Summer Flight path through the skies..

[OXO]

Last night was a Summer Flight path through the skies with my 15x70 Bino's and 80mm Frac clear skies after much of a dullness to them during the day revealed the stars to show themselves better than they have been for many a Moon..

First off i grabbed the Bino's taking in M31 in Andromeda showed all of it self in glory and dust lanes could easly be dicerned so a quick move to Mirach (Red Giant) under M31 the binos gave a nice view of the Star. Now onto The Perseus Double Cluster(Ngc 884 and Ngc 869) centred in the binos showing good contrast and resolution from the binos observed my fav star of the Cluster TYC 3694 nice orangey red colour.. Off on my Travels again i thought id check out the Owl Cluster(In cassioppia) thinking i wouldnt see much and tbh i didnt but it was nice too see all the same also tried the Blue Snowball Planery Nebula but that was taking it too far (Observed it later though with the 80mm Frac). Noticed M34 with the Naked eye swept my way there with the Binos and it gave a nice view of the open cluster. Cygnus next Stop tried my best to observe the North American Nebula but only could make out a hint of it in both the Binos and 80mm scope, dropped down to the Veil Nebula with the 80mm scope and was amazed to see it :shock: easily fitted in the FOV of the F/5 scope(Tried to image it quickly but alas i just wanted to observe so didnt get much).

Next up was the Dumbell Planetry Neb a quick peek of the Coathanger cluster before hand and the Dumbell showed it self wonderfully in the 80mm and rather splendid in the Binos be it very small. Swooping upwards to Vega and two of my favs the Ring Neb and lyra 1a/2a nice views in the 80mm scope and Binos. Diveing to M13 this gave a wonderful view as always in the 80mm scope but was taken back by how well the Binos performed (AGAIN) many stars resolved to the core.

By this time it was getting late so had a quick peek at some more open cluster and the Moon before packing up and getting a cuppa Tea and Toast .

James

[GordonCopestake]

Great report James, just goes to remind us all that we should never forget about the binos!

[OXO]

Thanks Gordon yes deff dont forget ya Binos esp this time of the year those open clusters are easy to find and give you nice views even in LP skies.

James

PS:I should note also there was an awesome meteor that ran through M31

[geppetto]

Wonderful stuff. 8)

Pity we don't get more nights like that but hey, suppose

that makes them all the more special.

[OXO]

Cheer's Phil yes nights like that make all those efforts pay off

Here's a very quick pic of Vega and the surrounding Stars 1 frame of 30 secs using the 80mm f/5 celestron and Canon 300D(With ice pack to keep cool and lower noise levels).

James

[Kain]

M31 and the coat hanger avoid me like the plague lol..I will get them at some point!

Nice report James. I'm surprised you could see so much with binos..or are they astronomical binos?

Kain

[OXO]

You will get M31 and the hanger soon enough Kain

Amazing what can be seen with a normal pair of 10x50 Bino's if you know were to look, last night i was using a pair of 15x70 and worked a treat..

Thanks

James

[CELESCOPE]

nice report and piccy James , just one this , can u spike it eheheheh , the Star i mean

Rog

[OXO]

Spike it :shock: ah yes the star Vega i could do Rog hehe

James

[russ]

great report James and the binos sound the business. And aren't those little 80 f5 great scopes for scanning the heavens.

And i know what you mean about the stars. We had a clear night sunday and the transparency was superb. The stars were proper diamonds in the sky. Lets hope it stay that way for all the clear nights we're about to have :sunny:

Russ

[OXO]

Cheers Russ

[FLO]

I'm surprised you could see so much with binos..

Me too.

Dust lanes in andromeda galaxy?

Nice report BTW

[OXO]

Dust lanes in andromeda galaxy?

Yes why? Mmmmm maybe it's because of the trained Eye?

Thanks

James

[FLO]

I dunno, I struggle to see dustlanes thru my 10" :?

I guess I need to practise more :cyclopsani:

[OXO]

Thanks Caz hehe yeah try and get as much in as poss before the clouds come back

[Greg]

Nice James...

Any people who ask me about getting involved in astro, I tell them to go out and buy some bino's and learn the sky ...You can't beat em..

Mine are in the kitchen ready to go at any time!

No 57 on To Do list.......Do obsevation report for 11th July 06....

[MartinB]

Busy night James! Very impressed at what you could make out with the binos. Weather looking fantastic with forecast for some breeze to keep the murk away. I'm off sailing across the channel next week so dark skies and binos to hand