I'm desperate!

[pvaz]

Only had 5 decent nights since January and I'm getting desperate.

Weather forecast predicts only 20% cloud coverage starting at 3am, so I'm planning an early start to get some EP time.

I'm missing all the Messier's in Serpens, Ophiuchus, Hydra, Scorpion and Sagittarius. If I can see all of this then only M93 in Puppis will be missing, but the southern horizon is the poorest from my home so it's possible I'll miss the ones closer to the horizon.

So that's the main plan. Any suggestions on nice NGCs in the North are welcome. It will be nice to have a plan B in case those 20% clouds are in the south (I'd bet my money on it since they always ruin my plans... ).

[Astorix]

Hi Paulo, I too am hoping of getting some early EP time from where i live, however i have 50% chance of cloud! so fingers crossed!

I have lately been looking a lot at Ursa Major and Draco. They are really interesting Atm, Give them, a go! very high in the sky atm, so should be able to see them!

[pvaz]

All plans went out the window... I got up and the entire sky was cloudy.

I'll give it another try tonight.

[pvaz]

Seams like it payed off!

I had a great session last night. Started at 9pm showing Saturn to some guests, they all loved it. By 10 pm they started leaving and I went to one of the session plans I had (had lots of time to make plans lately... )

Stayed out till 2:30 am, managed to see 3 new Messiers (M5, 68 and 83), M5 was stunning. Also added over 30 "Herschel 400"'s to the list, it was a really long night. Loved all the galaxies in Virgo, the area around NGC4442 is packed with galaxies and and was the highlight of the session. At some points I had 5/6 galaxies on the FoV (2.11º with the nagler).

It's nights like this that make it worth the wait!