M8 and M20 from Weymouth

[Phil Fargaze]

I was on holiday near Weymouth and I was observing from the edge of Portland Harbour with my 10x50 bins. The sky darkness was good, with the Milky Way on view. The low horizon had me looking at Saggitarius, a part of the sky I havn`t really been able to see before. A quick sweep had me gasping at the wealth of detail, and I was aware that I was gazing right into the galactic centre. Two patches of nebulosity stood out both with the bins and naked eye, which I later identified as being M8 the Lagoon Nebula and M20 the Trifid Nebula. It was wonderful night, I had bagged two new objects and I went on to spot the Coat Hanger cluster, M31, M92, M13, M39 and a shot at Neptune.

[Doc]

Lovely report Phil. One day I'm going to have to travel South to get those elusive Southern Messiers.

It must have been really clear to see M8 and M20 naked eye.

[RobH]

Glad you've been enjoying it Phil,

I live almost on the edge of Portland harbour, and the skies are why I built my observatory there

I'm away at the moment, but will probably be home on Tuesday if you want to drop around. Just send me a PM.

Cheers

Rob

[Phil Fargaze]

The conditions were excellent, one of those wow! moments I think. The view wasn`t so good the next night.

[Phil Fargaze]

Thanks for the offer Rob but I am now back home on the edge of murky London. You must get some amazing views with the scope. You might know of Sandsfoot Castle, which was where I was observing from, laying on my back on the grass in the gardens, giving the odd dog walker a fright!

[Beyond_Vision]

Sounds like a great bonus to your holiday, it must have been great to tick those two off of your Messier list.

Regards

Kevin

[RobH]

Hello Phil,

Sandsfoot castle is no more than 5 minutes walk from me, and is one of Nelsons favourite places for his walkies!!

Cheers

Rob

[Talitha]

Congratulations Phil, i'm glad you were able to get a really nice view of Sagittarius, and eyeball 8 and 20.. well done!

[bish]

Nice one. M8 and M20 are 2 I've yet to see.

[Phil Fargaze]

This has given me the bug for `messier hunting` now. This morning I began to draw up a list of Messier`s I`ve yet to spot.