A lovely Summer’s night with the StellaMira 125mm

[IB20]

What started off as a quick attempt to split Antares turned into a 2.5 hour Milky Way and another Messier run. I get a 25 minute window where Antares is visible through a gap in the trees and it was a complete scintillating bust. Did spend some time on double Graffias and failed attempts at M4, and M80. Not sure I’ll ever get these Messiers in my location. Onto the next time then…

Turned my attention to M57 to see how the 125mm SM showed it and wow, it looked great, very defined with a slight blueish hue, not sure I’ve ever seen that even in the 8” before. It wasn’t even that dark so I was very surprised with that result. 

Have never seen M56 before tonight but managed to locate it from Albireo; an extremely faint fuzzy at about mag 8ish which made the M57 even more pleasing. 

Saw Altair had just moved in view behind the neighbouring house so followed the handful of stars in Aquilae and Scuti to M11. Again, stunning, I used the 17.5mm Morph and 7XW all night and just stared mesmerised at the depth and almost 3D nature of this cluster, I spent far too long looking at this target! Another brilliant result in sub optimal darkness.

Wanting more I went straight upto M13 after M11 which was nearly at zenith but not a problem for the scope, tripod or AZ75. Again, another captivating mass of sparkling jewels that I spent far too much time on. Lots of individual resolved stars were visible and again, felt I’d not seems it much better than that in a larger instrument. 

A quick look on SkySafari showed that M71, an unseen target for me, was in the area. Turning to Delta Sagittae and star-hopping to a nearby triangle on stars there was no sign of M71 but a small diffuse patch was visible with averted vision. I guess M56 wasn’t that faint after all!

Finished the night on the dumbbell nebula, an easy find as a large bright smudge. It’s a target that’s never impressed me that much and felt the same again. It’s very visible but lacks the definition - if it wasn’t 12:30 at this point I’d have maybe dug out the UHC filter but will save it for next opportunity when some astro darkness will be back. 

After packing up it I decided to get the 12x36iii bins out for a cruise of Cygnus and the Milky Way. I cannot believe the sheer numbers of faint stars I could see, I’ve never seen that with normal bins before, just utterly awe inspiring. Clocked a few open clusters too and it got my hankering for a trip to a dark site; I’m off to the Norfolk broads soon so these will definitely be coming with me.

All in all such a great night observing, the StellaMira 125mm was mightily impressive, anbd so easy to handle, equally the 17.5mm Morph is a match made in heaven with this scope. Another few Messiers added to the ever growing list but I need to think how I’m going to get the targets in Scorpius and Sagittarius. 

Saw the near full moon out the window just I was about to go to bed and lay down with a smile on my face.

[Stu]

Fab report, great to have some clear skies at last, even if not very dark.

[ST_Steve]

Great report @IB20 the views through the SM125 sound fantastic.

[IB20]

Just now, ST_Steve said:

Great report @IB20 the views through the SM125 sound fantastic.

It’s done nothing but impress me and it’s the first scope I go for out of the other 3”, 4” and 8” when skies are clear.

I picked up the Oklop bag I store it in last night to set-up and thought the bag was empty at one point, as it was so light. 😅

[Nik271]

Nice report! The SM125 seems a  gem, everybody who has it is very happy with it. I'm tempted...

 

I struggle often with M4, but it is not the hardest of the Messiers from the UK. You need a night of good transparency near the horizon. Binoculars work best since the cluster is very large, almost the size of the full moon and visually does not have a dense brighter core like many of the others. I see it as dim oval nebulosity with difficulty in good conditions. I see M80 a bit easier because it is small and stands out as a fuzzy star in binoculars. Also it is 5 degrees north of M4 which helps a lot from our lattitude.

Edited June 23 by Nik271

[John]

Excellent report !

Antares is a real challenge from our latitudes. I've managed to split it a few times but mostly it's been a scintillating ball of light that flits between nearby houses and trees. The "window of opportunity" to view is short !

Your report shows that summer night observing is worthwhile even if some DSO's are not quite at their best 🙂 

[IB20]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

Nice report! The SM125 seems a  gem, everybody who has it is very happy with it. I'm tempted...

 

I struggle often with M4, but it is not the hardest of the Messiers from the UK. You need a night of good transparency near the horizon. Binoculars work best since the cluster is very large, almost the size of the full moon and visually does not have a dense brighter core like many of the others. I see it as dim oval nebulosity with difficulty in good conditions. I see M80 a bit easier because it is small and stands out as a fuzzy star in binoculars. Also it is 5 degrees north of M4 which helps a lot from our lattitude.

Good to hear M4 & M80 are bino friendly. I should be able to get them, it’s just my direct southern view is blocked. I have a small window at around 12° altitude for the SE and it opens up a bit more SW. I should get some better opportunities later next month. Or hopefully some nice southerly horizons when I go away!

[JeremyS]

Cracking report @IB20 👍🏻

[RobertI]

Fab report, great read. That’s a great setup you have there. If I did ever upgrade, I think the 125 StellaMira, would be top of the list.
 

14 hours ago, IB20 said:

Finished the night on the dumbbell nebula, an easy find as a large bright smudge. It’s a target that’s never impressed me that much and felt the same again. It’s very visible but lacks the definition - if it wasn’t 12:30 at this point I’d have maybe dug out the UHC filter but will save it for next opportunity when some astro darkness will be back. 

 I observed M27 at Kelling last autumn and in the 102ED, under dark skies, with a UHC filter and it looked amazing - surprised me and even the dob mob were impressed! I think this is an object that benefits from dark skies. 

[Paz]

Great report, and it shows what is possible even at this time of year.

I admit I've only ever observed Saggitarius with bins amd travel scopes when on holiday, as it's not doable from my house.