ahs") I have been using the sky-at-night magazine Observing Challenge as a starting point. Some of the stuff is easy but beautiful - the christmas tree for example. I love that little cluster (asterism?), The Pleiades...another stunner, so raw and twinkly.

last night I got to see the orion nebula and running man, very nice too. then I went to find Ms 66 and 96...much haarder and I dont know whether my 102mm refractor bagged them or not. All I found were bright spots where the syncscan said they ought to be, but i'm not sure.

Then I finished the night with a definite viewing of the cloudy M13. My liitle scope only shows this as a grey smudge, but still a wonderful thing to think how far away that smudge is!

Then the low temps won and I packed it in. A very pleasant if cold night, which ended at about midnight for me.

I did end up with a question though: there must be different constellations which are invisible but transiting the daaylight sky here. Do we have names for them or has their losing battle with sunlight consigned them ever to anonymity? Can we see stars by daylight with big scopes?

david

[Doc]

Hi thats a nice report.

As far as I know you will see all the Northern constellations at some time during the year. They are on a cycle so the ones you see now will disappear soon and reappear later on during the year.

The Southern ones you will never see and the equatorial ones you willl only see the further South you are as for us northerners we onlly see them through a murky atmosphere.

[hal2000]

Good report David.

You are correct Doc. The Sun is currently in Pisces, which will be at its best in the night sky in September, whereas, in six months, it will be in Virgo, which is at it is best around about now.

Whichever of the Zodiacal constellations is highest in the night sky at midnight at any given time, that is where the sun will be six months later, at midday.

[Talitha]

Hi David, thanks for sharing your eyepiece with us.

"there must be different constellations which are invisible but transiting the daylight sky here"

Don't worry, you'll eventually get to see everything.

Yes, some constellations are invisible to us right now because of the sunlight, but we'll eventually see them at night when we're on the other side of the Sun in our yearly orbit. In other words, the night time constellations we're seeing 'now' are the ones which will be behind the Sun during the daylight hours in six months' time.

[barkis]

That's a very nice study of your nights observations David.

Refreshing also, in that you didn't I saw, when you were not sure you saw. An Indication that you will become very good at observing.

I'm sure one day, you will possess a telescope with an aperture that will show you the stars of Globular clusters fully resolved. In the meantime, make full use of the Instrument you have, and I hope you continue to derive lots of pleasure from it. Please continue to let us share your experiences at the eyepiece.

Ron.