Fantastic Night !!!!

[John]

Just a quick note to say what a fantastic observing night it's been here in North Somerset - the best I can remember for months

I've used all 3 of my scopes at one time or another and I'm currently using the 10" OO newtonian to hunt the galaxies of Ursa Major and Leo - I keep coming across faint patches of light as I pan between the brighter ones that I know - I've sort of lost count now which is not very scientific but loads of fun

Started with a lovely moon then Orion with great views of the "sword" area, M42 of course and a 6-star Trapezium.

Then spent 2 hours on Mars with the 5" refractor earlier which was excellent - good details holding up even at a very daft 330x !. It's altitude allowed comfortable seated observing - luxury

The Owl Nebula was superb in the 10" and the OIII filter showed hints of it's "eyes".

Waiting for M51 to get higher to see if I can detect signs of spiral arms and for Saturn to climb above the roofline to round the night off.

Just wonderful stuff ;)

[yeti monster]

Sounds lovely John, I'm having to make do with gales force 5-6 and heavy cloudage for the forseeable. Which has all but put paid to my hopes of glimpsing Mercury. However, I still have 2 weeks here in the South China Seas, and when things do become favourable, I shall be out enjoying the benifits of these latitudes. looking foward to getting home to my 'scopes and being able to sit out all night without having to worry (too much) about what time I get out of my pit the next day.

[Beulah]

There was a wonderfully still patch of clear sky for a bit last night, wasn't there?

I was unfortunately at a pub with a visiting relative and missed it. Mars looked really steady, too!!

[James]

Glad to hear you got a clear patch John, what a difference 30 miles makes, Taunton was under a thick veil of fog/cloud/haze etc... or at least I think it was, I'm now regretting not peeking out the window at about 11pm to check

Your 10" scope should show you some spiral arms in M51 when it gets high enough :)

James

[Doc]

If only I lived there. In Nottingham was ultra thick illuminated cloud.

Got to take these clear skies when you can, well done.

[barkis]

Seems like you had a banquet of viewing John. How good is that mate. I'm chuffed for you, and us, because your observing accounts are always so good. Let's hope there is more to come.

Ron.

[John]

Thanks for the comments folks - its' nice to share

I didn't quite see M51's spiral arms although there were clear extended halos of light around the cores of M51 and NGC5194 with M51's being clearly mottled. I had to turn in around 2:50 am and the galaxy had some way to go to reach zenith so I might have seen more detail if I'd waited up even later.

Brillant night though and a real motivator. As I observed I was reminded of the lyrics to an old AC / DC song - "Touch Too Much":

"It was one of those nights, when you turn off the lights

And everythin' comes into view ...."

Although Bon Scott was NOT singing about astronomy I suspect

[russ]

That sounds wonderful John. Good to hear someone is getting some good skies and making full use of them.

Wall to wall grey cloud in not so sunny Southampton.

Russ

[pvaz]

Great night! I glad you had such a great time.

Hope we all got some of this soon! You can feel the tension is some threads of this usually very friendly forum!

[Ben478]

Sounds great! Thanks for mentioning the Owl Nebula, I've heard of it and think I recall seeing a photo before, so I just Googled and now added it to my 'want-to-see' list!!

[oceanheadted]

Good to hear someones having good weather. We had thick clound and driving snow overnight! I've got to see the Owl Neb, spent a while looking for it last year but never found it with my C80 ED. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the 200p when Ursa Major gets into the right bit of sky.

[John]

Good to hear someones having good weather. We had thick clound and driving snow overnight! I've got to see the Owl Neb, spent a while looking for it last year but never found it with my C80 ED. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the 200p when Ursa Major gets into the right bit of sky.

The Owl is faint and a dark sky and an OIII filter help a lot. It appears alongside the nice elongated galaxy M108 in a low power field of view but the OIII filter makes the galaxy dimmer so the unfiltered view is best to view this pairing once you have found the Owl.

[Brunty12345]

that sounds great! hopefully some of the good weather will head all of our ways lol

[matt c]

awesome glad you managed to get out there few and far between lately, sound like you had a great night

[yeti monster]

Last 2 nights have been good, Wednesday was very clear and I was able to view Scorpius. Last night wasn't as clear, seeing wise but I came across a chair which a roustabout had secreted away behind a container, against the hand rail. This proved to be a good observation chair, enabling me to rest my head as I took in M42 with the binos.

This moroning, I had Mars to the west, Saturn high overhead and finally in the south east Mercury! It really was wonderful to catch her as the dark sky started to become lighter. I was able to sit viewing her for over 20 minutes. I so hope to get more chances in the next 10 or so days before I return to the UK