Best night so far this year.

[GazOC]

I was out last night from ~23:00 to 01:00 under absolutey stunning conditions, ideal for observing galaxies. The Coma galaxies that I couldn't see last weekend were easy to find in my 14" Dob.

The bridge in M51 was very evident and I managed a rare glimpse of M101 which is very difficult for me from my location. The core looked like an out focus star at x65, did not improve when I increased magnification and disapeared completely when I lowered to down to x52. I thought I could detect the spiral arms with averted vision but they were extremely faint and I may well have been imagining them because I know they are there!!

Observed M3, M13, M92, M53 but failed (yet!!) again to find NGC 5466, a loose, faint globular cluster near M3.

All in all a great night and after the good run of observing nights I didn't need my sky charts to find any of the "showpiece" objects.

[daz]

Excellent stuff Gaz!

Sounds like you had fun

[Ant]

I agree last was by far the best night this year.

Sounds like you had fun mate!

Nice one.

Ant

[Talitha]

Glad you had such a great night, especially seeing M101.. I imagine your smile was as big as the Milky Way.

[Doc]

Well done Gaz in seeing the M101. It was a great night wasn't it.