Early morning Messier finderscope fun

[Breakintheclouds]

So there I was, at 0520, lying in bed twenty minutes after the cat had prodded me awake and realizing that I wasn't going to get back to sleep. I hauled myself downstairs and looked out of the window. Clear skies! Hmm... I grabbed the humble 6x30 finderscope, which I had taken off my telescope the day before, and went outside. In my dressing gown and bare feet.

The sky felt totally unfamiliar. I've got so used to seeing it as it currently is in the evening, with Pegasus riding high, that everything felt strange and new. Orion had done its transit and was now behind my next-door neighbour's house; the moon was high in Gemini, Mars was next door in Cancer and Leo had just cleared the big tree at the bottom of my garden. Cassiopeia, my usually faithful landmark, had completely swapped places with Ursa Major.

I turned the feeble finderscope up to Mars, and could clearly see the orange colour of the planet. But what's that to the side? A quick check of StarmapPro on the iPhone... of course! The beehive cluster, M44, surprisingly visible as it glittered in the little scope. I enjoyed that for a few moments then star-hopped over to M67. There were only about 4-5 of the cluster's stars clearly resolved, but there was the hint of more, and I made a note to get up early and come back to both these Messiers with my proper telescope sometime soon.

What else might I see, despite the moon? Sirius was bright and low, and from there I was able to hop to M41 - again, only a few individual stars were visible amongst the background light, but the cluster could certainly be seen.

Up to Monoceros. The constellation was pretty much invisible to the naked eye, thanks to the moon, but through the finderscope I was able to move from Procyon down to a perfect little equilateral triangle of stars at the unicorn's tail, and from there found M48. I wanted to explore that area further, to find M46, M47 and M50, but some low clouds were appearing from the West, smothering Sirius and its surroundings, and so I moved on.

Could I manage any double stars with this puny little 6X scope? I had a stab at Algieba in Leo, and at first was excited to see what looked like a widely spaced pair. But when I checked the chart later I saw I was kidding myself: the second star was 40 Leo, and had nothing to do with Algieba at all. Bah.

But swinging North I found that Mizar, in Ursa Major, split away from Alcor readily. Not quite the same as splitting Mizar itself, but pretty nonetheless.

Finally, after a quick but unsuccessful hunt for M81 next to Ursa Major, I realized my feet had turned in to two blocks of ice. No point wasting those, so I headed back inside to see if the wife would mind my warming them up on her...

[tinvek]

nice report, i work nights and there's something special about seeing the sky just before dawn when everyone else is asleep

[Casus belli]

, I realized my feet had turned in to two blocks of ice. No point wasting those, so I headed back inside to see if the wife would mind my warming them up on her...

I thought that I was the only living person in the world brave enough to do this. Sir I salute you!

Really nice report. It just goes to show that you dont need a huge scope costing a fortune to enjoy this hobby.

[tinvek]

I thought that I was the only living person in the world brave enough to do this. Sir I salute you.

does breakintheckouds know you get his wife to warm your feet?

[Teddy]

Enjoyed reading that report. i am not yet that experienced so nice to see what knowledge i am heading for. Well writen !!

[Breakintheclouds]

Teddy,

I'm very new to this too. But I had my iPhone with me, which had StarmapPro on it. That made it really easy to find my way around. I think I'm many years away from knowing the skies well enough to do things like that purely from memory.

PS Between me and two cats, I think my wife gets disturbed enough without other members of SGL appearing!

[robneath]

sounds a bit like my experience this morning (sans cats and outside) - the sun was rising but not quite - so 6:45 looked ESE and there was Venus - pity it wasnt earlier then I could have had a good trawl hehe

[Talitha]

Thanks, i really enjoyed that.. what a great idea to use the finder scope!

[Doc]

I agree Carol have never thought of it

Great report that made a very enjoyable read

[Rogue Leader]

nice report, i work nights and there's something special about seeing the sky just before dawn when everyone else is asleep

Yes I have to agree, also when I am on earlies and the sky is clear, I am greeted by orion as I open my front door. Always brings a smile to my face at that time of the morning.