An open cluster bonanza

[IB20]

Fantastic night with the StellaMira 125mm. Just dropping the mag and cruising with the 55x 17.5mm Morph for a lot of the night. The 25mm BST performed admirably but I now know I need to upgrade it, the edge aberrations are a bit too noticeable. 

Spent plenty of time on Sirius with the 4mm TOE at 244x, some possible sightings of the pup in the NE glare but nothing I’d put my house on. Heading southwards I finally bagged M41, a lovely open cluster that I’ve never seen before despite trying a fair amount. A little time spent on M42 before going on an open cluster binge of M50, M44, M67 and M48. I’d never really appreciated open clusters before but the 125mm does them real justice even with bright skies, the Bee Hive is the best I’ve ever seen it.

Then over to Algieba, two golden orbs of perfection, always a favourite. I then remembered the Tegmine thread so decided to try and locate despite having no finder. After about 30 mins of meandering around Cancer I finally located it by jumping from Al Kirkab, the 3 stars of HR2978 and neighbours and 85 Gem. Initially two yellow white stars turned into a triplet with the 4mm TOE. A fantastic system if you can find it, highly recommend! The 125mm makes stars pop, so finding objects by mag, which I usually do, is a bit more difficult but it’s so captivating.

Finished on one of my all timers, Izar. Wow, so far apart, you could drive several 1000 buses through that gap.

Overall, a brilliant night and I am a full 5” frac convert. This scope is amazing. March hasn’t been a complete bust afterall, one of the best sessions I’ve had in a very long time.